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

JoannaBrown

Most washing of the hands and feet can be done in the tepid water that comes out of the hot tap when the water has not recently been heated. I only switch the water heater on to wash my hair and the crockery etc, usually once a week. (I have enough plates etc to last a week). I haven't had a bath or shower for 3 years, and my skin now regulates itself. I am assured by my greatest critic that I do not smell! Granted I live alone, so can do as I like. Obviously I use anti-perspirant daily.

MartinWickham

Chipping wrote: »

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:

But this is the same water you use to brush your teeth, and it's far healthier than ingesting the chemicals that constitute toothpaste; I regularly drink the tap water in my home. All loft tanks should be covered properly, insulated to reduce the risk of freezing, then the water will remain like mine: crystal clear, healthy, clean, drinking water.

The use of tank water for cooking is just not particularly efficent for cooking for reasons already explained: any stored hot water will loose heat over time. Therefore, heat only the amount you need, when you need it.

cal59iban

Instead of buying electronic switches to control multiple items, get a bar extension socket, turn the lot off with one click.

davetrousers

I don't have any water tanks in my house, hot water is on demand (the boiler fires up when a hot tap is opened).

Starrystarrynight

I have a combi boiler and wash my hands using the cold tap. Turning on the hot tap fires up the boiler, and by the time the hot water is coming through, I'm well on my way to do something else. I aways use a handwash, though!

Sheilsy

I'm heartened to see that there are plenty of others like me who don't iron clothes. What a waste of energy! Life's too short for ironing. Just be careful how you hang things, e.g. put clothes pegs under the arms, and stretch thing out a bit to take the creases out. Then fold them carefully and stack them with heavier things on the top.
When cooking, use a steamer type pan to cook potatoes and veg, and if it's a 3 tier one, fish or meat, on the same cooker ring. If I'm cooking a roast in the oven, I also roast the veg and potatoes so as to only use one source of heat. Like others, I leave the oven door open a little at the end to release the heat into the kitchen/diner.
Only do one dish wash per day - we use a different mug each time for tea and just leave them, along with any dishes used throughout the day, until the next morning when we wash them all together saving on gas and water.
We've installed a woodburning stove, so only use the heating very rarely. Our gas and electricity have cost us £40 per month for the last couple of years and have just gone up to £48 because of higher charges, but still pretty low.
Set modern combination boilers to ECO setting so they don't keep switching on to warm the water. Ok, it takes longer for the water to come out hot, but you can use the cold water that comes through to fill your kettle and water filter.
Wear fleeces and thick socks rather than just turn on the heating.
I suppose these are all pretty obvious ones, but there you go.

edl2011

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, that's true - in a perfectly insulated system.
Of course in the real world the ambient temperature of the atmosphere is a factor. The more you increase the temperature of an object relative to its surroundings, the more heat will be lost through conduction, convection and radiation.

If you want to look at formulae you will find that when calculating heat loss there is a very important delta-T in there (the difference in temperatures).

money_saver12

Shower with your neighbour or friend

Saves you on the water bill too..

energysavingexp

money_saver12 wrote: »

Shower with your neighbour or friend

Saves you on the water bill too..

stand in the garden when it's raining and save even more :j:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

sarah*a

We have a Summer Duvet (4.5 tog) and an Spring/Autumn Duvet (10.5 tog) and in the winter we put the summer duvet UNDER our bedsheet so we are sleeping on top of it and combined with the 10.5 tog on top of us we don't need to put the heating on in the bedroom or buy a thicker Duvet.

We share our baths - OH likes it hotter than me so I always go second :mad: and then we leave the residual heat to warm the upstairs rooms up.

We have Thermal Blackout Blinds which are great for keeping the heat in and the frost out. Love them!