The Ecodesign for Energy-Related Products and Energy Information (Household Tumble Dryers) Regulations 2026

Schedule 2 Ecodesign requirements

Regulations 5 and 6(2) Part 1 Programme requirements 1 The requirements which household tumble dryers must meet are— (a) household tumble dryers must provide an eco programme, the rated capacity for which must not be lower than the highest rated capacity among all the cotton programmes of the household tumble dryer; (b) the eco programme must be indicated as ‘eco’ and must be clearly identifiable on the programme selection, on the display and through the network connection, depending on the functionalities provided by the household tumble dryer; (c) the name ‘eco’, the formatting of which is not restricted in terms of font type, font size, case sensitivity or colour, must be used exclusively for the eco programme and may only be complemented with the term ‘cotton’; (d) no programme other than the eco programme may have in its name the term ‘eco’; (e) the eco programme must be set as the default programme for automatic programme selection or any function maintaining the selection of a programme; (f) where there is no automatic programme selection, the eco programme must be available for direct selection without the need for any other selection such as a specific time or load; (g) the indications ‘normal’, ‘daily’, ‘regular’ and ‘standard’ must not be used in a programme name for a household tumble dryer, either alone or in combination with other information. Part 2 Energy efficiency requirements 2 The EEI of a household tumble dryer must not be higher than 85. 3 This Part does not apply to a household tumble dryer with a rated capacity for the eco programme of 3 kg or less, save in the case of a multi-drum tumble dryer, to which this Part does not apply if each drum forming part of that multi-drum tumble dryer has a rated capacity for the eco programme of 3kg or less. Part 3 Condensation efficiency requirements 4 The condensation efficiency of a condenser tumble dryer must not be lower than 80%. 5 This Part does not apply to a household tumble dryer with a rated capacity for the eco programme of 3 kg or less, save in the case of a multi-drum tumble dryer, to which this Part does not apply if each drum forming part of that multi-drum tumble dryer has a rated capacity for the eco programme of 3kg or less. Part 4 Low power modes 6 The requirements which a household tumble dryer must meet are— (a) the household tumble dryer must have an off mode or a standby mode or both; (b) the power consumption in off mode must not exceed 0.30 W and the power consumption in standby mode must not exceed 0.50 W, subject to sub-paragraphs (c) and (d); (c) if the standby mode includes the display of information or status, the power consumption of that mode must not exceed 1.00 W; (d) if the standby mode provides for a connection to a network and provides a condition in which the equipment is able to resume a function by way of a signal that comes from outside the equipment via a network, the power consumption of this mode must not exceed 2.00 W; (e) at the latest 15 minutes after the household tumble dryer has been switched on or after the end of any programme and associated activities, or after interruption of the wrinkle guard function, or after any other interaction with the household tumble dryer, and if no other mode including emergency measures is triggered, the household tumble dryer must switch automatically to off mode or to standby mode; (f) if the household tumble dryer provides for a delay start— (i) the power consumption of this condition, including any standby mode, must not exceed 4.00 W; (ii) the delay start must not be programmable by the end-user for more than 24h; (g) any household tumble dryer that can be connected to a network must provide the possibility to activate and deactivate the network connection and the network connection must be deactivated by default. Part 5 Resource efficiency requirements Availability of spare parts 7 On the availability of spare parts— (a) for each model of household tumble dryer, a unit of which is placed on the market on or after 10th April 2026, the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative must make available to professional repairers at least the following spare parts— (i) gaskets and seals; (ii) switches and knobs; (iii) water pumps; (iv) motors and motor brushes; (v) transmissions between motor and drum, such as the drum belt; (vi) fan and fan wheels; (vii) drums and drum bearings; (viii) water piping and related equipment including hoses, valves and filters; (ix) cables and plugs; (x) printed circuit boards; (xi) electronic displays; (xii) thermostats and temperature sensors; (xiii) software and firmware, including reset software; (xiv) shock absorbers and springs; (xv) heaters and heating elements; (xvi) electric fuses (separately or bundled together); (xvii) tension pulley; (xviii) support roller; (xix) pressure switches; (xx) motor capacitor; (b) the availability of spare parts referred to in sub-paragraph (a), must be ensured for a minimum period starting at the latest on 10th April 2026 or two years after the placing on the market of the first unit of the model, whichever is the later date, and ending at least 10 years after placing on the market the last unit of the model concerned; (c) the list of spare parts and the procedure for ordering them must be publicly available on the free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative, at least during the same period and