From the 1st of September, manufacturers will be banned from making or importing vacuum cleaners above 1,600 watts within the European Union. With only ten days left before the ban comes into effect, certain news outlets are urging customers to rush out and buy the most powerful vacuum they can, but this is bad advice and we want to set the record straight.
Wattage and suction explained
Throughout our thorough reviews process, we consistently find that a vacuum's power rating has little impact on suction. Instead, a combination of factors, including motor and cylinder design, whether the bag or bin is full, whether the filters are regularly cleaned and the shape of the vacuum head can all affect how good a vacuum cleaner is at its job. The 1,400w AEG Ultracaptic Animal has the most powerful suction of all the vacuums we've tested to date, outperforming 2,200w machines.
A wattage rating isn't always an indicator of what's being drawn from the plug socket, either; we've seen 2,200W rated vacuums draw less than 1,100w, and 1,000w cleaners exceed their rating by up to 200w. Power draw will depend on the power setting and suction mode of a cleaner, if it has them, as well as motor wattage.
Who's affected?
Manufacturers affected by the ban include Samsung, Meile, Hoover and Bosche. According to the BBC, each company will be introducing new, more energy-efficient models which are just as effective as the outgoing banned machines, but this begs the question as to why the old ones require so much power to provide suction.
UK-based Dyson has never produced a vacuum that uses more than 1,600watts, so is unaffected by the ban, but the company is still keen to point out the problems with the EU ruling, which will also force manufacturers to put an energy rating on the box of all new models.
Seven different ratings from A to G will measure performance on hard floors and carpets, as well as how much dust is emitted from the machine itself, but because manufacturers are allowed to perform these measurements themselves and the results aren't corroborated by a third party, they are ripe for manipulation. An empty machine may score an A rating, and although it may perform significantly worse once part- or fully-filled with dust, a manufacturer could take the initial result and use that for its EU energy label.
"Performance in the home is different to that in the lab: bags and filters will clog with dust as the machine is used, leading to a loss of suction and a drop of performance. As suction drops, energy is wasted. The label currently ignores this." - Dyson statement
The new label also fails to take into account the environmental impact of vacuum bags and filters. According to bagless pioneer Dyson, over 126 million bags and filters end up in landfill each year across the EU, with the average consumer spending £50 per year on replacements. That equates to £500 over the ten year lifespan of the average vacuum, another factor not considered by the new label.
Company founder James Dyson compared the current system to how carmakers test fuel efficiency in an opinion piece on the Telegraph, with "Sellotaping door joints, cutting out air con, and lobbing batteries out of the car" all "part of the game". The company is seeking a judicial review of the impending legislation at the European court of justice, but a judgment isn't due until December 2015 - meaning customers will have to make do with the labels in their current form for at least a year.
What to do about the ban
Our advice is to look beyond the wattage rating when buying a new vacuum cleaner, and instead looking for independent reviews that state the exact suction performance. We measure all our vacuums using a suction meter, with empty, part-full and completely filled bags or bins to see how capacity affects performance, so you can be sure you're getting the power you need - regardless of what it says on the box.
