Does your vacuum cleaner suck too much?

That’s very negative, Malcolm. Of course products have to be tested under standard conditions for meaningful comparison. Under these conditions the motor is expected to operate for a minimum of 500 hours and how long individual ones last will depend on how the cleaners are used and also on luck.

I don’t know why the EU chose to restrict the power of vacuum cleaner motors but you have to start somewhere and when some cleaners are a nuisance because of too much suction – the original topic of this Conversation – why not? With the exception of Dyson, vacuum motors have not changed much in design in our lifetimes. We are seeing more efficient motors in many products, though much of this is driven by the need for more efficient motors for battery-operated products.

Yes we could save more energy by changing car design but I don’t see that as a reason for not having more efficient vacuum cleaners and other household products. Criticism of the amount of power that products use on ‘standby’ has led to less wasteful products.

Longer guarantees will help get rid of third-rate products and push up quality. We cannot afford to carry on generating mountains of waste household goods that have failed after a short life.

🙁

Two down votes! How bizarre. I am not suggesting that three would be better though. : ) Perhaps it is the “Very negative” starting sentence. I have not voted BTW.

Vacuum cleaners are not the first item as washing machines and ovens I think have already been dealt with. That it has been done in an opaque way is not a good thing.

Overall it should be self-evident that every activity that creates heat is probably not great for the future of mankind so minimising consumption or equally making more efficient use have to be good policies.

Which? in it’s own way has been poor in highlighting and taking action on housing and energy loss. Essentially with over 0.7m subscribers it might have been effective in making real case studies and educating people on achieving efficient dwellings. Campaigning on energy costs in a global energy system is verging on the futile when more effectively publicising the solutions to energy use are available. Thus helping people save money in the long term and reducing excess energy production.

It would be good if we could tackle all forms of energy wastage but I don’t see much chance of that happening any time soon. What we have achieved thanks to the EU is vacuum cleaners that use less than half the power of models that have gone before. They still do their job but don’t produce as much heat as a fan heater.

When electric drills and other power tools became popular it became common to use the power consumption in marketing. I can remember Black & Decker doing this. The popularity of cordless tools has changed marketing because high power consumption is associated with short running time. It’s not that long since one Dyson handheld vacuum would run for six minutes before needing charged. Now we have many rechargeable vacuum cleaners that will do much better.

I think we do need to explore ways of saving energy and minimising pollution without waiting for comprehensive solutions that may be a long time coming. The increasing popularity of electric cars and buses will help held address the problem of air pollution in built-up areas. We don’t need to wait until we can do the same with HGVs and other diesel-powered transport.

Time to bring back the Ewbank hand-pushed carpet sweeper? No suction, just roller-brush action.

Carpet sweepers are fine for hard surfaces but not brilliant for cleaning carpets, despite the name. Nowadays we have electric carpet sweepers at prices that won’t break the (ew)bank.

Suction was a worthwhile addition but that does not mean that it has to be so powerful that it becomes difficult to move the cleaning head or it lifts the corners of rugs.

Our Miele 1600W Cat and Dog vacuum cleaner, now about 16 years old (probably more) has a selector switch to change the power (suction) to deal with different kinds of surface. Seems to put the user in control. That reminds me, I must order some more dust bags.

The user is not in as much control as it may seem. I have a Miele cleaner without the pet designation and probably earlier because it is rated 1500W. The suction control is marked as variable between 300W and 1500W, though on the lowest setting where it produces very gentle suction it actually consumes over 400W and over 800VA because of the very crude phase control. Appliances with a low power factor distort the AC waveform and create problems for the generating companies. The power consumption is hardly surprising because the motor is an old fashioned design with a commutator, brushes and field windings. Permanent magnet motors are significantly more efficient and the EU power limit for vacuum cleaners makes them essential.

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I was referring to suction control, not energy consumption.

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Small motors like that always used permanent magnets but it was the development of magnets that could provide a strong field and shaped to make best use of it that they started to appear in larger motors. My 1982 Philips washing machine contained a permanent magnet motor made by Italian company Polymotor and the earliest examples I’ve seen dated from the 1970s, albeit not in domestic products.

The vacuum cleaner speed control is a simple triac circuit of the type you mention and here is an example of one for a Miele cleaner: https://www.partmaster.co.uk/speed-control-module-cyl-s444i/product.pl?pid=309567 I built speed controllers and dimmers when they were very expensive to buy. Happy days. I presume that modern brushless motors use speed controls that do not play as much havoc with the power factor.

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Sadly it costs more to make electronic devices these days, when they are mass produced.

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I’ve been considering it but my carpet is too thick. I’m heading for 80 and I like a clean home. No pets, few visitors, the question is which do I buy!

There is an interesting photo of an early machine based on Booth’s patent on this page: https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/British_Vacuum_Cleaner_Co
It does not look very safe, either electrically or mechanically.

The dubious electrical safety of early household products reminds me of this delightful advert relating to vacuum cleaners:

Credit: cracked.com

Ah, Cracked 🙂

I’m a big fan of Roger and all his “Honest Ads”

youtube.com/watch?v=0k7hnjKxI3U&index=16&list=PL_saLI-LH-Vp9cxB3FNJoYXZXRM93UBuf&t=0s

Yes, but I could relate better to English humour. Apparently the vacuum cleaner ad is British.

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Hi Fiona,

I’m not an expert on carpets, but I do have a coupled of ruffled or wrinkled areas in my 7 year old living room carpet.

In my case, I am highly confident that they have not been caused by excessive vacuum cleaning.

One occurs between the room’s door and the nearest corner of the room – I think it is the result of the bottom of the door tending to push the carpet in towards the corner. The other area is much smaller and may be caused by a cupboard pushing against the carpet, each time its hinged door is opened.

That said, if your cleaner has recently changed her methods for hoovering the carpet – or anything else that she does in that room, it could explain why you are now seeing wrinkles after 18 years without any. But there might be other explanations too.