1600 W maximum on vacuum cleaners from from Sept!

[Zak33]

I'm not joking...and didn't know until I read it today!

There will be an EU wide ban on the manufacturer and import of your sucking buddy over 1600W from next month!

It seems that nearly all the top sellers fall outside that and Hoover in Wales have been lowering their motor powers to try to clear stock but some way remain

I understand the sense in placing Energy Ratings on boxes and Web sites so we can all buy with well informed data

But....a powerful cleaner makes life easier and frankly does the job in one go so I'm my opinion may do the job with less power anyway

Either way...might be worth buying a bargain high power job soon if you want one that you've read reviews on

SillyNess

[Zak33]

Ten days left to vacuum up a cleaner http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28878432

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

So basically:
1.)You need to vacuum longer so energy is not going to be saved
2.)A less powerful vacuum will not be as effective at drawing out dirt
3.)The motor might have more chance of burning out

[kalniel]

Or hopefully
4. Manufacturers will come up with more efficient ways of using the power.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Or hopefully
4. Manufacturers will come up with more efficient ways of using the power.

The problem is that the rest of the world does not have such rules,so its cheaper for them to just plonk lower wattage motors into EU models,or just downrate the current ones massively.
Since all the companies will be in the same boat,its not like it will affect them much,since the consumer will have the same choice but just with worse cleaning ability now.

Plus in other climates and conditions lower wattage motors don't always play well. Seen motors burn out myself.

There is the other consideration whether this affects industrial and commerical cleaners too. These encounter far more abuse than home versions.

[j1979]

The problem is that the rest of the world does not have such rules,so its cheaper for them to just plonk lower wattage motors into EU models,or just downrate the current ones massively.
Since all the companies will be in the same boat,its not like it will affect them much,since the consumer will have the same choice but just with worse cleaning ability now.

Plus in other climates and conditions lower wattage motors don't always play well. Seen motors burn out myself.

There is the other consideration whether this affects industrial and commerical cleaners too. These encounter far more abuse than home versions.

a 1600w motor is massive. the gtec air ram is only 100w

this is what a 1600w looks like
http://www.screwfix.com/p/karcher-wd...FYgIwwoduAYAIA

I think it's enough.

[TheAnimus]

a 1600w motor is massive.

Doesn't have to be.

[Agent]

a 1600w motor is massive. the gtec air ram is only 100w

this is what a 1600w looks like
http://www.screwfix.com/p/karcher-wd...FYgIwwoduAYAIA

I think it's enough.

That has a huge collection unit on it. The motor isn't that big inside it.

[watercooled]

At the bottom of the article:

From 1 September 2017, all vacuum cleaners will have to be less than 900w.

Wow. This just strikes me as completely draconian and unnecessary. Yeah, fair enough, stick efficiency labels on things to encourage people to buy/make less wasteful models and highlight high nameplate power/low suction power models, but banning? I though blanket bans were only to be used if there was a really good justification for doing so. I mean look at GLS bulbs; for the most part suitable alternatives are available and they are horrendously inefficient at producing light, and I expect a lot of people were just refusing to switch, just sticking to what they knew. And yet, you can still buy GLS bulbs, just it's unlikely they're being made by EU companies so that's a profit stream bleeding from the economy. Will we see the same here; EU MFRs are hamstrung by the rules but overseas companies can still get models which people actually want to buy onto shelves, harming local business again? Plus the added environmental cost of shipping them further, of course.

I mean seriously how much energy, as a percentage, is a vacuum cleaner going to consume for a typical household? Considering power and duration, I don't imagine it comes close to kettles etc. Are we going to see a ban on kettles with a capacity over one cup, and without 5 inches of insulating material to ensure as little heat as possible is wasted? Ughh I shouldn't give them ideas...

We have a Henry ATM, and the 'eco switch' on that is annoying enough; it's not a persistent switch so it always comes on in low-power mode, and you have to press it after the motor has had time to reach eco speed to switch it to full power.

And I really don't think it's just a thing about time - seriously underpowered cleaners will often downright fail to pick up dirt, especially from thicker carpets. Or at the least the time taken is going to scale greater than linearly to the loss of suction power i.e. based on personal experience, higher power modes tend to be more efficient.

As above, 1600W really doesn't have to mean a huge motor; you can get fairly small ~1kW motors in drills and food mixers for example.

So, lets hypothetically say manufacturers manage to achieve >2x the efficiency of current motors, what will the cost of that be? Why not just, along with the sort of efficiency rating we see on other appliances, restrict MFRs from advertising based on motor power rather than suction power, for example? After all, I imagine there are some very high rate power models with naff all effective suction power.

[Agent]

It's a bit of a farce really. In your lightbulb example - we had a viable alternative.
Currently we're limited by the tech we have. Sure, if we find something better, implement it. I'm not convinced this is going to cause any new, big efficiency inventions soon.

If they were implementing a long term warranty on vacuums or something, fair enough. They've almost become disposable now like printers. Vax are very bad for this - selling quite cheaply in endless sales, but the entire thing is made out of poor plastic which breaks easily.

How long before we see hacked vacuums?

I wonder if the people passing this law claim cleaning expenses and have someone else doing it for them?

[watercooled]

If they were implementing a long term warranty on vacuums or something, fair enough. They've almost become disposable now like printers. Vax are very bad for this - selling quite cheaply in endless sales, but the entire thing is made out of poor plastic which breaks easily.

And in order to offset the cost of presumably more expensive motors, I wonder if this is a trend we'll see more often?

How long before we see hacked vacuums?

Sounds like a plan to me. I have some washing machine motors hoarded in the shed...

I wonder if the people passing this law claim cleaning expenses and have someone else doing it for them?

Undoubtedly; another example of people being allowed to make decisions which they have no experience in, and with no impact on themselves.

[kalniel]

Bring on the petrol powered hoovers!

[watercooled]

Bring on the petrol powered hoovers!

That would be beautifully ironic wouldn't it?

[j1979]

Doesn't have to be.

That has a huge collection unit on it. The motor isn't that big inside it.

sorry, I'm talking about the power not the physical size.

[Zak33]

I think....genuinely...I'll buy a big bugger of a vacuum cleaner over the next couple of weeks

I HATE crap hardware and nothing is worse than a cleaner that needs three or more pushes over the rug!

[Zak33]

Let's compare this farce to a few things

A) cheap electrical items - anyone who has ever bought cheap pc speakers and put a mains current meter between them and the wall plug will find that in many cases you'd be better buying expensive speaker because the power drain on really cheap power bricks for really cheap speakers is silly and better quality units often use lots less especially when " off"

Same rules for those " touch lamps" with metal bases that have no switch but you touch them instead. Sair bought some home for our bedroom. Being romantic I tested the power draw and they used as much power on as off. One used MORE off than on and I'll never... To this day....know why. But they went back. We found some that use a tiny amountwhen off and I allowed them in my house. But they are silly none the less

B) My parents have a large array of solar PV panels on their house. The electricity company refused to fit a 2 way meter to allow the spare current back into the grid....so it runs into the soil and to earth. Dad still gets paid for it

C) I have two electric drills. One is huge and electricity heavy and one light and is much use as a chocolate fireguard. The light one takes an hour to drill into anything less hard than my hand....the other one uses 6 times the current and drills into anything in 3 seconds

I'm pretty angry about this vacuum cleaner thing you know?