starting at the date referred to in sub-paragraph (b); (d) for each model of household tumble dryer, a unit of which is placed on the market on or after 10th April 2026, the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative must make available to professional repairers and end-users at least the following spare parts— (i) doors, door seals, door handles, door lock assemblies and hinges; (ii) lint filters; (iii) air filters; (iv) plastic peripherals; (v) condensate tanks; (e) the availability of spare parts referred to in sub-paragraph (d), must be ensured for a minimum period starting on the date of placing that unit on the market and ending at least 10 years after placing the last unit of the concerned model on the market; (f) the list of spare parts referred to in sub-paragraph (d), and the procedure for ordering them and the repair and maintenance information must be publicly available on the free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative, at least during the same period and starting at the date referred to in sub-paragraph (e); (g) the household tumble dryer and spare parts referred to in sub-paragraphs (a) and (d) must be designed so that the parts can be replaced without tools or with the use of tools that are not proprietary tools, and without permanent damage to the household tumble dryer; (h) during the periods referred to in sub-paragraphs (b) and (e), the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative must provide indicative pre-tax prices at least in pounds sterling for spare parts listed in sub-paragraphs (a) and (d), including the indicative pre-tax price of fasteners and tools, if supplied with the spare part, on the free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative. Maximum delivery time of spare parts 8 During the period of availability of spare parts, the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative must ensure the delivery of the spare parts within 15 working days after having received the order. Access to repair and maintenance information 9 During the period referred to in paragraph 7(b) the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative must provide access to the product repair and maintenance information to professional repairers. 10 The website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative must indicate the process for professional repairers to request access to information. 11 In order to accept such a request, the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative may only require the professional repairer to demonstrate that— (a) the professional repairer has the technical competence to repair a household tumble dryer and comply with the applicable law for repairers of electrical equipment in England and Wales or Scotland (as the case may be); (b) the professional repairer is covered by insurance covering liabilities resulting from its activity. 12 The manufacturer, importer or authorised representative may charge reasonable and proportionate fees for access to the repair and maintenance information or for receiving regular updates; a fee is reasonable if it does not discourage access by failing to take into account the extent to which the professional repairer uses the information. 13 The manufacturer, importer or authorised representative must accept or refuse a request referred to in paragraph 10 before the end of the period of 5 working days beginning with the day after the day on which the request was made and, if accepted, the professional repairer must have access to the information before the end of the first working day after the day on which the request was accepted; the information may be provided for an equivalent model or model of the same family, where relevant. 14 The repair and maintenance information must include— (a) the unequivocal household tumble dryer identification; (b) a disassembly map or exploded view; (c) a technical manual of instructions for repair; (d) a list of necessary repair and test equipment; (e) component and diagnosis information (such as minimum and maximum theoretical values for measurements); (f) wiring and connection diagrams; (g) diagnostic fault and error codes (including manufacturer-specific codes, where applicable); (h) instructions for installation of relevant software and firmware including reset software; (i) information on how to access data records of reported failure incidents stored on the household tumble dryer (where applicable); (j) electronic board diagrams. 15 Without limiting the effect of intellectual property rights, third parties must be allowed to use and publish unaltered repair and maintenance information initially published by the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative and covered by paragraph 14 once the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative terminates access to that information after the end of the period of access to repair and maintenance information. Software and firmware updates 16 The manufacturer, importer or authorised representative of a household tumble dryer must make available software and firmware updates for a minimum of 10 years after the placing of the last unit of a model of household tumble dryer on the market and these software and firmware updates must be provided free of charge. Information requirements for refrigerant gases 17 Without limiting the effect of Regulation (EU) No 517/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on fluorinated greenhouse gases, in particular Article 12 of that Regulation, the chemical name or the accepted