My Energy use Diary

A_fiend_for_life

setmefree2 wrote: »

Well Done:T:T:T:T

PS it's scary how many KWH the CH eats up, isn't it?

It is scary and I've only had it on for an hour or two each day and I'm in most of the day. Too easy to look at the units and forget to multiply by 11.:eek:

feesh

Do we do a stupid amount of washing for 2 people? I have always wondered this!

Myself and my husband have the washing machine on for the following each week:

• 2 loads of towels washed at 95 degrees (one lot is ours, the other is the dog's plus various other boil-wash items such as re-usable bathroom and kitchen cleaning cloths)
• Bedding x 2 loads (we can't fit all our bedding into 1 wash)
• At least 1 white wash
• At least 1 coloured wash

That's at least 6 loads a week, is that ridiculous for a 2-person household?:o

Feesh
x

belfastgirl23

For 2 people I usually do 2-3 dark washes for regular clothes and gym clothes, one bedding (including whites) wash and perhaps one towel wash although I usually try to throw towels in with the other washes where possible. I wouldn't dream of doing a 95 deg wash though except to give the machine a good cleaning. Does your dog stuff really need this?

I try to keep everything as cool as possible, although my fast wash in my machine is 40 deg and I often end up using this in order to get the stuff on the line while there's some sun

I've used the energy monitor to check costs of various washes and for my machine it's the heating the water that makes the biggest difference....changing to lower temp will bring your washing costs down significantly. Will try to check back and find exact figures for you.

belfastgirl23

Cold wash 0.12kwh or 1.5p.
40deg fast wash 0.396kwh costing 5p.

I can't find a record of my boil wash although I did do it but I think it came in around 11p :eek: and 1kwh...

Of course it will all cost more now anyway with the rise in electric prices!

A_fiend_for_life

I never do a 90 wash and rarely do a 60. Most of my washes are done on 30 and a 40 for towels and bedding. I have had no problems whatsoever.

Someone posted on this thread earlier that they wash the bottom sheet, move the top sheet to the bottom and use the new one for the top sheet. It means you only have to wash one sheet. Even with a duvet so the duvet cover doesn't need washing so often.

Try stretching your clothes washes one or two days too. Especially those you wear indoors.

If you have an electric cooker, cleaning cloths and tea towels can be rinsed thoroughly first and put in an old pan and steamed in a low amount of water using the residual heat from the hob. Just put a lid on top. That said I rarely use tea towels as everything is left to drip dry. The oven glove can go in an old pan too. My tea towels are used to give extra insulation to the top of a pan so I can get away with turning the heat down more than with a lid alone.

Two towel washes sounds a lot though. If you can stretch their use and adopt the sheet method above you should be able to drop a wash.

A bit optimistic at the moment but if the day looks promising skip the spin and go straight for the line dry. I usually spin at 800rpm at the moment.

cheerfulness4

feesh - I know we're all on different tariffs so there will be slight differences but I've put the monitor on my washing machine and came out with the following:

30 deg cycle - 3p
40 " " - 7p
60 " " - 9p
Quick wash - 4p
Pump/spin - 1/3p

I spin at 1500 and never thought to reduce that to see the difference. I just like to get the washing as spun as poss so its easier to line dry but might have to look into spinning lower.

belfastgirl23

I checked the spinning thing (sort of) and the difference was negligible - it was the hot water that did it.

setmefree2

Hi :hello:

Family of 4

PER Week
at least 2 Dark washes - either 30 or 40 deg
at least 2 coloureds - either 30 or 40 deg
1 or 2 white wash - 40 deg
1 white wash at 90 - this is white towels, t cloths, work shirts, kids white school uniform

TTFN

SMF2

Ken68

TTFN...Tommy Handley.

A_fiend_for_life

The spinning bit could have been clearer actually.

I don't think skipping the spin saves much energy especially if comparing 40 and 60C.

The reason I skip the spin is to improve the life of the drum. And is especially worth doing in the summer months imho. It is increasingly optimistic to skip it heading into Autumn and Winter though. It is only worth skipping if you have access to outdoor drying though I think and of course when the weather is good.