Our hats go off to Mr. Ted Hayden for the fine job he did in the 70’s and 80’s advancing the cause of central vacuums! Ted actually got an early start in the central vacuum industry selling and installing systems for his mother in Canada. Of course his mother sold only the best and Ted grew up espousing the great virtues of the MD Central Vacuums. Eventually Ted saw the need for better quality central vac fittings and created his own molds in the early 80’s. There existed a very wonderful relation between Ted Hayden and Wayne Emdy as Wayne would drive a truckload of vacuum units up to Ted and return with a truckload of fittings. The exchange rate was good, central vacuums were booming in Canada and both companies were growing.

Ted soon brilliantly developed the Supervalve and Superhose to finally integrate the 110 volts into the vacuum inlet so no cord would be needed to operate the vacuum electric brush. This was all packaged together quite neatly in a point-of-sale box referred to as the SuperPack. I believe this combination is what drove the US market to finally accept electric power brushes as superior but it personally took me a little longer to be convinced.

He implemented the Matshusista power brush which was already recognizable as a Sears Powermate brush. This brush was from the 70’s and had been a good performer. It had a cogged belt and was thus less susceptible to breakage. The hose was a vinyl wire-reinforced hose that was quite bulky and awkward to maneuver. But it was nevertheless, the best electric package available.

Ted did a great job of marketing and always presented an upbeat attitude to the market. In the early 90’s Ted wanted to also include a central vacuum power unit in his line. In fact he even announced that he was taking over MD and would be representing their products when our former owner, Wayne passed away. For him it was the perfect match of high-quality products. Unfortunately for Ted the heirs had no concept of selling the business even though Ted continued to pursue. Having announced that he was going to have his own unit, Ted was now forced to find another company to acquire.

Air Stream had been listed by a Canadian magazine as a consumer’s best choice in 1992 and they were available. Ted acquired the rights to the product and made a few changes introducing it as the Hayden Central Vacuum. Most of the staff at Hayden had MD Central Vacuums in their homes and did not whole-heartily agree with Mr. Hayden’s choice. In fact, none of the original staff is still with the company except for Ted. And even he is not part of the day-to-day activities anymore.

Hayden offers a selection of 4 (four) power units. All are single motor and all offer basically the same shell and filtration. By having only one motor they are not optimizing the performance curves of the electric power brush as detailed elsewhere at Vacuumology. They all have a 5-gallon trash capacity (ours is 12) and they all are 12” in diameter. The shell is made of ABS plastic whereas ours is 18 and 20-gauge steel. The motor is mounted on the top and the cooling air intake is at the highest point of the unit. (It is also the hottest point.) Our cooling intake is at the lowest point and thus the coolest.

Hayden does not offer any unit for larger homes where the additional power would be needed. We offer 12 units that each have twice the power of any one of these Hayden units. For homes larger that 5000 square feet the Hayden is not acceptable. (Their brochure says the Model 9000 is for homes up to 9000 square feet but this same motor in our SP3 is generally for homes under 5000 square feet.) They do have a fancy board inside the unit that has “Vactrack”. This provides a flashing green light on the unit and even on the handle whenever the tank needs emptying. Unfortunately it operates solely off of a 15-hour timer and is reset by unplugging the vacuum and plugging it back into the electrical outlet. If you experience a power outage, it is reset. If you pick up a whole bunch of flower or other debris really quick, it will not tell you the system is full. Furthermore it will alert you when you need to have your motor brushes changed. The only problem is that you have to send the entire operating board into the factory to have it reset. The board cannot be reset in the field.

They also did offer “softstart” on a few of their models. This is actually a component that slowly inputs electricity into the motor to get it up and running. It is not that it improves the life of the motor but this was necessary to keep them from continually burning up the relay because they use a very small relay on their board. Ametek has stated that they have “no conclusive evidence that softstart extends the life of any vacuum motor.” It is our understanding they may now have stopped using it all together.

The filtering of their units is achieved with a washable pleated filter that hangs inside the can. Cyclonic action separates the major amount of debris and then the fine dust accumulates in the pleated filter. They actually have a “Hydrophobic cartridge” now that likely resists the water when you clean it. We believe this filter will be quite inconvenient to wash and will never be brought back to the original level of cleanliness. Furthermore, most homeowners will simply lower the bucket and dump out the can ignoring the pleated filter. The Hayden unit should be exhausted outside. Our Filtering is much finer and easier to clean. Simply wad up the paper bag and replace with a new one to return to 100% performance. For a detailed analysis of the filters, please visit Filtration Analysis.

Hayden power units do not have a utility valve for direct cleaning (almost all of ours do) and ours offers dual intake ports for easy installation. Our unit hangs more firmly on the wall on two studs whereas the Hayden gyrates upon start-up because it is only attached to one stud. Our power units are much quieter and we alone offer wireless technology along with home automation tie-ins such as being able to turn off when the doorbell rings.

The Hayden Power Brush is basically 70’s technology with a few updates. They have a very nice quick-disconnect feature at the brush, which also disconnects the cord. We have had a problem with clients removing the wand from the brush while it was still energized and shorting out the end of the cord. On the Hayden brush the bristle pulls everything toward the belt rather than the chevron design of our Stealth that pulls everything to the center. The center is where the vacuum intake is located. The Hayden only has sleeve bearings instead of our rubber-cushioned ball bearings. Only our Stealth has a computer balanced roller and motor. Our brush also has 13 pieces of sound absorption to make it quieter and our motor is twice as efficient.

The Hayden system is produced in Canada and is sold into the United States through distribution houses. MD products are not sold through distributors but rather independent vacuum dealers who generally make it a major portion of their business. MD offers more choices, more power, and more effective filtration.

It total, we offer a far more advanced product with a wider range of operation and many more benefits. Yes, Hayden used to do a great job of marketing and innovating but has not been aggressive in the past 10 years. We welcome them as a great competitor but feel the consumer will see the additional value in our products.

Similar MD units:	SP3	M45,J,S4	B	M72