The Central Vacuum Information Hotspot.

Vacuflo has been one of the biggest names in home central vacuum systems for over 60 years...but they got into the field almost by accident! Harold Bishop and Paul Schumacher had set up a small manufacturing firm in Louisville, Ohio, originally out of a garage, to make sheet metal products like gas conversion burners, hospital cabinets, and boat trailers. In the early 1950s, another local businessman, who had purchased some equipment that he could not pay for, approached the brothers-in-law, and explained his predicament. Suddenly they found themselves in the tube-bending business, supplying the industrial vacuum market with a new product that made vacuum systems cheaper, faster, and more efficient to install. A short time after that, H-P Products brought the idea of a central vacuum system for the home back to life, debuting the Vacuflo system at the Chicago home builders' expo at McCormick Place in 1955. From that time, they grew a dealer network and continued to innovate, pioneering lightweight plastic tubing and fittings in the early 1960s, special motors specifically designed for central cleaning systems, Lexan inlet valves with provision for remote control on/off hoses, turbine power heads, compact dual motor power units in parallel and later in series for retractable hose applications, and many more products. While this video is not an exhaustive look at H-P's offerings through the years (and just barely glosses over their current product line), I think that this look at the history of the company and their developments in the vacuum field is worth sharing.

Since I had an assortment of Electrolux central vacuum power units and hose sets at hand, I wanted to share the similarities and differences as the product evolved through the past 30+ years. The power units as you will see have remained very similar. Electrolux/Aerus has only ever made one model at a time (first the 1580, then 1590, then several versions of the E130). The hose kits have always used the power nozzles and accessories from their canister vacuum cleaners, and I can't help but express my personal preference for the older style "pistol grip" hose setup vs the newer "gas pump" type that remains the standard to this day.