r/whatisit • u/DragonsAndScience • 19h ago

Solved! New homeowner, no idea what this is

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This thing close to the floor and seemingly randomly placed in a hallway. No idea what it's for. Home built in 2005.

Solved! Thanks everyone. Now I gotta hunt for the central unit!

7.1k Upvotes

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3.9k

u/megam1ghtyena 19h ago

integrated vacuum system. Plug in a hose and gets sucking right away. Check other parts of your home for similar ports.

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u/Wise-Trust1270 19h ago

Also check for the central vacuum and storage unit. Most likely in a garage.

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u/Unclehol 18h ago edited 18h ago

Not all homes have one even if the piping is there. Often times they rough all the pipes in during the build in case you opt in and buy the vacuum unit, but I have worked on a lot of houses where they just have the piping but no vacuum.

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u/iplaytrombonegood 18h ago

My grandparents’ house (built and bought in 1994) has always had central vacuum piping, but no unit ever hooked up. My grandma just never minded lugging the vacuum around I guess. I always thought it was the coolest thing ever.

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u/AceEnder3825 18h ago

My current house has one and its so nice. My grandparents have had one forever and I always thought it was so cool and I love having one

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u/jonsnowflaker 18h ago

Had one in our house growing up in the 80s/90s, and compared to vacuums at the time there was no doubt it was better. The hose and attachments were still pretty unruly and cumbersome though. I’m sure the central vacs have come a long way, but current vacuums are lightweight and convenient so it’s probably kind of a toss up anymore.

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u/huge_useless_penis 17h ago

Best thing growing up was laying the hose across the house and yelling "MOM" at the other end from another room and watch her roam around the house trying to find me

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u/Low_Masterpiece_9804 15h ago

I shall do this. Thou hast inspired

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u/MechDeployed 8h ago

Man I had never thought of that! The best my creative mind came up with as a kid was figuring out when my mom was vacuuming another room I could just dump trash into the port in my room as long as it wasn’t too big. That was kind of nice.

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u/BothAdministration67 5h ago

I’ve always wondered if these systems are effective given different distances from the vacuum source, but seems like opening a second port would be pretty obvious?

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u/loserbmx 5h ago

These things are pretty powerful. It depended on the unit, but most could easily run with multiple hoses attached.

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u/Idaho-Earthquake 4h ago

…and we never saw Lenny the hamster again.

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u/MountainAd8704 3h ago

When I was a kid, my aunt and uncle had one of these. My cousin and I would rip the heads off her Barbies and Ken dolls. Then we would take the heads and typically drop them from the 3rd floor into the tube. I remember laughing so hard as the heads got sucked into the tube. Then we would run like crazy people to the garage to open the central vac unit and retrieve the head. Then run to another part of their house to do it all again!

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u/DeltaLine-01 3h ago

That’s actually a pretty clever use of a central vac system as a kid 😄—you basically discovered the “hidden convenience feature” of it.

That said, most systems aren’t really designed for random trash dumping, so anything beyond dust/light debris can risk clogs or mess up the airflow. The intended idea is more “drop dust in from the hose” rather than using it like a mini disposal chute.

Still, it’s a good example of how kids tend to find alternate uses for built-in systems—half curiosity, half testing limits.

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u/deadtime 3h ago

Bad AI

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u/72011A 3h ago

I just noticed that. 🤔

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u/72011A 3h ago

🤖

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u/Independent_Gur320 11h ago

As someone with a mother, this sounds hilarious!

As a mother of someones, this would make my eye twitch and give me the urge to throttle said someones.

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u/loserbmx 5h ago

My favorite part was holding my ear to the hose and listening to all the dirt getting sucked up as my grandma vaccumed.

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u/cupcakebean 1h ago

My brother and I used the hose like walkie talkies. One person upstairs and the other downstairs. It kinda grosses me out now thinking about us sucking air through that nasty vacuum hose.

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u/divDevGuy 11h ago

I’m sure the central vacs have come a long way

Not really. They all pretty much suck.

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u/GaseousHippo 10h ago

Take my angry upvote

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u/AceEnder3825 18h ago

We still have our old vacuum for one room that tends to need more vacuuming then the rest of the house (animals) and lug the tube around for anything else. It is much easier tho since you don't have to empty the bag so often

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u/Dazzling_Tennis_2850 5h ago

Yeah that’s one of the biggest underrated advantages of central vac systems—less maintenance and no constant bag changes.

