The new Hide-a-Hose system is becoming quite popular, and for good reason. It conveniently stores the hose inside of the vacuum tubing for easy access whenever the user wants to vacuum. We have written before on the issue and identified the pros and cons of the concept. Today we heard of a potential problem that can occur in the installation and a few simple warnings may avoid major headaches for you should you install these Hide-a-Hose systems.

First, if you run pipe up into an attic, you must insure that the attic remains below 147 degrees Fahrenheit. Any temperature above this tends to break down the viscosity of the pipe and it gets quite pliable This is true for any central vacuum system with pipes in the attic. The temptation; though, with Hide-a-hose is to run the pipes as a raceway tied up to the underside of the joists; suspended in the attic. Here the heat intensifies and thus problems can begin.

The pipe truly must be supported well for the hose to be able to easily slide in and out of the pipe. Looping it from every five feet of rafters will not make it rigid enough. The pipe, exposed to high temperatures will have a tendency to warp and sag and then fittings can come loose. You must also use quality pipe that has the ASTM 2158 approval stamped on it.

Another issue is that you should not place the Hide-a-Hose sweep 90’s too close to each other. We have heard reports that this makes it harder to suck the hose back into the walls. If you need to use fittings, you should make a “square-like” pipe design as opposed to an long oval.

Lastly, we are seeing Hide-a-Hose advocates such as HP Products recommend a high waterlift designed motor in the vacuum system used to operate the system. We certainly agree with them on this issue and would advocate our Model S4, S44, S5, M45, M85, M92, J, K, G23, and Model SV.

Michael Goldberg was arrested Sunday after a home show customer contacted St. John’s police. (CBC)

Police in St. John’s laid 11 more fraud charges against a U.S. man arrested after setting up a booth at a weekend home show.

Michael Goldberg, 51, was selling vacuum cleaning systems from a booth at Mile One Centre.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary launched an investigation after a customer contacted police after finding a fraud alert on the website of Vacu-Maid, whose products Goldberg was representing. Goldberg was specifically named in the alert.

One charge of fraud was laid Monday against Goldberg, who the RNC said has done business under other names.

Goldberg is not seeking bail and is being held in custody in St. John’s.

A warrant was issued for Goldberg in Sacramento County in California, although the RNC says U.S. officials do not at this time want to extradite him.

Investigators in Newfoundland announced on May 6^th that they had finally caught up with Michael Goldberg, who had been running from the law in at least 5 states. Goldberg had attended Home Shows in cities from Hawaii to Minnesota where he would take deposits for central vacuums; yet he never would deliver the goods. Goldberg also conned central vacuum installers for installations and would not pay them for their services. Most of all, unsuspecting consumers were bilked out of tens of thousands of dollars for a number of products.

The last we heard, he had headed to Canada, while authorities at the border were awaiting his re-entry to arrest him. The law caught up with him earlier than expected and he was arrested in Canada. Over the past three years, various dealers of ours have reported that Goldberg came to them claiming MD had recommended them for installation expertise. MD had spoken with Michael Goldberg at one point (he also had five other alias’) and saw through his scheme. He was officially refused business with MD. We understand that he did choose a number of other manufacturers to purchase from but would use MD’s extensive dealer locater to find dealers for his installs.

Thankfully he is now behind bars. If you have additional information on the case you might want to contact Police Sgt. Victor Quezada of Sandy Utah who has been pursuing Michael for some time.