Are Central Vacuums Still a Thing? Yes—and They’ve Changed More Than You Might Think

Written By Evan Strittmatter

It’s a fair question. If you remember central vacuums as systems with a long hose hanging in a closet, you might wonder whether anyone still installs them.

Yes, they do. Central vacuum installations slowed as home construction fell after the 2008 housing crisis. But in our experience at Pittsburgh Central Vacuum, they remain a popular choice in midrange and high end custom homes throughout Western Pennsylvania. The biggest change is how convenient a central vacuum can be to use.

Retractable hoses changed the experience

The old objection was usually the hose: taking it out, carrying it upstairs, and putting it away afterward. Modern retractable hose systems solve much of that problem. The hose stores inside the wall tubing, ready to pull out when you need it and retract when you’re finished.

That makes a central vacuum easier to use for a quick cleanup as well as a whole house cleaning. Instead of designing a home around where to store a hose, we can plan inlet locations around how the household actually lives.

A system can be built around your daily messes

A central vacuum doesn’t have to mean identical wall inlets in every room. We can customize a system with features such as:

  • Automatic dustpans in kitchens, bathrooms, and mudrooms. Sweep crumbs, hair, or tracked in dirt toward the opening and let the central vacuum carry it away.

  • Retractable hoses tucked into cabinets for quick jobs, such as cleaning crumbs from a kitchen counter or facial hair from a bathroom vanity.

  • Longer retractable hoses placed where they can reach several rooms.

  • Garage inlets or retractable hoses for cleaning vehicles, work areas, and the dirt that comes in with them.

The right combination depends on the home and the places where cleanup happens most often.

What about stick and robot vacuums?

We often compare a stick vacuum to a space heater. You can have a great furnace and still keep a space heater under your desk for a cold winter morning. The space heater is useful; it simply has a different job.

A stick vacuum can be handy for a quick pickup, and a robot vacuum can help maintain floors between cleanings. Neither makes a powerful, whole house cleaning system pointless. A properly sized central vacuum can offer several times the suction of many portable vacuums, with a motor and dirt collection unit located away from your living rooms. Dirt drawn into the hose travels to that remote unit rather than into a container you carry through the house. When the system is vented outdoors, its exhaust is kept out of the living space as well.

“We have a cleaning service. Would we use it?”

Probably. A cleaning service may visit weekly or every other week, but crumbs, pet hair, tracked in dirt, and small spills happen in between visits. A Chameleon, Vroom, and Spot Retractable Hose inlet makes those everyday jobs easy to handle.

A central vacuum also gives your cleaning team a powerful tool that belongs to your home. They can use your system and attachments instead of relying on whichever vacuum they bring from job to job.

It cleans far more than floors

Floors are only the beginning. With the right attachments, a central vacuum can clean upholstery, stairs, air vents, baseboards and trim, fireplace screens, garage floors, and vehicle interiors. You can move from one task to the next without hauling a full size vacuum around or watching a battery indicator.

So, are central vacuums still a thing? Absolutely. The systems we install today can be planned around the way you clean, from a kitchen dustpan to a retractable hose that reaches across the main floor. If you’re building or remodeling in the Pittsburgh area, Pittsburgh Central Vacuum can help you design a system that fits your home and the way you’ll use it.

Evan Strittmatter