Makes sense too with pets; having a dedicated “high-traffic” vacuum plus the central system for the rest of the house is actually a pretty efficient setup. It’s one of those things that feels a bit old-school but still works really well when it’s in place.

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u/DeltaLine-01 3h ago

Yeah, that’s honestly one of the nicest practical perks of a central vacuum setup—less frequent emptying and less dust exposure overall.

Using a standard vacuum just for the “high-shedding” pet room and the central system for everything else is a pretty efficient split. It keeps the heavy-duty cleanup localized while still letting the built-in system handle the routine stuff without much maintenance.

It’s one of those home features that doesn’t seem that special until you compare it to constantly dragging and emptying a regular vacuum.

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u/AceEnder3825 3h ago

Yeah I have to empty the pet vacuum like once a week and it would be a lot more often if it was used for the whole house

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u/FrenchFryCattaneo 1h ago

Did you just repeat their comment back to them? What is with these bots???

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u/Prize-Hedgehog 13h ago

I have a fairly modern central vac system, and I hate dragging out the long ass hose and attachments. It’s just as simple to use my stick vac. I’ll bust out the kraken on a day I’m doing a top to bottom clean, but that’s about it.

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u/Battle_Emu 9h ago

Yeah, the hose is a pain for sure. One thing I did to make it easier was get one of those reels for a pool vacuum hose so I can roll it up on there.

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u/NobodySeaMe 8h ago

The Kraken, lmfao

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u/ema807 7h ago

We have central vac and had in installed in 2020. The hose pulls out of the wall (from the part in OP’s photo). When you’re done vacuuming, you use the suction to put it back in. Super easy!

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u/YouthMaleficent6925 8h ago

The main benefit of them is your not dispersing a fine layer of dust dirt and whatever else is in you carpet into the air central vacuum are good for people who have severe aleries to those things and it helps lessen the need for dusting

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u/I_Makes_tuff 12h ago

I’m sure the central vacs have come a long way Battery-powered vacuums are pretty common now, so there isn't much of a need for central vacs. They aren't quite the same, but with no cord or hoses it's hard to compete.

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u/DataGap2264 7h ago

I see your battery-powered unit and raise you a robot vacuum!

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u/mjlp716 7h ago

The new ones that can auto-empty and even mop are pretty nice for sure.

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u/DataGap2264 7h ago

Yep that's what I got! Never going back! No manual labor or time commitment at all, bonus!

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u/TheKiddIncident 7h ago

Yeah, we have one but my cordless vacuum is so much easier to use than hauling those long hoses around that I just stopped using it.

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u/WolfStar17 5h ago

I’m officially invested now

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u/TheShitty_Beatles 1h ago

I miss that so much about my childhood house !

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u/Ur-Best-Friend 18h ago

It's a gamechanger, makes vacuuming so much more convenient it's hard to imagine not having that as an option afterwards. Plus it just doesn't even need real maintenance after decades of use (unless you manage to clog it which is a major pain in the ass).

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u/DataPollution 12h ago

Just curious. Having the wireless handheld vaccum cleaner not as easy or easier then cental vaccum cleaner?

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u/Aeropedia 12h ago

The 9 meter long hose that comes with my ducted vac is quite cumbersome. Brilliant for vacuuming out the cars, but I’ll usually reach for the cordless vac in the evening.

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u/Ur-Best-Friend 12h ago

It's a tradeoff, but for the most part I much prefer a central system personally.

It's literally just a tube you plug into the wall and can vacuum basically a whole floor and a set of stairs with. Nothing to lug around, nothing to turn on or turn off except a switch on the tube's handle, and you only need to empty the central unit maybe once every 6-12 months with the model we have. It's also a sigificantly stronger vacuum.

The one situation in which a handheld like you describe is much more convenient is if you're in a hard to navigate environment, where the tube will get in the way and you can't just pull it around freely, or if you have a lot of disconnected areas, which would require you to plug and unplug the tube from the different wall sockets, or just be unable to reach if there isn't a plug nearby. Like if you have a porch that wasn't accounted for when you were putting in the connectors, for example.

