M.D. Manufacturing has introduced a new electric attachment kit to the central vacuum industry. The introduction of the Ace Attachment Kit fills the gap between MD’s higher end Stealth Kits and entry level BlackHawk Kits. Ace Kit is an affordable high quality electric brush and tool set for the discerning buyer. The features of the Ace power brush will benefit from every home and make cleaning easier then ever. The Ace power brush features VBelt Power with Overload Protection, Four Position Height Adjustment, “Easy Release” Lower Wand Detachment - allowing you to clean smaller areas in an instant, and a Double Row Bristle roller brush. The kit also includes a crushproof electric hose, 4-piece tool set, chrome wand, telescopic secondary wand, deluxe mesh tool caddy, and a wire hose hanger. The Ace Attachment Kit has everything you need to keep your home as clean as possible. We invite you to compare it in our line up with Stealth and BlackHawk. For the price, this kit may be the one you have been waiting for. Compare the Kits.

There are essentially three major options for pipe choices for installing a central vacuum: Plumbing Pipe (such as schedule 40 PVC), Flexible Hose, and Vacuum Tubing designed specifically for central vacuums. Herein please find the advantages and disadvantages of each:

Plumbing Pipe: This installation would include standard plumbing pipe that is used in the construction of homes for carrying waste water or even supply water. Generally it has an inside dimension (ID) of slightly greater than 2” (50 mm) and is available in 10 foot or 20 foot (3-7 meter) sections.

The advantage is that this pipe is readily available in most countries and can be found at local hardware and plumbing stores. It has a thicker wall and is generally inexpensive as it is mass-produced for various applications.

The disadvantage is that the interior of this pipe is not very critical to the manufacturing process. Generally it is assumed that it is carrying water which weight will easily push any obstructions through the pipe. The wall thickness varies greatly and the joint between the pipe and the fittings normally leaves rough transition points where stiff objects can easily lodge. Because the pipe is also fairly thick, it is normally cut with a chop-saw or hack saw and the edge of the cut normally results in a crooked and/or rough finish. This too creates a strong potential of debris getting stuck. Some retailers have offered a transition fitting for this pipe to mate with central vacuum pipe but one must always be extremely careful when transitioning from a larger pipe back down to a smaller pipe at it will increase the potential for obstructions. No known USA manufacturers of central vacuums recommend this pipe for central vacuum applications and it is not an acceptable standard for installation based upon IAPMO or ASTM F2158 standards.

Flexible Hose: This option was attempted in the early 1960’s with central vacuums and was soon abandoned as a disaster. This method employs a 2” (50mm) flexible hose in lieu of the fittings and elbows in the system. Currently this flexible hose is only used within the first few feet of VacPan locations to allow for more accurate installation capabilities. The hose currently is available in two styles; one as a vinyl material with a wire reinforcement and the other as a more rigid PVC material. Both exhibit the issues listed below.

The advantage is that the installer can reduce his inventory of fittings and the complexity of the installation process. He would simply cut short pieces of the flexible tube any time the installation requires a bend. Some installers have even proposed running the entire system in flexible hose except where one pipe intersects another to add it into the flow. The cost savings is mainly achieved by reducing the skill required for the installer to properly install the system; having a solid knowledge of proper installation techniques.

The disadvantage is that this flexible piping adds a tremendous amount of friction loss to the system. The air bounces as it passed the ridges of the pipe that are intended to flex when the hose is bent. Also in short radius turns, the propensity for a clog greatly increases as sharp pieces of debris could easily lodge in the corrugations of the flexible pipe. This pipe is often much thicker walled to allow for the absorption of the radius of the bends and thus this ledge is accentuated and the smaller diameter of the pipe further increases friction loss. This “ledge” is where debris and long objects can permanently lodge. Because of the unique structure of this pipe, it cannot be cut with a pipe cutter but rather only a saw, again creating additional opportunity for problems. All of this friction loss results in a major decrease in the useable AirWatts of the system. No known USA manufacturers of central vacuums recommend this pipe for central vacuum applications and it is not an acceptable standard for installation based upon IAPMO or ASTM F2158 standards.

