One of the least pleasant aspects of owning a nice home is the work it takes to keep that home clean. Some people spend numerous hours per week cleaning or thousands of dollars per year paying somebody else to do the cleaning. Truth is, this is completely unnecessary if you purchase a Vacuflo from Gary’s Vacuflo.
Thousands of people in the Portland metro area have bought this central vacuum system, and it has done wonders for them. The Vacuflo itself is magical, but it’s even more efficient when you understand how its accessories work and make sure your system has the very best Vacuflo parts.
TurboCat Powerhead
A TurboCat Powerhead is one of the most essential Vacuflo parts. It’s a strong turbine powerhead that’s air-driven and can do an immaculate job of cleaning your carpets. The beauty of the TurboCat Powerhead is that it’s very light, so it’s easy to move around. It makes cleaning under your furniture is incredibly simple.
It has a turbine wheel that’s extremely powerful, which is perfect for cleaning all types of surfaces. The way the turbine is designed is brilliant, too, because it’s built to avoid belt breakage and has a shaft that contains a smooth step-down feature, which ensures the belt can be separated from the belt drive if anything in the TurboCat becomes obstructed.
The TurboCat also has a mechanism called a DeepSweep Agitator, which was created specifically for the purpose of efficiently bringing deeply embedded dirt to the surface in order for it to be completely vacuumed away. The Agitator is designed to include a bristle that stays in constant contact with your carpet and separates fibers while the airflow picks up and eradicates the deepest dirt.
In addition, within the TurboCat you’ll find a non-slip cogged drive belt, which allows the turbine power to be relayed in a remarkably effective way to the Agitator. This non-slip cogged drive belt guards against slippage for better overall performance and will generally last far longer than the standard flat belt that you’ll see used on most electric powerheads.
Other benefits of the TurboCat include a T-shaped design with an especially wide vacuum path that can be easily moved around and underneath furniture and even baseboards. Plus, the TurboCat has its own system performance indicator of sorts. Since it operates predominantly on airflow, if the TurboCat slows down in any noticeable way, that means there must be a block of some kind, whether it’s because of a clogged bag, tube line, or filter.
This isn’t a feature you’d have with a standard electric powerhead, because in that case, the motor will continue at the same speed, even if the system isn’t vacuuming up much dirt. As a result, if there’s a problem with the airflow, you won’t know about it and understand that it needs to be fixed.
Central Vacuum Wands
These wands are typically made of plastic and are designed for non-electric powerheads like the TurboCat. Most central vacuum systems contain at least two wands, and many contain several more. This is because, in addition to the two wands necessary, it’s generally desirable to have extra wands that you can use as extenders of the 40 or so inches that a single wand can stretch. This can be especially useful if you have hard-to-reach areas like ceiling fans or under furniture.
These wands come in a variety of different types, and you can pick whichever ones you like based on preference. Plastic wands are light, stainless steel wands are the most durable, and aluminum wands are light but more durable than plastic. You can also get these wands in different lengths and styles, such as Friction Fit, which allows the wands to slide together with a twist; Button Lock, which connects two wands by locking one with a button with a small hole on the other; and Telescopic, which can join or separate two wands with the push of a button or twist of the hand.
HEPA Filter
The first question you may be asking yourself is, “What is HEPA?” Simply, HEPA stands for high-efficiency particulate air, and it’s descriptive of filters that can capture and filter out 99.9 percent of particles that are too small to see but dangerous enough to penetrate your lungs and cause serious damage. These filters can generally pick up everything from mold to dust to pollen to common allergens and much more.
A HEPA filter can be especially useful for those with allergies and asthma because it can eradicate certain air pollutants that other filters can’t get rid of and for people whose breathing is inhibited to begin with by certain medical conditions, that can be incredibly valuable. Even for those without medical conditions, though, the value of safer air quality can have significant long-term health benefits.
Motor Brush
Arguably one of the best features of a central vacuum system is the fact that they’re incredibly low maintenance. With a regular vacuum cleaner, you have to ensure that it’s not wearing down in some form or another. This isn’t the case in a central vacuum unit. In fact, while the motor in a standard vacuum requires constant attention, a central vacuum unit’s motor requires hardly any attention at all.
However, there are still actions you can take to extend the life of the motor in your central vacuum unit. The simplest of which is to merely change out the motor brushes every five years or once the brush’s length has shrunk down from 3/4 inch to 3/16 inch (whichever happens first). Whenever you install a new brush, it’s extremely important to remember they must stay straight and go in completely, even if this requires you to hold them in until the connector is secure.
