Yet more pettifogging, interfering micromanagement from the EU.
We bought a new vacuum cleaner recently. As it meets the new EU rules it doesn’t work as well as the old one, so this is bollocks:
Energy experts have told the BBC that manufacturers deliberately increased the wattage of some vacuums to make them appear more attractive to consumers – even though the machines produced more heat and noise, rather than more suction.
No, the new one doesn’t suck as well as the old one. So we have gone for buying parts on eBay to keep the old one going for as long as we can.
What I suspect will happen is that we will have to keep kick-starting devices that think it’s time to switch off. One of my clients has a plasma screen that keeps putting up reminders part-way through a presentation and I have to scrabble about finding the right button to press or it will switch itself off.
Jesus, but I hate these people.
Critics argue that such regulations – which recently included banning the sale of popular high-wattage vacuum cleaners – are denying consumer choice.
That, presumably, is a feature not a bug. Choice is something these evil people would prefer we didn’t have.
Arrrrh. Indeed. Tis frustating and makes me want to burn stuff. However, to be frank, my threshold for burning stuff is exceedingly thin. Incendaries are much mis-understood. I am sure there are therapy/support groups out there for folk like me. But I don’t want to be ‘cured’ or helped as I don’t have a problem. If someone dies as a consequence of my hobby I can salve my conscience and put it down to collateral damage. Otherwise, I should be a thoughtful and careful arsonist and not incinerate any trees…Unless I want to.
Flaxen, your despatching people to meet their maker (or otherwise), is a thoroughly laudable occupation providing the right people get despatched.
I don’t suppose you know where the Palace of Westminster is, do you?
“The UK technology guru James Dyson backed the efficiency regulations in principle and said many vacuum cleaners could use less power without compromising their ability to clean.”
I wonder how much Mr Dyson paid for this regulation, a little donation here, a little donation there, good way to deal with competition.
I would imagine that Dyson is a relatively small player in the domestic electronics business in Europe overall and any of your apocryphal ‘donations’ would have been minute compared to what some corporation such as Bosch could offer to keep the status quo, but if they did, they failed.
“We bought a new vacuum cleaner recently. As it meets the new EU rules it doesn’t work as well as the old one, so this is bollocks”
I disagree. A vacuum cleaner works on the principle of a fan that creates suction, feeding the air stream through a filter. A 900w electric motor that spins the fan at 20,000rpm is going to create more suction than a 1600w motor spinning at 10,000rpm. Power and rpm are not inter-related. Whether your new cleaner works as good as the old one is dependant on design, not power. Not putting the filter in the waste tank of the cleaner for a start, and using more efficient, free flowing filters (you should know all about that, being a biker).
“One of my clients has a plasma screen that keeps putting up reminders part-way through a presentation and I have to scrabble about finding the right button to press or it will switch itself off.”
You would probably find that this ‘feature’ can be switched off in the screen’s settings menu. However, I would disagree with anything of that nature being compulsory in manufacture, although there is nothing wrong in my opinion, with a gadget going into sleep mode after a period of inactivity. TV sets have been doing this for years – I have had several myself that would switch themselves into standby when there was no signal, but this function is oblolete now that broadcasts are going 24/7. But right now, your phone does it, your PC/laptop/tablet does it, among many more items.
“What I suspect will happen is that we will have to keep kick-starting devices that think it’s time to switch off.”
What I suspect will happen is that manufacturers will be forced to concentrate a lot more on designing efficiency into their products. After all who would buy a product that is not fit for service. The thing that I would totally agree with you on is that this will come about because of interference from the EU. I also cannot understand how anyone who just runs a vacuum cleaner museum can be called an ‘expert’ by the media.
As usual those who think up these rules haven’t thought them through. If the vacuum cleaner is less powerful it will take longer to clean the house and use more energy as a consequence. Also, I can’t agree with Ripper, yes there will be some units that are better designed than others but, if all other things are roughly equal, the most powerful one will suck more.
And the new one, like the old one is a Dyson. So all things being equal, it doesn’t suck as well. I’ve not delved into things like filters, but eventually we will have to find a way of overcoming these limitations when the old one finally packs up and cannot be repaired.
LR – I think that is exactly what will happen, manufacturers will overcome imposed limitations through development else they lose their customer base.
Stonyground – I respectfully disagree. The power of an electric motor is unrelated to its rpm. A more powerful motor will have extra torque (twisting force) to turn the fan blades, but it won’t spin any faster. So as long as the air stream in your cleaner does not slow down the motor (good design), a less powerful motor can produce the same suction through higher revs. Having more power is always a good thing though because its harder for anything, like bad filtering for example, to slow the motor down.
My limited experience of Dysons has seen a surfeit of style over performance and DON’T get me onto those devil-spawn folded fluorescent less-light bulbs!
Thing is, the old Dyson worked very well. The new one doesn’t.
Our Dyson works very well and is more powerful than our other older vacuum cleaner. The filter is readily available and is cheap and easy to replace. The filters can also be removed, washed out, dried and put back in.
With regard to flourescent light bulbs, we have them in passageways and outhouses etc, just not in living spaces where you might want to read or whatever. They are more expensive but last much longer, most of the ones that we have are over twenty years old now.
The EU has a perfectly valid point: there’s really no excuse for a *consumer-grade* vacuum cleaner that draws over 1.6 kW of electricity.
Numatic, who make those industrial-grade cleaners with the smiley faces on them and names like “Henry” and “Charles”, have *professional-grade* vacuum cleaners that consume just 620 Watts. This is the kind of kit you see used to clean office buildings, not just one home.
If Numatic, a small British company, can do it, their much bigger rivals have no excuse.