Sebos reaction to the new EU regulaitons on vacuum wattage!?

[oliveoiltinfoil]

I'm a little shocked, confused and amused by what I saw on Sebo UK's website under the news section at the bottom of the page http://www.sebo.co.uk/news/events/eu-sucks-the-power-out-of-your-vacuum/#respond

Does this person work for Sebo ? And or does she voice their opinions and views publicly? If that is the case, I much admire Sebos way of thinking and doing things. Basically stating "EU sucks he power from your vacuum", saying vacuums wil become less powerful after the 2017 900watt maximum power for the motors.

To be honest, and I know that power isn't everything, me having a 1300 felix and the performance it gives in an example, but on a political level, this is petty. I don't think reducing the maximum wattage for vacuum motors is going to save the planet when China are building and opening 1 coal powered power station per week.

It is corrupt, and at the end of the day, the EU consumer will be worse off. Vacuum manufactures may put the prices up of their cleaners to compensate for the R&D needed to produce 900watt efficient motors that work as well as they can, and initially, the cleaners might not be as good. Who knows.

 

[hi-loswitch98]

I think they looked at the newspaper article & copied it.

 

[turbo500]

the EU consumer will be worse off

that is absolutely not true. The new EU legislation will force companies who have got away with using near 20 year old designs but constantly upping the motor wattage to keep up with new technology. It will mean more thought will have to go into cleaners. It's widely known that the motor wattage does not always directly affect the suction, but that design is a more important factor.

Just look at the 700w Panasonic 40 series and 800w Hoover Turbopower 2 and Electrolux Contour - fantastic suction power, certainly enough to rival most modern cleaners.

 

[sebo_fan]

Actually the consumer WILL be worse off...

The consumer will be worse off when these new "eco friendly" vacs come onto the market from brands who are currently selling high powered vacuums - look at Hoover's current Eco-G TeliosPlus based cylinder vac. It costs £115 to £120 for that version compared to the £70 to £90 version that has higher motor power.

Miele's S8 Silence Plus with the new 700 watt motor costs £300 when their normal 1200 watt Ecoline version costs £240 and the 2000 watt motor version costs £200.

Yes, perhaps long term the consumer possibly won't be worse off IF those vacuums are better built in terms of better sealed suction, airflow and quality. But then, at what cost price?

Oli - The person who wrote the press statement is SEBO UK's managing director, Justin Binks. He and his father were responsible for bringing SEBOs to the UK

As for lowering watts - well thank god there are still brands out there who have always offered lower power - otherwise we'd all be using vintage vacuums to "keep green and clean," but also at the same time running around looking for spare parts as well as out of production genuine dust bags, filters and other required consumables dependent on type.

Cue the lack of brush roll replacements for Hoover's TP2/3 series?

 

[bagintheback]

This is absurd. Many bypass motor vacuums have been produced that draw less than 900watts. The Electrolux Model G draws just 535watts, and I have never heard anyone complain about the suction it provides. Most American vacs top out at 1440watts, which is hardly necessary and simply a marketing ploy. I always considered Sebo a decent company, but this article does not make me happy. 

 

[beko1987]

My X1 is about to come full circle then! 800w in there!

If I use a 400w Turbopower for a daily driver does the EU have to give me money back?

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

I am certainly not against manufacturers investing in more efficient technology and yes, like I said and as we all know, higher wattage doesn't always mean greater suction power, but its the reason why the EU are putting forward these legislations - for a greener environment. Well what, the average consumer uses their vacuums 3 to 4 time a week for half our or 45 minutes max? I don't think that will make much difference.

And yeah, "eco model" vacuums at the moment cost a considerable amount more than their non-eco counterparts. Look at the bosch cylinders and the miele line up. Costing upwards of £100 more.

I'm not saying this will be a bad thing, but the politics behind it are.

 

[ralph123]

This is a truly stupid idea from someone who has no sense but a great sense of importance. I'm not sure vacuums even make the top 50 in consumption of electric power in a household. The idiots in charge should consider the Pareto principle and work on items in the top 5-10 to get bang for the buck in energy savings. This is about government control freaks wanting to exercise power.

 

[jmurray01]

I am astonished a brand as big and successful as Sebo could be so utterly... ASININE!!  There is no other word for it.

 

[sebo_fan]

Im puzzled as to why you think SEBO are being "asinine" in the way you put it.

The original news report stemmed from Dyson who attacked certain German brands who were "sticking to their old fashioned products," but wouldn't mention any particular brand.

 

[jmurray01]

I think it is asinine because Sebo are promoting a tag line which insinuates that the new EU regulations on motor wattage will result in worse performing vacuum cleaners.  Surely they should be stating the contrary!


 


Perhaps I am getting the wrong end of the stick, but that's how it looks to me.

 

[sebo_fan]

Well.. this is what SEBO UK actually say:

"...If the proposed regulations for vacuum cleaners come into force as planned next year, they could hugely frustrate anyone trying to clean their home,” he told The Sunday Times.

"Presented initially as eco-regulations, the proposals now go way beyond the simple premise of reducing the power consumption of vacuum cleaners. They embrace issues such as noise and will limit performance using unrealistic criteria."

A spokesman for the European Commission said: "The whole point of the regulations is to go away from the idea that high power means better performance - which is not necessarily the case."

The above statement from SEBO UK doesn't make the company look foolish IMHO, but rather allows consumers to see the ACTUAL criteria of how the EU are pushing brands to produce low watt run vacuums.

There is no actual tag line here given the amount of info that SEBO have released here, JM - and they are quite correct since the EU have not released details on how the data will be collected other than a simple sand test on carpet.

