I have often thought that was a good idea in our three level home, but so far, I’ve always had my kids to do the task of hauling my machine (a wonderful Kirby we bought refurbished almost 20 years ago) to the different levels. LOL! We will be empty nesters soon, and I may eventually do just what you suggest if we stay in this house longer than anticipated.

I have a hide a hose (4 hose units) central vac system that is used for the hard floors which is most of our 2 story house except for 3 secondary bedrooms. I keep the central vac vacumn head in the downstairs bedroom closet and a shark vacumn upstairs for the other two bedrooms and area rugs. Works well for us. I don’t find it wasteful. You might want to trade off the cost and storage of a second central vac set with a second vacumn. I also recently bought a Dyson cordless to keep downstairs for quick clean ups between major cleanings. I wish I had done that years ago!

We have a central vacuum system and bought a hose and accessories for each level of our home; main, upstairs and basement.

Yea I have a hybrid system in my home with regular outlets throughout and a hide a hose system on the main level. However, the battery powerhead for the main level broke beyond repair. We have regular tool set with powerhead on the bedroom level for the wall to wall carpeting.

I can either spend $400 on a replacement battery head for the hide a hose (Turbocat won't cut it) or buy a stand-alone machine for the main level and just use the hide a hose feature for the hardwoods/furniture. For those of you with multiple machines, which brands/models do you use?

I have a dyson cordless vac...love it!

I have two vacuums. One on my main level and one downstairs. Shark Apex Uplight and Shark Rotator. My main level is all hardwoods, one area rug and tile in the master bath. Downstairs is carpet and tile. I have the Uplight for the main level and Rotator for the downstairs.

I did as Diane above. I have a hose and power head on each floor for my central vac. Those hoses are too darn heavy to drag up and down the stairs.

One level house that is kind of sprawled out ;0)....I keep a vacuum at each end. No central vac installed. I have an Oreck at the end that is office, laundry, kitchen, guest bedroom and bath, and a second Oreck at the far end of the house that is the master. With the dining and living rooms in the middle, they are vacuumed with whichever one happens to be out that day. Two of my SILs have been very happy with their Dyson cordless, but I have no complaints about my lightweight Oreck and one of those is more than 15 years old (I do change belts annually but not much else)

I have a Hide-a-Hose system on all 3 levels of our house but I also have a dyson cordless on each level as well. I prefer to think of it as convenient, rather than wasteful, since my husband and kids are 100 times more likely to pick up the dyson than use the HaH. In your situation, this may not work because there is only limited time on the battery charge for your housecleaner and she may not be able to clean the whole level before the battery dies.

P.S. I agree that sharing a bagless vacuum among different households may not be the best thing to do during COVID-19.

Thanks! I have the Dyson V11 cordless too and DH will reach for that 100x before he touches the hide a hose or regular central vac hose. Whatever works I suppose. Still on the fence of whether I'll just buy a second tool set or separate vac. You all have given me a lot of food for thought!

A tip regarding the Dyson cordless vacuum.......Do not put back on charger right after using. The battery will charge less and less until it dies (less than a year). Wait a few hours after it has cooled to plug back in. I learned the hard way and had to have the battery replaced. The Dyson tech advised the above.

I have a dyson cordless for the hardwood floors, and an Oreck for the carpets. We also have an older central vac which is very heavy and clumsy, I hate it and never use it.

I've got 3 Aerus upright vacuums - one on each floor. I LOVE them. I actually had 4, but I gave one to my daughter. They're not cheap, but the oldest on I have is going on 30+ years.

Thanks! My parents had an Aerus (Electrolux) upright for a very long time. It was a nice, straightforward machine to use from what I remember.

Not Electrolux anymore but yes - great vacuum - actually for some reason the commercial upright is cheaper than the regular one, so that's what I get now. Great machines.

Miele Compact C1. It’s lightweight and powerful and comes with the best tools. You’ll never look back. I hated my Dyson Animal cordless bagless vac. I recently recommended the Miele to a friend who also has a central vac plus a cordless stick. She is so obsessed with the Miele that she vacuums everyday 😂😂😂

Dyson cordless stick - best vacuum I've ever had and I've had many including central and Miele.

I also have a Miele. I love it. I have a robovac that lives in our lower level and the Miele lives on our main floor.

Miele makes very nice vacuums with wonderful, thick bags. I have a Jazz upright that's about five years old and love how quiet it is and how it ramps up to speed instead of just going full blast when you turn it on.

OP here - I ended up getting an Oreck Magnesium RS upright for $200 at Wal-Mart. They were $700 when they were sold in Oreck stores and so far, it's amazing. It's lighter than my cordless Dyson and cleans really well! It's a little loud and takes bags but I'll take those drawbacks for this amount of power and lightweight.

@ MH. I'm glad you solved your dilemma.

I have a lightweight Oreck upright at my second home - don't recall the model. I thought it was the best choice for hauling up and down three floors. It works well but I've since discovered the Dyson stick so the Oreck now resides on the lower level - Dyson covers the main and upper floors and anything that involves attachments like sucking cat hair off the furniture.

IMO, having a vacuum on all floors is common sense ease-of-use. Get an Oreck. Best I've ever had, takes up little room, gets right up against walls without damage or need for a hose attachment & only 8 lbs. makes getting the job done quick and easy.

Thanks April, I got the Oreck Magnesium RS on sale for under $200 at Wal-Mart. It's almost $700 on the Oreck site so I'd say I got it for a steal.

That is a great deal! Hope you & your cleaning person like

I have the inexpensive Hoover that your cleaning lady has. The battery is not charging anymore. Could I ask the difference between the Oreck and the Dyson. I would like to purchase another vacuum too. I also have central vacuum. I hope you do not mind me asking this question on your posting.

No problem Jo. What do you need the second vacuum for? Regular cleaning or quick pick ups? We have a Dyson V11 cordless because it makes quick clean ups really easy. Despite claims, it's not quite a replacement for a regular vacuum which is why I got the Oreck. The Oreck is very lightweight but doesn't have tools on board so it would only be useful for the floors.

Thanks. I would like to use for quick clean ups of my kitchen ceramic tile and family room hardwood floor on the main level of the house. The upstairs is mainly carpet so I keep the central vacuum up there. But my central vacuum will not reach the end of one of the bedrooms so I would need this vacuum to clean abit of carpet too.

If that's the case Jo, go with the Dyson V11. It's powerful enough to handle smaller areas of carpeting and is better suited for quick clean ups. I also like that I can use it to clean my sofa of dog hair and crumbs which wouldn't work with the Oreck.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate your help. Take care.

I just read about the Dyson. There is one head that you use for carpets and hard floors. Do you find it works well on both? Have you had yours for awhile - just wondering about the battery and how long these machines last. Thanks again.

So we've had a V8 for about 4 years and that one did have a battery issue that was replaced just before the warranty expired. We got the V11 last year and no issues so far. I have never run out of power when I leave it set to Auto. I think Max will give about 15min but the only time I've ever used Max is on my wall to wall carpeted bedroom. Auto is perfectly fine and the suction auto adjusts when the cleaner head moves from hard floors to rugs. The V11's head is better in terms of being able to do both surfaces than the V8's carpet head. I had the fluffy head from my V8 and tried it on the V11 but I think the V11 is fine without it. Hope that makes sense.

Thanks so much for this very helpful information. Take care.

We have a Shark we purchased at Target. It has "headlights" that reveal all kinds of hidden bits- I'll never go back to one without lights! It is also easy on the back, rolls right along with a strong suction. Highly recommend, best of luck :)

Thanks Kelly. I will have a look at it too. Take care.