industry designation of the refrigerant gas used in a household tumble dryer where the only or main means to heat the inside air is a heat pump system, must be displayed permanently in a place on the external parts of the product that are visible and can be easily identified by the end-user, for example on the back panel. Requirements for dismantling for material recovery and recycling while avoiding pollution 18 The manufacturer, importer or authorised representative of a household tumble dryer must ensure that the product is designed in such a way that the materials and components referred to in Annex VII to Directive 2012/19/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) (recast) can be removed from the product without tools or with the use of tools that are not proprietary tools. Part 6 Information Requirements 19 The manufacturer, importer or authorised representative of a household tumble dryer must provide user and installer instructions in the form of a user manual on a free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative, and the instructions must include— (a) the following general information— (i) except for a household tumble dryer with a rated capacity for the eco programme of 3 kg or less, information that the eco programme is suitable to dry wet cotton laundry, and that this programme is used to assess compliance with the Ecodesign for Energy-Related Products and Energy Information (Household Tumble Dryers) Regulations 2026; (ii) except for a household tumble dryer with a rated capacity for the eco programme of 3 kg or less, information that the eco programme is the most efficient programme in terms of energy consumption for drying wet cotton laundry; (iii) information that loading the household tumble dryer up to the maximum capacity indicated by the manufacturer for the respective programmes will contribute to energy savings; (iv) if applicable, information on how to activate and deactivate the network connection and impact on energy consumption; (v) instructions on how to find the model information on a publicly accessible website, and a weblink that links to the model information as entered on the website or to information on how to find the model identifier on the household tumble dryer; (b) values for the following parameters— (i) capacity in kg; (ii) programme duration, expressed in hours and minutes; (iii) electricity, and where applicable, gas consumption in kWh/drying cycle; (iv) acoustic airborne noise emission of the drying cycle; (c) instructions to perform maintenance operations, including at least the following operations— (i) correct installation including level positioning, connection to electric mains, connection to water outlet (if relevant), connection to gas (if relevant), installation of ventilation hose (if relevant); (ii) cleaning of filters, including optimal frequency, and procedure, and main consequences of insufficient cleaning of filters; the instructions must indicate that, when cleaning the filters, the lint should be thrown in the garbage bin and not washed through the drain in order to avoid spreading microplastics in the used water system; (iii) for a condenser household tumble dryer, emptying the water tank in case the household tumble dryer is not connected to water outlet; (iv) periodic cleaning, including optimal frequency; (v) door opening between drying cycles, if appropriate; (vi) foreign object removal; (vii) identification of errors, the meaning of the errors, and the action required, including identification of errors requiring professional assistance; (viii) how to access professional repair services (internet webpages, addresses, contact details). 20 (1) In relation to paragraph 19— (a) in relation to sub-paragraph (b), for the eco programme, the values of the parameters under paragraphs (i), (ii) and (iii) must be provided both at full load and at partial load; the value for the parameter under paragraph (iv) must be provided only at full load; (b) in relation to sub-paragraph (b) for programmes other than the eco programme, when they are available, indicative values must be provided as follows— (i) for synthetics dry programme, values for parameters under paragraphs (i), (ii) and (iii) must be provided at full load; (ii) for delicates/wool drying programme, values for the parameters under paragraphs (i), (ii) and (iii) must be provided at full load; (iii) for synthetics extra/very dry programme, values for the parameters under paragraphs (i), (ii) and (iii) must be provided at full load; (iv) for synthetics iron dry programme, values for the parameters under paragraphs (i), (ii) and (iii) must be provided at full load; (v) for cotton extra/very dry programme, values for the parameters under paragraphs (i), (ii) and (iii) must be provided both at full load and at partial load; (vi) for cotton iron dry programme, values for the parameters under paragraphs (i), (ii) and (iii) must be provided both at full load and at partial load; (c) in relation to sub-paragraph (c) the instructions must also include information on any implications of self-repair or non-professional repair for the safety of the user and for the guarantee and on the minimum period during which the spare parts are available. (2) In sub-paragraph (1)(c) “guarantee” means any undertaking by the dealer or a manufacturer to the consumer to either reimburse the price paid or replace, repair or handle the household tumble dryer in any way if it does not meet the specifications set out in the guarantee statement or in the relevant advertising.