EU bans vacuum cleaners

[Puppy]

Another idiotic idea of the EU monster. To ban vacuum cleaners with power over 1600 W, later over 900W (and later at all ?)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... aners.html

After the classic light bulb ban that's another clueless idea. And yes, laptops with "unnecessary" power are on the list next time. The idea of saving power or other resources does not make sense because any savings always leads to dramatical rising of prices. It has been that way last twenty years over here. For example the cost of drinking water went up 80 times since 1990 year over here when people started to save its consumption by 30%. The same with electric energy. Why to save when the bill does not go down ? Never.

[ajkula66]

[joester]

...this fits in perfectly with the conversion in the US from 3 gallon toilets to 1.6 gallon units.
Nobody stopped to think about the infrastructure being designed for a 3 gallon flow to prevent blockages from happening.

I'm curious as to why they are attacking vacuum cleaners when they are only used for short duration compared to wide screen TV's computers, ect... that are left on most of the day.

[ajkula66]

...this fits in perfectly with the conversion in the US from 3 gallon toilets to 1.6 gallon units.
Nobody stopped to think about the infrastructure being designed for a 3 gallon flow to prevent blockages from happening.

You cannot expect bureaucrats *anywhere* to actually think...

[killer]

Modern TV sets use minimal electricity. My LCD TV uses 3 Watts when switched on and 0.03 Watts when on standby. It is not worth switching it off.

Vacuum cleaners are used infrequently. They consume over 1 KW when in use, although use is limited to a few minutes.

In EU countries we have an excess of generated power at night and a shortage during the day. This is because nuclear generation continues at the same rate 24 hours a day.

Everyone switching on an electric kettle to make tea or coffee at half-time in a football match causes a surge that has to be met. There are schemes that deal with this demand via hydro electric sources.

There is more to be gained by switching off all the air-conditioning units in buildings than by limiting vacuum cleaner engine size. Open the window if you need fresh air. Everything modern is air-conditioned (A/C). Go by air from London to New York. Once inside the terminal at Heathrow it is A/C. Then into the aircraft with A/C. Arrive at JFK and it is all A/C.

Never mind vacuum cleaners ... why can't I breathe fresh air?

[Tõnis]

I'm not turning down the AC; I'm turning it up to maximum. I couldn't care less about reducing my "carbon footprint," being "green," or doing anything else to worship at the altar of this false god, the environment. In less than one hundred years I'll be dead.

[RealBlackStuff]

A great way for saving energy would be to change the temperature for serving the Real Black Stuff.
Currently Guinness is served way too cold for my liking, at 6-7 degrees Celsius/centigrade (~44 Fahrenheit).
Upping that to a more likable 10C/50F would be tremendous for the taste, and enormous for the environment!
There are millions of locations worldwide that serve Guinness. Multiply that by the energy thus saved, and the result would be staggering!
And if they then would ban factories from flogging overrated, overcooled cat's piss (such as [US] Budweiser).... etc. etc.

[loyukfai]

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[loyukfai]

Modern TV sets use minimal electricity. My LCD TV uses 3 Watts when switched on and 0.03 Watts when on standby. It is not worth switching it off.

Perhaps you mean 3 ampere?

BTW, the EU is not banning vacuum cleaners, and higher input power doesn't always translate into higher suction power. This could be clear to anyone who bothers to spend a few minutes Googling before posting.

Cheers.

[killer]

@loyukfai: No I do not mean amps. Watts = volts x amps. We use 230 volts in the UK although our house has 250 volts (just within the upper 10% tolerance).
So if you want to know the amps you can work it out by dividing 3 watts by 250 volts. Either way it is not a lot.

@RBS: I'm on your side. Overcooled Guinness is a waste. Chemical beer is no better than cat urine.

@Tonis: How progressive of you. Your thoughts remind me why intellectual argument appears to have escaped the rich people of the planet.

[Ash]

3W for a TV is impossible even with the most power saving TVs today - This figure is plain wrong. Normal power input of a TV is on the order of 15-30 times more than that



Im closely familiar with this from another field, namely lighting. The bans dont stop at the incandescent lamp, they ban also many fluorescent and HID lamps and their ballasts. For what ? Apparently saved power, at the cost of reduced light quality (conversion from fluorescent and HID to LED), reduced reliability (conversion from electromagnetic ballasts to electronic ballasts which are infamous for their short life).....

It's what is called green nowadays. Go trash your good working technology, buy new inferior "green" technology (in green carton with recycle sign and leaves pictured on it !) and pretend you save the planet....

This is not green. Let alone the inferior performance of new lighting technologies, the energy / pollution / use of resources to harvest the materials, manufacture, transport, install new light fittings and dispose of the old (and still working) ones, are not going to be covered up by the minor electricity savings.....

But since most of manufacture-related pollution takes place in China, obviously the EU dont really care for that. In fact they do promote "replace your working stuff" projects for lighting, for appliances, whatnot

If they would really care for green, they would focus on widespread adoption of solar panels backfeeding to the grid (and cutting down on power plant power generation this way) rather than on regulationg power input of appliances



Things can be made with sense. They were in the past

Take for example our toilet flush tanks, which look like they are different from the USA ones (im unsure about European ones) - At least we dont have this pipe connected to the central piston which i see in all pictures of USA tanks....

They were all 9 liter (2.4 gal) standard. 25 years ago dual quantity flush tanks appeared and displaced the 9 liter ones off the production line pretty much overnight - The old tanks were not available anymore the same day...

The new tanks have 2 handles, 1 flushes the full 9 liters and the other flushes half

Those tanks work great and never caused a problem, even when replacing 9 liter tanks in old construction. Apparently the occasional flush of 9 liters is sufficient to keep the pipes clean while most of the time only 4.5 liters are flushed

As a side benefit, while redesigning the tanks, most manufacturers used the opportunity to improve their serviceability - easier to replace gaskets etc

Yep that is how "going green" was done in 1989....



I have an old Siemens (Germany, before EU) vacuum that has changing power, its max is 1600w but it can be turned down to about 300w using a slider (and apparently some phase-angle "dimmer" circuit inside). Its not like it is 1600w only

Now assume that it is limited to 900w, and i need more power for something. Then i will vacuum it slower..... And use more power respectively

Even if we take that modern vacuums can suck harder while using only 900w, then why aren't they allready made in 900w today ? manufacturers would happily save $ by making the vacuums with cheaper 900w motors.... apparently 900w is not giving sufficient suction power for the demands of domestic users, and i really doubt there is an expected 1.5x boost in the efficiency of vacuum cleaners expected anytime soon. When they will go down to 900w, their performance too will go down to 900w



I do think that we should protect the planet. But i think it should be done with sense. Through life habits rather than by buying stuff with EEI=A and green leafs drawn on the package.....

On my part ? Vegan. Walking the stairs. Walking long distances. Planning trips smartly. . Repairing tech which can be repaired and used. Switching off appliances and lights when not in use. Using "ungreen" lighting but keeping down the power of lamps i use

But if some day i will really want to vacuum something really bad, i will come up with a wheeled lab cart, good 16A power strip capable of 2700w, vacuum hose joiner made from plastic sewer pipe joints and duct tape. Or just go and get an industrial vac. And not feel any shame for that as long as i switch off the vac after im done cleaning

[Cigarguy]

Well that sucks!

[A31]

This is another stupid idea from the EU which will be forced upon us. As said by Killer, yes, it's true these devices consume a lot of power, but they're never switched on for very long (since we all hate doing the housework! )

These stupid ideas are probably one of the reasons why a lot of British citizens want us out of the EU. I'll keep my views about the EU to myself but I'll say that this is a stupid idea.