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Vacuum Cleaners Being Banned Eu For Not Being Eco Friendly Outrageous

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gordiescotland1 | 07:46 Sun 24th Aug 2014 | News
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Once again we see meddling EU interfering in British life once again by banning vacuum cleaners that are not eco friendly enough
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2730642/Buy-powerful-vacuum-cleaner-BANNED-New-EU-rules-ban-best-models-September-warns-Which.html
what do ab think?
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That really sucks!
But probably wont in the future.
This is old news. The directive was passed in the EU Parliament years ago.

Here is a report from 2010.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/7996383/Europe-to-cut-power-of-vacuum-cleaners-to-save-energy.html
gordiescotland1

From the end of the story:

Paul Pearce, technical director of the national carpet cleaning association, said: "The performance of a vacuum cleaner has more to do with airflow than with the power rating, so it should be possible to reduce the power without affecting the cleaning performance."

But before you brome too outraged...consider these stories:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6481969.stm

Add to that, the 'EU ban on jam jars' story:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2214395/Anger-spreads-EU-fines-threat-reusing-old-jam-jars.html

Which turned out to be more tabloid nonsense:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2214395/Anger-spreads-EU-fines-threat-reusing-old-jam-jars.html

I basically assume that when the papers report on an EU ban, they're lying, and ignore the story completely.
...amd it must be a very quiet day for news when old stories about vacuum cleaners and jam jars are making headlines....
"I basically assume that when the papers report on an EU ban, they're lying, and ignore the story completely."

What's untrue about this particular story then, sp?
NJ

Have a look at the following article:

http://ec.europa.eu/unitedkingdom/blog/index_en.htm

After reading it, you might want to take some time out to sigh, shake your head and wonder wistfully whatever happened to the UK newspaper industry, and why facts are no longer deemed to be essential to the story.
Yes, sp, but the article says that machines with motors of more than 1600w will be banned. It also says that five of the seven "best buys" have motors larger than this. It also says that the limit is to be further reduced to 900w by 2017. None of this is untrue. In fact I cannot see anything untrue or even misleading in the article.

If the EU was truly concerned about energy consumption (and personally I don't think that's in its remit, but that's another argument) it should redirect its efforts. Instead of worrying about 2Kw items that most households use for no more than 10 minutes a week it would do better to legislate against shops who operate 25Kw "curtain" heaters across their open doorways which heat the street for ten hours each and every day during the winter. It is nothing other than meddlesome nonsense undertaken by highly paid people who have nothing better to do.

In a poor attempt to disguise this meddling as "improvements for consumers" European Commission spokeswoman for energy Marlene Holzner said in a blog. "..as a result of the new EU ecodesign and labelling regulations, consumers will also get better vacuum cleaners,’

'In the past there was no legislation on vacuum cleaners and companies could sell poorly performing vacuum cleaners.

Quite, but they'd be better still if all the improvements were made and the models still incorporated a larger motor. It should be for consumers to decide what machines are poor and which are not. Poor vacuum cleaners will not sell and the manufacturers will either have to improve them or gop out of business.

The European Commision's blog is very enlightening. About as enlightening as some newspaper articles. Restricting ourselves to the vacuum cleaner issue it is most unlikely that the Commission will accept that their meddling will lead to less consumer choice (which it obviously does). Nor is it likely to accept that whatever improvements are made to the design of the machines, reducing the power of the motor will necessarily reduce performance.
NJ

The move is against inefficiency.

And these moves actually work (cf. energy efficient fridge freezers). Manufacturers will introduce energy efficient vacuum cleaners with smaller motors. Us as consumers will use less energy, leading to lower emissions, or if that's not something that concerns you - lower electrify bills.

I completely understand the drive towards energy efficiency. Remember, the less energy we use, the less we are dependent on oil, and the less oil dependency we have, the less...

...you see where I'm going with this, don't you?
NJ

The parts between the asterisks have thoughtfully been omitted from the story:

The new EU regulation focuses on *dust pick-up efficiency as well as power* A vacuum cleaner that picks up more dust per passage over the floor only needs to be used for shorter periods and thus uses less energy.

From September 2014 the maximum allowed input power will be 1600 Watt; from September 2017 it is 900 W. (current average on the market is about 1800 W)

Rather than focus on the energy savings and consumer benefits, the Daily Express said the regulation would create a potential health risk “because lower powered vacuum cleaners will not pick up allergy-provoking dust”. This is simply not the case. The regulation seeks to reduce dust emissions and clearly sets minimum requirements for the ability of a vacuum cleaner to pick up dust.

So...all in all, manufacturers will be forced to re-engineer their inefficient vacuum cleaners...and this isn't even an EU 'directive'...we could have opted out!

And furthermore, the manufacturers were involved in the consultation.
Sorry, sp,but if you have a more efficient machine with a larger motor it will do more work than the same machine with a smaller motor. So it will be needed to work for less time and so consume less juice.

But of course, for me, it's not about that and the facts are largely irrelevant. As usual, these should be matters for the UK Parliament and not for Brussels. There is no earthly reason why the EU should impose such rules and the sooner the UK quits this nonsensical organisation the better.
Of course there is a reason this has to be EU led and applicable across the continent. If it was left to individual countries, the ban would not get implimented in every country. So Bosch might continue building high powered machines while Dyson would not be allowed to. Then people would buy imported Boschs and Dyson would go out of business. A Europe wide directive means that all manufacturers have a level playing field in terms of competing against each other.

I have a Dyson and I usually allow a time period for using it. Typically, I will use it for 15 minutes. If my cleaner was more poerful, or less powerful, I would spend the same amount of time using it. Therefore, a lesser powered motor will use less electricity. If you multiply that by the population of Europe, that is a sigificant energy saving.
New Judge, it is a fact that some vacuum cleaners with less powerful motors have superior suction to some higher powered models.

The Henry is 1200 whilst no Dyson is above 1400.
I think the new EU reg is a good thing, it will force lazy manufacturers to do some proper R&D instead of a quick simple fix. It amazes me that people do not understand the vacuum principle. As someone with specialist knowledge, I can tell you the wattage HAS NO bearing on how well it performs. The fan draws air from the dust chamber, and the difference in pressure, forces air to fill the void, in terms creating suction. The factors that affect how well it works, are: an aerodynamic fan, tight sealing, a short airpath and removal of unnecessary tubes and angles which slow air down.
Agitation also cleans carpets, cylinders don't remove the grit embedded in the pile.

An electric oil heater is rated at 2kw and so are these vacuums, so have a think of the efficiency of that. Exactly, high wattage cleaners don't pick up more they simply waste electricity turning it into heat. The heat causes the motor to burn out, usually after a few months, I see it happen all the time.

So, in essence, if you think high wattage is better and have been panic buying for no reason, it just goes to show the gullibility and stupidity of the nation. Round of applause!
adam, the manufacturers have always been aware of that, of course, and some popular manufacturers have never made high watt vacs - Dyson and Henry, for example.

The problem is the public perception - they think a high number watt means a high powered vac

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