Energy saving tips

Herbyme

wild666 said:

I already turn everything off at the wall socket except the fridge, freezer and router and it's saved me 35% on the electric bill. I lowered the temperatures on my boiler to 50 degrees for water and 53 degrees for heating and lowered the thermostat to 17 degrees. I did it last September after Avro went under and haven't changed the settings since. 
Before I did this my electric was 2400 kWh and the gas around 3200 kWh per year, it's now 1400 kWh E and 1050 kWh G. 

Seriously, would that mean a third of your electricity use was appliances on standby? That sounds a really high figure. I’d be delighted if that worked for me. I’m about to buy one of those plugs that the measures the usage of appliances, hoping I can find vast amounts of previously unsuspected usage to cut out

wild666

With electric going up to 50p plus per kWh and gas to 15p per kWh my weekly usage of 30 kWh E and 9 kWh G that's going to be about £23 per week of electric & gas that's a monthly bill of £104 in Summer, more in winter. 
I'm thinking of changing the dryer to either one with a heat pump or buying a heated airer  as it will be cheaper than the dryer I've got now plus going out and walking around shops.

Percypeeved

Learn the Navy shower technique, which saves energy, water and time. It should only take a couple of minutes max!

Boxman

wild666 said:

I already turn everything off at the wall socket except the fridge, freezer and router and it's saved me 35% on the electric bill.

As previously asked elsewhere what specific devices were using so much 'vampire' energy that you could save the 35% by switching them off when not in use?

wild666

Boxman said:

wild666 said:

I already turn everything off at the wall socket except the fridge, freezer and router and it's saved me 35% on the electric bill.

As previously asked elsewhere what specific devices were using so much 'vampire' energy that you could save the 35% by switching them off when not in use?

The TV, DVD player, surround sound equipment, 2 desktop Pc's. PS4, Xbox, stereo, printer, cooker, washer, dryer, air fryer, microwave, shower switch, extractor fans and charging leads. My usage dropped 35% in one month from 196 kWh to around 128 kWh. I occasionally use the Xbox or PS4 which might increase the kWh usage to 135 or more kWh

masonic

wild666 said:

Boxman said:

wild666 said:

I already turn everything off at the wall socket except the fridge, freezer and router and it's saved me 35% on the electric bill.

As previously asked elsewhere what specific devices were using so much 'vampire' energy that you could save the 35% by switching them off when not in use?

The TV, DVD player, surround sound equipment, 2 desktop Pc's. PS4, Xbox, stereo, printer, cooker, washer, dryer, air fryer, microwave, shower switch, extractor fans and charging leads. My usage dropped 35% in one month from 196 kWh to around 128 kWh. I occasionally use the Xbox or PS4 which might increase the kWh usage to 135 or more kWh

Quite surprising that these devices are consuming almost 100 W between them when connected to the mains and powered off. I went around and checked mine and the worst one I could find was my washing machine, which consumed 0.3 W of phantom power. Turning that off at the mains saves me 0.2 kWh per month. Everything else was <0.1 W.

littleteapot

I never understood how someone can keep the shower running continuously and clean themselves properly. I tried it once but the soap kept getting washed of my flannel before I could lather even small areas of my body! So turning it off to lather/scrub then back on to rinse seems the only viable option. To do any other way is just wasteful and ineffective to me!

I prefer cold showers in all but the coldest depths of winters anyway, and even then its only lukewarm.

datlex

Whilst a tumble dryer is not money saving, you can save money on tumble dryer usage by ensuring you clean the filter on it.

k_man

masonic said:

wild666 said:

Boxman said:

wild666 said:

I already turn everything off at the wall socket except the fridge, freezer and router and it's saved me 35% on the electric bill.

As previously asked elsewhere what specific devices were using so much 'vampire' energy that you could save the 35% by switching them off when not in use?

The TV, DVD player, surround sound equipment, 2 desktop Pc's. PS4, Xbox, stereo, printer, cooker, washer, dryer, air fryer, microwave, shower switch, extractor fans and charging leads. My usage dropped 35% in one month from 196 kWh to around 128 kWh. I occasionally use the Xbox or PS4 which might increase the kWh usage to 135 or more kWh

Quite surprising that these devices are consuming almost 100 W between them when connected to the mains and powered off. I went around and checked mine and the worst one I could find was my washing machine, which consumed 0.3 W of phantom power. Turning that off at the mains saves me 0.2 kWh per month. Everything else was <0.1 W.

I think it depends what the standby settings were.
Some TVs and stereos have a network standby (for quick wake-up) I know on mine that added 4 or 5w on each.
PCs may have been sleeping, with wake to do maintenance.
XBox and PS4 also have quick on options, so maybe 10 to 20w each there.

Many of us would have gone OCD (possibly with a spreadsheet too) and worked out which device(s) were using the majority of the power, and focused on those, rather than blanket turn it all off.

Partly because any device with high/unexpected standby, may be a concern when then powered on.

Alnat1

Using my heat pump tumble dryer actually saves me money compared to line/rack drying as I never have to iron.

The cost of ironing the washing load would be more than the tumble dryer cost.