High KW usage and how to reduce it.

coffeehound

matelodave wrote: »

I've got an online energy monitor

Think I'd feel a bit exposed having electricity consumption viewable by all like that. Some ne'er-do-well could spot when you're not at home.

Is that the heat pump with the 11 minute cycle, btw?

zaax

screwfix are doing a clearance on LAP LED lamps http://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-gls-led-lamp-matt-bc-6w/8609g

Martyn1981

zaax wrote: »

screwfix are doing a clearance on LAP LED lamps http://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-gls-led-lamp-matt-bc-6w/8609g

They've currently got GLS lamps available 5 for £5.99 (60W equivalent), but only ES fittings, no BC's.

There are loads of very cheap LED's available in many stores, but beware the 'lighting nazi's' if you don't particularly care about CRI:-

LED light bulbs

Martyn1981

jetplane wrote: »

Hi, this week we have been looking to get a price for solar panels. To cut a long story short last year our usage was 6800 KW the guy from the company said this was a huge amount. I have checked and over the last 2 weeks we have used an average of 22KW per day.

We have a 4 bed house, we are out at work 4 days a week. There are 2 of us live here with regular family visiting.

I have never compared my KW usage before (we switch supplier every year) but we must be doing something badly wrong? Can anyone give me comparisons and advice on what is an average KW use?

We are going to spend the week switching everything off and re-read the meter next week :eek:

Hiya. Two of us in a 4 bed house, with a similar set up, but no fish tanks, and all low energy lamps. Our consumption is approx 3,000kWh pa, split roughly 50% import and 50% PV.

As others have mentioned, older fridges and freezers can use a bit more, but faulty ones can consume vast amounts.

If it helps, I have a £10 Maplins monitor and our full height freezer, in the unheated extension averaged 400Wh per day at Xmas (might be a tad more now as the temp is higher), and our under-counter kitchen fridge averaged 200Wh per day. TV is 48 inch LED and just under 100W.

Halogens are a total no no if you are trying to reduce leccy consumption. They are only good at heating the house!

matelodave

coffeehound wrote: »

Think I'd feel a bit exposed having electricity consumption viewable by all like that. Some ne'er-do-well could spot when you're not at home.

Is that the heat pump with the 11 minute cycle, btw?

Any ne're do well can see when I'm not at home, because the lights dont go on and off, the car isn't in the drive and we dont close the curtains. I doubt there's anyone who could work out where I live from my electricity consumption.

The intermittent blips overnight are the dehumidifier in my outside office kicking on & off.

Otherwise the heatpump is the mainly sawtooth waveform. The heating is on 24/7 but gets turned up at around 6:30 with hot water about seven, that's why there's a fairly long continous high consumption in the mornings. It all goes relatively quiet after 9 am and other peaks will either be the coffee maker, the cooker or longer ones will be the washing machine or tumble dryer. The hieght of the peaks are related to the outside temperature and if it doesn't get everso cold overnight then we just see the dehumidifier, fridge or freezer kicking on and off.

Once you know how to interpret it you can tell when the TV gets switched on, how cold it is outside or even if my wife is using her sewing machine

coffeehound

It's impressive and certainly does give a new perspective being able to see usage in real time like that.

jetplane

I've spent more time with my head in the electric cupboard than on the computer, however we replaced 10 of our halogens yesterday and will be ordering more. Looking forward to my monitor arriving, although husband ordered a geo minim, not owl.

My frantic meter recordings have established that we use 2 - 3 units overnight. The last 3 days (24 hour periods) we've used 16 / 26 / 13 and this is us being conscientious and frugal. Day 1 we were at home and used no big appliances. Day 2 we used the hairdryer once, washer 3 times, dryer twice, oven once and dishwasher once. Day 3 we used the washer once and were out at work 9 hours (still used 3 units in those 9 hours). TV and lights on after 6 each day.

Sparked a discussion at work yesterday where no one knew their consumption, however after some number crunching it turns out one couple with adult at home in 3 bed house use 3700, and other couple with 2 children and large house use less than 4000. I'm still the winner

edit; OK so day 2 may not have been frugal but usually we would have done all of this and had all of those halogen lights burning in every room, the computer on and umpteen appliances on standby :cool:

Martyn1981

jetplane wrote: »

I've spent more time with my head in the electric cupboard than on the computer,

Lots of interesting comments there.

If you haven't done any numbers yet, then just for workplace discussions, if you replace a 50W halogen with a 5W LED, and that's in use for approx 2hrs per day, then you'll save:
45W x 2hrs x 365 days = 32.8kWhs pa.
At 12p/kWh(?) that's £4 per year, per lamp!

If you leave lots of lights on, and I appreciate that some folk like a friendly bright house, then more hours, and more lights will consume a huge amount of leccy over a year, despite 1 lamp at 50W's sounding unimportant. So low energy lamps are essential.

3kWhs in 9hrs is interesting. Our baseload is about 100W, though it will vary with fridge/freezer cycling. But 9hrs should give a fair average, so that's 333W baseload.

That does sound high(ish) but probably brings us back to the fish tanks, so understandable. Need to slap the monitor on those and see how it works out. Not the most efficient way to heat a house, but it will help a bit in the heating months, so not all waste, and a nice hobby.

Worth looking to items such as computers and standbys in the future, but for now find those big items, like the lights.

Average UK household leccy consumption is typically quoted at about 3,500kWh's, but varies depending on the source and article. It has been dropping year on year due to efficiencies in lighting, F/F's, lower temp washing machines and TV's.

Going back to the fish and the first sentence of your OP, if you have a higher baseload during the day, then PV will give you bigger savings, but you need to haggle on price (eg £5k for a 4kWp system) and do the maths to see how it all adds up.

More advice on the PV FAQ thread, and many chatty PV'ers on the Green & Ethical board.

jetplane

Martyn1981 Thank you this is very helpful. We have averaged 1kw per 3 hours overnight or out of the house, which means we use 8 a day before we even start. With the amount of halogens we've been burning we could save up to £100 a year :eek:
The PV thread is very interesting the calculator showed we would have to negotiate a good price to save over the lifetime of the system, if offsetting capital outlay.
I think we've had a light bulb moment :idea: (pardon the pun) with our leccy usage and will save by being more aware and without having to sit in the dark, although I don't expect to achieve the low usage of some posters.
Meanwhile I eagerly await the delivery of our monitor, I feel I have a new hobby :rotfl: