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atlbeardie

Which central vac dust pan?

atlbeardie
15 years ago

My husband and I are building a new house and installing a Hide-A-Hose system, powered by a Vacu-Maid central vacuum system. Our installer has given us a choice of two different sweep inlets: (1) The VacuSweep has a door that flips up, or (2)The VacPan has a lever that you flip.

Which is better? If you have either, do you like it, or do you wish you had the other?

Cross posting on appliance forum too. Thanks!

Comments (6)

  • faithers03
    15 years ago

    Great choice with the Hide-a-hose system! I don't really think it matters which vacsweep you install. They both are going to perform the same. I think the VacPan might be a little better quality. I am not sure what type of flooring you are putting down, but keep in mind that the Hide-a-Hose isn't the best choice if you have a lot of carpet. My house in all hard floors and it works great. If you have carpet, there isn't a good powerhead option. You can't use an electric head only a turbo power head. Turbo Power heads are good if you have minimal carpet but not wall to wall.

  • kathleenca
    15 years ago

    I have the VacPan dust pan. It works well for sweeping stuff into it, but if I had known how noisy it is I think I would not have gotten it. I find I avoid using it because of the noise.

  • atlbeardie
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Thanks for the feedback. Between this and the posting on the appliance forum, people seem to have more experience with the VacPan, so that's what we decided to go with.


    Faithers03: We'll have mostly hardwood floors with area rugs, and a few tiled areas. I used a regular central vac (no Hide-A-Hose) at our previous lake cabin and hated lugging around and storing the hose. The Hide-A Hose seems like a great solution. Based on what you've said I am a little concerned about how well the Hide-A-Hose turbo power head will clean somewhat long pet hair off of area rugs. Any comment?

    Kathleenca: I generally clean when no one is around, so hopefully the noise won't be an issue. But thanks for the heads up.

  • dannie_gal
    15 years ago

    Didn't know there were dust pan choices! We have a HAH with the VacPan. Ours is a little noisy, but nothing compared to a standalone vacuum. I love my HAH, although, faithers03 is right about the power head not being good for carpet. We have a plush carpet area rug in our living room and 3 long haired dogs. Most of the time, I don't even bother with the power head because it does such a poor job. It is harder physically, but I can get just as much or more hair off with the hard floor brush attachment. Now, the low pile rugs and berber area rugs are much more compatible with the air driven power head. It works just fine for those in getting off the long hair. We only have one vacpan, but I wish I installed more throughout the house. My dogs' hair forms tumbleweeds in certain spots of the house and it would be so much easier to sweep it right into a vacpans. If I had to do it over again, I would place vac pans near the larger return air vents and near the entrance from the garage. Those places seem to accumulate the most hair.

  • faithers03
    15 years ago

    It isn't that the Turbocat's or similar airdriven heads are bad, they just are not the best if you have a lot of carpet. They can't clean like a electric attachment set cleans. I have mostly hard floors, a little carpet in my bedrooms. The carpet in my bedrooms is thick and the turbocat can't even turn in it. I have used turbocats before on low pile carpets with no problem. You might want to consider a battery operated powerhead if you have thick carpet. I sometimes also use a barefloor brush on my carpet when my battery is dead. You can also get a straight suction carpet tool that works well on thick pile. This is the battery operated powerhead I use. https://www.centralvacuumstores.com/item.php?id=3797

  • ocscott
    8 years ago

    Very late to the conversation but I found with my wall to wall carpeting I could use my powerhead from my electric hose with my Hide a Hose simply by purchasing a 30 or 35ft electric cord from an online central vacuum store. One end connects to the cord from the powerhead and the other end just plugs in to a regular electric outlet. It looks odd juggling the hose and separate cord but surprisingly, it's not terribly awkward in use. For thick carpeting, I prefer the electric head over the Turbocat. I still use the Turbocat on all of my Pottery Barn wool area rugs and it's just fine for those.

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