Vacuum Tubing: This pipe is made specifically for the central vacuum industry and almost all manufacturers adhere to a strict guideline established by American Standard of Testing and Materials (ASTM) Ruling F2158. This standard was developed by pipe manufacturers, central vacuum manufacturers, installers, and consumers as a means to build consistency into the manner that central vacuums are installed. Most municipalities in the USA have adopted this as a part of the Uniform Building Code (UBC) and building inspectors in these regions have a right to reject any central vacuum installation that does not meet this standard or have this value stamped on the pipe and fittings. This pipe maintains a very concise wall thickness and rigidity to allow for maximum airflow through the system.

The advantage is that it is specifically designed to minimize the potential for clogs in the system. Its thinner wall allows for cost savings but more importantly it exactly matches the thickness of the hub of the fittings; almost creating a bob-sled run inside the pipe wherein there are no potential gaps or crevices. The thin pipe can easily be cut with a special plastic tubing cutter to obtain a precise flat surface each and every time and professional installers also use a pipe reamer to insure that the pipe-to-fitting transitions will not present any possibility of restriction. The thinner wall also bonds more easily to the fittings without the aid of any PVC primers. All currently know back up plates in the industry are designed to fit this size pipe whereas schedule 40 pipes require a special adapter. As of the date of this publication, every central vacuum manufacturer is recommending solely the use of this type of piping over any other of the options.

The disadvantage is that this pipe is not readily available at the local hardware store or plumbing supply house. Because of its limited production, the freight expense to obtain this pipe has become a major cost as part of the system. Countries where central vacuums are not manufactured require even greater costs to import the pipe as the pipe product is not even produced in their country. Some retailers have begun to suggest that the do-it-yourselfer should use one of the other options mainly because it is difficult for even the retailer to handle and work with storing the pipe. In the entire scope of the cost, an average installation may only incur a few dollars of additional cost for the correct pipe.

Conclusion: All central vacuum manufacturers recommend using the proper Vacuum Tubing for very logical reasons.

Combine central vacuum suction and professional de-shedding tools to groom your pet with NO MESS. Rid your home of unwanted pet hair with the four piece central vacuum PetVac Accessory Kit. Takes minutes, and they’ll love it. This pet kit is specially designed to fit 99% of all central vacuum systems and just about every upright, canister and RV vacuum. The pet accessory hose has an air bleeder valve to alleviate the intense airflow and suction of your central vacuum, making grooming easy and safe for your pet.

The pet grooming kit comes with four tools (Hose, Shedding brush, Small Massage Brush, and Upholstery Lint Brush). Learn more by visiting http://builtinvacuum.com/petvac/index.html.

Vacuums work great on carpet, but they always seem awkward on hard floors like tile, wood, linoleum, and smooth concrete. Even vacuum accessories made for hard floors are missing the pizazz that other tools have for carpet and upholstery.

Well check out the Manta Mop. It isn’t new and nothing has changed since its invention, but there are vacuum users all over the world who still haven’t been introduced to it. It is a 16″ wide “manta ray” vacuum accessory that gently dusts and vacuums hard floors at the same time. It is lined with hundreds of soft woven tufts that allow the user to glide over hard floor surfaces and bump up against the edges of walls, table legs, chair legs, and other furniture.

Manta Mop has a swivel neck that lets the user get under and around objects with relative ease. Originally designed for central vacuum systems, Manta Mop has been widely adopted for upright, canister, and portable vacuums as well. Check out Manta Mop.

Depending on how much a central vacuum is used, the motor(s) may last decades or just a few years. When a motor goes bad, some of the common signs include an electrical “burning” odor, only a click is heard, and the motor can turn on when the central vacuum unit is bumped. Depending on how old the motor is when it goes bad, you may want to consider only changing the motor brushes. Motor brushes are much less expensive to change than an entire motor; however, they may not always fix your problem. It may be that the motor ware is so great that the whole motor must be replaced.The most common central vacuum motor brand used is Lamb Ametek. Builtinvacuum.com carries the most popular Lamb motors and some of the lesser popular central vacuum motors as well. Removing and replacing a central vacuum motor is easier than most may think, and shouldn’t take an owner too much time to accomplish.

