How much electricity do you use in a day?

moonrakerz

Smiley_Mum wrote: »

Also, don't allow the kettle to boil for drinks. You can't drink boiling coffee/tea etc so switch it off just before it begins to boil.

Not true and true !

You must have boiling water to make tea, BUT not boiling for coffee !

Smiley_Mum

moonrakerz wrote: »

Not true and true !

You must have boiling water to make tea, BUT not boiling for coffee !

You're absolutely spot on. Can you tell I just drink coffee?

If you are a tea drinker then, change over to coffee and save money...:p

moonrakerz

Nah ! Ceylon Tea - lovely !

ScoobieGirl

tr3mor wrote: »

It's not on all the time. Immersion heaters are thermostatically controlled.

The immersion heater will only be on when the water in the tank is not hot enough.

Well yes, otherwise it'd be trying to boil the water! I meant that if it is trying to maintain water temp 24h a day it could be a significant waste. It seemed reasonable to assume that it was thermostatically controlled.

SuiDreams

Well Read Meter this morning and we had used 7 units in a 24hour period will have to keep reading to find out what the high usage is as last month averaged out at just under 15 units/day. We didn't use the washer yesterday so maybe thats the culprit.

SuiDreams

Does anyone turn their NTL Box off at the wall, and does it make much difference. We have a digital LCD TV will it lose its settings if we turn it of at the wall everynight. Just re-read the thread and the lower usage of 7 units seems very high compared to the rest of you as don't have a Dishwasher or dryer and didn't use the washer yesterday.

tr3mor

ScoobieGirl wrote: »

Well yes, otherwise it'd be trying to boil the water! I meant that if it is trying to maintain water temp 24h a day it could be a significant waste. It seemed reasonable to assume that it was thermostatically controlled.

It *could* be. Then again, considering it uses less energy to maintain a constant temperature than it does to heat things from cold it might not.

It all depends on how often they use hot water. But it probably won't give them vast savings.

ariba10

tr3mor wrote: »

It *could* be. Then again, considering it uses less energy to maintain a constant temperature than it does to heat things from cold it might not.

It all depends on how often they use hot water. But it probably won't give them vast savings.

The hotter the water is the more heat will be lost over time.

With a kettle, if you only wanted to make tea three times a day it woulkd be cheaper to boil it three times and let it cool down between times than to keep it at boiling temperature all day.

tr3mor

ariba10 wrote: »

The hotter the water is the more heat will be lost over time.

With a kettle, if you only wanted to make tea three times a day it woulkd be cheaper to boil it three times and let it cool down between times than to keep it at boiling temperature all day.

Personally I'm not convinced that an hour heating water in the morning and an hour in the afternoon would give enough hot water.

Given that the immersion heater will most likely be running at full power in these hours I can't see there being a huge difference between that and the normal thermostatic control. It's only kicking it for a couple of mins every hour except directly after hot water being used.

Sure, he/she might save some money in fitting a timer, but I can't see it being a huge amount and it will be more inconvenient for them.

Keeping the water hot all the time would lead to less bacteria developing too. Not a huge risk at home, but worth considering.

You're right about the kettle, pity you can't fill a water tank with 3 showerfulls of water

kittiwoz

Cardew wrote:

Kittiwoz,

Your physics might be impressive, but your assumptions are so far out to make your kWh figures meaningless.

Nearly all electrical showers in UK now sold have 8.5kW, 9.5kW, or 10.5kW heaters(older showers even lower powered) Even 10.5kW showers are rare because of limitations on house wiring and RCDs.

So for 60 minutes showering they will use a Maximum of 8.5kWh/9.5kWh/10.5kWh if the heater is on all the time.

However as they are all thermostatically controlled, the heaters cycle on and off depending on dependant on the temperature of the inlet water and the required temperature and flow rate of the output water..

So as alikays shower is 8.5kWh, for 35 minutes showering per day her consumption would be in the region of 3-4kWh - probably nearer 3kWh

I wasn't out to impress anyone. I was just trying to work it out.

I don't really get how that works though because if a shower uses 9 litres per minute then that is 315l in 35 mins. Even if the shower used a full 4kWh in that time it is only enough to raise the temperature of 315l of water by just under 11 degrees. I'm sure you're correct in what you are saying because you normally do know what you're talking about but thermodynamically it doesn't seem to make sense.