Are you wasting over £700 a year on electricity? We were - not any more.

Magentasue

bristolleedsfan wrote: »

Power options on XP Pro gives facility to put pc into standby mode after a prearranged time, XP Home only appears to have option of turning off Hard Discs and monitor.

Really can't remember but googled this:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_abc.htm

Scroll down to:


To manually put your computer on standby

dazrs

Well i been foolowing tips havent got a energy saving device but most common sense, i look round my 3 bedroom house and disgarded lots of sockets, i only leave light on in the room im in now not the whole of down stairs, only have my TV, Sky, phone and router connected at all times only leave router on as it get confused when turned off, sky goes on standy by at 2am any way. I know have my dvd palyer and surround sound off now and my wii. I turn compter off every nite by the mains, that takes 3 plugs with all acessories, only thing left on kitchen permenatly is the fridge freezer, everything else is now off. The only thing i can think of is unplugging my bedside lamps we have 2 of them but would that still use energy with them turn off by the lamp switch or do i need to turn them off by the wall.

BallandChain

Great thread. I thought that if things were plugged in but switched off on the appliance that no electric was being used. I was wrong! It seems that isn't the case. I switch everything off at the wall now but I am left wondering is it better to completely unplug the appliance?

bristolleedsfan

dazrs wrote: »

Well i been foolowing tips havent got a energy saving device but most common sense, i look round my 3 bedroom house and disgarded lots of sockets, i only leave light on in the room im in now not the whole of down stairs, only have my TV, Sky, phone and router connected at all times only leave router on as it get confused when turned off, sky goes on standy by at 2am any way. I know have my dvd palyer and surround sound off now and my wii. I turn compter off every nite by the mains, that takes 3 plugs with all acessories, only thing left on kitchen permenatly is the fridge freezer, everything else is now off. The only thing i can think of is unplugging my bedside lamps we have 2 of them but would that still use energy with them turn off by the lamp switch or do i need to turn them off by the wall.

:T Ive done same as you, made sure that all appliances that arent in use are turned off at the mains, I bought a LED battery clock from ASDA for under a fiver which came with batteries + I also have batteries that was sent on a freebie so have ditched the electric clock radio.

Just bought one of those tefal quick cup on ebay new for 43.00 delivered which will both save on electric boiling kettles and save standing around in the cold waiting for kettles to boil. :j

lu_lu_2

[quote=brysiewysie;14537267] I also found the newish washing machine used around 12 watts even when not on (no display - it all looked off).

Thanks for this tip.

I thought I was doing well having got my usage down to 11w when the fridge & freezer were not running but now having unplugged the washing machine the energy monitor is reading ZERO. My machine is a Bosch WFE 2021 (integrated) bought in 1998 and I always switch off (on the machine) no display showing. I love Bosch products but am bitterly disappointed to find that I have used 963 kw unintentionally & unnecessarily over the last 10 years!

mattymoo

Wow - a zero reading. Inspired me to take this further. Well done Lu lu

lu_lu_2

mattymoo wrote: »

Wow - a zero reading. Inspired me to take this further. Well done Lu lu

Hi Mattymoo,

You will probably think I have gone to the extreme but the only things plugged in & running to get to the ZERO are:

Telephone basephone + an additional handset
Bedroom clock
Wireless door bell
Elec switch for the gas CH boiler

Have switched off:
Mains switch for elec double oven
Auto ignition for gas hob

I never leave the microwave switched on as I don't need the clock.

Am about to buy an Ecosavers energy meter to find out how much my 35 year old freezer, which lives in the garage, is costing me to run.

Does anybody know if any of the manufacturers make a frostfree freezer designed to operate in an unheated garage? Help pls

SAV3R

Hi, I bought one of the plug in monitors and its really interesting to see at a glance, how much each appliance costs to run.

My 10 yr old chest freezer was costing a fortune to run, I decided to buy a new upright because I was struggling getting to the bottom of the old and couldn't see what was in there. I couldn't believe I saved an approx 95 units per month on the new running costs, at my lower tarif rate this comes to £9 month / £107 year. I don't recommend swapping an appliance until you need to but it shows how much more economical new ones can be.

touch*my*food*feel*myfork

Help please
I purchased an energy meter and set it up last night, but not sure that it can be working properly as i am getting a reading of 0.07 kw (70 watts) and i have not adjusted anything in the house and am currently running the computer too.
It does change if i turn things on or off, but just cannot believe that this is the correct reading.
What do others think?

espresso

touch*my*food*feel*myfork wrote: »

Help please
I purchased an energy meter and set it up last night, but not sure that it can be working properly as i am getting a reading of 0.07 kw (70 watts) and i have not adjusted anything in the house and am currently running the computer too.
It does change if i turn things on or off, but just cannot believe that this is the correct reading.
What do others think?

Why do you think that this reading is incorrect?