reactor
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General Electric Central Vac
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Beam DID make these for GE. I have one complete and unused with hose and tools! Great tools set, btw! Greg
I remember seeing these at Homerama in the total GE homes - kitchen, laundry, HVAC, intercom, central vacuum, and power panelboards. Many times they were sold and installed by the GE heating and air conditioning dealers. This would have been in the late 60's and 70's.
panasonicvac
Well-known member
Even though I'm not personally a big fan of the filtration setup on these, they're still cool looking units!
Not to be snarky, but
What is important about the filtration on these when they exhaust to the outside? I have a Beam-made vac like it and love it.
What is important about the filtration on these when they exhaust to the outside? I have a Beam-made vac like it and love it.
panasonicvac
Well-known member
Hi there Tom,
Basically my biggest complaint about the filtration on these is when you do maintenance. Beam claims that these filters "Self Clean" itself when you shut the unit off. But that is usually not the case. Some dirt will fall off from the filter but most would clog it up. Beam recommends to clean the filter after each time you empty the canister. And to do that is you simply wrap a trash bag around the bottom of the unit to shake the filter out. I'm sure you probably already know this stuff. But the bottom line here is that it's just such a mess to empty and clean the filter out. I've serviced a TON of these type of units and we even own a Beam in our house, it's just in my opinion unpleasant to maintain. Not to mention that dust can leak out from outside of the filter ring and get into the motor housing causing it to shorten the life of the motor and other electrical components, this is one of the reasons why I highly recommend to vent a Beam type unit outside. Personally, I much prefer to have a central vac that uses bags, a dual motor top of the line SilentMaster unit from MD Manufacturing is what I would love to have cause it's overall one of the best vacuum cleaners that I've ever used.
Basically my biggest complaint about the filtration on these is when you do maintenance. Beam claims that these filters "Self Clean" itself when you shut the unit off. But that is usually not the case. Some dirt will fall off from the filter but most would clog it up. Beam recommends to clean the filter after each time you empty the canister. And to do that is you simply wrap a trash bag around the bottom of the unit to shake the filter out. I'm sure you probably already know this stuff. But the bottom line here is that it's just such a mess to empty and clean the filter out. I've serviced a TON of these type of units and we even own a Beam in our house, it's just in my opinion unpleasant to maintain. Not to mention that dust can leak out from outside of the filter ring and get into the motor housing causing it to shorten the life of the motor and other electrical components, this is one of the reasons why I highly recommend to vent a Beam type unit outside. Personally, I much prefer to have a central vac that uses bags, a dual motor top of the line SilentMaster unit from MD Manufacturing is what I would love to have cause it's overall one of the best vacuum cleaners that I've ever used.
norgeway
Well-known member
I would trade practically
Anything i own for one complete, THATS my idea of a real central.
Anything i own for one complete, THATS my idea of a real central.
Thank you, mucho!
So if I use my shop vac to clean the thing that collapses down to shed the dirt, that should work?
Would the Silent Master S560r be a ready replacement for my Beam?
So if I use my shop vac to clean the thing that collapses down to shed the dirt, that should work?
Would the Silent Master S560r be a ready replacement for my Beam?
panasonicvac
Well-known member
Hi there again Tom,
Yes you can use your Shop Vac to clean the filter out, I would suggest doing so by removing the filter out from the unit. It would be more messier to do and it won't get all of dust out but at least though it would get the filter more cleaner. You can also air compress the filter out as well, I would also suggest doing so by removing the filter out from the unit. Not what I personally would recommend to do but at least it would do a better job than the Shop Vac (I would first clean it out with the Shop Vac and then finish it off with the air compressor). Just make sure though you blow it out until you don't see anymore dust coming out of there. And the last option you could do but this one is a risk, you could hand wash the filter outside with a garden hose. Just make sure though you hand wash it delicately and you air dry it outside in the sun. That should get almost everything out of the filter. But NEVER wash the filter in the washing machine! That was a mistake I had done to our Eureka central vac we also have, not only the bean bag sack fell out of the filter but also water got inside the bean bag sack and rusted the metal beads that are inside it. I don't know how old your filter is on your Beam but I know for sure that our original filter from our Beam luckily didn't had a bean bag sack inside the filter and the beads were aluminum so there was no way that ours could've rusted if we had hand washed it. But I still think that it's a risk to do.
