Do vacuum cleaners that claim to be more energy efficient really use less energy?
Which? has tested a few vacuum cleaners claiming low energy use, and levels vary. Some recorded low levels in our test, others proved average. Vacuum cleaners are bought to clean floors and as yet we’ve not found a vacuum cleaner that balances excellent all-round cleaning with very low energy use. Average energy consumption is around 260Wh to vacuum a 10m2 area of carpet at full suction – that’s about the same area as 3 kingsize beds. We’ve seen energy sapping models use in excess of 150Wh more energy than the less power hungry ones – the difference is enough energy to boil a litre of water in a kettle.
