excesssive electricity over £20 p/w

Cardew

anniehanlon wrote: »

Remember, turn them off off, not on standby, it uses nearly as much elec
as leaving it switched on.

That I am afraid is absolute nonsense. Yet another Urban Myth.

A Plasma TV can use 500watts when operating and 0.5watts on standby.

All my TVs use less than 1 watt on Standby(that includes 8 year old 32inch CRT and modern LCDs) - so if they were left on standby 24/7 they would cost less than £1 a year

Nearly every set manufactured in the last 20 years has very low standby consumption. a tiny fraction of the power when in use.

BexTech

Cardew wrote: »

That I am afraid is absolute nonsense. Yet another Urban Myth.

A Plasma TV can use 500watts when operating and 0.5watts on standby.

All my TVs use less than 1 watt on Standby(that includes 8 year old 32inch CRT and modern LCDs) - so if they were left on standby 24/7 they would cost less than £1 a year

Nearly every set manufactured in the last 20 years has very low standby consumption. a tiny fraction of the power when in use.

Yeah, a myth it uses almost the same.

My LCD TV, uses between 50 and 100w whilst switched on (depends on what's on screen), though uses 33w when the standby button is pressed (TV indicator goes to red), press the off switch on the TV (no indicator light on) and it uses 7w, so I switch the TV off at the wall so it uses nothing. This is a Philips TV I bought about a year ago - though granted not the latest model at the time, but does have Freeview, is HD and has Dolby Digital (though unlike my old TV, this just fakes the surround with the speakers in the TV and doesn't have external speaker, I use a separate amp and sourround system for that, for when I want to bother).

There's the Virgin Media V+ box which uses between 31w and 33w when switched on / in use and 31w - 33w when on standby.

At least other devices have better standby power ratings.

worried_jim

Cardew wrote: »

That I am afraid is absolute nonsense. Yet another Urban Myth.

A Plasma TV can use 500watts when operating and 0.5watts on standby.

All my TVs use less than 1 watt on Standby(that includes 8 year old 32inch CRT and modern LCDs) - so if they were left on standby 24/7 they would cost less than £1 a year

Nearly every set manufactured in the last 20 years has very low standby consumption. a tiny fraction of the power when in use.

Thanks cardew- I never knew this, I have a device on my 32" crt that cuts the power after 2 mins on standby and monitor my consumption- I haven't noticed any difference in consumption since using it.

Cardew

BexTech wrote: »

My LCD TV, uses between 50 and 100w whilst switched on (depends on what's on screen), though uses 33w when the standby button is pressed (TV indicator goes to red), press the off switch on the TV (no indicator light on) and it uses 7w, so I switch the TV off at the wall so it uses nothing. This is a Philips TV I bought about a year ago - though granted not the latest model at the time, but does have Freeview, is HD and has Dolby Digital (though unlike my old TV, this just fakes the surround with the speakers in the TV and doesn't have external speaker, I use a separate amp and sourround system for that, for when I want to bother).

There's the Virgin Media V+ box which uses between 31w and 33w when switched on / in use and 31w - 33w when on standby.

.

Bex Tech,
Either your TV is faulty or you have made a mistake and are measuring other consumption powered via your TV

All the major manufacturers signed up years ago to reduce standby wattage on their TV to under 1 watt.

I have never seen a TV with over 3 watts.

Have you the model No of your TV?

Fire_Fox

mattgkr wrote: »

Hiya, can anyone please help me.I live in an old end terrace, 3 storey council house with ok insulation but it always seems cold even with the radiators on. I live with my partner and 2 kids. We have gas central heating and a gas fire(which we never use), we cook by electric, have normal electric appliances ie. fridge, chest freezer, washer/dryer, T.v(we do leave portable on all night in 3 bedrooms as it helps us sleep), all the lights are only switched on when we need them and are all energy saving bulbs, we have started to use 2 little fan heaters which help warm the downstairs they are thermostat contrlled and come on and off, not used much in the day. We are supplied by Ebico for both gas and electric both on prepayment meter. The reason for my post is that I am sick of spending so much money on these things...last week on Thursday at around 4pm I put in £20 gas and the same in electric which cleared a bit of emergency credit, I had approx. £17 of each. On monday I woke up and they had both ran out and I had to put on emergency. Is this normal? I admit that we were in for the weekend as it was new year wkend and it was also very cold but the electric? £17 in 3-1/2 days? When we are at work/school I normally use around £15-20 pw elec and £25 pw gas but never under £15 pw electric even without the heaters. I read that average electric usage is 3300kwh annual well when you work mine out at 13.90pkwh it amasses to almost 8000 annual. Can anyone help me out, many thanks for your time.

