Today I bought a new vacuum cleaner. Exciting, I know. But the old one just sucked, or actually, didn’t. This new one is nifty, small, light, stores all the accessories “on board”, is a gorgeous hot pink and was inexpensive.
In my two-storey home I have 2 vacuum cleaners, one for upstairs and one for downstairs. It saves time carting up and down, as well as wear-and-tear on the stairwell.
This new purchase got me thinking about ducted vacuum systems. To my mind I can’t see the benefit in the investment of space or dollars. The unit itself is pretty big, and then there’s the substantial hose to store. It’s certainly not cheap to buy and install. And I doubt the hose is long enough to reach the garage so I can clean inside the car.
Am I wrong about ducted vacuum systems? I love my portable, cheap, pink vacuum cleaner. I’d love to hear a different viewpoint.
Ahhh, every housewife’s most loved chore – vacuuming! I think it’s worthwhile having the best tools for the job, making it easier, quicker and far less painful to do.
Yes, when we bought our house there was a ducted vacuum system installed, and the unit/engine/dust collection thingy is IN the garage, so definitely the hose would reach the car. But we never used it to vac the cars – preferring the old little yellow vacuum for that job.
The substantial hose seems to take no more space than a medium sized vac.
The major benefits were that you didnt have to empty it as often as the contained is so large to collect the dust; and for someone with allergies like me – I could vacuum because all the dust was being sucked straight out of the house, no dusty return air out the back of the machine. [I always needed to have someone else empty the container though!]
BUT… I would never instal one from scratch, especially not in an existing house. And I would have to be convinced that the current technology is better than it was 15 years ago before I put one in a new house (it really needs to go through the walls as the building is going up).
Having recently replaced all the floorings in our home, we’ve decided not to use the ducted vac anymore, and went out and bought ourselves a more traditional pull-along one with a power head. I have to admit that the novelty has yet to wear off – the suction is amazing and the carpets look so wonderfully clean. I am wondering why we didn’t do it years ago.
Thanks, Karen, for giving us your insight. You can’t beat first-hand experience.
vacuum cleaners with very powerful motors are the ones that we always buy, they are a bit expensive but definitely better ::