Someone mentioned the other day that it was next to impossible to find new washing machines with both hot and cold fill. How are we supposed to reduce carbon emissions from washing by using water from low carbon sources such as solar thermal?
To check whether this was true, I did a quick survey online. Of the top 50 selling washing machines from 13 difference manufacturers, none has the option to fill with hot water. Yet all of these machines are A or A+ rated for energy efficiency. I wondered why this had come about.
The Energy Information (Washing Machines) Regulations 1996 states: “These Regulations shall apply only to appliances which are electric mains operated and unable to use other energy sources”
The second bit of this statement makes for an easy calculation of energy consumption so that the energy efficiency rating will be equivalent across the board. A boiler or solar water heater is clearly another energy source, and so to allow hot fill means that a machine cannot have an energy rating. So, in drafting a law which is supposed to promote energy efficiency the Government scribes have written one that prohibits the most energy efficient means of operation. Maybe one day the Government will consult people who understand the issues before writing laws.
The manufacturers must have been delighted. As the sale of appliances with poor energy ratings was banned they no longer needed to include a second set of water control valves in their machines, thus reducing manufacturing costs. I don’t suppose that the savings were passed on to consumers, but just try to get them to add back the hot fill now.