Background Electricity Usage 8760 hours a year

Ultrasonic

QrizB said:

Ultrasonic said:

Thinking about it, the energy used by a washing machine will depend on the temperature of the water coming into it. So possibly a wash done at dusk may use less power than one run in the middle of the night?

Mains water pipes usually run underground. Supply temperature variations are seasonal rather than diurnal.

Seasonal variations will be bigger but diurnal variations are not non-existent. I did consider this before posting  .

Effician

Ultrasonic said:

Thinking about it, the energy used by a washing machine will depend on the temperature of the water coming into it. So possibly a wash done at dusk may use less power than one run in the middle of the night?

Or chuck some cheap gas heated hot water into the drum before starting the programme.

Benny2020

Effician said:

Ultrasonic said:

Thinking about it, the energy used by a washing machine will depend on the temperature of the water coming into it. So possibly a wash done at dusk may use less power than one run in the middle of the night?

Or chuck some cheap gas heated hot water into the drum before starting the programme.

Does that work?

QrizB

Ultrasonic said:

QrizB said:

Ultrasonic said:

Thinking about it, the energy used by a washing machine will depend on the temperature of the water coming into it. So possibly a wash done at dusk may use less power than one run in the middle of the night?

Mains water pipes usually run underground. Supply temperature variations are seasonal rather than diurnal.

Seasonal variations will be bigger but diurnal variations are not non-existent. I did consider this before posting  .

Seasonal effects are definitely noticeable with an instantaneous electric shower. My parents had one at their previous home (while I was living there, so a looong time ago now) with two power settings. In the winter you needed "high" but in the summer you got a perfectly respectable flow with "low".

From memory they were 7.2kW and 3.6kW respectively.

Effician

Benny2020 said:

Effician said:

Ultrasonic said:

Thinking about it, the energy used by a washing machine will depend on the temperature of the water coming into it. So possibly a wash done at dusk may use less power than one run in the middle of the night?

Or chuck some cheap gas heated hot water into the drum before starting the programme.

Does that work?

Yep, been doing it for 3 months but with free hot water from the wood stove, it saves the internal 2.2kw immersion heater from running as long as it would heating 8c water up to temp.

Ultrasonic

Effician said:

Ultrasonic said:

Thinking about it, the energy used by a washing machine will depend on the temperature of the water coming into it. So possibly a wash done at dusk may use less power than one run in the middle of the night?

Or chuck some cheap gas heated hot water into the drum before starting the programme.

Wouldn't that make the washing machine 'think' it had a heavier washing load and pump more (cold) water in as a result?

Effician

Ultrasonic said:

Effician said:

Ultrasonic said:

Thinking about it, the energy used by a washing machine will depend on the temperature of the water coming into it. So possibly a wash done at dusk may use less power than one run in the middle of the night?

Or chuck some cheap gas heated hot water into the drum before starting the programme.

Wouldn't that make the washing machine 'think' it had a heavier washing load and pump more (cold) water in as a result?

Seems to work fine for us but if you think it may be an issue pour the hot water into the powder draw whilst it's filling. The best we've managed is 6mins heater on time for a 40c full load .

Ultrasonic

Effician said:

Ultrasonic said:

Effician said:

Ultrasonic said:

Thinking about it, the energy used by a washing machine will depend on the temperature of the water coming into it. So possibly a wash done at dusk may use less power than one run in the middle of the night?

Or chuck some cheap gas heated hot water into the drum before starting the programme.

Wouldn't that make the washing machine 'think' it had a heavier washing load and pump more (cold) water in as a result?

Seems to work fine for us but if you think it may be an issue pour the hot water into the powder draw whilst it's filling. The best we've managed is 6mins heater on time for a 40c full load .

Hmmm... I still think there's a risk of it using more water personally, so given the marginal difference in the cost of heating the water I'll pass.

Benny2020

Tend to put the washer on when the solar panels are kicking out a bit anyway.
No Gas used this week and the next 4 days look good too.

coffeehound

Effician said:

Ultrasonic said:

Effician said:

Ultrasonic said:

Thinking about it, the energy used by a washing machine will depend on the temperature of the water coming into it. So possibly a wash done at dusk may use less power than one run in the middle of the night?

Or chuck some cheap gas heated hot water into the drum before starting the programme.

Wouldn't that make the washing machine 'think' it had a heavier washing load and pump more (cold) water in as a result?

Seems to work fine for us but if you think it may be an issue pour the hot water into the powder draw whilst it's filling. The best we've managed is 6mins heater on time for a 40c full load .

My last two w/m's have done a quick pump out at the start of the cycle, presumably to drain the bilge.  So putting your warm water in through the soap dispenser sounds a safer bet