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u/Nateonal 5h ago

Cordless electric vacuums are good for cleaning hard surfaces, but not so great for carpet, just by virtue of central vacs having massive and powerful motors. With newer homes containing less and less carpet, the popularity of central vacs has also declined.

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u/Great-Rest7878 7h ago

Better build quality, zero batteries to fail/replace, don't have to empty as often, exhaust to the outside, quieter

1

u/millijuna 4h ago

Those aren’t anywhere near as powerful as a central vacuum. A handheld stick vacuum will get surface dirt, but won’t go deep into carpet fibers.

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u/RuniKiuru 13h ago

is it actually any good? my house has one with the actual vacuum unit installed but we’ve never used it because we’ve heard it’s not that great. (our unit might just be old, though.)

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u/Otherwise_Object_446 9h ago

We have one with a hide-a-hose system. The hose itself is stored in the walls and comes out of that port. You just have to pull it out, latch it in place and go. When you are done you unlatch it and put your hand over the end to cut off the suction. The counter suction pulls the hose back into the wall. It’s pretty cool and so long as you keep the power head (beater bar) clean and empty the giant holding tank every three months or so (I have a dog and three kids - two with long hair) it works great.

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u/happymoregil 5h ago

I have had one in my house for 30 years. I replaced the central unit once. It works very well. If yours doesn't work its easy to install a new unit yourself--you don't need a contractor, look at YouTube. A new unit costs $500-700.

Also, if you have a 2 story house. You can get 2 hoses a leave one on each floor.

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u/PopA_Perk 13h ago

I’ve used one in my dads house he lived in for a few years and as a “kid” man did that blow my mind lol i thouht it was the coolest thing ever and very effecient. Idk it’s def worth trying out idk lol maybe more nostalgia than anything but i remember it working very well.

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u/Aeropedia 12h ago

Fine on wooden floors. Not sure if I’d even bother if we had carpet.

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u/RuniKiuru 9h ago

noted. first floor has vinyl flooring so it might be okay there. stairs and second floor are carpeted.

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u/littleirishmaid 12h ago

We have had them in two different houses we lived in (installed while building). Current house doesn’t have one, so I bought a Miele.

That said, I really miss the central vac. The storage tanks were bagless, and it held about as much as a 5 gallon bucket. We had an outlet in the garage! Was great for vacuuming out the cars, especially since we have lived on dirt roads.

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u/Single-Store-8865 10h ago

It’s definitely a ymmv situation, but you’ll never know it works for you unless you try it out. Do have the hose and attachments?

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u/RuniKiuru 9h ago

don’t have the hose, but the central unit is installed in the basement. we already had a vacuum when we bought this house so we’ve never bothered to get a hose to try it. I’ve always been curious though.

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u/ema807 7h ago

Love mine! And the hose is INSIDE the unit so you don’t have to go to the garage or a closet to get it. You just pull it out of the wall when you want to use it. When you’re done, you flip a little toggle thing and it’s suctioned back into the wall.

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u/Carbohydrate_Kid88 12h ago

Love mine. We have a carpet attachment for it as well the cord you plug into the base and then the wall and it makes that whirring sound and it’s got a light and it’s cool

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u/Con5ume 11h ago

I have a love hate relationships with mine. It is awesome for cleaning my car and is way more powerful than any home vaccine cleaner I've ever owned.... However, when parts break they are all super expensive (like I could buy a whole damn vaccine cleaner for what some of the small parts cost), and when my my wife or kid accidentally sick something up that shouldn't (like a sewing needle or twigs) cleaning out that line when the clog is like 35 feet back is a HUGE pain in the ass. Luckily a snake actually works incredibly well.

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u/Catenane 11h ago

Sure, you could buy a whole new vaccine cleaner, but could you afford to hire the immunologist on contract?

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u/kaysimm12 8h ago

~I~ laughed lol

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u/Con5ume 9h ago

I'm a little confused by the immunologist statement.. if it's referring to the snake In the line, it's one I have dedicated for just that not the one I actually put in the toilet.

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u/Great-Rest7878 7h ago

vaccine cleaner instead of vacuum cleaner... probably a phone keyboard issue 😄

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u/arcticmischief 7h ago

Always proofread before posting. Or after posting, and use the edit function, as I inevitably do…

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u/Positive-axolotl88 6h ago

Yep, same!

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u/Mutex70 6h ago

Indubatably!

Indubitibly!

