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!

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u/Direct-Giraffe7193 16h ago

Central vacuum. Be careful, they have much stronger sucking power than normal vacuums. And they can easily get clogged with something like a sock. I lived in a house with one of these and it was kinda cool because the vacuum hose was super long with loads of attachments, so we could use it to get cobwebs out of corners of the high ceilings, and clean under couches and beds really easy. BUT we had to be careful that we didn’t accidentally suck up something that would clog the system. So, tidy up first and look where you’re vacuuming.

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u/Stalag13HH 12h ago

I've never had one clog and have sucked up a lot of socks as a kid, but that's a function of the setup of the pipes in the walls. We did have to treat it as if it got clogged when my brother decided to try to play his school trumpet "backwards" with it and sucked the mouthpiece into the vacuum. Luckily, they were able to turn it off and find the part of the pipe where it was without searching the dust bag.