Anyways, the S560r is an awesome unit. I would highly recommend it. But what you might like better though is either the Flo-Master F650t or the F700t. Both of those units are more powerful than the SilentMaster. Or what I would really consider looking into is the Modern Day M715h. It would clean circles around the SilentMaster and both of the Flo-Masters.
Yes you can use your Shop Vac to clean the filter out, I would suggest doing so by removing the filter out from the unit. It would be more messier to do and it won't get all of dust out but at least though it would get the filter more cleaner. You can also air compress the filter out as well, I would also suggest doing so by removing the filter out from the unit. Not what I personally would recommend to do but at least it would do a better job than the Shop Vac (I would first clean it out with the Shop Vac and then finish it off with the air compressor). Just make sure though you blow it out until you don't see anymore dust coming out of there. And the last option you could do but this one is a risk, you could hand wash the filter outside with a garden hose. Just make sure though you hand wash it delicately and you air dry it outside in the sun. That should get almost everything out of the filter. But NEVER wash the filter in the washing machine! That was a mistake I had done to our Eureka central vac we also have, not only the bean bag sack fell out of the filter but also water got inside the bean bag sack and rusted the metal beads that are inside it. I don't know how old your filter is on your Beam but I know for sure that our original filter from our Beam luckily didn't had a bean bag sack inside the filter and the beads were aluminum so there was no way that ours could've rusted if we had hand washed it. But I still think that it's a risk to do.
Anyways, the S560r is an awesome unit. I would highly recommend it. But what you might like better though is either the Flo-Master F650t or the F700t. Both of those units are more powerful than the SilentMaster. Or what I would really consider looking into is the Modern Day M715h. It would clean circles around the SilentMaster and both of the Flo-Masters.
reactor
Well-known member
messy inverted bags
Agreed, Alex.
The inverted bags are messy and the dirt never totally sheds off of them (in my experience) as the manufacturer claims. I have had a Eureka and a Broan, and installed a Beam in my parent's home, all with inverted bag, cloth filters.
I have had two Nutone's with bags. Very easy (and sanitary) to empty. But... the bags are expensive. The downside is the only time you have full suction is the first time you turn it on with an empty bag. But the suction generally falls of slowly, unless vacuuming something fine up such as plaster dust or flour, then it clogs rapidly. However, I would rather have suction weaken with use than go back to the mess of cleaning the inverted bag cloth filter.
Better yet, were my VacuFlo true "cyclonic" vacs. No filter and no bags. Just empty the container outdoors (while holding your breathe) and you're done. I occasionally washed the container out with the garden hose.
Best of all worlds are the newer Cyclonic Vacu-Maid central vacs models. My dream machine to own day own.
They offer some pure cyclonic models, but they differ from the VacuFlo units in that they use plastic trash bags in the container.
Vacu-Maid has patented the use of "air channels" to keep the bag from flopping around in the container due to air flow (which is why you can't use trash bags in other central vacs).
When it's time to empty, just drop the container, lift out the plastic bag. No filters to ever clean, no loss of suction with use, no dust clouds in emptying the container. A good setup. Cyclonic vacuums never lose suction with use. Suction when the container is full is the same as suction on day one of an empty container.
In cyclonics, when the air is spun in the machine at high speed, dirt is separated from the air and drops to the bottom of the container. About 98% of the dirt is separated. The remaining dirt laden air is exhausted to the outdoors..... never to be recirculated into the home.
When I moved recently, I got a new MD central vac off of Ebay (open box for very low price), it has the inverted bag cloth filter, but also comes with paper bags as the Nutone. It is not the bag on the top unit, like the MD Silent Master, but the conventional bottom fill bag like Nutone. I suspect the inverted filter bag will rarely if ever need cleaning.
Cyclonics are my favorite, but the price was so good on this MD unit (which are very high quality, and this model has very good sealed suction and CFM ratings) that I couldn't pass it up. Hope to get it installed in a few months.
Agreed, Alex.
The inverted bags are messy and the dirt never totally sheds off of them (in my experience) as the manufacturer claims. I have had a Eureka and a Broan, and installed a Beam in my parent's home, all with inverted bag, cloth filters.
I have had two Nutone's with bags. Very easy (and sanitary) to empty. But... the bags are expensive. The downside is the only time you have full suction is the first time you turn it on with an empty bag. But the suction generally falls of slowly, unless vacuuming something fine up such as plaster dust or flour, then it clogs rapidly. However, I would rather have suction weaken with use than go back to the mess of cleaning the inverted bag cloth filter.