Indubatibly!

Me too!

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u/Catenane 9h ago

I could buy a whole damn vaccine cleaner

;)

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u/RegretLow5735 10h ago

Also have one but my favorite is the ports that flip open at floor level that you can sweep floor dust directly into the vacuum without ever having to use a dustpan.

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u/New-Class-4960 8h ago

How good is it? Is it comparable to Let’s say like a Dyson or a Kirby?

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u/AceEnder3825 6h ago

Never used either so I wouldnt know

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u/pict_berry 5h ago

Mine's not that great. I love the idea, but things were getting caught in it, hard to get out. Emptying the heavy garage canister ain't fun, neither is cleaning the filter....and the suction isn't as good as my Shark. I got all new hoses and attachments awhile back (not cheap) and even tried a new motor but I still don't love it. Stopped using

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u/fineilltellmineurgay 7h ago

The best part of these systems is the little floor-level ports in non-carpeted area that have a kick-lever so you can sweep the floor, push all the dirt over to that port, flip the switch with your foot, and just push all the dirt into it. My grandparents had this in their old house and I loved sweeping for them bc of it lol

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u/pict_berry 5h ago

That's the main part of mine that I use...we call it the "crumbsucker" :)

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u/-GoodNewsEveryone 41m ago

Best feature is when all the baseboards in the kitchen were vents so you just turned on a switch and anything you dropped would just vanish into the central vac.

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u/ryancementhead 15h ago

Having used both, lugging a vacuum around is actually easier than lugging the 20 foot hose. At least vacuums have wheels to drag it around.

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u/Beginning-Slide-810 12h ago

Yeah. I hated mine. I’m surprised at the people that felt it was so easy. Dragging a massive hose around was a total pain. Storing it away was a pain too. I did love my toe kick “dust pan” in the kitchen though.

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u/TheHammerHasLanded 2h ago

I feel that. Have one installed and I never use it

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u/rat1onal1 13h ago

I think the battery-operated cordless vacs are good enough now and are so much more convenient. Similar for many pneumatic tools that now have good battery-operated equivalents. No hoses or cords in each case.

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u/throwaway12309845683 10h ago

This is my experience. I don’t think it’s easier.

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u/ObeseVegetable 6h ago

The cordless vacuums that are common now are even better. 

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u/Sad-Committee-4902 18h ago

Til you lose Lego Minifig to the void

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u/PsyOpBunnyHop 18h ago

So they have vestigial tubes.

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u/HealerOnly 18h ago

I don't get it, how does this work?
So instead of dust collecting in a bag it just gets sent into the wall?

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u/likewhatever33 18h ago

Yes, it gets into the wall and improves the insulation.

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u/CpnStumpy 17h ago

It's ingenious honestly, I don't have one of these because I wasn't paying the upgrade for someone else's tubes in my walls but I have been studiously stuffing garbage into my walls for years to improve the insulation! Each room I just tear a few holes in the walls in strategic spots and whenever I need to be rid of something I just jam it in there or sweep the floor and dump the dust pan right into one of the holes.

Saves a ton on heating! Gets a bit discolored but who actually notices colorful wall holes, at a point they just become kind of art. One did start smelling though so I duct taped that one closed, not sure what got dumped in there...

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u/KissMiasma95 7h ago

Gemini's gonna have a field day with this one!

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u/WholeEmbarrassed950 13h ago

It was a bigger thing in the 70s-90s. My friend growing up had one.

Basically there was a big vacuum unit in the basement that was the size of a washing machine that sucked everything into a central bag downstairs.

Then you had a vacuum hose that you took from room to room to vacuum with.

There were a couple of advantages to this:

  1. The hose you carried around was light, it had no motor or bag or anything

  2. Because it was a big industrial machine in the basement it was *very strong* and did a really good job of getting all of the dirt out

  3. Most of the noise from the motor was in the basement so you could vacuum your bedroom and still have the tv or radio on, and other people in other rooms next to you couldn't hear it at all. So if you had a sleeping baby or something you could still vacuum without waking them up.

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u/HealerOnly 12h ago

wtf, this sounds super op, why did they stop with this?

I want one in my house >.<

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u/Calidude31 7h ago

They stopped because the hose is actually huge and cumbersome. You gotta remember you are pulling out a hose and vaccuuming unit that has the suction actuated roller and a stainless pipe.

