Forget Smart Meters, here are my practical top tips for saving energy and using less water,

Sea_Shell

[Deleted User] said:

@Sea_Shell It will provided you set the boiler flow temperature to a level that will result in a return flow less than 56C, and your radiator system has been adjusted to deal with lower flow temperatures. Sadly, evidence in real life indicates that most condensing boilers rarely condense because the flow temperature has been set too high. How do I know that my boiler is actually condensing: the boiler flue should not be steaming.

The boiler efficiency comes from the boiler extracting heat out of the steaming vapour. FWiW, the boiler flow temperature on my WB boiler is currently set at 60C.

I have no idea about any of that.  I left the setting up to the heating engineer who installed it.  But yes, it does give off some steam (the same as all my neighbours ones too)   Surely it can't be any worse than the 30 year old one that it replaced!!!

We didn't replace it for efficiency (cost) reasons.  More because the old one was, well, old, and we didn't want it to eventually pack up on us in the middle of winter!!

Also having had smart meters fitted for both fuels, we did realise that having the hot water come on twice a day was unnecessary, especially during the warmer months, so we've cut out the late morning "re-heat".    We have little use for much hot water in the afternoon/evenings.

So for what its worth, taking our amended usage and new boiler into account, this September we used 13m³ of gas, compared to 35m³ last September...so quite a saving.

Swipe

half_empty said:

GingerTim said:

half_empty said:

Smart meters concern me for a few reasons and also see benefits but if they start chucking out cheap rates when people are in bed, there is no way in the world I am running high load devices when I am asleep.

A guy who used to live in a a flat above mine years ago must have been on an economy 7 tariff and would put his washing machine on at 10pm - unfortunately it was directly above my bedroom. Drove me mad.

Stayed in a Granny Grim B+B once with ensuite washer and dryer for the whole premises. That was fun, "it will be OK, you won't notice...." the joys of limited overnight expenses.

But we used to run the appliances on timers before I took notice of the fire/death risk and we did not use enough at those times for the economy 7 anyway to get the cheaper rates to kick in. Cheaper and safer for us to drop it. We now use way more efficient machines but rather they are all off when we are asleep.

Have you never heard of a smoke alarm?

[Deleted User]

half_empty said:

Smart meters concern me for a few reasons and also see benefits but if they start chucking out cheap rates when people are in bed, there is no way in the world I am running high load devices when I am asleep.

No one is talking about cheap rates at night. These will quickly disappear as more EVs are rolled out. This is a typical time of use tariff:

Ultrasonic

Keu said:

I have my spreadsheet, I have my app which has 6 years of data, so I know my usage and the likely cost.

My key point has been to try to encourage you to focus on an accurate calculation of the costs to you this winter, so that you can make a better informed decision about appropriate actions to take over the coming months. What you appear to be doing is looking at hypothetical changes that may happen in the future, and based on typical use rather than your own. We don't know what will happen to prices or what changes there may be to government support longer term. Whatever the changes may be, they are not an issue for this winter, so for your own well-being please don't make them such.

Brewer21

Tumble dryer, dishwasher???

Good old fashioned methods, doesn't anyone still use them?

Sea_Shell

No tumble dryer or dishwasher in our house.  😇


But then we have space and spare rooms to hang stuff indoors.   Many people don't. 

Amy19841987

Keu said:

As we are all going to be punished for using energy I thought I would put these tips together.

Forget Smart Meters, here are my practical top tips for saving energy and using less water,

All you need to do is an audit

1. buy one of these for the devices you expect use the most ebay.co.uk/itm/164755064577 e.g. your fridge, TV, Fish tank, add batteries to keep the readings when uplugged, put in your energy rate per kWh, plug the device in, press cost button so it shows usage and press energy button so watts used is showing.  Get to know your device, for example my fridge uses 1kWh more a day if I have heating on.

2. Look up your TV online and figure out how much energy it is using, using the device above I found my TV was using 285w, I turned down the backlight and brightness, getting it down to 150w

3. Google low energy X where X is the device you are thinking of changing, I was shocked to find all these "smart" TV's use a hell of a lot of energy and they have this secondary amount which only happens if you use it normally, yes you did read that right.  Just head on down to Currys and read the label.

4. Use an 8 way extension cable that turns off numerous devices when main device is turned off. e.g. TV, which might have a sound bar or surround sound, an external freeview or DVD writer or Sky Box etc.

5. Get Alexa and an Alexa plug that you can use with a routine, put that plug between the TV and the Extension cable described above, this will mean that you use the standby power of the Amazon or 3rd party plug adapter rather than the TV, mine was less than half.

6. Measure the fridge and freezer temperature while you set temp dial low, while doing this measure energy usage and see how low you can get it.  Do not over fill freezer drawer, the free flow of air makes for an efficient fridge. Check the energy rating for your fridge online from the website of manufacturer.  Then compare that to what you are getting from the energy monitor.