At MD’s website search brands to find out what motor is inside a unit or if an owner knows what motor they need, they can more than likely find it on MD’s motor pages. Many of MD’s staff have decades of central vacuum experience and can troubleshoot motor issues in a matter of minutes. Builtinvacuum.com provides contact forms, or you can give MD technicians a call, toll-free, for a quicker response.

MD Manufacturing is proud to announce the release of the new Flo-Master M60 Central Vacuum! Just over a foot tall, this compact unit is absolutely perfect for any tight space or modest application. Here are just a few ideas for an M60 installation:

- Kitchen for VacPan, VacnSeal, Vroom
- Media room addition
- Fits in cabinet, stairwell, crawl space, closet
- New and retrofit RV installations

The RV vacuum boasts 453 Airwatts, which is quite impressive for such a small unit. MD Manufacturing also provides 3 types of installation and attachment kits with this unit (Basic, Deluxe and Electric). This not only makes installation in most small applications easy, but it also makes the vacuum the most effective when in use, especially when it is paired with the Stealth electric brush.
To learn about the whole Flo-Master central vacuum family including the M60 RV vacuum, visit the Flo-Master web site or view this PDF.

Typically you will find that the cyclonic units are the ones with the motors on the top.  They bring the dirt in the side of the unit, spin it around with a cyclonic action, and rely on gravity to drop the major portion of the dirt out of the airstream and then pull the air off of the middle of the cyclone that is created.  Some of them then locate a filter in the middle of this space.  MD’s paper bag system prefers the motors on the bottom for the following reasons:

1. Each vacuum motor typically employed in central vacuums contains a separate cooling fan that draws air into the motor to cool it.  They do not rely on vacuumed air to cool the unit.  In the event that there is ever a clog in the system, a central vacuum will not burn its motors up as long as it has this intake cooling air.
2. The location of this intake cooling fan is critical.  If it is located on the top of the unit it will draw air from around it.  For units with the motor on top, it draws this air from the hottest portion of the unit; where the hot air exhausts.  On the MD units with the motor on the bottom, this air is drawn from the very bottom of the unit; the coolest air location.
3. If the motor is also located up high in the garage and this motor is on the very top of the unit, it is operating in the hottest portion of the garage.  MD’s motors on the bottom of the unit, are located very close to the floor, thus also drawing from the coolest resource of air available.  Hot air rises thus a unit with the motor on top runs hotter than one with the motor on the bottom.
4. Typically cyclonic units are located about eye height.  This puts the motor much closer to the user’s ear as opposed to MD units with the motors down near the ground, further from the operator’s ear.
5. All of the cyclonic units (with the motor located on top) have some sort of filtration system.  Either you have to pull a cloth bag down and shake it, clean out a cartridge, or reach up to scrape off a screen.  With the MD unit you simply lift a lid, wad up a paper bag and dispose of it.  You are always back to a brand new filtering system once you change the bag.  With the cyclonic filter types you are never back to the original pure filtering system (unless you replace a cartridge.)
6. The key to MD’s filtering system is the cloth bag behind the paper bag.  This allows a much more porous paper to be used as the strength of the bag is maintained without compromising suction.  The supporting cloth bag is tapered, thus the air is not sucking through the trash but through all the pores simultaneously.  The air is rather turbulent when it enters the bag and actually “scrubs” debris off the sides of the paper bag.
7. Once the paper bag is full on an MD unit it begins to loose suction.  On many of the units with the motor on top, when the unit is full it will then allow the debris to suck directly into the motor.
8. On most units that have the motor on top, the cooling fan intake is located on the top cover of the unit.  Often we have seen that homeowners will place a box or other object on top of the unit inadvertently believing this to be a convenient storage location.  Unfortunately that box then completely blocks the cooling air intake and the motor will prematurely fail.  Having the motors on the bottom, MD units mount 6” off the ground and thus the cooling air intake is extremely difficult to accidentally block.

