Yet more utter garbage from The Daily Mail regarding EU vacuum laws

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LOL the vacuum would turn inside out from the pull. Just romex & plastic & I would think in the crawl space they would be protected but it's not, just stapled to the joists. For running something like that you would almost have to get a fuel powered generator & just think no more blown anything your testing. Oh & how they wired it here (thank God) the ceiling lights are different from the outlets. I hated that when something blew in the house in Fla the entire room when dark, at least here you can switch a floor lamp on & was also great when I had to change the switch in the bath, just brought in a desk lamp & the power from the wall was still on. BUT here since were high up on the Plateau our power goes out frequently in the winter is the worst
 
Romex stapled to rafters. Isn't that lovely? My dad would have been irate if he saw that! I have a metric crapload of circuits too. Each side of the kitchen is on a differnt breaker and then there are the four 20 amp breakers for the appliances. Same thing throughout the house. It's not a bad thing.

Funny thing but those last generation square Kenmore canister vacs have a support for the lid built into them so they won't suck the lid in. It is either a large filter housing over the fan and cord reel hump with two thick ribs running across the top for and aft, or a thing that looks like a roll cage screwed into the top of the motor and cord housing that the lid touches when it's closed. I guess they learned from the previous generation who's plastic lid flexed in even from the moderate suction of a 2.7 peak hp motor. On the Avocado Bomber if you pop the palm of your hand off and on the hose end with the motor running you can get the tools jumping in their holder.

I have a cream colored last generation of the lunch box 3.5 that is going to get some kind of big motor, as much suction and air watts as I can get and not blow breakers with the Powermate running. I'm thinking a Lamb 119800 if I can suss out how to mount it, otherwise my trusty 115923 bolts up to the existing holes perfectly (but lacks the juice of the more modern motor). There is also a new version of the 115923 with what are called "Eternity Brushes". Just give me time to clear out a couple of other projects. That giant sucking sound from California will be my Frankenvac. Hide your small animals and spare change.
 
Hay, make it water worthy so it will get ya'll some water to finish off the crisis there. I hear it's pretty bad & neighbours are turning each other in for the $500 reward that was on ALJAM channel.
 
No, we don't have bounties for reporting water wasters that I'm aware of. Most water districts are trying the soft approach using warning citations as an educational tool. Generally no one is fined on a first offense. Fines are for repeat violators. There is one district I read about that is really in dire straits that even offers a "Water School" along the lines of traffic school to those receiving citations that lets you work off the fine by sitting in a classroom receiving water conservation instruction.

There is a saying that dates to the 1800s that in California whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting. This is far from the worst drought the California has experienced. Western water law is based on the concept that "first in use is first in right", meaning whomever made a claim to the water first and continues to use it has first rights to that water. Those who came later lose water in a drought. What that means is that some farm districts with water rights dating back more than a century are flood irrigating crops of rice while municipal water districts and many agricultural water districts with more junior water rights have lost their allocations of water completely. The courts have, so far, turned back every attemtp to change this situation. Fully 85% of the developed fresh water used in Souther California is owned by the Imperial Irrigation District. They take water from the Colorado River and irrigate low desert croplands through unlined dirt ditches. Because their water rights are senior to every single other Colorado River user except the native tribes, LA, Vegas and every other water user on that river will have to surrender every drop of their allocation before the IID has to give up even one drop. Fair or not, this is the law and it has survived multiple legal challenges all the way up to the US Supreme Court. I vividly recall an IID board member calling a US Senator an "overweight, pig eyed, gas bag sack of sh!t" in a public meeting with the press in the room because the Senator had the temerity to suggest that running water through the open desert in unlined dirt ditches just might not be the highest and best use of scarce water. Such are the temperaments of people with water rights.
 
No, we don't have bounties for reporting water wasters that I'm aware of. Most water districts are trying the soft approach using warning citations as an educational tool. Generally no one is fined on a first offense. Fines are for repeat violators. There is one district I read about that is really in dire straits that even offers a "Water School" along the lines of traffic school to those receiving citations that lets you work off the fine by sitting in a classroom receiving water conservation instruction.

There is a saying that dates to the 1800s that in California whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting. This is far from the worst drought the California has experienced. Western water law is based on the concept that "first in use is first in right", meaning whomever made a claim to the water first and continues to use it has first rights to that water. Those who came later lose water in a drought. What that means is that some farm districts with water rights dating back more than a century are flood irrigating crops of rice while municipal water districts and many agricultural water districts with more junior water rights have lost their allocations of water completely. The courts have, so far, turned back every attemtp to change this situation. Fully 85% of the developed fresh water used in Souther California is owned by the Imperial Irrigation District. They take water from the Colorado River and irrigate low desert croplands through unlined dirt ditches. Because their water rights are senior to every single other Colorado River user except the native tribes, LA, Vegas and every other water user on that river will have to surrender every drop of their allocation before the IID has to give up even one drop. Fair or not, this is the law and it has survived multiple legal challenges all the way up to the US Supreme Court. I vividly recall an IID board member calling a US Senator an "overweight, pig eyed, gas bag sack of sh!t" in a public meeting with the press in the room because the Senator had the temerity to suggest that running water through the open desert in unlined dirt ditches just might not be the highest and best use of scarce water. Such are the temperaments of people with water rights.
 
