DRV whole house vacuum system

OneReallyOldGuy · 04-15-2018, 07:06 PM

Just ordered our DRV 39DBRS3 a few weeks ago and got to thinking about the whole house vacuum system as I drug the old canister vac around my sticks and bricks house.
What can I expect with this system? Does it have a power head for carpet, where does it hook up, how long and cumbersome is the hose, how often and how convenient is it to empty, etc. All I remember is the toe kick to suck up what you’ve swept up.
Thanks
Phil

**wingnut60** · 04-15-2018, 07:21 PM

Our experience is--the toe kick receptacle is the only thing that works decent. The rest of the vac/hose/suction is basically a waste of money, and the vac unit is in the way of accessing some items in the basement.
We got a Dyson cordless 2 years ago--it runs circles around the factory vac.

Notanlines · 04-15-2018, 09:01 PM

Some truth to what Wingnut said. The toe kick works great....the rest just so-so. We keep ours under the bed. We already haul enough stuff so we didn't add more with another vacuum cleaner.

Mtntrek · 04-16-2018, 02:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OneReallyOldGuy

Just ordered our DRV 39DBRS3 a few weeks ago and got to thinking about the whole house vacuum system as I drug the old canister vac around my sticks and bricks house.
What can I expect with this system? Does it have a power head for carpet, where does it hook up, how long and cumbersome is the hose, how often and how convenient is it to empty, etc. All I remember is the toe kick to suck up what you’ve swept up.
Thanks
Phil

X3, think we'd agree also. Toe-kick is handy but so might sweeping dust out the door? A xxxxx-stick vac is easier. We also have a compact wetvac.
BTW: our central only has a plugin socket midway in the control cabinet. Another in the basement on the unit itself. It's not convenient to access / empty with much in the basement. It's behind the sliding bulkhead doors.

OneReallyOldGuy · 04-16-2018, 08:05 AM

Thanks guys, I’ve got one of those Dyson cordless vacs for quick cleaning around the house. Looks like that’s one more thing to find a home for in our new fifth wheel. Guess I’ll call the dealer and see if the whole house vac can be deleted from the build and how much it would save me.
Phil

**wingnut60** · 04-16-2018, 08:46 AM

Generally, deleting an 'option' doesn't save near what it lists for. The vac is standard on many upper line models and leaving it out just doesn't make economic sense.
I had to take the actual vac unit out of my basement to access the transfer switch to the gen.

Notanlines · 04-16-2018, 08:54 AM

OldGuy, if you built a new house but you and your SO never used a fireplace would you leave that off the build? Certainly not because it is expected to be there when you sell. A DRV is expected to have a certain level of options. Central vacuum is one of them.

**wingnut60** · 04-16-2018, 09:31 AM

Agree to a point--but an experienced RVer would know about the uselessness of the vac system, would not be a deal-breaker in any RV I looked at.
Again, as I mentioned, DRV places the unit at the very front of the utility area of the basement, and has to be moved to access items buried behind it. Between that and the plumbing manifold, gets complicated to work behind them.
But, in the real world, it is an expected item always listed in the marketing info.

porkchop · 04-16-2018, 10:48 AM

I agree as the the usefulness (or not) of the built in unit and I also think for the money you would save I would just leave it. We have a Shark Rocket that we generally use and it works great.

Bill

porthole · 04-16-2018, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OneReallyOldGuy

Just ordered our DRV 39DBRS3 a few weeks ago and got to thinking about the whole house vacuum system as I drug the old canister vac around my sticks and bricks house.
What can I expect with this system? Does it have a power head for carpet, where does it hook up, how long and cumbersome is the hose, how often and how convenient is it to empty, etc. All I remember is the toe kick to suck up what you’ve swept up.
Thanks
Phil

We have a 39DBRS3 on order as well, should be out of paint any day now.

I put a central vac in our house, 2200 sq ft ranch, so it wasn't a difficult install. At any given time we have had one or two Golden Retrievers, a blue and gold Macaw and a pair of cats (and for 10 years all 5).
Flat out was the best upgrade I did to the house. But, i doubled the recommended size of the unit and almost doubled the number of vac ports.

