My Energy use Diary

Frugaldom

setmefree2 wrote: »

You shouldn't be mentioning bugs;) that troll of yours will be back:rotfl::rotfl:

Sssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhh.... just in case he arrives here. On second thought, he can be my frugal gift to you! Bugs, bugs, bugs... that should have them crawling out the woodwork :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

My contribution to your energy use diary is going to be classed as the 'X' rated section, as next week's figures will make shocking, disgusting reading, bad enough to call 'power-!!!!!!' because it is FREEZING here! Rain, hail, sleat, sunshine, more rain, now temperature has plummetted, can see breath in hall, must turn up heater, must turn up heater, must turn up heater, oh rats! Storage heaters only heat during night, can't get any more heat until tomorrow - got cuppa, early night, can you tell I'm zombified with the cold now? :rotfl: I'll try my best to keep costs below £5 per day until I move house and then I'll be snug as a bug in a rug in front of my log fire (logs from locally grown source - collected from driveway). Think I'll invest in a thermometer so I can compare difference between my 'lighthouse-style' house and the normal one I'm moving into soon.

SuiDreams

Saw this on the Ethical Superstore news letter does anyone know if it really saves money or not

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!/products/good-ideas/gas-energy-saver/

sorry can't get the link to work it should be ethical superstore . com without spaces

A_fiend_for_life

cw18 wrote: »

In our case (and I assume I'm not the only one), it's not just the energy bill this reduces -- it also holds down our water bill as we're on a meter.

Good point on the water too. I'm on strip washes and to be honest I thought I would have bottled it by now. My shower is a power shower and really uses a lot of energy best I can cut it down to is about 3 or 4 kilowatts per shower and it still fills enough for a shallow bath. It's as much about saving energy as it is about saving money.

This'll sound masochistic but I'm still washing my hair in cold water too it is honestly very refreshing. Cold water for a strip wash is off the menu now though.

Not managed the bucket one yet though but I might.:o

The central heating is one to watch though I've found it uses quite a lot of electricity just to pump the water around.

A_fiend_for_life

Just checked again and I am on a C. Bit baffled as for monthly carbon 27(30) is still a D though I would need to be on 24 or less to get a C so another bug by the looks of it.

Last week you spent:

* £1.93 on gas
* £3.24 on electricity

Total you have spent on energy since starting imeasure (12 weeks ago):

* £15.51 on gas
* £34.56 on electricity

Carbon Emitted & Energy Used

All users/All housetypes

compared with 181 households.

Carbon emissions Kg CO2
................Last week..Last Month
Per person......26 (41)....27 (30) ** should be D not C
Per household...26 (100)...27 (75)

Gas use as kWh
................Last week..Last Month
Per Person......55 (138)...61 (83)
Per Household...55 (317)...61 (197)

Electricity use as kWh
................Last week..Last Month
Per Person......27 (26)....27 (25)
Per Household...27 (69)....27 (66)

cw18

Scottish Power have generated the bill for my last 4 weeks readings, and I'm pleasantly surprised.

The previous bill was for 25 days (submitted readings as I switched to fixed price, and then again when I signed up for -- and started using -- imeasure), and the cost of g&e including vat (but excluding my charge for having an IGT and the discounts for being dual fuel and online) was £43.85.

Dividing that by 25 and multiplying by 28 gives £49.11 for a 28 day period --- but my latest bill (28 days) is just £44.16.

Doing the same sort of calculations, the gas has actually gone up by 58p (expected an increase as heating is now coming on slightly, but expected more than that), but the electricity has gone down (by £5.53) and I can't fathom why!!

I haven't replaced the freezer yet, so it's not that. Using the heating pushes it up (pump), but I'm not sure if reducing how long it's on to heat water would bring it down (does that use a pump too?) as that's been reduced from 2-2.5hrs/day down to 30 mins and then 20 mins.

The only other things I've done/am doing are switching the combi oven off at the wall when not in use (would have thought this would be negligible) and being much more careful about not boiling more water than I need in the kettle (and not putting it on until I come back in from the garden with the dogs -- rather than turning it on, taking them out, then re-boiling a few mins later).

A_fiend_for_life

For heating water I think it depends on the type of system you've got in whether there is a pump for the water. If you have a tank I think you'll almost certainly have pump otherwise it would need to rely on convection. Same would probably hold for combis and condenser boilers too as providing a pump may well provide more control especially since they have a closed system to reduce / prevent damage from hard water and dissolved gases. Just speculating though - best way to check is to switch everything you can off and check the electricity meter with the water on and off and see how much is used in half an hour or longer.

cw18

Been wandering round the house looking at appliances, trying to figure if I've changed useage without thinking about it -- and just realised I do have another difference !!!

My grill blew just after Easter, and wasn't fixed until 30th September. So in the 25 day bill I have 7 meals when I had to oven cook (in the combi) things like breaded fish, sausages and bangers. In the latest (28 day) bill I have 4 meals done that way (up to repair) -- and 4 done under the grill. Only a guess, but I would assume that's likely to account for a fair bit of the drop in electricity

Curley

I know one of the reasons of this thread is to try and use as less heat as possible, which I have been trying to do. BUT, I think my time of shivering whilst watching Eastenders is over lol.

Over the last 6 weeks i've had 3 cases of the sniffles, which I don't usally have in a year, never mind 6 weeks! From now on, i'm going to switch my heating up a notch. Not the CH as such, but the gas fire on a little higher. Sorry, but my health comes first.

God knows what my weekly readings are going to be from now on...

A_fiend_for_life

Quite right health comes first.:)

Getting by with short blasts at the moment. One hour on a low heat has taken the chill away. I'm wrapped up in an Andean baby blanket I got a few years ago. The colours are wild though it would go well with red sandals and green socks.:)

cw18

Next stupid question from me for those that "play" with power monitors.....

Had my f/view box plugged into one yesterday. Took a reading after 8 hours of being turned "off" (just displaying the clock), then again 16.5hrs later -- during which time I'd had it on to watch for 2.5hrs. It appears the kWh useage doesn't change if I turn it on/off :eek: (going to re-do readings today, but pretty certain I recorded them correctly).

This machine is in "my room", which is my craft/computer/bed room -- and I've always kept it powered on 'cos I like to have a clock I can see if I wake up during the night.

So last night I powered it off, and plugged in a very basic alarm clock I had to hand..... but here's my confusion.......

Not only does it not register anything used (which would be nice), the timer on the power monitor doesn't even register anything in use through it -- as in the 'time in use' timer is still zero I know the monitor is working fine, 'cos if I unplug the clock from it and plug in my laptop the clock immediately starts to count up. Is it possible for something to use too little electricity for the monitor to register it's even in use?

I know my mobile phone charger didn't register any use, but it did tell me something had been drawing power through it (the timer had a value).

I was going to look at buying a battery operated clock (for which I'd then have to charge batteries once in a while), but if this clock is drawing so little power it hardly seems worth the time hunting one down (or the couple of quid I'd be prepared to pay)