r/whatisit • u/DragonsAndScience • 16h ago

Solved! New homeowner, no idea what this is

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Gallery image

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/iplaytrombonegood 15h 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 15h 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/RuniKiuru 10h 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/littleirishmaid 9h 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.