Using over 28000kwh a year, how to reduce and energy cost anxiety

BoyMumItalia

SuperExcelMan said:

 My husband takes 40 minutes showers which I don't know if that can change. I spend a lot of time nagging about that but he says that's the one pleasure of life he should get for working hard. The hot water tank is gas heated though. 1.5 hours in the morning and an hour in the evening. Its a Worcester 216l capacity

Forget all other advice, and start on this. 40mins is excessive, 8 times what it needs to be. 

Take a gas reading. Take a reading a week later. Put him on 5 minute showers for a week, take another reading.

i remember a lady who was broke on one of the MSE forums because she always bought her husbands cigars, he had worked hard, it was his one true pleasure. He was selfish too 

Thank you! I will do this. Take a reading of the gas and see what it costs. Not sure I can do the Math but I'd try. Hopefully actual figures will convince him. Anecdotal/Hypotheticals don't work with him Not sure how else to reduce his shower time to be honest. If it was a combi, I will just turn it off but since it's from a tank, worst case he will just keep showering till the tank is empty. That means I won't have a shower if he goes in first. The kids have quick showers or share a bath as they don't really like showers. I go in every few minutes and nag but he does things a certain way. Not just showers, so it has to be sequentially and that's what takes time. If he doesn't do things in a particular order, his mind can't cope. eg go in brush teeth, wash hair, wash hand, wash leg etc if you get me. This is also how he is with other aspects of his life. I think if the house caught fire, he would still have to finish what he was doing in order. arghhh.
NOBODY needs a shower that long!!! Also we don't have a water meter so we "don't pay" for water. It's all in the council tax.

BoyMumItalia

Mstty said:

Alnat1 said:

Hopefully someone who is better at maths than me can work out how much a 40 minute shower costs and you can try and scare your hubby into being a bit quicker.

20ish for heating is a bit higher than most of us on these forums have the heating. 18C and put a jumper on is the usual, a few very brave souls say 14C.

Approx £1.50 per 40 minute shower for water alone given 12l a minute..one of those showers a day every day for a year £550 in water alone. Wonder what the OP water bill is like?

480l will also drain the tank even with mixed cold so that another full tank to heat. Not sure what a tank costs to heat in gas kWh?

I may have that wrong happy to be corrected

550??? oh boy!
We don't have a water bill as we don't pay for water in Scotland. Well we pay a surcharge in our council tax but otherwise, it's unlimited usage.
I guess 18 degrees it will be then

Mstty

OK it sounds like it's not selfish behaviour but a "behaviour" which is difficult to break. 

Good job you aren't on a water meter that means it hasn't cost a lot there.

BoyMumItalia

k_man said:

Mstty said:

Alnat1 said:

Hopefully someone who is better at maths than me can work out how much a 40 minute shower costs and you can try and scare your hubby into being a bit quicker.

20ish for heating is a bit higher than most of us on these forums have the heating. 18C and put a jumper on is the usual, a few very brave souls say 14C.

Approx £1.50 per 40 minute shower for water alone given 12l a minute..one of those showers a day every day for a year £550 in water alone. Wonder what the OP water bill is like?

480l will also drain the tank even with mixed cold so that another full tank to heat. Not sure what a tank costs to heat in gas kWh?

I may have that wrong happy to be corrected

To heat 210l of water is around 15kWh.
So could be upto about 5000kWh per year (assuming it is a full tank used and heated every day).

But for scare tactics/encouragement we could use these figures to add another £2 ish per day/shower (at predicted Oct rates)

So £3.50 per shower 

woah! 5000kwh a year if we heat it everyday? We do indeed heat it everyday, twice actually .1.5hr in the morning and 1 hour in the evening.

Robin9

_

So £3.50 per shower 

£25 a week -  allowing for Tax/National Insurance -  hubby needs to be earning £40 an hour for his showers.

greyteam1959

Turn your heating off overnight ?
Buy some thicker duvets or pyjamas.?
Turn the temperature of your hot water down.
Tell hubby to shower like they do in countries with water shortages.
Wet, wash then rinse.
Maybe 10 minutes water use maximum.

BoyMumItalia

Sorry, some of my reply was caught in the suspicious post thingy. They said to email admin phew.

One more question sorry . Thanks for being helpful

Do you think I can get away with heating the hot water every other day? My husband goes to the gym about 3/4 days a week and those days he showers in the gym meaning its just I and the kids that use the water. Do you think I can get away with heating the water every other day? I read about Legionnaire's disease. Right now we heat 1.5 hours every morning and 1 hour in the evening. Sounds like asides the sun room in the winter, this may be the next big source of our gas usage.

I feel a little silly asking this questions, like I should know this already.

Thank you

BoyMumItalia

greyteam1959 said:

Turn your heating off overnight ?
Buy some thicker duvets or pyjamas.?
Turn the temperature of your hot water down.
Tell hubby to shower like they do in countries with water shortages.
Wet, wash then rinse.
Maybe 10 minutes water use maximum.

We don't use heating overnight, not at all. That would bankrupt us without exaggerating. 

BoyMumItalia

theoretica said:

You say the thermostat is at around 20 - is that constant?  Turning it considerably lower overnight can be a big saving, and turning it down when you are all out.

Do you have a bath?  Usually, showers are advocated as being more money saving than baths, but in the case of 40 minute ones...

What order do you use hot water in?  If you cut down the length of time the hot water was heating would it be your husband who ran out of hot water or the rest of the family?

I have a shower, not a fan of baths only on the odd occasion. About bath order sadly my husband is an early bird lol.  We also don't use heating overnight only through the day as working from home 50% just now but we worked from home 100% last year and up on till March. yay! I just realized this now that you mentioned. smh .We should hopefully use less gas since we are going to be partly in the office this winter. Oh I feel a little better just now phew

k_man

BoyMumItalia said:

k_man said:

Mstty said:

Alnat1 said:

Hopefully someone who is better at maths than me can work out how much a 40 minute shower costs and you can try and scare your hubby into being a bit quicker.

20ish for heating is a bit higher than most of us on these forums have the heating. 18C and put a jumper on is the usual, a few very brave souls say 14C.

Approx £1.50 per 40 minute shower for water alone given 12l a minute..one of those showers a day every day for a year £550 in water alone. Wonder what the OP water bill is like?

480l will also drain the tank even with mixed cold so that another full tank to heat. Not sure what a tank costs to heat in gas kWh?

I may have that wrong happy to be corrected

To heat 210l of water is around 15kWh.
So could be upto about 5000kWh per year (assuming it is a full tank used and heated every day).

But for scare tactics/encouragement we could use these figures to add another £2 ish per day/shower (at predicted Oct rates)

So £3.50 per shower 

woah! 5000kwh a year if we heat it everyday? We do indeed heat it everyday, twice actually .1.5hr in the morning and 1 hour in the evening.

That is if a full tank needs to be heated each day.
Just having the hot water on does not use much (but still a little to keep topping up), if the hot water isn't being used much.

I also found gas hot water once for longer is better than twice (based on the same total time) as each instance of heating has to warm up pipes etc.

Heating every few days may work too, as long as usage is reduced.
 However if the tank is empty shortly after one hot water cycle, then you will need another.

So try and reduce usage, then adjust times to match (unless running out triggers better behaviour as suggested!).

You may also find,that once usage is reduced, changing the timing doesn't make much of a difference.
A bit of trial and error!

As you have a smart meter, you may be able to see usage during the day, hour by hour. Either via the providers website, the IHD, or an app such as Bright.
Once you can quickly see usage, making changes is much easier, rewarding, and a little obsessive!