My Energy use Diary

danjackson999

cw18 wrote: »

Had another thought as I turned in last night........

Is your house one of several built at the same time? If so, do you know any of the neighbours to speak to casually? I'm part of a fairly big estate, and as new people move in I know that 'longer serving' residents are more than happy to explain the 'quirks' of the properties to the new neighbours. Whilst things like ovens may be different between properties (depending on whether upgrades were taken or not), the heating system is identical for all of us. So if you could find a helpful neighbour they could probably explain it to you in a 'hands on' fashion

To be honest where i live is more short term lets and therefore theres not a community vibe. I live in the show home that was built for the whole estate so im not sure whether the system will be different, i doubt it but it may be the case. The house opposite me is the exact same house as mine but they rent out all the rooms individually and the house next door is also identical and thats got 5 polish people in there and i have never spoke to any of them since i've lived here.
I have someone i know that lives slightly down the road in a 2bed house so i will ask her what set up she has got. I live in a 4 bed house though so not sure if there would a different set up but its definately worth an ask.
On the plus side i only used 16 units yesterday but did not put the washing machine or dishwasher on.Maybe this has something to do turning the immersion off for 4 hours.

Frugaldom

Hi guys, sorry to butt in again but I still see this as a simple problem and am going to repeat what I said previously. We have no central heating here, so hot water is only available when the immersion heater is switched on and as long as we have hot water, electricity costs a fortune.

DanJackson999 - you're thermostat looks set at 25 degrees, so every time you press that boost button, the central heating boiler is going to go full tilt trying to get your radiators hot enough to get the room to 25 degrees. No offence meant, but I think intensive care units in hospitals are about the only places to need that temperature, 'room temperature' is about 21 but, in these days of eco-friendliness, many have lowered temp to 18 or below. (Bet you don't need 2 jumpers and a bodywarmer when sitting at home. ) So, that means your boost button is draining a LOT of power. Read your meter before you hit the boost and then after, see what the difference is.

Next - hot water. Your immersion switch is on 24/7 but the boiler will only actually come on at whatever times you have it set at on the control panel, or if you hit boost. Each time you run off hot water (mates in the shower, dishes, washing machine & dishwasher depending on make, washing hands etc, etc, etc then the hot water is replaced by cold in the tank, so you'll run out easily. You said there are 3 showers, yours is electric, so doesn't run off the immersion tank, the other 2 are running off the tank. (Not sure if this all makes sense but it's simple enough to me as we have to rely on immersion heater for hot water unless we boil kettles or run the electric showr.) An electric shower (like yours) can be up to something like 10kw, which means it'll use almost 2 units for a 10-15 minute shower. Your immersion heater can use 3 units during a 1 hour boost, likewise it could use 6 units during the 2 hours it's on in the morning. It isn't quite as simple as that but you get the picture. Hot water costs a fortune, basically, and you've said you have constant hot water.

There, that's the simplest way I can think to explain it plus I'm a bit jealous of everyone who doesn't need to think twice about coal, logs, storage heaters or immersion heaters. But then again, I'd rather pay for all these things than have to move into a town.

danjackson999

nykmedia wrote: »

Next - hot water. Your immersion switch is on 24/7 but the boiler will only actually come on at whatever times you have it set at on the control panel, or if you hit boost. Each time you run off hot water (mates in the shower, dishes, washing machine & dishwasher depending on make, washing hands etc, etc, etc then the hot water is replaced by cold in the tank, so you'll run out easily. You said there are 3 showers, yours is electric, so doesn't run off the immersion tank, the other 2 are running off the tank. (Not sure if this all makes sense but it's simple enough to me as we have to rely on immersion heater for hot water unless we boil kettles or run the electric showr.) An electric shower (like yours) can be up to something like 10kw, which means it'll use almost 2 units for a 10-15 minute shower. Your immersion heater can use 3 units during a 1 hour boost, likewise it could use 6 units during the 2 hours it's on in the morning. It isn't quite as simple as that but you get the picture. Hot water costs a fortune, basically, and you've said you have constant hot water.

So what exactly is heating up the water. Is it when the boiler comes on and it heats the tank because of the cold water that has been put into the tank after some hot is used or does the immersion just heat it up anyway without the boiler coming on from the timer.
I thought the immersion heats it up by electric and the boiler heats it up by gas.
So if the boiler is set to heat it up using gas then there is no point in using the immersion.
If i can just solely use gas to heat the water up then i think that will be alot cheaper than having the immersion on all the time.
I havent had a reading below 20 units a day for a while and it just seems rather odd that i had a 16 unit day after having the immersion off for 4 hours.

If i do heat the water up by only using gas then will the tank lose it temprature fast so then if i had to press boost it would have to heat up the whole tank.

cw18

Meters read for this week, and the extra washing and (albeit short - I refuse to do more than my work uniform) ironing sessions are showing on the electricity. 59kWh last week, 68kWh this week.

Gas is also up, almost certainly due to having to run the heating for most of the weekend (and at a higher temp for a good number of hours) - partly 'cos it was colder, but mainly to get my uniform dry as it won't go through the dryer!!! I even ironed it damp to try and speed up the process, but they still took longer to dry than I like :eek: 103kWh last week, a whopping 137kWh this week (and only 46kWh two weeks ago, which was the last before I started work)

This gives the household a weekly figure of 62kg CO2, against 51kg last week, which equates to 31kg per person - and still reflects favourably against last weeks averages for my comparison groups, so I'm going to keep my fingers firmly crossed that I've not dropped back down to the 'D' badges I had all summer

Off to submit readings to my supplier in order to generate the next 4-weekly bill......

danjackson999

Great news. Yesterday we only used 16 units again so this must be down the fact of turning the immersion off. I also done a dishwasher load and 1 washing machine load.
Well happy.

annie123

I remember betting you some twinks that it was your immersion heater, so here's a link so you can learn how to cook them;

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=471992&highlight=twinks+hobnobs

enjoy:D

and dont forget to turn down from 25c to 18, or at least 20:rolleyes: a bunch of young lads dont need the heating that high;)

mech_2

annie123 wrote: »

and dont forget to turn down from 25c to 18, or at least 20:rolleyes: a bunch of young lads dont need the heating that high;)

Unless the thermostat is inaccurate or in a particularly warm location of course...

sweetie

Hello All

Good luck DanJackson999...with all the help and advice on here you should soon have your bills lowered I'm sure.

Had a really good week with i-measure - I put the heating on last week to come on for an hour in the morning as the temp had dropped to around 8 or 9c. After a couple of days though we were back up to 15c here so off it went. I think this accounts for our readings this week as I'm on A+ for both badges!!!:j

Your household's total energy spend over the last 56 weeks is £367.68.
For week ending 15th November, 2009 your household spent £6.20 in total.
Gas meter (cubic metres): £1.30 - Main electricity meter: £4.90

A_fiend_for_life

annie123 wrote: »

I remember betting you some twinks that it was your immersion heater, so here's a link so you can learn how to cook them;

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...twinks+hobnobs

enjoy:D

Blinkers on. That'll play havoc with my bmi. I'm sure not putting the heating on helped reduce my weight.

A_fiend_for_life

Had to put the heating on as my clothes weren't drying. It seems wetter than last year.