Better yet, were my VacuFlo true "cyclonic" vacs. No filter and no bags. Just empty the container outdoors (while holding your breathe) and you're done. I occasionally washed the container out with the garden hose.
Best of all worlds are the newer Cyclonic Vacu-Maid central vacs models. My dream machine to own day own.
They offer some pure cyclonic models, but they differ from the VacuFlo units in that they use plastic trash bags in the container.
Vacu-Maid has patented the use of "air channels" to keep the bag from flopping around in the container due to air flow (which is why you can't use trash bags in other central vacs).
When it's time to empty, just drop the container, lift out the plastic bag. No filters to ever clean, no loss of suction with use, no dust clouds in emptying the container. A good setup. Cyclonic vacuums never lose suction with use. Suction when the container is full is the same as suction on day one of an empty container.
In cyclonics, when the air is spun in the machine at high speed, dirt is separated from the air and drops to the bottom of the container. About 98% of the dirt is separated. The remaining dirt laden air is exhausted to the outdoors..... never to be recirculated into the home.
When I moved recently, I got a new MD central vac off of Ebay (open box for very low price), it has the inverted bag cloth filter, but also comes with paper bags as the Nutone. It is not the bag on the top unit, like the MD Silent Master, but the conventional bottom fill bag like Nutone. I suspect the inverted filter bag will rarely if ever need cleaning.
Cyclonics are my favorite, but the price was so good on this MD unit (which are very high quality, and this model has very good sealed suction and CFM ratings) that I couldn't pass it up. Hope to get it installed in a few months.
panasonicvac
Well-known member
Hi Barry,
Actually since then, there are some central vac bags out there that are now cloth instead of paper. It reduces the clogging and they can hold more dirt in them. I personally wouldn't want to use paper on mine. More expensive but I think at the end of the day they're worth grabbing.
I like true cyclonic units, they would be my next option to get if I were to pass on a bagged unit (Hopefully not though). But personally, I prefer Vacuflo's true cyclonic units over Vacumaid's. I find that Vacuflo's cyclonic separation doesn't clog the screen nearly as much as Vacumaid's. Especially on the newer Vacumaids that uses the plastic liner bags (I don't agree that they never lose suction power). Here's a video from a Vacumaid P-350P which has since been discontinued, this is a good reason why these wouldn't be my first choice to get. I still like them overall but I'm going to stick with bags.
Actually since then, there are some central vac bags out there that are now cloth instead of paper. It reduces the clogging and they can hold more dirt in them. I personally wouldn't want to use paper on mine. More expensive but I think at the end of the day they're worth grabbing.
I like true cyclonic units, they would be my next option to get if I were to pass on a bagged unit (Hopefully not though). But personally, I prefer Vacuflo's true cyclonic units over Vacumaid's. I find that Vacuflo's cyclonic separation doesn't clog the screen nearly as much as Vacumaid's. Especially on the newer Vacumaids that uses the plastic liner bags (I don't agree that they never lose suction power). Here's a video from a Vacumaid P-350P which has since been discontinued, this is a good reason why these wouldn't be my first choice to get. I still like them overall but I'm going to stick with bags.
reactor
Well-known member
Thsnks for the tip
Thanks for the tip about the cloth bags, Alex. I use the HEPA cloth bags on my Hoover Windtunnel and lke their filtration and sturdiness.
Didn't know they made them for central vacs. Good idea. When I had my Nutones, I was always reticent to vacuum up broken glass with the fear the glass I would tear tear the bag. With animals in the house, I had to be super careful to vacuum up every minute piece of glass shards so they wouldn't get their paws cut or ingest any glass.
With my VacuFlo's that was not an issue. So thanks for the tip. When I get the MD installed, I will certainly look into the fiber bags.
Interesting video about the Vacu-Maids. That was the two piece (canister) unit. I understand their one piece units are more like the VacuFlo with the traditional screen over the motor entrance. Maybe it wouldn't clog as much as their two canister design.
You are correct, the VacuFlo protective screen rarely needed cleaning. I parodically brushed it off with a cloth or paper towel. Normally not much was present on it.
No if the screen was clogged, I agree there would be suctions loss. In my case I never noticed any difference where the canister was freshly emptied or time to empty it.
But then again, to me "time to empty" was when the canister was between 1/3 and 1/2 full of dirt.. I never let it get higher than that, so that may be why I never had any change in suction.
I am anxious to see how the bagged MD works.
