I think the hide-a-hose is a neat idea. Unfortunately it wasn't available when I originally had mine installed in the 90's. I assume you are worried about the loss of suction by having the extra hose. Do you have to pull all the hose out of the wall or only what you need? Have you talked with any dealer about your concerns?

One way to determine if two outlets will work is to take a hose, of the same length, and see if you can actually reach all the areas. Pretend like your cleaning.

One suggestion I would make on your garage is to have an outlet towards the front of the garage. I have two outlets in my 3 car garage. One in the back and one in the front. We vac all the cars while they are sitting outside. It's just too hard to get around the doors of the autos while they are sitting in the garage. With my large SUV it takes pretty much all the hose to get around and vac out the back. Also with the RV I actually hook two hoses together to clean it out. Even with basically 50 feet of hose it still does an excellent job.

Hi Brady! I have a Hide-a-Hose thanks to the Building a Home Forum! You simply must go over there and read all about it. I will be surprised if you are not sold - I was!

We have had our Hide-A-Hose for about 18 months now and we *love* this thing! I'll try to answer your questions:

1) I used to have a central vac with a hose that you had to carry around. Hated it! I actually preferred using a canister vac to that thing. The HaH is not the same at all. As others will tell you, when you pull the hose out - pull it all out, because even though you only intended to get those crumbs off the kitchen floor, once you are moving you just keep going. This hose weighs next to nothing when deployed and you don't even think about it as you move from room to room.

2) Correct! No coil tendencies at all. I have 2 outlets - one is 50 feet and the other is 55. We have a 3300 sq ft single story and the hoses are on opposite ends of the house - just where I wanted them! I have quite a bit of overlap with these lengths - which is great!

3) The number of inlets is not important as you probably would not be using them simultaneously. Although I "could" use both of mine at the same time, the suction would defiantly be compromised, so I never do. In addition to the 3 inlets you mentioned - lots of people have even more! Have you heard of the vac-pan or Vroom? I don't have either of these, but I have been considering them in certain areas of our home.

My husband is very handy and installed our system. I don't know if you are a DIY type or not, but if you are, you can save a lot of money installing it yourself. This too is discussed on the Building a Home forum.

We purchased everything form Central Vacuum Stores out of Florida (we are in CA). They are wonderful to work with! Many people on the Building a Home Forum have used them - they are highly respected and recommended over there. We purchased a Imperium Power Unit.

I hope this helps. Below is a link to several thread on the HaH. :-)

Jeri

Here is a link that might be useful: HaH Search

Thank you housefairy and jeri. Based on your information, I'm going with Hide-A-Hose. I talked to the local contractor here in San Francisco Bay Area and he also told me I won't be disappointed. Since I'm building a brand new single story house, installation will be a snap. Ingenious idea of putting an outlet in the front and back of the garage!

Which brand unit are you going with ? I am going with hide a hose also!!

I don't have a hide a hose, but I do have a whole house vac system and I prefer a reg vacuum, than dragging that hose around. Also with a hose and I get interrupted, there it lays or you have to put it away and get it out again! A very expensive mistake when we had this house built.

EmmaR - It really is like comparing apples to oranges with the HaH; IâÂÂve lived with both and hated the central vac without the HaH, but I would not live without a HaH if I had a choice.

To retract the hose, you simply hold your hand over the mouth and the suction pulls it back into the wall. This takes no time at all and even a child could do it.

So funny to open this thread and see that I had responded back in 2011! Everything I said then still holds true - I love my HaH.

Mom2Boyss - as I mentioned above, I have an âÂÂImperium Power Unitâ purchased from Central Vacuum Stores. They are great to work with, donâÂÂt hesitate to give them a call.

Jeri