Moving into a new home and Finding strange things....

[Eienchi]

So i just moved into a two story three bedroom town home, that was built in the late 60's. There are these very strange things on the walls that I first thought were covered power outlets. I went to pull the cover down to plug in my vacuum, and low and behold they are like tubes! The upper floor's tube goes down, and the lower floors tube goes down as well. They are low to the ground, Its the oddest thing ever. My one roomate she thinks they are old vacuum tubes...But ive never heard of such things. And my other roomate he has no clue.
So i shall include pictures and maybe someone can help me figure what these strange things are.

I figured as the age of the user here are my age and Up someone is bound to know what these blasted things are!

upstairs
first picture
inside the tube

Downstairs
more
inside the downstairs tube  

[lady leko-chan]

How interesting!
They really do look like the adapter to a vacuum hose, but I really don't know.
Now I'm curious to find out.
Hope someone here has an idea!
*stalks the thread*  

[Eienchi]

Yes they are the right size for older vacuumes. Like the kind my mother had when i was little. But i was trying to figure out the logic in it.
1. My moms old vacuum was old as hell, but could be carried up the stairs. even though it was BIG so i dont understand why you would put tubes like that in the house.
2. The two holes don't seem to be connected, and suction would be awful through all that tubing.
3. the one upstairs goes down...Logical, the one down stairs goes down...(i can't tell if it goes up as well).We don't have a basement, we are the ground floor...so then what would you be vacuuming?
4. how would one go about cleaning out a clog in the wall after many years of use....

It just doesnt add up to me. Ah its driving me crazy.  

[Matasoga]

Huh... It's nothing that I've ever seen before, but I don't think it's for vacuuming. I'm almost sure of that. While the shape does call to mind the shape of something that you'd plug into and twist to hold, the idea of cleaning via a hole in the wall is not only impractical and bizarre, but also not functional.
Anyway, I'd say the tab at the top is probably just for easier lifting and the one at the bottom is there for the hinges. My best guess is that it's for threading wires through, perhaps before phone lines and other such things came with multiple easy outlets and such.
EDIT: Oh, they aren't connected to each other? How strange... Where ever do they go then? I doubt that we can answer the question (without prior knowledge) until we know that.  

[Eienchi]

I'm gonna try and figure out where they go. The bottom floor goes right down. Which would mean right into the ground or right into the floor. So it travles like 3 inches. Wtf
The one upstairs I shall take metal and attach string and lower it through and see where it goes and what I can hear.(as soon as I am off work)
It is a 60s house but it does have very old phone lines. That I can tell have been here since it was built. It has that lovely "vintage" look.
(Cable wires were added about 10 years ago)  

[killafrog]

my first assumtion is a vacum hose connector but then i could be wrong but looked up info and found stuff on it, was right i hope xd
picture u showed us this is another answering what it is
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Central-Vac-Vacuum-Hose-Wall-Inlet-Outlet-Plug-/110545042819
then this is info
http://home.howstuffworks.com/central-vacuum1.htm

hoply this helps you out and your not confused any more cool and maybe you get to use it possibly?
power of the internet mrgreen
hoply this is right info needed and isn't something else stare  

[lady ayami chan]

that is amazing!!
I want one!  

[Eienchi]

killafrog

my first assumtion is a vacum hose connector but then i could be wrong but looked up info and found stuff on it, was right i hope xd
picture u showed us this is another answering what it is
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Central-Vac-Vacuum-Hose-Wall-Inlet-Outlet-Plug-/110545042819
then this is info
http://home.howstuffworks.com/central-vacuum1.htm

hoply this helps you out and your not confused any more cool and maybe you get to use it possibly?
power of the internet mrgreen
hoply this is right info needed and isn't something else stare

Oh my goodness THATS FLIPPING AWESOME!!! Thats what it looks like 100% *hugs you* I googled forever but apparently "strange vacuum holes in wall" didnt cut it xd
Now i just need to find where the waste goes and see if it is still functioning and if it hasnt been closed off in the past 40 ish years.
And if i find that it is still ready to work, I'll look into buying the power brush that website talked about.
Haha i wish we had an automatic dust pan, that looks cool too!

we don't have a basement or a garage....we do have a utility room though. hmm
*goes to hunt down the other end of the tubes* I'll let you know if i find it.
Thank you guys again!  

[Areashine]

That is pretty crazy! Old houses creep me out a bit...  

[bandaidd]

I thought they were laundry chutes for Barbie and Ken's Dream Mansion...  

[wolfen26]

That looks like a Central Vacuum Wall Inlet Valve  

[killafrog]

Eienchi

killafrog

my first assumtion is a vacum hose connector but then i could be wrong but looked up info and found stuff on it, was right i hope xd
picture u showed us this is another answering what it is
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Central-Vac-Vacuum-Hose-Wall-Inlet-Outlet-Plug-/110545042819
then this is info
http://home.howstuffworks.com/central-vacuum1.htm

hoply this helps you out and your not confused any more cool and maybe you get to use it possibly?
power of the internet mrgreen
hoply this is right info needed and isn't something else stare

Oh my goodness THATS FLIPPING AWESOME!!! Thats what it looks like 100% *hugs you* I googled forever but apparently "strange vacuum holes in wall" didnt cut it xd
Now i just need to find where the waste goes and see if it is still functioning and if it hasnt been closed off in the past 40 ish years.
And if i find that it is still ready to work, I'll look into buying the power brush that website talked about.
Haha i wish we had an automatic dust pan, that looks cool too!

we don't have a basement or a garage....we do have a utility room though. hmm
*goes to hunt down the other end of the tubes* I'll let you know if i find it.
Thank you guys again!

lol all i did was type in "vacuum hose connector wall" or was it "hose connector wall" well whatever it was it has helped you out and glad to be some help for you xd  

[Lil-Jo]

You need to find out if your home has the central vacuum unit, it should be either in a basement or garage. If that has been removed then there is no longer a central vacuum... just the remnants of it in the walls. If there is no unit and you want one, then you first need to find out what unit will work with the tubing you have in the house and then find out if all the tubes are still connected. If you still have the main unit, then you just need a hose to try it out. Make sure it is connected to a main power supply and then connecting the hose should turn on the power.

*just seen your no garage or basement comment... doubt it would be in an attic, more than likely a closet that would also have water heater, furnace, etc... The waste would also come back to this unit, sometimes in the same unit, sometimes a collection unit that sits by the main unit.