So I recently acquired a vacu flow central vac unit. I am not familiar with this brand, I have never seen one before here in SA. While we do get them, I have one aswell, I am very familiar with Beam & Vacumaid, MD systems are also available here , They are Not  popular here because  our houses are concrete and brick here they are not popular as the expense of fitting them to a ready built home is massive. 

Here are my questions.

The unit is well used but in good condition. 

I was amazed as the unit is cyclonic but has no prefilter to protect the motor from fine dust. If it used a dirty fan motor like a convertible or Kirby I would not foresee any problems, But it uses a standard tangeltal by[ass motor like those found in 99% of portable carpet cleaners. These use the same style fans found in most standard twin stage through flow motors and if you have worked in the vacuum business enough you will know that fine dust that gets past filters or from burst bags causes these fans to get out of balance and vibrate the whole motor.

The cyclone set up on this unit is not very sophisticated and as such should cause fine dust to build up in the turbines. 

What I would like to know is what is the durability of these machines like ?

Hey Scott 

Thank you., Have you ever seen or tried retrofitting a filter into a vacuflo ?

Every central system I have encountered here in SA is vented outdoors. It just makes more sence as most garages are attached to the home, why vent any air inside. Even the MD ones are vented outdoors. 

MD here state that their systems dont need to be but they still do it. 

Here are some pics of the Motors between the Beam left hand side and the Vacuflow right . Both Using amatek motors. 

The beam using the newer curved fan Giving a bit more suction. 

For those who don't or haven't seen, The view from the motor casing down to the bottom of the tank. For some one like me who appreciates cyclonic action this scares me a bit. That said, The motor shows very little dust build up inside and between the two the Beams silencer although bigger was dirtier  

Hey every one, Thanks for all the feed back. 

So I hooked this thing up in my workshop at the office. I could see the outside vented exhaust and noticed when I was using it to vacuum up the dust out of other vacuums it was making a huge could outside. Now granted this is would not be a normal household situation but its nothing my beam at home doesn't handle when I use it in my workshop to suck up my woodworking dust or cleaning out a old vintage vacuum. 

I like the idea of the cyclonic central vac, It means it wont clog and loose suction like my beam does when I suck up to much fine dust But I spend enough time keeping the dirt from outside my house from getting in( vacuuming my paving and stuff, The last thing I want is the vacuum to be depositing the dust I just vacuumed up just on the other side of  a wall.

The cyclone is just not efficient enough to remove fine dust( something that James dyson struggled with for a long time before inventing the dual cyclone ) 

Is their a filter option for the vacuflow 

Is their a filter option