Spill the beans... on your extreme energy saving tricks

patriciamcd

grahammc2003 that was one of the funniest things I have read in a long time, tears were running down my face

williamro

I am on an electricity tariff that is no longer available but effectively gives me “economy10” i.e. cheap rate for 10 hours overnight. I put freezer blocks or plastic drink bottles almost filled (to allow for expansion) with water overnight in the freezer and then remove to fridge every morning. They are frozen using cheap electricity and save use of expensive electricity during day as fridge has to do less cooling. Also defrost frozen food in fridge during day and freeze garden produce only at night.

If on water meter save cold water whilst waiting for hot water for use on plants or boiling veg. Washing up water can be used to water garden plants. Only use immersion heater on cheap rate and only when baths required. Otherwise heat water with electric kettle or on gas stove for washing up etc. Much cheaper to use expensive rate for a small volume of water than cheap rate for a whole hot water cylinder where much of the heat is lost despite good lagging.

In summer eat salads which are healthy and in winter heat generated by cooking helps heat the house.

When driving anticipate and try not to use brakes except in emergency or stopping at lights etc. Accelerate gently, avoid high speeds and freewheel where safe (suspect highway code disapproves) and use highest gear the engine is comfortable with. Switch off for long delays at lights or level crossings.

Save phone calls for weekends/evenings if possible where on many tariffs there is no extra charge. Use comparison websites for all insurance, savings, mortgages etc.

kingkano

mattm4 wrote: »

We have an old tenement house which has been fitted with all necessary ammenities. The house is two storied and there are about 8 fireplaces that were used to heat the rooms. We decided not to use heaters this year and started making coal fires in some of the rooms, especially the living room which is huge. Much better heat and saves a hell lot of cash. The use of non-smoke coal is actually awesome.

Matt.

Actually open fireplaces are very inefficient and a lot of the heat is lost up the chimney. With smokeless coal being the expensive option too you are spending more than gas heating - but if it means you are only heating 1 or 2 rooms and closing doors otherwise it might be a break even.

Having said that a lot can be said for the properties of a fire, the look and feel alone makes you 'feel' warmer even if the actual room temp is lower :-)

The person who said about about not using the highest spin on the washing machine too - the problem there is clothes take longer to dry. If that's indoors on airers then you again have the issue of condensation to deal with. I personally always do a spin at highest setting to get everything as dry as possible before removing from the washer.

ChemicalJasper

luxor4t wrote: »

After bathing we leave the water in the bath until it's cold - well, we paid to heat the water in the first place so we're getting our money's worth from the heat

Dont forget that all the water vapour from the bath will saturate the air inside. This could lead to damage from condensation damp and also, when that subsequently evapourates, it will draw energy and hence heat out of the room, making it colder (thats how an evapourative cooler works!)

jackdaw3

Hi, i'm a newby but just have to tell everyone how effective buying an adult babygrow is, some even have hoods, you might look daft but in your own home who cares and you can buy them for as little as £10, i live in the NE with low temperatures over a long winter and have no problem keeping the thermostat down to about 16c 64f and after the success i had last year the whole family is following suit and we saved a fortune with suppliers info telling me i was way below average gas useage for the area.

fizzking

I find a memory foam mattress topper provides enough heat insulation underneath. I used to use an elec blanket but don't need it now. Double quilt with summer/winter TOGs. Occasionally might need to put another from the spare bed on top e.g. it <-10C outside.
Around the house I wear a fleece.

A useful thermal insulator is the metallised bubble wrap type. I have used it to dry-line solid walls and under laminate flooring, which is cheaper than the "proper" underlay. Handy for awkward pipes and shapes as well.

Halogen ovens save a lot of elec and are quicker than other types. Unlike microwaves, the food browns.
I buy takeaways, occasionally and find that there are more chips than we can eat. So I put all the chips together and apportion to about 150g. Two portions per Chinese takeaway container (never, ever, throw these away when clean) and use the greaseproof paper provided to separate the 2 halves. Freeze them and reheat for 6 mins from frozen in the halogen oven. Better than the first time, crispy and a lot of excess fat comes out.
Always specify chips,if you like them, not rice. Rice is cheap and quick to boil at home.
Chinese containers I use everywhere, not just for food but also for occasions when you want a disposable liquid container.

If you have GU10 light bulbs ( the sort with two stick out prongs and 2 inches head diameter) get yourself SMD (surface mounted) LEDs instead. Other LEDs are useless, including some v expensive ones. With SMDs 4W is like 40-50W incandescent. Easy to tell SMDs, which have little yellow chips on the surface. Probably about £7 each. I use them all over the house. Buy on line.
In the kitchen I leave them (two) on, in the cooker hood, for background lighting, instead of the normal four on the ceiling. Often new kitchens have been fitted with multiple, recessed, GU10s which can be a fire risk and fantastically expensive to run...imagine ten or more 50W bulbs. Unless you want to heat the room above!

A conservatory is useful, albeit expensive, addition. I find there's enough passive solar gain, on a sunny day, to heat the whole house for a few hours. All except for Dec/Jan but even then it's possible to sit in it it for an hour. My house is old, large and mostly has solid walls, so the heat loss is more than in a modern one.
Do fit a door 'twixt C and house. Not only saves heating it ( I don't have any additional heating in it) but you can also avoid Building Regs, with the usual provisos. I have a heavy curtain as well which I draw across the door at night or on a cold day.

