Average use??

lukebetteralone

hiya
im on economy 7 on the websaver 5 tariff.

ive used 134 normal units in a week and 101 low units?

the water is heated up over night, and one storage heater, and ive also been doing the washing and drying overnight.

we have nowhere to dry the washing so most of it apart from towels go in the tumble dyer

we use a fan heater to take the chill out of the rooms with no starage heating and the electric fire in the front room for 2-3 hours a day, on the low setting which says it uses 1kw an hour.

would you say this was over the top usage or average
cheers

tori.k

It depends on how many people are living in your house how many rooms ect etc.
we have 5 in a three bed and used 149 units over the last week (kids now off school) but usually use around the 135 total.
we have 4 TV, 2 Xboxes, 2 Computers and i do two loads washing/drying a day as well as the usual fridge freezer etc so to me 235 units seems very high.

But then i got rid of the one storage heater we had and opted for a gas bottle heater and only put the hot water on when needed as we all shower rather than bath and my washing machine is cold fill, i boil the kettle for dishes as i dont see the point of heating a whole tank just for a few pots.

There is some threads on old style with ideas to cut down on gas/electricity and the prepare for winter thread has some great ideas on how to warm up your house the MSE way.

Merry christmas

wildbreed100

Hi Tori.K. Thanks for your great money saving ideas. Most of which I will copy. Can you tell me what type of gas bottle heater you got and how effective it is ? e.g. how long do you have to run it for and how quickly it increases the temp. Do you have any condensation problems ?
Thanks

gemstars

We're also economy 7. 2 adults working full time in a 2 bed house.

I've just worked mine out and it looks to be

28 units per week day rate
4.5 units per week night rate
35 units per week heat rate

Katie-Kat-Kins

We're is a similar situation, but we don't use a tumble dryer, they are VERY expensive and totally unnecessary. Pop down to wilkos and buy a couple of clothes horses. Stand them in front of your storage heaters and dry your washing that way.

You may need to crank up the settings on the storage heater to dry in a reasonable time but better to do that than to run a tumbler as you will benefit from the heat in the house and use your cheap electric. Our washing always drys within 24 hours doing this.

KimYeovil

Tumble driers are not the monsters many people think but it does seem crazy not to be using clothes horses when you have storage heaters. (And absolutely no need to crank the storage heating up to dry clothes - what a strange suggestion.)

uptomyeyeballs

KimYeovil wrote: »

Tumble driers are not the monsters many people think but it does seem crazy not to be using clothes horses when you have storage heaters. (And absolutely no need to crank the storage heating up to dry clothes - what a strange suggestion.)

You can really rack up some kWh though, especially if you have bairns/young children and need clothes dried quickly. A drier runs at approx 1kW and takes approx 1hr to dry a load of clothes. This may happen 3-4 times per week, depending on the number of washes done. Another eater of electricity is the power shower. A shower a day for everyone in the family will use 6-8 kWh. Multiply this up and the meter whizzes a bit.

KimYeovil

A cycle uses a lot more than 1kWh and they run at much higher ratings than 1kW (but, of course, not continuously for an hour at a time). But I agree the electric shower is a much more dangerous (and more likely to be overlooked) beast

tori.k

we have two of these www.lpggasbottles.co.uk/productdetails.asp?itemid=129
one in the living room and another on the upstairs landing.
Upstair one is used for about 15 mins twice a day just to warm the upstairs thru and the bottle is on its 3rd year, we do get condensation but i wipe the windows down in the morning and leave them open for an hour or so and its sorted,but we had condensation with the night storage so their is no difference really.

Clothes are mostly put on airers the day they are washed and then put in the dryer the day after for ten mins to finish them off. but i often cheat and just bung the dryer on.

but then we live mid terrace and had extra lagging put in the roof this year and the south west is often warmer then most of England and that make's quite a difference,
First thing to check is that you are getting the best deal for your money. MIL is a single OAP with N-power (soon to be moved) and her bills are almost twice ours.

Katie-Kat-Kins

KimYeovil wrote: »

Tumble driers are not the monsters many people think but it does seem crazy not to be using clothes horses when you have storage heaters. (And absolutely no need to crank the storage heating up to dry clothes - what a strange suggestion.)

If the heater is on a higher setting it will dry the clothes faster. Depending upon the setting you normally use you may find your washing takes an age to dry and that turning it up a little speeds it up. Why do you think this is a strange suggestion????

Mine never normally go above 1 or 2 but if I am trying to get washing dry I might go up to three to help it along. Cheaper than buying and running a tumble dryer and has the added benefit of keeping me warmer while drying the clothes.

Hot air can carry more moisture than cold.

KimYeovil

Not strange, then, just unnecessary. Storage heating is expensive enough without using any extra just to dry clothing. The ambient heat at night and during the day is surely more than enough to help the drying? If you enjoy the comfort then wonderful it's worth paying the extra. But exploiting the wasted day and night seepage is more than enough for most and is 'free'.

The moisture problem is, of course, a critical drawback of storage heating (even without any laundry). As the heating is effectively on constantly people are understandably reluctant to ventilate their homes properly. Even if it's not bad enough to cause damp or condensation the trapped moisture is more uncomfortable so they will want unnecessarily higher temperatures.