You will most likely have heard in the news last year how consumers caused a surge in the sales of high-powered vacuums. This spate of panic buying took place in the months before the new EU eco-design and labelling regulations came into effect on 1 September 2014.
Designed to tackle climate change by cutting Europe’s energy usage, they banned the manufacture and sale of machines with motors higher than 1,600 watts. This caused a lot of concern amongst consumers that any new models wouldn’t be able to perform as well as their predecessors.
This was an illusion. In reality, manufacturers had spent a lot of time working on new solutions well before the regulations came into force. Like the car industry, vacuum cleaning technology is continuously getting better, so the big brands were well prepared with new models already on the market.
Whilst adhering to the new legislation, this meant that there would be no loss of performance for customers. It also meant that new models would actually be more energy efficient, and could also save customers money on their energy bills in the long term too.As part of the changes, a new labelling system was introduced for vacuum cleaners, consistent with what is already used on washing machines and to rate energy consumption in housing.
The label gives each machine an A-G rating for energy use indicating its energy efficiency on a scale from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient), cleaning performance on hard floors and carpets, and dust emission noise. The label means a minimum level of performance is required for a vacuum to be sold in the EU, which is good news for consumers as it cuts some of the poorer models from the market.
So if you’re looking for a new vacuum, be aware that all vacuum cleaners, commercial or domestic, now need to live up to their approved energy and performance ratings, but that doesn’t mean performance will be affected. When choosing your new vacuum, you can compare models easily based on the EU Energy Label which will help the decision making process.
View our range of vacuum cleaners from leading manufacturers, all of which comply with the new regulations.