Hi!

You say three storey house - do you have a loft conversion? How 'ok' is your insulation? It's an end of terrace so you don't have two sets of neighbours to keep the house warm. Do you have double glazing and/ or heavy curtains at the windows? If it's a council house you may be able to get your 'landlord' to come over and look at the energy efficiency of the property.

The fan heaters and tumble dryer will eat electric so avoid using if at all possible. You will probably find also that you have a lot more appliances on a lot more of the time than you think. The TVs alone are probably on several hours a day in addition to 8 hours overnight each. Per hour it isn't an awful lot of electric but for many hours a day/ night every day all year round x 3 .... it adds up.

It's not healthy to sleep with noise and light - the human body is designed to produce sleep hormones and go into REM (dream) sleep in response to dark and relative quiet. You have all got into a habit that it is possible to break if you would like to. Maybe consider having the TV quieter for a few days, then quieter still til eventually the sound is down? Or keeping a light on in the hall (one between three, saves money) and a radio each for a while?

What ambient temperature do you class as acceptable? Are you all dressed sensibly in the house? Mr. Fire Fox is terrible for saying he's cold when he is just in jeans and a light sweater! Fleeces are very cheap (Tesco/ Primark) light enough to wear two over a t-shirt. Ditto a second paid of fluffy socks. Do you have the heating on overnight? Heated underblankets are more of an investment but only cost the same as a lightbulb to run - much less than heating the whole house.

BexTech

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Hi!

You say three storey house - do you have a loft conversion?

It could be like many houses we have in the area, a house built on three levels and some still have a loft on top.

BexTech

Cardew wrote: »

Bex Tech,
Either your TV is faulty or you have made a mistake and are measuring other consumption powered via your TV

All the major manufacturers signed up years ago to reduce standby wattage on their TV to under 1 watt.

I have never seen a TV with over 3 watts.

Have you the model No of your TV?

No, not a mistake, TV not faulty either, have seen similar and other TVs the same. Sadly not everything is around the 1w that was campaigned, although many items are.

Uncles LCD monitor bought only a few months back is 13w - 15w on standby.

Magentasue

Have to admit, I flinched at the ideas of TVs on at night. I don't know anyone who does this although I do have a radio or CD on when I go to bed. Oddly, this is something I've started doing in recent years. I suppose it depends on how much you're prepared to change, but I'd resent paying to have TVs on at night - it annoys me when the kids leave one on and leave the room for more than a few minutes because I know there's a chance they'll get distracted and leave it on.

That said electric heaters must be a bigger drain on your meter money - I would only use the gas fire for a quick blast of heat too, at this time of year when you're using heating every day. As said, tumble drying will rack up a kwh or two every hour it's on. Using the washing machine at 30deg is a good idea - saves pennies but all adds up if you do several washes a week.

We cut back to 13 kwh of electricity a day in the summer but it's been up to 18kwh a day with the kids home all day (TV and Xbox) and using dehumidifier and tumble drier.

ArsenalFC

Some very good advice on here especially from fire fox.

Just to add If you want to cut down on energy use then you need to seriously consider turning those tv off and perhaps revert to use a radio instead. This is one area where you will see the difference with them all off.

Watching tv in the dark is bad for the eye. Also after watershed 9pm tv probably not good for your childrens. Those electric heaters avoid as already mentioned they eat electricity.

Wear more layers, I wear thermal hat and gloves with a big jacket indoors without the heating on. I know you have children, wear more warm clothes.

You know what you and your family need to do with the good advice from here, whether you follow them is down to you.

(Cardew) - Not all lcd produced have a max 3 watt usage on standby. You are quite mistaken. Some of the earlier one use a lot more on standby.

peachyprice

mattgkr wrote: »

Peachy yeah...each to their own ok. Its simple I cannot sleep wivout it. All my life I have never slept in darkness and silence and neither have my kids, and no Im not mad!!!! I dont see the problem most of my mates do the same as me, your post aint helpful 1 bit. Thanx Annie I will remember to turn them off.

I wasn't being unkind at all, you're complaining about excessive electricity usage and are running 3 TV's all night

The only reason your children have to have TV's on is because you've conditioned them to thiis.

But hey, it's your money.