PowerSwitch

The EU, in their great wisdom, have told manufacturers to make vacuum cleaners that use less electricity. Very sensible.

What does Sir (yes we knighted him those noisy machines) James Dyson do? Runs crying to judicial review instead of finding an engineering solution. And he calls himself an engineer!

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/a ... m-cleaners

Of course it'll be open season for the anti EU climate change / peak oil deniers.

Hang on... I may have been unfair to Dyson. He doesn't make cleaners at >1600W. He's upset about another aspect of the new labelling scheme.

Jason Cole wrote: Dyson's making the point that other machines require consumables, thus consuming resources, so it should be embodied in the A-G "eco" rating.

Dyson's main point is that the EU rating test will be performed on empty cleaners whereas the 'Which' testing is done on the cleaner when half full. It is claimed that the 'half full' test gives a better indication of cleaning ability in that machines that do well on the 'empty' test do not fare as well on the 'half full' test.

He also points out that a bagless cleaner does not have any bags that end up in landfill.

Low power vacuum cleaner = hardwood floor + dustpan/brush combo.

boisdevie wrote:Low power vacuum cleaner = hardwood floor + dustpan/brush combo.

Nah, what the world needs is a vacuum cleaner with it's own, on-board, hydrogen fuel cell.

Shortfall wrote:

boisdevie wrote:Low power vacuum cleaner = hardwood floor + dustpan/brush combo.

Nah, what the world needs is a vacuum cleaner with it's own, on-board, hydrogen fuel cell.

If you could develop that you'd clean up for sure.

Tarrel wrote:

Shortfall wrote:

boisdevie wrote:Low power vacuum cleaner = hardwood floor + dustpan/brush combo.

Nah, what the world needs is a vacuum cleaner with it's own, on-board, hydrogen fuel cell.

If you could develop that you'd clean up for sure.

BTW, have you heard Tim Vine's latest one-liner?

"I decided to sell my Hoover... well it was just collecting dust."

lancasterlad wrote:He also points out that a bagless cleaner does not have any bags that end up in landfill.

But how recyclable is all that mass of over-engineered plastic found in Dyson machines?

If you want a vacuum cleaner, buy a simple one which can be repaired and is more metal than plastic. Use paper vacuum bags - some can be emptied and re-used - and, when full and un-reusable, put them in your compost heap.

I have seen this reported on the BBC news recently. It said that vacuums over 1600 watts were to be banned and the limit reduced in the near future to 900w . Initially I did wonder about the proposals and then checked my Henry Hoover thinking that the regulations would have some sort of loophole for commercial machines in the same way as "rough service" 100w incandescent light bulbs are still available. However , it seems my Henry is only 1200w so well below the first set of limits which made me wonder just how many domestic machines are over 1600w and thus just how much effect this will have.
To digress slightly I actually have two henrys neither of which I brought myself but have acquired which probably shows that these things are almost throwaway items. The first was simply abandoned on a building site , probably not worth the effort to retrieve , pat test etc and the second came from a skip with it's pipe blocked with carpet. Possibly the thermal cut out had kicked in and the owner thought it not worth repairing not that it needed anything else than to cool down and a clean out .
Back on topic , the BBC report did say that these regulations would be extended to cover other items such as hair dryers and heaters. Now I don't see a problem with the vacuum cleaners but as I understand it an electric heater is pretty much 100% efficient converting all it's input into heat so wouldn't a lower wattage heater just end up being switched on for longer or a hair dryer being used for longer?
Oh and I learnt this from my father. He would reuse even disposable bags emptying them out through the inlet or even cutting a hole and sealing it with tape afterwards.

We used to have a hand pumped vacuum cleaner actually it was really good but about a 100 years old and I have never seen another one .

Had good suction


http://www.notechmagazine.com/2011/02/h ... aners.html

I can see the merit in reducing the energy used by vacuum cleaners, with proper efficient design an effective cleaner could use a lot less energy than most of todays machines.

With electric heaters though I agree that it is rather pointless, all electric heaters are virtually 100% efficient. Lower powered heaters will produce less heat and therefore need to run for longer, or two heaters be used instead of one.
There seems to be an unofficial move towards lower wattage portable electric heaters already. 3KW portable heaters are now hard to find new with 2.4KW being the largest readily available from popular retailers, and many are only 2.2KW.

There is another debate that perhaps hairdryers would eventually fall into this new regime as well.

So 1,800 watts taking shall we say 20 minutes to dry a full barnet, reduce to 900 watts, takes 40 minutes!

Is it me?

Alex

This is one of the (many) reasons why I have short hair: it saves effort both on vacuuming and on hairdrying.

The problem is, for us girlies, a haircut costs so bloody much! In the end I guess I shall go back to cutting my own hair like I did when I was a student.

alex wrote:There is another debate that perhaps hairdryers would eventually fall into this new regime as well.

So 1,800 watts taking shall we say 20 minutes to dry a full barnet, reduce to 900 watts, takes 40 minutes!

Is it me?

Alex

Better design MIGHT allow a hairdryer of reduced loading to dry the hair as effectively as a higher powered appliance.
Although a hair dyer is virtually 100% efficient at converting electricity into heat, it is not heat alone that dries the hair, but also air movement.

A more forceful stream of air heated by 1KW will dry the hair quicker than a weak airflow with same heat input.

I suspect however that most hairdryers actually consume LESS energy than claimed. So the new rules might simply lead to honest labelling rather than re design.

Hairdryers, vacuum cleaners, power tools and electric gardening equipment are very often rated in Chinese watts, that is a marketing claim rather than actual measured electrical input under normal working conditions.

Just, ban leaf blowers. And ban the use of strimmers by anybody with more than one arm.