You better hang on to your water. Isn't Georgia arguing to move the state border north a mile or so at a place called Nickajack so they can tap into the Tennessee River, so short of water is Georgia? Georgia tried this gambit in 2008 and was shot down but with most of Georgia currently in a drought they are trying again.

We have water here, but I cannot fathom how our laws allow farmers to grow water intensive crops like rice and alfalfa (the desert is dotted with alfalfa fields and increasingly pistachio orchards while desert aquifers are silently sucked dry) in a state that is experiencing a drought. Urban dwellers are being told to stop watering lawns but there is no limit to watering alfalfa, until the wells run dry.
 
They tried to get the state line closer into Ga a couple years back but it was shot down. I hear ya DT I/we don't make the laws, don't understand them & probably most were created at night behind closed doors without anyone's knowing & passed before anyone can question or bitch about. It's really sad because it hurts a lot of people that really need the help.
 
Which? subscribers should be demanding a lot better than this. Here they are basically advocating panic buying, which I always thought went against everything the Consumers' Association originally stood for. Wasn't there once a time when they encouraged their readers to employ a little critical thinking (e.g. questioning claims, researching and comparing) when making a major purchase, so as to help them spend their money wisely? I didn't always agree 100% with their product recommendations or slams, but at least the testing articles themselves provided a solid enough foundation for shoppers to know what attributes to look out for and why.

Of course, to find out what these Best Buy vacs we ought to be buying NOW are, one has to sign up for a subscription. Easy to do online, just a few clicks. Not so easy to cancel mind, you'll need to phone and speak to Which? in order to do that. As always, it's sensationalist bilge intended to keep the subscription £££ rolling in.

A fair few manufacturers aren't fully on board with these new regs, and are only complying under duress. Let's not also forget that an awful lot of manufacturers these days are happy to promote Which? by including their Best Buy status on their websites, and applying stickers to products on the assembly line. Something tells me such promotion would come to an abrupt halt if Which? actually had the balls say most vac manufacturers are only interested in advertising more watts than their competition, and hinting that they ought to put on their big girl panties and actually come up with something that performs as it should while meeting the new regs. Especially if they pointed out that some of their competitors (e.g. Numatic) had already done exactly that, ahead of time and without whinging to the press or TV about it.
 
The problem I find, is that Which subscribers are often clueless. They won't demand anything, or if they do, Which turn a blind eye to it. Which know best and they won't stand down despite heavy criticism aimed at their report findings on their "member only forum."


 


I subscribed for a year and lost interest. The moment they tested the SEBO D2 and couldn't find the bag fill indicator was a case in point. Thereafter, they continually cut down "Best Buys" in certain Miele models just because they didn't have the upgraded filters. No change of floor head or motor, but suddenly a big change in testing performance. When, or if you are a Miele owner like I have been and had quite a few models pass through your hands, you'll know the salt from the pepper.


 


A filter upgrade does not improve performance. Which fail to recognise that.


 


There was almost a heavy uproar from Numatic owners too, when Which slated Henry. They failed to take into consideration that Henry is most widely used and failed to recognise key points on the vacuum cleaner. I recall the forum well; constant complaints to Which until they finally relented and tested the Henry again; but I still haven't seen that "new" report since unsubscribing...


 


There's a lot more discrepancies as time goes on when reading reports that they do, not just with vacuum cleaners. That's why I gave up on them. 


 


Its about time there was another UK organisation who could take on Which. Perhaps only then, the company concerned would become a lot fairer and not be so controlling for consumer products and services.
 
The daily fail website doesn't seem to be accepting my comment, must be too close to the bone. This is what I had to say, I'll post it here for your delight


''What really amazes me is how stupid people actually are. I think you all need to relearn physics, the principle of vacuum. I sell the things, and I am glad this is coming into effect. People who know about them like me, know it's the overall design which makes it powerful, not the motor.
Vacuums 20 years ago never had high wattages and no one ever whinged on then.

As for the reporter, I think you need to get down to the job centre, as journalism is not your forte. The daily fail is
laughable at this none news.''
 
"As for the reporter, I think you need to get down to the job centre, as journalism is not your forte"

Maybe, but he/she is reporting in a way that the DM reader wants it to be reported. To that end, they are good at their job. I doubt the DM cares about anything. They just need to sell papers.
 

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