OT - Whole House Vacuum cleaning?

[Russ Filtz]

My house vacuum is acting like it's clogged or the motor is putting out lower power. I tried using a long pipe snake to clean it out from the various outlets, but it's still not sucking right. Do the motors crap out over time (house is about 10-yr old), or is more likely a clog? Any better way to clean it out, or hire a service?

[Wayne Cease]

All of the outlets are not pulling a good vacuum?

Have you tried hooking up directly to the unit (if that unit has a direct connect)?

One potential problem could be a leak in the system. We had that problem with ours when someone stepped on one of the pipes in the attic and cracked it (new house).

[Russ Filtz]

It seems like it pulls OK from the unit, so I think it must be a clog (I've got 2 toddlers in the house). None of the pipes are exposed, so I don't think it's a leak unless a joint gave way. I'd hate to cut into the line to investigate.

[Peter Stahl]

My house vacuum is acting like it's clogged or the motor is putting out lower power. I tried using a long pipe snake to clean it out from the various outlets, but it's still not sucking right. Do the motors crap out over time (house is about 10-yr old), or is more likely a clog? Any better way to clean it out, or hire a service?

Did you pull anything out using the snake? My brother had one He thought had a clog, found out He had a outlet in the garage that had been opened by a box someone put on the shelf. He didn't even remember there being a vac outlet there. Disconnct the vac from the line to see what kind of suction you have. You could try and disconnect at the vacuum and use a shop vac's exhaust to blow from that end to see if you could blow the plug out or use the shop vac and use suction at each outlet.

Pete

[Russ Filtz]

The snake went in pretty far with no apparent obstacles (may be 25-50' worth, can't remember how long the snake is). Nothing got pulled out, but I did see a foam rubber golf ball in the vacuum hopper! None of the other outlets can be open as they are all switched and would turn on the vacuum.

I also snaked from the vacuum end, so the plug, if it's there, must be out of reach from the ends. The only accessible pipe is the first 20-30' from vacuum in the basement, the rest are in finished walls.

[Lee Schierer]

Open each outlet and suck in something! I would suggest a piece of cloth about 24" long and 2" wide. Check each inlet in order and see if the cloth makes it to the dust bin. If it does, chances are you don't have a clog. You may still have a leak in the system.

Incidently, 50' long runs seem a bit excssive. My system installation instructions warned to keep runs short. All of mine are less than 30'.