7. Do your washing up of cups and other things at the same time as you wash up after a meal, if you have a partner or are fussy yourself you may want to do this in the morning so it is clear most of the day, with just cups in the sink.  Do not push washing up liquid in the sink but rather on a sponge scourer, it lasts way longer.

8. Rinse in cold water, if you do not like 7 then rinse cups in cold water.

9. Do not use heating except if below 0 degrees outside, wear thermal underwear, jumpers and have blanket or duvet in living room

10.  Boil exactly what you need when you make tea or coffee, have a glass that has 250ml to 300ml on draining board, empty any water already in kettle into sink and pour the water from the glass into kettle, it will boil way quicker and use substantially less energy.

11.  If your heating system has a tank and you have storage heaters so only electric energy turn off the switch that heats that tank. Use electric shower to wash yourself in bathroom, open door so some heat from shower gets out. Brush teeth and wash hands in cold water..  For washing up boil kettle, rinse washing up in cold water first then add boiling water to sink, wash all items with soapy sponge and only rinse soap off (in cold water) when all items done  

12. If you live alone or have a very understanding partner, for the loo, if it is yellow let it mellow, if it is brown flush it down.

13. Get water saving devices from your water supplier, if they have stopped providing them complain to OFWAT

14. Do not have baths, shower every other day, on days between wash at sink, this cut about a third of my gas.

15. Set the water temp on your boiler to as low as you can, if you are a wimp do it by 1 degree a week or just go cold turkey and get used to it.

16. Turn off your boiler except when you are washing up or having a shower if you have combi boiler, this forces you to use cold water for small things where the job is done by the time the water heats and delivers the water. It also saves the gas burnt during day for pilot and also for auto checks that boilers do.

17. Get rid of things you really do not need that use a lot of energy, dishwasher is one, fish tanks and do not wash above 40 degrees on washing machine.

18. If you have a PC or laptop, look at the energy consumption with that device above, AMD CPU's use a lot of power as do some old Intel ones, use Alexa plugs to keep the plethora of devices connected to PC off.

19. If you have a wireless printer turn it off, better still put it in it's original box and get rid of it, 3 of my neighbours leave their on all the time, they are paying to transmit a wifi signal they never use and that could be adding congestion to the wifi in their home.

20. Wear your clothes for longer so you don't do so much washing, I wear different ones at home to when I go out, I change T-shirt once a week, shirt after 8 hours use, trousers every 2 weeks or so, joggers every two weeks or so.

21. Same as 20 but for your bed linen, duvet covers etc. Spray them with air freshener every day when you get up and do not make the bed until after breakfast so it has time to air.  I find this can make them last for weeks, even a month, put a towel on your pillows so you do not sweat on the pillows,

22. Same as 20 but for your bath towels, use them for weeks or even a month to reduce washing

23. Audit the energy usage of your lights, change your lights to LED but expect them to use more if you have a smart meter.

24. Raise the top shelf on your oven, cook things on that top shelf rather than middle shelf and reduce oven setting and cooking time accordingly (this will take some testing).

25. Leave things out to defrost rather than cooking from frozen, then cook for appropriate reduced time.

26. Resist until your dying breathe getting a smart meter, they are totally useless and you pay for the in house display, I mean, no sheet sherlock it uses more when the kettle is on or the washing machine.

27. Use Energy Tracker App to record your reads each month, it will show you the good and bad months, you will be able to see when you used heating because of snow and try to beat what you used in same month last year. It also tells you when you are using more for same month.  I noticed I was using over 6 kWh of electricity and the app showed I used to use between 4 and 5, so I started to track down devices such as my TV. 

28. Dump your huge ugly 75" whizz bang  TV and replace it with a 2nd hand low energy model, you will need to google to find these.  No new TV's use as little as 75w which is best I could find for a 42" TV, it was not smart but a Roku stick from Argos will make it smart without the spying.

29. Be wary of using battery chargers, get into the habit of charging at work or elsewhere, especially be careful of hobby projects that use soldering irons charging 18650 cells.

If you have some tips why not put them below. 

a simple thank you keu  for taking the time to present this information for all to benefit from or not as the choice may be....certainly you have presented food for thought ....take care

[Deleted User]

Swipe said:

Have you never heard of a smoke alarm?

Yes. All tested. Up to date, linked etc. etc.
But better they not be put to use eh?

Liku

Brewer21 said:

Tumble dryer, dishwasher???

Good old fashioned methods, doesn't anyone still use them?

I agree for those that are able. I have to use both atm for personal reasons. I live alone with little help so it's the only way I can manage. Though the dishwasher I use every 2 days, fine for that long but any longer and you'll start growing stuff!

QrizB

Dolor said:

 How do I know that my boiler is actually condensing: the boiler flue should not be steaming.

Websites of varying reliability say the opposite; that a plume of steam from your boiler flue is evidence that it *is* condensing:

https://www.parkstone-yorkshire.co.uk/is-my-boiler-on-fire/

https://www.greenmatch.co.uk/blog/2015/11/busting-the-myths-about-condensing-boilers
My breath steams when it hits cold air, and that's only at 37 degrees C!