You might also read our article “Filtration Analysis” located at: http://builtinvacuum.com/filtanal.html

Back in 2006 Dave from Aqua Air sent me a carpet cleaning kit as an attachment for a central vacuum and I must admit that I never really thoroughly tested the concept. Yes, I thought the idea had merit but cringed at the thought of using the central vacuum in conjunction with a water extraction system for “washing” my carpets. I only perform this task once or twice a year (because the central vacuum keeps it clean on a daily basis) and I normally rent a high-powered extraction machine from my local rental company. I figured it would be useless to have this expensive system sitting around for just those few annual usages.

Well I stand completely corrected on the value of this system! First, it comes with a 5-gallon stainless steel bucket on wheels with a 3 foot hose that plugs into the nearest central vacuum outlet. The end of the hose also contains a five or six foot hose bib connection and an extra 20 foot hose to connect to the water-heater or washing machine bib. At the other end of the 30 foot suction hose it has a beautiful commercial-grade connection and trigger system. To this you attach a stainless steel wand and the carpet cleaning head.

Although you cannot spray a cleaning solution from the trigger of the hose (with the water) you mix the carpet solution in a separate spray bottle and pre-treat the carpet letting the solution sit for about 15 minutes. You then come back with the Aqua-Air attachment system and spray hot water on the carpet rinsing it and sucking the moisture out of the carpet with the power of your central vacuum. The wet solution is caught by the stainless steel tank prior to getting into the central vacuum lines. I was absolutely delighted with the results! In fact, I think this is the system did a better job than any extraction system I had ever used! The carpet still looks beautiful five weeks later.

One of the key elements is having a strong central vacuum to create the suction power to properly extract the moisture from the carpet. In my case it was dry in less than two hours. The kit also contained a hand-held wand for cleaning upholstery and stairs. This was the absolute best tool I have ever used for cleaning my stairs with a liquid solution. The staircase looked new again even though my carpet is over ten years old. Again, the versatility of the central vacuum with the long hose made this a convenient and thorough method for proper cleaning.

Probably the most difficult part of this system for most homeowners will be locating an adequate place to tap into the hot water system. I believe a key element to the cleaning is the use of hot water as opposed to cold water. I found the bib on the bottom of my water heater worked well and the 20 foot extra hose helped get me there. At the other end of my home I unscrewed the washing machine connection and attached at that point. If you let the system sit too long the water gets cold and I recommend purging it into a sink or toilet. The stainless steel tank holds quite a bit of water and contains a float that will shut the suction off if it gets too full or if it gets tipped. It was quite easy to simply dump this into a drain but I was amazed at the amount of “yuck” that had come out of my carpets!

Interestingly enough, two days later we had a neighborhood party at our home and five minutes before the guests arrived we were pouring a 3 gallon tub of hot wassail into a glass bowl and it broke, pouring two gallons of sticky fluid all over the kitchen island and cupboards. Having the Aqua Air system handy in the garage, I whipped it out and cleaned up the mess in no time. As the first guest arrived right on time, they had no idea of the fiasco that had just been averted.

So thank you Aqua Air for a great new attachment set. I stand corrected asking your apologies that I did not thoroughly test your product when you first sent it to me. MD will likely be offering these soon to our clients.

We are often asked why MD does not recommend or sell the Double Wye fitting that is commonly seen other places in the industry. This fitting is quite convenient for attaching two runs together to then flow into the power unit but unfortunately it has also too often been installed improperly. Because many central vacuum installers only work at the trade part-time and are unfamiliar with proper installation techniques, they end up producing systems very susceptible to clogs. Here are the two most common errors committed with this fitting:

To properly make this connection we used a 45 Wye (#509), 90 Sweep Spigot, a short piece of pipe, and a 45 Ell (#504)

Savvy consumers are finally picking up on the concept of central vacuums.  Reading of any on-line blog forums will quickly split the consumers into two diametrically opposed camps:  Those who absolutely love their central vacuums, and those who hate them.  This has actually been going on for over four decades but there exists one single element at the center of the contention…. that terribly long hose.