It's a bit early but a tip for Xmas lighting is to put all your decorative lights on timers. It saves crawling around to reach the switch and you don't have to remember to turn them on/off. The latter I find harder to do.
Naturally use LEDs. No more blown bulbs, less energy etc etc. I have several strings, inside and out and it's great fun to see them firing up all by themselves.
This tip also applies to table lamps, which I put in strategic position around the house and use CFD bulbs. LEDs are too directional. The only snag is having to alter the settings as nights draw in/out. I have a printer on its own timer so that it does remain on overnight.
I use an artificial Xmas Tree; not just to save money but after a salutory experience with the real thing. I put a used tree ( I think a long-needled type) in the garden and applied a lighted match to it. An almighty whoosh and it exploded into flames about 10 ft high. If that had happened inside who knows!

I see that another post recommends bleeding your CH radiators frequently. If you need to, it is due to corrosion and the gas is hydrogen, not air. After an initial fill of the CH system and with enough corrosion inhibitor there should be no further need to bleed, after a bedding-in period. It's actually a warning signal to do something. It could be air drawn into the system on the pump suction side but again it's a fault.

Everach asks about whether it's better to leave the CH on all the time. In my experience, it burns a lot more gas than intermittent use, probably because the heat loss is greater from a warm house than a cooled one. If you can afford it, fit a 7 day CH programmer and programme it for each day. I have a 5/2 day programmer but don't think it would save enough to justify £70 for a 7 day one.

I would not use candles for two reasons. The greasy carbon emitted will mean you need to redecorate your ceilings and candlesw can be a fire hazard.

I have an enclosed living flame gas fire in the through lounge. It is >90% eficient and warms the room well, because little heat is dragged straight up the chimney. The same fire, in open version is about 70% I think. Also the heat in the flue warms the bedroom above a little bit. Fit cowls to your open chimneys, to keep rain/damp out but allow air to circulate, even if you have stuffed a pillow down below. Be aware that gas fires require a different cowl, so that exhaust gases can escape.

An energy monitor is v useful to eliminate the baddies. The worst one was the Sky Box, from memory about 90W standby. A clip on type, such as Current Cost CC128, means you can monitor wirelessly at a convenient spot and see instantaneous elec usage. I find it better than the plug in type, which only measures one socket.

Colsta recommends not having oven/fridge adjacent. Quite correct and apart from the obvious, there is a sound thermodynamic (sit up at the back!) reason, called the Pinch. It states that you must not transfer heat across the Pinch. In effect, if you do cross it, the energy must be paid for twice. The Pinch occurs somewhere in the middle of the various appliance/room temps; exactly where is not important. However the oven is the hottest thing and the fridge or freezer is the coldest, so logically heat must cross the Pinch in this situation.
If possible put appliances together with the smallest delta T (temp difference) or separately.

Loyalty cards are useful. I have Tesco, Nectar and Cap One credit card with 1% cashback (pay it off each month by DD).
For a few months I did not shop in Sainsbury's, which is a few miles away.They sent me four £12 off a £60 shop coupons. Using one voucher and Nectar points I was able to buy, for free, a bottle of Champagne, already discounted by £12 and some groceries. Sometimes you need a little luxury!
Tesco sometimes give you coupons for extra points. In my case I bought a £9 set of razor blades with 300 extra points, total 318. This I tripled up to £9 rewards tokens, so the blades were free ( sort of).

There was a bit about nuisance smoke alarms. My problem was a bit different. My garage and shed are detached from the house and some 20m away. Hard wiring that distance was out. It was pointless fitting a smoke alarm which could not be heard. The answer was to fit a set of wireless alarms, which have the range. Now they can be heard all over the house.

newcook

jackdaw3 wrote: »

Hi, i'm a newby but just have to tell everyone how effective buying an adult babygrow is, some even have hoods, you might look daft but in your own home who cares and you can buy them for as little as £10, i live in the NE with low temperatures over a long winter and have no problem keeping the thermostat down to about 16c 64f and after the success i had last year the whole family is following suit and we saved a fortune with suppliers info telling me i was way below average gas useage for the area.

my mom was telling me about these - they do them at primark! just got to wait until payday til I go and get mine!

ACID

luxor4t wrote: »

After bathing we leave the water in the bath until it's cold - well, we paid to heat the water in the first place so we're getting our money's worth from the heat

??? how is this saving

surely it means a stain around the top surface of the water on the enamel, thus requiring more water to actually clean it..

Bronnie

i'm home during the day and work evenings, DD is vice versa. The front of our house has a sunny aspect and I have started raising the Venetian blinds in the front rooms during the day when it is sunny and leaving the bedroom doors open and the door between the front glass porch and the hall. It is amazing how much warmth from the sun comes through and disperses through the house, even on a coldish day like today.

Caterina

Hi

I have just read a lot of the posts on this thread (not all, but meaning to go back to read more) and I am asking myself "is this extreme?" because I am already doing most of the things here! Does it mean that I am an extreme moneysaver? :-)