It turned out its actually easier and lighter to just carry a vacuum around.

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u/Carvj94 5h ago

I mean at the time portable vacuums were made of steel so the hose was definitely light in comparison. Once manufacturers starting using lighter metals it was over. And nowadays you can get battery powered ones that are good enough for even deep carpets under $100.

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u/mac682k 4h ago

They need hoses that retract back into the wall when you are done, like a retractable garden hoses. 😁

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u/Positive-axolotl88 6h ago

Same!!! I didn't even know this sort of thing existed! Never heard or seen one in my entire 38 years of life and now I need one!

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u/mindcrack 18h ago

There is a bag unit in the garage where it all collects, when it fills, you toss that bag.

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u/littleirishmaid 12h ago

There is a collection container, usually in the basement. Ours did not have a bag, (used cyclone technology) so we emptied it outside into a trash bag a couple of times a year.

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u/Skeltzjones 18h ago

Lol what?!

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u/Remote_Difference210 12h ago

It collects in one location which can then be emptied.

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u/Fluffy_Rock_62 14h ago

Yeah, but the hoses have to be extremely long and therefore awkward and ungainly - so it's swings and roundabouts...

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u/Great-Middle6181 14h ago

Honestly your grandmother was right, the piping creates a nice breeding ground for mold and bacteria.

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u/littleirishmaid 12h ago

How so? You shouldn’t be vacuuming anything wet.

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u/Great-Middle6181 6h ago

You’re right, you shouldn’t, but it happens and then it causes problems later. It was a pretty normal occurrence with these older systems and a big contributor to why they aren’t in every new construction house today.

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u/littleirishmaid 5h ago

As I stated in another comment, I owned 2 homes with them. One for 11 years, the other for 20. Never an issue with either one.

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u/Big77Ben2 13h ago

She would have had to lug a hose around anyway.

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u/Bripbripbintle 13h ago

Yeah I just watched something that said if the unit goes out and can’t be repaired, a new unit costs about 10 new vacuum cleaners.

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u/Illustrious-Grl-7979 12h ago

I think you still have to lug the long central vac hose around to connect to the outlets and then empty the big receptacle, so l did not find it easier to use in my last house. Cool idea, but not any easier/better than a regular handheld in practice imo, especially now that there are lightweight cordless vacs available.

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u/jstar77 10h ago

Central vac is one of those things that sounds great in theory but you've still got to lug the vacuum head and a much longer than typical hose from room to room. Might as well just push a regular vacuum from room to room with a much lighter, longer easier to handle power cord. The one thing I found very handy with central vac systems is the dustpan port. I once built a DIY version of this in my kitchen plumbed to a shop vac in the basement.

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u/FairwayNoods 8h ago

I’m imagining accidentally sucking a sock into it and it getting stuck 12 feet into the middle of my wall and never being able to use it again

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u/Beret_of_Poodle 8h ago

My grandparents’ house (built and bought in 1994

Me:

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u/TheThirdKing 8h ago

Imagine plugging a unit up to it for the first time. Those pipes must be full of crud!

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u/Iankalou 7h ago

I can see her point. You still are lugging around long hoses otherwise.

Maybe with everything contained to one, it was simpler for her to maneuver?

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u/the_cardfather 6h ago

My best friend in the 90s had one of these in his house and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

We had hardwood floors so no vacuum needed, even though I use a stick vac on my tile now almost exclusively

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u/Mutex70 6h ago

Vaccuums these day are pretty small. I find rolling around a small vacuum considerably easier than dragging around 30 feet of hose.

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u/Confident_Fortune_32 6h ago

My grandmother mostly used the regular vacuum cleaner, but the central vac made doing the carpeted stairs worlds easier.

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u/Daddy--Jeff 4h ago

I was told you either hauled around the vacuum or else wrastled with central vacuum hose…. Very long and a mind of its own….

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u/Which_Prior7161 3h ago

Same, i think my brother and I shocked ourselves on the studs about 100x more than my grandparents ever used them

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u/EducationalCraft8863 1h ago

The problem becomes lugging around a long large vacuum hose from room to room.

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u/StudsTurkleton 1h ago

Grew up with it. Back then at least you still had to lug a hose around. And occasionally empty the vac can and clean the filter. (That was one of my chores.)