Monroe man's Hide-A-Hose keeps vacuums out of sight

Gary Drivstuen was sitting in the drive-through teller line at the bank when it all started.

He watched his deposit move through the pneumatic tube.

Zip.

It was so easy.

Later that day, the Monroe man, a local operator of convenience stores and car washes, got home and found himself stumbling, yet again, over his household's central vacuum hose.

His wife, Sharon Drivstuen, didn't like dragging the hose up and down the stairs. She vacuumed often and didn't see the point of stuffing it away until she was done for the day.

That's when Gary Drivstuen thought: “Is it possible to use the suction from the central vacuum to pull the hose back into the central vacuum pipe, just like the pneumatic tube pulls in the deposit container at the bank?”

Four years later, Drivstuen and his son, Rod, answered the question with the debut of their Hide-A-Hose Central Vacuum System.

That was in 2003.

Today their invention is now an international sensation. With more than 400 dealers selling their patented product, they're grabbing more and more market share every year, even in the down economy.

Most central or built-in vacuum systems require homeowners to haul a vacuum hose around the house to various vacuum ports connected to a high-powered vacuum behind the walls.

With the Hide-A-Hose system, the hose is stored inside vacuum tubing hidden in the walls, attic or crawl spaces. Suction from the vacuum unit retracts it.

Though Hide-A-Hose systems are most commonly installed in new homes, most existing homes can be retrofitted.

Multistory homes that do not have a crawl space or access to an attic may be difficult to retrofit, however.

Jason Huntley of Snohomish is the local installer of Hide-A-Hose systems. He'll be at the Everett Fall Home & Gift Show with his business to answer consumer questions and explain the technology.

Huntley said Hide-A-Hose retrofit installations are relatively simple and don't require much cosmetic work.

“We can go and do it all in one day,” he said. “It's all done without having to tear up any of your walls.”

Central vacuums have become increasingly popular with homeowners in the past decade, partly because of convenience, but also because they decrease indoor air pollution, Rod Drivstuen said.

Unlike portable, plug-in vacuum cleaners, they vent 100 percent of their exhaust outdoors.

“All the dust and the particles are being removed from living space,” Drivstuen said.

Hide-A-Hose systems include the convenience of hose management.

That, of course, comes at a higher price than a standard central vacuum system.

It costs about $1,400 to $1,900 to incorporate a standard central vacuum system into the new construction of an average two-story home, compared to a range of $2,000 to $2,500 with a Hide-A-Hose.

Huntley, 40, also sells and installs standard central vacuum systems as well as a miniature retractable vacuum system called Vroom. The Vroom has a 24-foot hose and can be mounted under the kitchen sink, in the garage or anywhere else that it can be connected to a central vacuum system such as a Hide-A-Hose.

Vroom units cost an additional $299 and are just the thing for quick, light-duty cleanup projects such as fir needles or spilled cereal.

If you don't have a central vacuum system and don't want one, you can buy a Vroom Solo, which costs $399 and comes with its own power unit.

Huntley is especially proud of the new Hide-A-Hose technology.

“When I first saw it, I was just blown away,” he said. “I got into the business as fast as I could.”



Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037, sjackson@heraldnet.com.

Hide-A-Hose Central Vacuum Systems

Jason Huntley, installer

Contact: 425-750-7636, hideahose.vac@gmail.com

Learn more: www.hideahose.biz; www.vroomyourroom.com