Understand energy use of appliances

1 Post
Newbie
I have recently installed solar panels and want to optimize usage.
One issue I have is that my washing machine for example will tell me how much energy is used for the different cycles, but doesn't indicate if this is principally in the first few minutes as cold water is heated up, or if it is spread throughout the cycle. Dishwasher is even more unclear with a 3.5 hour cycle. The issue being if the sun is shining but by the time the energy hungry element starts things may have clouded over.
Is there info available somewhere on this, or do I need to hassle the customer service desk of the appliance manufacturer?
Any other tips on being smart also appreciated.
One issue I have is that my washing machine for example will tell me how much energy is used for the different cycles, but doesn't indicate if this is principally in the first few minutes as cold water is heated up, or if it is spread throughout the cycle. Dishwasher is even more unclear with a 3.5 hour cycle. The issue being if the sun is shining but by the time the energy hungry element starts things may have clouded over.
Is there info available somewhere on this, or do I need to hassle the customer service desk of the appliance manufacturer?
Any other tips on being smart also appreciated.
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2.72kWp PV facing SSW installed Jan 2012. 11 x 247w panels, 2.5kw inverter. 28MWh generated, long-term average 2.6 Os.
Washing machines only use a great deal of energy during the main heat up phase at the beginning of the cycle. (Although this may be more than once or just later on if you use a pre-wash)
Dishwashers heat up at the beginning and then roughly two thirds of the way through. My Bosch indicates 'rinsing' whilst it's drawing this second lot of energy. When it moves onto drying it's done with the heating. I've also noticed that if I used the shorter setting for a wash it draws about 3kW but on the slower one (3.15 I think for the eco setting) it only draws 2kW which of course is preferable. So my challenge is to decide whether there will be enough sun in 2 1/2 house time or whether there will be a good chunk of sun for the next hour and a bit!
Install 2: Sept 19, 600W SSE
Solax 6.3kWh battery
Install 2: Sept 19, 600W SSE
Solax 6.3kWh battery
Energy Monitors | OWL Micro+ | The OWL
Dishwasher is trickier to manage with solar, watching IHD for timings works well, My biggest peak is about 15 minutes into the eco cycle and fingers crossed the sun is still out when it heats again later.
5.25kWp SW facing (14 x 375 Longi) Lux 3.6kw hybrid inverter and 4.8kw Pylontech battery storage
Agile/ Outgoing Agile and Tracker gas