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Hi,
I’ve seen references to relibility ratings (eg AAA). Is it something like the EU energy efficiency rating ? Is there a guide to manufacturers or their products that gives this information somewhere ? Or is it only a rating given by those of you who have to deal with the machines and their problems day-in&day-out ?
TIA,
Iain Scurrah.
Re: Reliability ratings
iscurrah wrote:Hi,
I’ve seen references to relibility ratings (eg AAA). Is it something like the EU energy efficiency rating ?
Not “reliability” only ‘efficiency’ :lesson:
An ‘AAA’ rating will only show its capability and nothing else 🙁
Reliability is based on product price in as much as the higher the price you pay, the better the product. A £250 AAA rated washing machine therefore will be far less reliable than say a £350 AAA one is likely to be 😉
Martin
Re: Reliability ratings
OK thanks – reasonable – but where do I get the ratings from ? For example, comparing a Fagor dishwasher (1VFE 65 IT – about 333 pounds) with a Whirlpool (ADG 6556 – about 350 pounds).
Guess what – no Sterling symbol 🙁
TIA,
Iain Scurrah.
Re: Reliability ratings
Yeah this is VERY confusing for people I think and it needs clarified as, in my honest opinion, the current EU Labelling system is extremely misleading to say the least.
The “AAA” or “A” rating gives absolutely no indication to the quality of the appliance whatsoever! I think that’s a point made pretty clear there. 😉
What it tells you is that the machine has passed a set of pre-defined tests set in 1996 (IIRC) which are, again in my opinion, totally unrealistic for real world use.
A typical example of the energy labelThe first “A” is for energy consumption, it has to come in using under a certain amount of electricity.
The second is for washing performance for which the test is nothing short of woeful, so bad it’s hardly worth bothering about in my opinion!
The final one is for spin performance, which determines how much water is removed from a set load of clothing. This is probably the most accurate indication of performance but I doubt many people could tell the difference between an “A”, “B” or “C” rating in the real world.
All the tests are carried out on a 60oC wash with a detergent that you cannot buy over the counter. All stain removal measurements are made using swatches of five stains to mimick the real world (:lol:), as if. Since the vast majority of people wash at lower temperatures this offers no indication of how the appliance will perform on the most commonly used cycles. You’ll also note no reference whatsoever to the length of time that a cycle will take.
As you can plainly see there is no information in the label at all about the quality of the product, it’s real word performance or indeed how ECO friendly it actually is when it comes time to recycle it or how ECO friendly it was in being produced or even how ECO friendly it is using detergent…
Need I go on? 😉
K.
Re: Reliability ratings
Aha ! Thanks – now I see where the AA comes from. And why I shouldn’t bother with it.
So the next obvious question, how do I tell the quality of an appliance ? I know – having read here – that the manufacturer’s brand name doesn’t really tell me anything about who built it. Are there independent sites online that you believe give real-world credible reviews of these machines ?
Or is it just a matter of you get what you pay for ?
I wish buying a oven and hob was as easy as buying the components to build my own computer !
Thanks again anyway 🙂
Iain.
Re: Reliability ratings
iscurrah wrote:Are there independent sites online that you believe give real-world credible reviews of these machines ?
You’re looking at one right now 😀
Ask away if you have any models in mind 😉
Dave.
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