When I ordered our current trailer (May 2009) I added the central vac option. Although my wife doesn't care for it, I use it about half the time over a dyson cordless.

I like it, so I added it to our DRV order. In 6 months or so I'll know if it was wasted coins or something that I will get value out of.

I don't know how I will like the DRV mounting method, we'll see. On our Cyclone the unit was mounted in almost the area.

Some of the changes I made included relocating the basement port to be right next to the baggage door. I don't know who comes up with the idea to put those ports in the middle of the basement.

I also added a central vac muffler, which took out some of the high pitched noise and lastly I plumbed the exhaust to one of those central vac flapper ports to the outside wall, all exhaust goes outside the trailer. No sense having all that exhaust and dust stirring-blowing around the trailer. Did the same thing on our house system.

You can really appreciate the exhaust vented outside the first time you vacuum up a live stink bug.

missourijan · 04-16-2018, 06:50 PM

Well, I'm going to be the lone ranger here. We have the built in vacuum and really like it. Yes, the toe kick thingy is great but the vacuum itself works great and I only have to store the hose and attachments. Yes, it has a carpet attachment and works well but we tore out most of our carpet and have vinyl tiles. We just have carpet on the slides and under the bed.

Cummins12V98 · 04-17-2018, 11:39 AM

Bag the central vac and buy a DYSON!!!

porthole · 04-17-2018, 12:23 PM

Chocolate and vanilla .....

We have a dyson and the yellow jacket central vac and I use them both. They both serve a purpose. I use the central mostly like a shop vac, in the garage (we currently have a toy hauler) or in the basement and I also like having it for vacuuming the truck out after a 1000 miles of two Golden Retriever's shedding their fur.

And which dyson are you going to buy? Did you know they are now up to V10 ($700 for top V10 model)?

steadfast · 04-17-2018, 01:02 PM

We too deleted the central vac in favor of the Dyson stick vac. We ordered an additional outlet in the closet to recharge the Dyson. The Dyson works great and the space left from the deleted central vac leaves more room to install the electric Cheap Heat (another great option).

OneReallyOldGuy · 04-17-2018, 03:29 PM

We already have a Dyson stick vac. I’ll just have to find a place to mount it.

**wingnut60** · 04-17-2018, 03:53 PM

Ours is in the front closet--already had an outlet close by.

porthole · 04-17-2018, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OneReallyOldGuy

We already have a Dyson stick vac. I’ll just have to find a place to mount it.

A few years ago our local 'hometown' Lowes had a close out on one of the older models, picked up two for $75 each.

One is still in the box in our basement and the other has gotten quite a bit of use in the camper. I'm hoping there is an outlet already in the closet for - I didn't think about that when ordering.

clev · 04-25-2018, 09:14 PM

I had installed a new central vac in my trailer just before I sold it and ordered the DRV, so pulled it with hopes of selling it. Instead, I installed it in the corner under the bed, tapping into the junction box for power. It worked better having 2, instead of pulling the big hose from the power center to the front. We also purchased a hollow/storage footstool and stored the hose and all accessories there for the main unit, and the bedroom stuff went in one of the drawers..........Then we discovered Dyson! I bought the Dyson V8 Absolute and both of us love it. I ordered a second wall mount/charger and after moving the ME-RC up to the top of the power center cabinet, installed it just below it. So, all the hoses, attachments, pipes, have been removed. We absolutely love the Dyson Absolute. Anyone want to buy two central vac units?

porthole · 04-26-2018, 09:47 AM

So my spare new Dyson in the basement is in service .....
Prepping to leave on our first trip of the season 2 days ago I found our trailer Dyson DOA. Old-new put to work.

Dyson has so many models now, and they are all pricey. The newest 10 looks like a true corded replacement, but until we actually get to pick one up and see how ergonomic the new style is, I’ll be using our ‘Digital Slim 2’, and hopefully the central vac ordered in the new rig will still be something I use.

clev · 04-26-2018, 09:53 AM

Good luck on your trip, Duane.