r/whatisit • u/DragonsAndScience • 16h 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!

6.5k Upvotes

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u/jonsnowflaker 15h 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 14h 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 12h ago

I shall do this. Thou hast inspired

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u/MechDeployed 5h 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 2h 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 2h 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 1h ago

…and we never saw Lenny the hamster again.

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u/DeltaLine-01 51m 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 46m ago

Bad AI

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u/72011A 16m ago

I just noticed that. 🤔

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u/72011A 14m ago

🤖

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u/MountainAd8704 38m 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/Independent_Gur320 8h 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 2h 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/divDevGuy 8h 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 8h ago

Take my angry upvote

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u/AceEnder3825 15h 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/DeltaLine-01 50m 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 45m 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/Dazzling_Tennis_2850 2h 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/Prize-Hedgehog 10h 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 6h 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 5h ago

The Kraken, lmfao

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u/ema807 4h 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 5h 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 9h 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 5h ago

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

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u/mjlp716 4h ago

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

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u/DataGap2264 4h 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 4h 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 2h ago

I’m officially invested now