The Great 'Energy & MoneySaving' Hunt

margarete_2

You can save water and save on heating water if sometimes instead of your usual bath or shower, you have a strip wash at the washbasin.

weary_willie

I have two boilers, one for central heating and one for hot water. There is no hot water storage and instant hot water. The downside is that the water heater has a pilot light on all the time.
I don't suppose everyone has room for two boilers but I would recommend it if you can, it is far superior to a combi boiler.

sjp_3

Tag on a tadpole

http://www.tagonatadpole.com/

Has anyone looked at this device and/or fitted one?

£195, said to improve effeciency by 10-30%, but could be more depending on type and state of your current system.
Removes dissolved air from water which improves the effeciency, no more bleeding of radiators, or internal corrosion.

Did email the company to check out it would be OK for my system and got a phone call from the man himself and had a nice chat with him.

Thinking of doing it in the next couple of months, cash-flow permitting, but wanted any feedback from any current users.

ILoveSaving

Hi Just like to tell everyone about an experiment I tried lately. I was wondering what difference it would make to my petrol consumption if I left off my radio while I was driving. As I listen to it at work every day any way.

I always have to fill up my car, every 2 weeks practically to the day. So after filling it up I tried leaving off the radio and the first time I tried it, I actually didn't fill up for 3 weeks! I did not drive any differently and did all the ususal trips to school and work.

Noone thought this could be right, so I did it again and went another 3 weeks before having to fill it up. I even had to make a couple of extra trips. My dad thought that it should run on the battery, not the petrol so I don't know why, but it is lasting longer. So I will keep it up. It just might be my car which is a micra, but anything that saves a little will help.

Why not try in another type of car and see if it works?:j

surfsister

Ken68 wrote: »

Put the surplus water from boiled kettle into a flask, surprising how it builds up thru the day.

Thought I was the only one to do this the familt think I'm mad!

Also make porridge in a tuperware insluated bowl with lid and boiling water no cooking or much washing up required!

Ken68

Same here surfsister, family think I mad. But us mad ones lead the world.
We innovate, save money, save the planet and where would the porridge factories be without us.
And with all this rain there ought to be a simple home kit to use it safely.

redkettle

Our gas cooker is an older model with a pilot light at the centre of the hob area. Before we go to bed we put a kettle full of cold water over the pilot light and in the morning the water is quite warm, saving, we reckon, more than ten percent of the heat needed to boil the kettle.

themiller_2

krishna wrote: »

They can be recycled but it's not easy. I believe Ikea and B&Q will both take them back to do this.

Keep an eye out for LED light bulbs as they are even lower consumption than compact fluorescents and last much, much longer. At the moment the white bulbs have a blue tint but in some applications they will save loads of electricity and not have the mercury of CFs.

themiller_2

ydraigcoch wrote: »

I have found that using my Wood Burning Stove in the living Room is the cheapest form of heating! Infact its more or less free! I just get dead wood from the local woods and in it goes. You wouldn't believe the amount of heat generated in the house. You can also boil a kettle on top of it in no time.

OK I know its not very friendly to the environment, but it is friendly on the wallet!

Woodburning stoves are more environmentally friendly than other forms of heating as the fuel is a renewable resource unlike gas or coal. This means that you can grow fuel on trees (as long as the trees are replaced as they are used) - so don't get stressed out by burning wood but keep an inner glow!

flying_flanders

Save 12% / £9 per 70 ltr tank full, AND perform better!
For most of us at the moment, making your own biodiesel isnt viable or cheap enough yet but you can dilute regular diesel straight into your tank.
Most diesel cars are quite happy and require NO modifications (no liability accepted!), running on a mix of 20-25% Rapeseed oil to regular diesel mix.
Why Rapeseed? It gives the best performance, cleanest burn (= lowest emmissions), most power, won't freeze in the winter (UK) and you can currently buy it for £0.56/ltr from Sainsbury's. AND it smels better! (like a chip shop!)

I've been doing it now for about six months in my Audi Allroad 2.5 TDI (2001)
As a mix with regular diesel, there's little chance of clogging your injectors because the 75% regular diesel you dilute the oil into has more than enough solvent in it to keep them all clean. And by the same token, its dilute enough not to have to worry about pre-heating it either.

Heres how: My tank= 70 ltrs X 25% =17.5 ltrs Rapeseed Oil required. (Sainsbury's Vegetable Oil, make sure it says 100% Rapeseed on the label)
When tank is low (not really empty tho) tip your oil straight in, fill up with your regular diesel at the garage to mix it in properly and go!

The best news is that the Gov has made it legal from Jun this year ('07)!
So as long you dont use more than 20,000ltrs pa theres no duty to pay! (That goes for making your own biodiesel as well if you can).