As you know there are several vacuums on the market that may well have excellent air flow, but that doesn't determine a good rating on performance at every corner.

As you also know there are many attributes to what makes an efficient vacuum cleaner. Airflow, suction rate, sealed suction - all of those properties will be required to be better made or produced than they are currently with all of the brands entering the UK with their products.

The EU release notes on the laws however don't seem to mention any of this - and in short whilst they are happy to stamp and process a law- they simply haven't tested it far enough to release the kind of info that will demonstrate what they are talking about.

 

[whirlpolf]

Europe should keep its filthy fingers out of things...

...they do not fully understand.

There is a saying here in Germany:
"if you cannot succeed in local politics, go nationwide"
(Today it can be altered to "if you cannot succeed in nationwide politics, go Europe"

Which is true for most part of their politicans.

On one hand a less than 900 watts vacuum is technically possible, yet it requires things like outer bags as one option (large surface); others may apply, but it screams for a clear "no" to wannabe cyclone clones (a pleated cardboard filter in a 2.3 kilowatts machine is NOT a working cyclone).
So doing away with all these China manufactured plastivacs (being junk from the very day of their purchase) would be the first thing to eliminate.

Stopping all these discount chain stores to feature less than € 50 vacuums would be the first thing to go for (who deal a major part in hypnotizing the public into "whoaaah! how cheap! THIS is what I want")
All these fake politicians are preaching about "sustainability". Now how sustainable is a 40 € piece of junk that you basically have to throw away from day one? How sustainable is global airplane logistics with no service and no spare parts provided at all because the "brand" (not even the manufacturer company) has "vanished" overnight?) Tsk, tsk....


Europe is such a great place to boost your own political curriculum vitae (should you be into politics at all), it offers thousands of opportunities to kick yourself to the front row without any real knowledge of the subject at hand at all.
Yet, by providing all kinds of barriers to real knowledgable men and women of the actual trade in all the respective countries, it hinders and stalls the development of mankind in general. (Not in Europe alone, God beware! ANY country will follow the blue-bannered madness: Oh, "they" are doing it! We must be doing it, too!)
Shame on Europe.
No longer my favorite.

In other words: F.... (ind a better solution for) yourself, Europe!
There ARE experts all around. Just go talk to them.
(And I hate this typical shrug-it-off Brussel's ignorance of reality).
I really DO hate Europe for its stubborn blockheadedness out of nowhere, out of outer space, for no reason at all but just to "stir up things" (for nothing, as has been shown often enough).

Just my 2 cts (*rant off*)

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

@ whirlpolf

Completely agree with you 100%. Thank you for explaining it in detail. I thought Germans were early all pro-EU but I guess that is just the politicians, like all of them in every EU country pretending this EU project can work. Arrgghh !

Getting back to topic, I still think this is a money making spin, very much doubt the idiots at Brussles genuinely want to save the planet or promote better technologies in vacuums. I'm glad Sebo are saying something, and to an extent, Dyson as well (without slagging off other companies but that is all James Dyson does)

 

[tolivac]

The regulations on vacuum cleaner motor power is sort of silly-and wasteful on the polictical side-other things more important to worry about-as pointed out before vacuum motor power is derived by testing the motors in a lab--what the motor draws in actual use in the vacuum cleaner is going to be diffrent-usually less.Its like trying to regulate amplifier power-you can get better sound efficiency by using a more efficient speaker system-esp in the LF end.Of course this means large speaker drivers and large cabinets-but customers don't want huge fridge size speaker cabients-they want something that is small and can be put on a shelf-hence more amp power required-contrast this to a movie theater-Fridge size cabinets and horns hidden behind the screen-and not as much amp power required-even to force the sound thru the perfed screen.Another example I just read about yesterday-waterjet cutter machine pumps-one waterjet machine maker promoted his lower PSI water pumps---60,000PSI vs 90,000 psi another maker used.and the higher pressure pump needed a 75 hp motor instead of a 50 hp one.And the first maker mentioned his machine was more productive at the lower pressure with the lower HP pump-and lower maintenance costs and power costs.And tool life would be longer.Goes for vacuum cleaners-the efficiency of the SYSTEM is more important than the motor wattage or HP.As also with amps and speakers-more efficient speaker-lower wattage amp-you may have to put up with larger speaker cabinets and horn speakers.

 

[hooverkid]

It all started when.....

the watts and amount of energy used started to go up when vacuum makers made the motors less efficient so they would burn out so you would buy there product more often.

 

[ultralux88]

This subject always leads to a rant on my part...

Just another example of clueless government bureaucrats that think they know it all trying to run everyone's lives and businesses. I find it mind numbing how it all works... We've proven that climate change is both not warming and not caused by man. We proved this scientifically AND we have the email evidence that it was lied about and the data fixed to show what they wanted, yet they still force pointless policies and regulations on us as if it were actually happening. I can't stand these government people who truly think they are so much smarter than the average person and they know whats better for us than we do, it makes me sick! It also chaps my ass that we get these government morons that come into businesses and start telling them what to do when they have no clue about the business or the industry they're in, making all these mandate and regulations that do nothing but make work harder, make things cost more, and in some cases make the product work less effectively.

 

[anthony]

just

like cigarette packets have pictures of someones cancer ridden lungs these cheap [and some of the expensive ones] ear splitting power guzzling crappy vacs should have a picture of a 2 or 3 bar electric fire on them joe public would understand the implications of that much better than the sign saying x amount of watts

 

[madaboutsebo]

Does anyone know if SEBO UK is owned by the main Germany Company or a franchise of the SEBO Brand in the UK, just wonder? As you mention sebo_fan MD Justin Binks and his father where responsible for bringing SEBO's to the UK.