Thanks for the good info, Alex.
Thanks for the tip about the cloth bags, Alex. I use the HEPA cloth bags on my Hoover Windtunnel and lke their filtration and sturdiness.
Didn't know they made them for central vacs. Good idea. When I had my Nutones, I was always reticent to vacuum up broken glass with the fear the glass I would tear tear the bag. With animals in the house, I had to be super careful to vacuum up every minute piece of glass shards so they wouldn't get their paws cut or ingest any glass.
With my VacuFlo's that was not an issue. So thanks for the tip. When I get the MD installed, I will certainly look into the fiber bags.
Interesting video about the Vacu-Maids. That was the two piece (canister) unit. I understand their one piece units are more like the VacuFlo with the traditional screen over the motor entrance. Maybe it wouldn't clog as much as their two canister design.
You are correct, the VacuFlo protective screen rarely needed cleaning. I parodically brushed it off with a cloth or paper towel. Normally not much was present on it.
No if the screen was clogged, I agree there would be suctions loss. In my case I never noticed any difference where the canister was freshly emptied or time to empty it.
But then again, to me "time to empty" was when the canister was between 1/3 and 1/2 full of dirt.. I never let it get higher than that, so that may be why I never had any change in suction.
I am anxious to see how the bagged MD works.
Thanks for the good info, Alex.
panasonicvac
Well-known member
No problem Barry,
I would definitely recommend looking into these bags from MD Manufacturing for your AirMaster unit, they're basically almost the same size but just a couple bucks more.
https://builtinvacuum.com/product/3-pack-uv-1-closed-microfilter-bags/?c=bags-filters&s=paper
Yeah I would always recommend to empty the bin out before it reaches to the full line. Otherwise there would definitely be a greater chance of clogging your system and reducing the life of your machine. Not just with cyclonic systems but also with bagged machines as well. Except if they are using cloth bags of course, I could pack those like a sack of flour.
To be quite honest, I've seen Vacumaid's screens on their single units clog up probably just as bad as their split units. Even with my relative's Vacumaid P-125 single unit that they have, I would find there's stuff up in the screen almost every time that I would clean their house with an empty canister. I'm not sure if A.C.V.'s (All Canada Vac) cyclonic units were as bad as Vacumaid's or not, they're basically the Canadian rival of Vacumaid that was sold here in the states a while back. And I don't know how good Cyclovac's true cyclonic units are. Those are the only other two companies that I'm aware of with the same cyclonic filtration setup as of today.
I would definitely recommend looking into these bags from MD Manufacturing for your AirMaster unit, they're basically almost the same size but just a couple bucks more.
https://builtinvacuum.com/product/3-pack-uv-1-closed-microfilter-bags/?c=bags-filters&s=paper
Yeah I would always recommend to empty the bin out before it reaches to the full line. Otherwise there would definitely be a greater chance of clogging your system and reducing the life of your machine. Not just with cyclonic systems but also with bagged machines as well. Except if they are using cloth bags of course, I could pack those like a sack of flour.
To be quite honest, I've seen Vacumaid's screens on their single units clog up probably just as bad as their split units. Even with my relative's Vacumaid P-125 single unit that they have, I would find there's stuff up in the screen almost every time that I would clean their house with an empty canister. I'm not sure if A.C.V.'s (All Canada Vac) cyclonic units were as bad as Vacumaid's or not, they're basically the Canadian rival of Vacumaid that was sold here in the states a while back. And I don't know how good Cyclovac's true cyclonic units are. Those are the only other two companies that I'm aware of with the same cyclonic filtration setup as of today.
vacerator
Well-known member
Most dual motor
power units have a second external motor. My Hoover bagless cyclonic has a single motor top mounted. it's a bypass motor so no dust gets through to the internal brushes or windings. Any dust inside the top of the canister motor area is blown out by the cooling fan.
power units have a second external motor. My Hoover bagless cyclonic has a single motor top mounted. it's a bypass motor so no dust gets through to the internal brushes or windings. Any dust inside the top of the canister motor area is blown out by the cooling fan.
NO bagless central units for me!!TOO MESSY The thought of dumping several gallons of dirt is disgusting and unhealthy.BAGGED all the way-with modern spun weave synthetic bags you can indeed pack them like the bag of flour.I have just one baglees Beam unit in my collection got for cheap from the trade in pile at the local MD dealer.Its weighted drop filter needed a good vacuuming with my NSS M1.-THE PIG!!
