Stay with supplier on a variable or move on to something else?

B0bbyEwing

BUFF said:

I think that he meant that he had never heard of a microwave being hard-wired in (it really should be on a switched, fused spur though).

As far as that one went, I knew what he meant. 

But the comment of you can switch the microwave off at the socket (to save cost when it isn't being used - or at least that's what I assume the purpose was) really needs to go in the same box as that earlier comment in the thread of if you use more energy then it costs you more money.

Fire is hot
Water is wet

etc.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

why have you got it hard wired, and why have a sound bar on standby 24/7, it all adds up.

macman

B0bbyEwing said:

pochase said:

You can always switch off the Microwave at the socket.

No I can't. It's fixed in to the wall & is permanently on. There's no switch & the cord is hardwired in so the microwave can't be turned off.

So change the fused spur for a plug socket, and put a 13A plug on the microwave, or change it for one with a switch. In about 10 years, you'll maybe have recovered the capital expenditure in reduced bills.

B0bbyEwing

macman said:

Perhaps you would if you studied the replies a little more carefully and put less effort into sarky replies? 

Your 900W microwave will use 0.9kWh if you run it for an hour. Your 500W ice cream maker will use 0.5kWh in an hour. And so on.
No one can tell you what it uses to power the LED, but it's trivial. Turning down your heating by 1C on the 'stat will save you more than switching off every device in the house on standby. Up to 80% of your annual energy cost is space heating and DHW, so, if you want to reduce your bills, start with them.

I think it's more if I want to reduce my bills then I can reduce them any which way I like, as can anyone else & it doesn't have to make sense to anyone else, it just has to be what an individual is happy doing. You say start with them but it doesn't need to start and finish with them. It could finish with turning the microwave off for example when it's not in use  

The point I was making, which was actually pretty clear, is that I was looking to see if I'd used that calculator properly or not. From there I can then look at various appliances and make the decision of whether I then want to turn things off or not.

It's all well & good some people getting on their high horse because calculating these things comes easy to them but they need to accept that it may not come easy to everyone else. That other people may pick things up at a different speed to them which may or may not be slower believe it or not.

Is that wrong? Is that bad? No.

So rather than getting all snarky about it, these people could accept that someone learns slower than them. 

Maybe these people should also entertain the possibility that I've done the turning the stat down, the boiling only what I need for a coffee, the reducing shower time etc etc and am now at the stage of looking at the smaller details seeing whether it's worth it or not. I should point out - that means worth it to me, not worth it to the reader. 

Or is that not a possibility?

B0bbyEwing

frugalmacdugal said:

Hi,

so, what's the outcome regarding your tariff?

The outcome seems to be stay as I am for now.

That's what the feedback was on page 1 anyhow. 

So if a better deal can't be had then we'll have to look at ways where we can reduce energy use. 

Just not by turning the microwave off because that's trivial   

macman

We have no idea whether the calculator you found is being used correctly, as we can't see it, and you haven't posted any examples for us to check. But the principle is not complex, and I did 2 theoretical ones for you. You just need the wattage of the appliance in kWh's, the time it's running for in hours, and that gives you the consumption in kWh. Multiply by your unit rate in pence, divide by 100 and that's the cost in £'s. You can do that on any calculator, or on paper.

Alnat1

I had the manufacturers guide for my American fridge freezer. It said it would use 485kWh per year. 

I bought a plug in device that measures what an appliance is actually using (Tapo 110 in my case, others are available) and found after 48 hours monitoring that the FF was actually going to use almost 900kWh a year. I now have a new upright FF that's using 150kWh a year (measured over 30 days)

Don't always assume product labels or manufacturers claims are correct.

B0bbyEwing

Alnat1 said:

I bought a plug in device that measures what an appliance is actually using 


Don't always assume product labels or manufacturers claims are correct.

But are these plug in devices?

Genuine question as the wife actually brought this topic up today & I wondered about getting one but at the same time had my doubts about how accurate they would be.

BUFF

for £10 you can afford to try - & they also work as a  "smart" plug/socket.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Tapo-Monitoring-Required-P110/dp/B097YBXHTW

B0bbyEwing

BUFF said:

for £10 you can afford to try - & they also work as a  "smart" plug/socket.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Tapo-Monitoring-Required-P110/dp/B097YBXHTW

Have you or anyone else tested it out to see how accurate they are?

I know what they claim to do, what they do do though may be different.

Like the cardio machines at the gym or your smart watch for example. They tell you how many calories you burned doing an exercise.

Now we all (probably optimistic is that) know they're totally not accurate at all. But what they may do is tell you you burned [an amount], even if it's incredibly inaccurate. Then the next time you come to that activity, while being inaccurate, it may be ok enough to compare to your previous effort if nothing else. 

Likewise these devices. They may tell you it just cost you £5 for the 30mins it was plugged in. In reality it may have cost you only £1.25 or even £30, but if seeing that number makes you use it less then you're saving money, no matter how inaccurate the device is.