I finished connecting the central vacuum piping and wiring today. Even with all the parts I had ordered, I ran out of pipe and 90 degree sweep elbows so had to wait two days for Amazon to deliver more. I bought two more packages of 5 elbows and another package of 5 pipes.
First I worked on cutting and fitting most of the piping for the inlets. The piping to the unit itself and the first vacpan inlet was already cut and fitted before the ventilation system install. So the big challenge was running the pipe in the narrow garage attic area that all the electrical wiring also goes through. This is a narrow passage made even more narrow by the shaft for the ductwork in the family room. It was a bit of a squeeze to get my hips around the metal and into the space but I did it more than once to get the pipe cut and glued. The area was so awkward that I spilled about half of the can of glue and had to buy more to finish.
Garage Attic Connection
It is difficult to take a very informative photo of the connections. The camera focuses on just a small area or the piping is lost in busyness of wiring and other systems. The piping to the living area inlet runs through the living area ventilation shaft.
Piping to living area inlet
Then it goes down the wall between the master bedroom and the living area hallway.
Powered inlet for living area
I later added a sweep tee here to continue the piping to the hall closet.
Pipe to crawlspace
I used a double inlet pipe for the kitchen vacpan and the family room powered inlet. These join the main pipe above the ventilation ductwork on the way to the living area piping.
Double inlet piping
There is an inlet between the double and the living area through a sweep tee that goes to the utility room. It runs through the ventilation attic and through the dead space between the back of the shower and the washer and dryer.
Piping to utility room inlet
I had the piping glued and the wiring run for all the inlets except one before the extra pipe and elbows arrived. These were for the final inlet in the upper bedroom hall closet. Finding the wall space from under the house was difficult. I used a long drill bit to drill through the drywall at a slight angle into the wall. Then I had to find the drill bit under the house. With a little knocking and running the drill help from Dave, I was able to locate the drill bit and use the 2″ hole saw to create the hole into the wall above. It almost seemed like a miracle that the hole ended up in the right spot.
Drilling the closet floor into the wall plate
The pipe runs through the wall from the living area inlet under the stairs to the upper bedrooms and over to the hall closet.
Piping in the crawlspace
After crawling around under the house most of the day, I was finally able to test the system. I found one inlet that I had not glued all the way. It was LOUD where the leak was in the family room inlet so it was easy to find. I’m going to check the rest of the piping while it is running to see if there are any smaller leaks.
I also had an issue with the wiring which I will explain in another post.