Built-in Vacuum Systems

[Johna7770]

I'm interested in fitting one of these vacuum systems:-

http://www.beamvac.co.uk/

& I'd be keen to hear any opinions or experiences (good or bad).

 

[Terrywookfit]

Fitted a few but prone to blocking even though meticulous care was taken to avoid burrs on pipework swept fittings etc !!!

 

[tim west]

They are a great idea but as said prone to blocking same as your ordinary push around vacuum cleaner, difference being that its relatively easy to dismantle a vacuum cleaner to get to a blockage, not so easy to get to a pipe buried in the floor or wall.
The system used to be fairly widely used here in the past and still is in the USA.

 

[Johna7770]

Fitted a few but prone to blocking even though meticulous care was taken to avoid burrs on pipework swept fittings etc !!!

Do you mean these systems in general are prone to blocking or the Beam models in particular?

 

[tim west]

They were all prone to blocking. As said it's far easier/cheaper to unblock a push around vacuum than a built in one.

 

[Johna7770]

They are a great idea but as said prone to blocking same as your ordinary push around vacuum cleaner, difference being that its relatively easy to dismantle a vacuum cleaner to get to a blockage, not so easy to get to a pipe buried in the floor or wall.

The Beam website says
"The Beam central vacuum has a lifetime guarantee against blockages if used under normal conditions:
a sharp 90° bend fitted behind each wall inlet/point, acts as an anti-blocking device, rather like the
u-bend under a sink. Additionally, the wand and hose are narrower than the pipework, ensuring only
debris smaller than the pipework goes into the system"
- is this not to be believed?

 

[bernardgreen]

There is a trade off between number of outlets and length of hose pipe needed to reach all corners of all rooms.

Too few outlets and the hose is so long it is more trouble than a normal vacuum cleaner.

The hose is nothing like as flexible as an electric cable so it doesn't easily curl round furniture

Big advantage is the lack of noise in the room.

There is no smell of stale dust that you get with some vacuum cleaners.

 

[tim west]

- is this not to be believed?

Like all sales spiel these days you believe what you will, but experience from other users would be beneficial to you, It depends on how new this particular system is and whether it has been running long enough ie for partial blocks to get worse and eventually stop airflow for you to get an honest judgement on it.

 

[Shutpa]

They are a great idea but as said prone to blocking same as your ordinary push around vacuum cleaner, difference being that its relatively easy to dismantle a vacuum cleaner to get to a blockage, not so easy to get to a pipe buried in the floor or wall.

The Beam website says
"The Beam central vacuum has a lifetime guarantee against blockages if used under normal conditions:
a sharp 90° bend fitted behind each wall inlet/point, acts as an anti-blocking device, rather like the
u-bend under a sink. Additionally, the wand and hose are narrower than the pipework, ensuring only
debris smaller than the pipework goes into the system"
- is this not to be believed?

My vacuum cleaner says "Never loses suction" but after I cleaned up after a plasterer it did. Washed out the completely clogged filter and its back to sucking as well as ever.

ps Is there small print defining 'normal conditions'?

 

[Johna7770]

Like all sales spiel these days you believe what you will, but experience from other users would be beneficial to you

I sincerely appreciate all the advice that I'm getting here. I'm looking for real life experiences of this Beam system to tell me whether or not I should believe the spiel. The trouble is - these systems don't seem to be very common - I guess mainly because they're expensive to install - but if they last 20 years as the manufacturer will have you believe, the overall cost could end up cheaper the 10 Dysons you might have to buy in the same period!

 

[breezer]

I have seen them omn my travels, no one uses them, they also seem to give up / problems.

just out of interest the motor starts when you connect the hose becuse the hose has two contacts, it may be these that go wrong.

if you want a vacuum cleaner that will last for years get a Kirby

 

[tim west]

As said before they were big at one time but their popularity died down because of inherent problems, whether these new systems have solved these problems only time will tell.

 

[megawatt]

Our Florida home is 12 years old and has central hoovering ... Great system, no problems to date.

 

[Shutpa]

Our Florida home is 12 years old and has central hoovering ... Great system, no problems to date.

I'm very interested in central hoovering. Could I possibly borrow your Florida home for three weeks next year to try the system out? The first three weeks in July would be fine if thats all right with you.

 

[Sherwood]

Our house had a built in vacum when we moved in, we dont use it we use a Dyson. The coiled up hose takes up more space than a hoover.

We do use it for the cars and in the garage and we did use it last summer to hoover up chafer grubs from our lawn!

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