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

ZenUK

MartinWickham wrote: »

This one could be a very, very big loss if you have a 'hot water tank' system. Turn down the TANK thermostat if you wish to store and use cooler water; this excellent tip was mentioned earlier, you should never normally require hotter than 60 deg.C. The best accurate test is simply with a thermometer under the hot tap when you run a bath.

If you turn down the BOILER thermostat too much (this is the temperature at which the boiler operates, not the cylinder water temperature), then it is likely that your boiler will NEVER get your hot water cylinder up to temperature; consequently, it will never turn off, it will keep burning gas as it 'cycles' on and off indefinitely.

Is there a MSE willing to advise on efficient setting of HW and CH controls?

Good point, I should mention I have a combination boiler so water is only heated as I use it.

kwyken

david_fraser wrote: »

just spent several hours moving boxes in the loft, lifting the boards, adding 4" x 2" beams to raise the rafters, adding extra insulation then replacing the baords!!
is it worth it? well, the 7m rolls of fibre glass were just £3 from Homebase and the extra timbers were cheap off cuts from the timber yard (and I checked with a builder that the floor could cope with the extra weight) so "yes, it was worth it"!
Obsessive- maybe, but its got me round to sorting out what IS in the loft too!!

Do the boxes provide insulation too? I am looking for an excuse not to clear the loft

Chipping

jgfruitloop wrote: »

I am in dspute with my other half over the temperature on the thermostat, I like it at 16 degrees but he wants it warmer! Personally I have a throw that I put over me on the settee so I don't need too much heating. I have a couple of the plugs that turn off peripheral electricals items eg. surround sound, dvd player turn off when we switch the tv off but the freeview box is on if you need to record and then switches itself off. I have one for the pc as well, they save you having to switch everything off individually. I have swapped my halogen bulbs for led bulbs, they really do save on electricity as we watched our monitor and it hardly went up compared to the halogen bulbs. I try to last as long as possible not putting the heating on which is usually November (I live in the north) but had to put it on in an evening now my partner is with me. Other than that the usual, insulation, low energy light bulbs, solar chargers for mobiles although not been a good summer for those, wash clothers at 30 or 40 degrees, refuse to have a tumble dryer so dry outside and I have a cover on my whirly washing line, clothes dry quicker, saves them from rain showers and the cat sunbathes on it! That's all I can think of!

Some people have more 'insulation' than others around their organs and prefer things to be colder!

MartinWickham

donteatthat wrote: »

Do people who are not heating their homes not have massive issues with condensation and mould?

Yes. it's best to treat any black mould at the first signs and realise that this is an indication of inadequate ventilation. The most efficient ventilation in winter is to open a number of windows to change over the air in the house as quickly as possible, then shut them before the fabric of the house has cooled significantly. This can be as little as 5 minutes. Outdoor temperatures in the UK vary quite widely in Winter, some periods of the day can be surprisingly warm, even on the coldest days.

Wallpaper departing from the wall can be a problem also.

PS. Winter ventilation effectiveness in advantaged by the fact that cold air is often drier than warm.

ZenUK

Chipping wrote: »

Some people have more 'insulation' than others around their organs and prefer things to be colder!

Fair point but have you taken in to account the increase in surface area of the largest organ in the human body... Skin!

And skin can be very sensitive to changes in temperature as well as the low temps.

Chipping

sablade wrote: »

Boiling veg use the hot tap at the start it's still drinking water and also boiled, always turn off oven/hob well before the end of cooking as the residual heat will carry on cooking, use as few saucepans as possible. Central heating: have a wall thermostat and rad thermostats, you control the overall temp of the house but keep some rooms cooler. Always turn wall therm down very low if out for a long time and remember to turn hot water off if not using it for a while. Energy saving bulbs: if possible get 5w for some rooms obviously cheaper than the really bright higher wattage ones, LED bulbs are dropping in price and will use even less electricity and many can be dimmed. Dont like the white colour of low energy, paint the bulb yellow/orange for a more natural tungstan light colour. Try and use gas over electricity when cooking Gas is 7p per KWH Electricity is 13p per KWH.

The water from your hot tap has to be heated at some time - so its not free hot water. It is probably more efficiently/cheaply boiled by your home heating, but it depends on your heating system. The other thing is that more energy is required in raising the temperature the higher the temperature is - i.e. more energy is needed in taking the water from 50 degC to 80 degC, than is needed in taking it from 20 degC to 50 degC. So, you're going to be adding the majority of the heat on the hob to boil the liquid anyway (to take it to 100 degC and keep it there).

So, in effect, you might save some money, but if you do I think it would be miniscule. What you mostly save is the time it takes to boil the water.

Augustus_the_Strong

Ironing - switch off and continue ironing while still hot things like socks and pants lol


What ?!! why would you bother ironing socks and pants in the first place? The only things worth ironing are shirts and trousers - everything else can be smoothed out before drying, then folded up and stacked so that they effectively iron themselves.

sablade

Chipping wrote: »

The other thing is that more energy is required in raising the temperature the higher the temperature is - i.e. more energy is needed in taking the water from 50 degC to 80 degC, than is needed in taking it from 20 degC to 50 degC.

Not true, did you do SHC at school? 1 calorie of energy will raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius

whether it's from 3 to 4 or 91 to 92

Chipping

TimBear wrote: »

But if you're going to be boiling it anyway I doubt you'd come to any harm?

You won't come to any harm, but I think some people would have palpitations if they knew the water may have had dead birds and insects in it! :eek:

Modern gas fired central heating systems tend to be directly fed from the water main so will not have any problem. However, older systems have a cold water tank that feeds the hot water taps. This tank is not sealed and can have dead insects and other debris from the roof falling in. In the old days, they used to be totally open too - hence the dead birds (but I doubt if many have open ones these days).

Chipping

sablade wrote: »

Not true, did you do SHC at school? 1 calorie of energy will raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius

whether it's from 3 to 4 or 91 to 92

Yes, but you haven't taken heat loss into account. Heat loss is higher the higher the temperature difference.