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MSE Guide: Energy Saving Tips
Comments
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Mikemoreton36 said:Octopus suggest a combi boiler radiator water temp of 50°. Most of the advice from boiler companies suggest a temp of 70°. The lower the temp, the longer it will take to heat a space so, other than improving the efficiency of the boiler, the saving on gas is marginal. Lower temps means the room temp will take longer to reach the set temp and your boiler will be on longer thus consuming more gas. Remember the old adage"there's no such thing as a free lunch".Someone please tell me what money is0
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Millennium said:APOLOGIES ALL
It appears that my energy meter is faulty so please ignore the results below.
I have a new meter and the washing machine and tumble dryer draw 0.4w in standby which upon further investigation is the EU's current target for standby equipment. 0.4w works out to about £1.20/year which I can live with!
I will do further readings with my working meter and post my results!
There are some great energy saving tips here and provided by the likes of the Energy Savings Trust, but I decided to invest in an energy meter (a Brennenstuhl PM 230 for transparency) and take a few readings myself! I was very surprised by some of the results. If someone from MSE would like a copy of my spreadsheet I will be happy to share.
For appliances that are on/in standby (but not in use) I took the watt reading (spot rate) as this is likely to be a consistent value. I did wait a few minutes before taking the readings in case there is more draw at startup.
The first surprise. The microwave. It's a Bosch with no clock or digital display, and has two knobs, one for power and one for the timer. All very simple. I cannot find a model number on it but it looks like a Bosch HMT72G450B. Power consumption when idle, 11.8w. This doesn't sound much, but that equates to £35 per year!
Other surprises.
The washing machine, current model, electronic is drawing 25.85w in standby. £77 per year. The tumble dryer (yes - I know!) 11.85w and £35 per year. The most expensive drying cycle I measured was 17p. The standby rate works out at about 10p per day, meaning that 2 days on standby is more expensive that running it!
Power supplies that tend to power house telephones tend to be around 9w (£28 per year) and seem to remain at 9w where or not there is a phone in the cradle to charge.
The dishwasher is measured at 14.5w (£43) about 12p per day while running an Eco load costs 27p per run and an Auto 38p. So again, it's not running it that costs the money! I also measured the dishwasher's power consumption with the machine 'off' but plugged in, and 'on' but not running - i.e. just the display was illuminated. Both states measured at 14.5w.
Nespresso machine, 12w, £35. bread maker, 16w £47.50 per year.
I have more data if anyone would like to know!!
Has anyone else taken any similar measurements? Needless to say everything is now switched off at the plug when not in use!
Someone please tell me what money is1 -
Infrared lamps are a great way of heating the body quickly.
I have one under my desk (bought on amazon for ~£15) and it does a wonderful job at heating my feet and legs up whenever I feel cold. It uses a 100W bulb (which can probably be bought separately and used on any lamp) and I only switch it on for 5-10 minutes every hour or so, so it's pretty cheap to run.0 -
We have solar panels so I try to use the washing machine and dishwasher only when it's bright - even in the winter it's surprising how often this is possible! If it's a bright day I boil the full kettle then fill two large thermos flasks with boiling water to use for drinks during the day and evening when the sun isn't shining.
When I run the shower the initial cold water goes into a bucket which I use to flush the loo - you really do not need to flush every single time you have a pee. I found this quote 'if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down'. Why are we using gallons of drinking quality water to flush every time we have a wee?0 -
Caravanjay said:We have solar panels so I try to use the washing machine and dishwasher only when it's bright - even in the winter it's surprising how often this is possible! If it's a bright day I boil the full kettle then fill two large thermos flasks with boiling water to use for drinks during the day and evening when the sun isn't shining.
When I run the shower the initial cold water goes into a bucket which I use to flush the loo - you really do not need to flush every single time you have a pee. I found this quote 'if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down'. Why are we using gallons of drinking quality water to flush every time we have a wee?
We do have half flushes for what are termed a number 1 mainly because urine has more minerals salts so stains.0 -
Don't wait for the kettle to turn itself off - turn it off as soon as it starts boiling1
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