Not all vacuum power heads are created equal, but they are all important for keeping different surfaces as clean as possible. Whether you are buying a system new or buying new parts for an old system, you are going to want to make sure that the extra attachments you buy are suited to the types of floors and surfaces that you are going to be using them to clean. While the differences between these attachments may not seem obvious at first, there are important differences which will be vital for keeping your home clean during the life of your central vacuum cleaner.

For wooden floors your vacuum head is basically going to be a dusting head, a simple long flat opening designed to pull dust from the floor without any electrical spinning brushes. This will allow suction of dust, powder, dirt, and even wet messes. Spinning brushes may damage and leave scratches on the wood.

For low to medium pile carpets you should think about getting a more advanced power head featuring a ‘floating power head.’ These heads can move up or down at will to make sure that they are always at a level where they are cleaning your carpet deeply. However if you have higher carpets this system may become ineffective as the floating heads cannot adjust.

Instead if you have high carpets go with a multi carpet power head with manual adjust. This will allow you to physically set your power head to match the level of the carpet you are cleaning so that your spinning brushes have no reason to stop working out the dust and hair in your carpet.

Rugs and tile may also benefit from a low power brush head, and possibly also a lower level of suction so that the rug does not get pulled up and stuck in the power head itself. Look for a power head attachment with a low level setting or simply use your hardwood attachment kit and take some time to make sure that the cleaning is thorough.