Go Green
Energy costs are soaring and global warming is always on the news, we can all do our little bit to ease things, every appliance sold must by law have an energy rating label. So what does it all mean?
It is really quite simple, A means very good and G means not good. If an appliance is well above average then A+ or A++ shows this.
Energy Labelling applies to Fridges, Dishwashers, Laundry and Cooking. The standards are set by an EEC Directive. The same directive sets standards for measuring the performance of dishwashers and washing machines. For wet products (using water) there are three standards, with a washing machine for example AAB, the first letter denotes energy efficiency, the second is wash performance and the last letter denotes spin efficiency which is how dry the load is when the cycle finishes.
And a dishwasher for example AAC, the first letter would denote energy efficiency, the second letter shows wash performance and the last letter shows drying quality.
Household appliances account for up to 30% of your home energy, so selecting the most energy efficient appliances can save you money.
We recommend ovens that have an 'A' energy rating or above. A new A+ rated electric oven will consume 40% less energy than a B rated oven.
Dishwashers can take up a significant chunk of your electricity bill, costing on average around £40 a year to run. Over a year, it costs around £12 less to run a typical new dishwasher than it does an old, inefficient machine of the same size- and it will use less water.
Fridges, freezers and fridge-freezers are switched on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so it's well worth finding models that are energy efficient. Typically choosing an A+ fridge freezer over the market average will save you around £57 in energy bills over the lifetime of the product.
Water use is also important, a low water use dishwasher can use less than half of the water used by a standard unit. With water meters, this costs money! Look for a 7ltr dishwasher.
And noise levels can be an issue if your room is open plan, noise is measured in db with 50db being average and 40db being super quiet.