Central Vac vs. a Cannister vacuum

[chlobo]

The house we live in has central vac, which we've never used because the equipment is quite old & grody. We've been using a dyson, which I truly dislike. We are in the process of getting rid of most of our carpets so I was thinking that a cannister vac would be the way to go. My husband brought up the idea of getting new hoses for the central vac & using that since there would be nothing to lug around.

So, please share your thoughts on central vac vs. a stand alone unit.

[kellyotn]

We just moved into a house with a central vac. (Beam brand). I see one in nearly every garage around here. They must have plumbed them in the building process.

Thus far, I rather like it! It is kind of a pain to lug out that giant hose, so I use a "floopy" laundry basket (the flexible kind, like a plastic tote) to store and lug it out. You quickly get used to where to plop the basket so as to make it easier to spread out the hose.

Ours gets great suction. It came with one 35' hose, with a sock, and a ton of attachments (non-grody, thank goodness!). I recently bought a few more from an online store. I also used their site to figure out what all attachments I already had. I love it on the carpet AND in the kitchen. It works great. I also love it for vacuuming out the car.

If its already installed and appears to have good suction, you might give it a try. A new hose is pretty cheap and if you don't end up liking it, you could sell it on eBay or Craigslist.

If not, my mom has a kenmore cannister and it works great and she's really happy with it for her needs (mostly hard flooring). (I've used it to clean my car and was impressed with the suction.)

[linsei]

I love the central vac for hard flooring surfaces. We have a hard floor brush attachment and a crevice tool, which is great for the trim. It is a pain to lug around the hose, but I like that the dirt/dust goes right to the garage, where the central unit is, and doesn't get emptied in the house.

I would worry about the canitster vac scuffing up the floor.

Linda

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