Vacuum cleaners are an important part of any household, but few people know how much energy vacuums use.

Vacuums vary in power and intensity, so it's hard to generalize their energy usage.

However, the good news is that newer vacuum cleaners are more efficient than older models.

But where to start?

I will discuss some of the factors that determine how much electricity your vacuum cleaner uses and what you can do to get the most out of your machine without wasting too much power.

How Much Energy Does My Vacuum Cleaner Use?

Most modern vacuums have high-efficiency motors these motors consume less energy while operating at peak efficiency than standard motor designs.

Older models may still be in regular use today and probably take up around 40% less time to vacuum the same area, but they also use twice as much energy.

Another important factor is what you're using your vacuum for vacuuming bare floors uses roughly half the amount of power than cleaning rugs or carpets because it takes more effort to pick up larger objects and pull them into the machine's head.

It's easier on a rug compared with a carpet, where there may be deep crevices that can trap dirt inside even after being cleaned several times over.

Factors That Determine How Much Electricity Your Vacuum Cleaner Uses

The first thing you need to consider when discussing energy efficiency is whether or not your appliance has been Energy Star¹ certified.

If it has, it means that your model is at least 20% more efficient than regular models and uses less energy to do the same job.

The second factor that affects how much energy your vacuum uses is power.

The more powerful the vacuum, the faster it will get the job done, and the less time you'll have to spend on vacuuming.

However, if power exceeds what's required for a particular task, then additional electricity usage results.

So before buying an appliance with maximum wattage², decide whether or not this extra juice would be worth it in terms of convenience and efficiency.

Lastly, other factors can affect how efficient your vacuum cleaner is: type of flooring (carpet vacuum vs. hardwood vacuum), filter quality and cleanliness, etc., but they're harder to control unless you've purchased separate attachments.

How Much Does It Cost to Run My Vacuum Cleaner?

The question "How much does it cost to run my vacuum cleaner?" is very difficult to answer because there are so many different factors that determine the energy usage of any appliance.

As I discussed above, power plays an important role.

Still, not all vacuums have variable power settings, which means you might be using more electricity than necessary for a particular job.

If you want to determine how much your current model costs per year, consider these figures: The average US household spends $100 on electric bills every month and uses around 100 kWh (kilowatt-hours) per day.

So, if this figure includes other appliances as well, like the dryer or washer/dryer combo units, then divide by two 50 kWh per day.

If you use your vacuum for an hour every day, then 50 kWh per month is equivalent to 100 hours of usage which means that the average American household spends around $12 a year on power for their vacuum cleaner.

Elements of Vacuum Cleaners That Affect Energy Usage

To determine the energy usage of your vacuum, you need to know which elements or features require power and how often they're used. For instance:

1. Motor: The motor is a huge energy drain, but it also makes vacuuming possible, so there's no way around the fact that you'll need to use more power.
2. Brush bar: If you use the brush bar regularly, it will consume more power than vacuuming without this feature.
3. Cord length: The longer the cord, the bigger area you can cover in one go which saves time and energy. But if there are too many obstacles or nooks where dirt gets trapped easily (think of stairs), a short cord might be better because it limits your movement.
4. Power settings/adjustments: To get the best results, you might have to adjust power levels for different surfaces. But if your vacuum has only one set, this will likely be used all or most of the time, which means more electricity consumption.
5. Cleaning path width: The wider the cleaning path, the fewer passes are required to clean an area and require more energy since brush bar activity is increased.
6. Additional attachments/accessories: If there are additional parts like a hose or telescopic wand attachment included in your vacuum cleaner model, make sure they're not left plugged in when not being used because doing so increases electricity usage by up to 40%.

Vacuum Cleaner Energy Usage Requirements

An important thing to remember is that manufacturers aren't required to state how much energy their appliances use.

As a result, there are no universal standards for measuring power consumption which makes it even more difficult to determine the amount of electricity used by your vacuum cleaner model compared with another brand or type.

However, if you want to find out how much energy your vacuum cleaner uses, the best way is to check online or in user manuals.

If there's no information available, you can measure power consumption with a watt-meter which will give you an accurate reading of kilowatts used in one hour, day, week, or month.

Power Consumption vs. Energy Usage

There's a big difference between power consumption and energy usage.

So it's important to understand this distinction because doing so can help you determine how much electricity your vacuum cleaner uses in total for its lifetime.

Power is the amount of electricity that's being used at a specific time.

On the other hand, energy is the power that has been consumed over some time usually expressed in watt-hours (Wh) or kilowatt-hours (kWh)³.

This means that you can't determine how much energy your vacuum cleaner uses from the wattage it consumes because this will be higher since power and electricity are not equal.

For example, a vacuum with a power of 1200 watts⁴ will use twice as much electricity compared to one that uses 600 watts.

Common Questions

In Conclusion

If you're considering purchasing a new vacuum, it's worth understanding how much energy they use.

You may find that some vacuums have the same suction power as others but require less electricity to operate when thinking about which vacuum cleaner to purchase.

Consider not only the cleaning quality and price of your options but also whether your selection will increase your utility bill because of an increased vacuum energy usage.

Our vacuum reviews will tell you everything you need to know.