3 bed home - Excessive energy usage?
Discussion
outnumbered said:
...but there's nothing there that I really want to give up that would make a significant difference.
I think you have to get into the mind-set that, over a year, small amounts add up.Having said that, I turned all my IT stuff off at the mains when I went on holiday rather than have it all sitting on standby (or just on, in the case of the router). Came back and the wifi in the router wouldn't work (turns out it's a known issue), the printer's print heads had dried up and couldn't be recovered and the NAS was iffy on start-up and failed shortly afterwards. Won't be doing that again!
outnumbered said:
First world problems thread 
?
I always think it's something I'll have time to focus on when I'm poor. ?
gizlaroc said:
captainzep said:
Plugging VW GTE Milf Float hybrid in to charge is costly (same as putting kettle on) but still cheaper than the petrol costs for equivalent mileage..
How much cheaper? I have a separate garage, so would need a feed fitting, and I can't see that going electric would save me much?
How much is a full charge and how many miles does it give you?
The sums work best if you can recharge at work (I used to be able to but an office move scuppered that). The sums don't work if you do big motorway miles which dilute any savings derived from limited electric range. When I could charge at work the battery was eeking out my petrol use to about 100mpg equivalent at best over a hilly 75 mile commuting round-trip. When I can't charge at work it reduces to about 65-70mpg. When I run on the petrol engine alone things get worse (heavy car) and it can get as low as 36-38 mpg.
But the maths is only part of it. I like the car itself, looks and interior. Wafting along silently is nice sometimes although the main appeal is pressing the 'GTE' button which makes the petrol and electric motors work together for a surprisingly brisk turn of speed when you want to push on. Destroys the mpg though. I also like the fact that the wife can run the fuel down to nearly empty without telling me but if I've charged overnight the first stop doesn't have to be a petrol station. DSG box is great. Transition between electric drive and petrol is smooth and seamless.
You can have a proper 3.7kW charge point installed but I just run an Aldi extension cable from the house to mine. Works fine but adds an hour to charge time.
King Herald said:
austinsmirk said:
I still wander round the house turning everything off- my wife/girls leave everything on and running.
In the past, when wife, daughter and mum in law were all present, it was not unusual for me to come home and find EVERY light in the house on! I $hit thee not, every last bulb in every room on. 
hidetheelephants said:
Replace all the light switches with pneumatic delay switches or motion sensors.
I have so often thought about this it! mondeoman said:
5 bed leaky old place:
6000 kwh pa electric
30000 kwh pa gas
3 of us in it, plus 2 dogs.
EvoHome system in 12 rooms - bathroom and downstairs loo "uncontrolled"
Reassuring....ours is a more modern late 80's place, & we are at around 6000 kwh pa electric
30000 kwh pa gas
3 of us in it, plus 2 dogs.
EvoHome system in 12 rooms - bathroom and downstairs loo "uncontrolled"
4,500 kwh pa electric
28,000 kwh pa gas
Often wonder where it all goes....then I realise we are warm, dry & fair filled with tech...although resisted the temptation for internet-controlled heating thus far...
hidetheelephants said:
Replace all the light switches with pneumatic delay switches or motion sensors.
Now this would be a massive saver for me, I will have to look into itBTW I have found one culprit of the high electricity use. There is a electric towel rail in the bathroom upstairs that appears to be on 24/7. Can't find a switch for it so I suspect it is linked to the underfloor heating thermostat. The wife keeps setting this back to a constant 17 deg so It may be triggering this to stay on permanently. Cant find the power rating of it but it's so hot you can't grip it for more than a second or two!
Maybe somebody knowledgeable can explain this, but in our house in the Philippines we obviously had no heating, just cooling. For two years we survived on electric fans as I was worried air conditioning would cost a fortune. Finally, after an incredibly hot summer, we had three split air con units fitted. They ran about 8 or 10 hours a day average, same as the simple free standing electric fans they replaced.
The electric bill didn't change at all!
They are modern inventor type 1hp units.
The electric bill didn't change at all!
They are modern inventor type 1hp units.
MDMA . said:
4 bed detached here. Just checked total useage for 2016 -
17,000 kwh of gas useage - or 46kwh per day.
2700 kwh of electricity - or 7.4kwh per day.
£900 per year or £75 per month. We just pay £90 a month so always have a decent credit built up. 2 women in the house who don't know how to switch anything off. Still running Ikea energy bulbs from circa 12 years ago. Still the best bulbs made ( IMO )
That's cheap.17,000 kwh of gas useage - or 46kwh per day.
2700 kwh of electricity - or 7.4kwh per day.
£900 per year or £75 per month. We just pay £90 a month so always have a decent credit built up. 2 women in the house who don't know how to switch anything off. Still running Ikea energy bulbs from circa 12 years ago. Still the best bulbs made ( IMO )
I'm on eon fixed rate and that comes to an end next month. Projections are it will go up £20 a month.
So far this month as of now my gas and electric is showing at £58.54 and still 10 days or about a 3rd of the month left.
Sheepshanks said:
Well, 1HP isn't very much - but even at around 1/2 (half) a kWh you ought to have seen a difference, especially as I'd expect they were running a lot. Fans use next to nothing.
I meant to type inverter, not inventor... but you knew that. Actually the one in our room is 1 1/2hp, as we have en suite and a walk in wardrobe room thing connected next to it, the daughters room and the TV room are 1hp. Our bill was average approx £60 a month, and it didn't rise more than 10% the occasional hotter month. I was more surprised than anybody, expected to see double the cost.
That's still only 5kWh per day.
Obviously it's possible, but you'd probably have to be away Mon-Fri, then take your washing to your Mums and eat out at the weekend.
ETA: Sorry - just realised it's only 9mths. So it's nearly 7kWh per day. Getting more feasible, but still low.
Obviously it's possible, but you'd probably have to be away Mon-Fri, then take your washing to your Mums and eat out at the weekend.
ETA: Sorry - just realised it's only 9mths. So it's nearly 7kWh per day. Getting more feasible, but still low.
Edited by Sheepshanks on Monday 23 January 21:35
Trustmeimadoctor said:
Update in the last 27 hours ish I've used about 11kwh according to the actual meter if it reads in kwh that is
Call logged with loop as to why it actually reads less when I put the oven on!
I think you have to do some conversion once you have read how many units you have used from the meter into KWH. Call logged with loop as to why it actually reads less when I put the oven on!
found this on the net;
Converting gas units into kWh in simple steps
Imperial gas meters
1. Take a meter reading.
2. Subtract the new meter reading from the previous reading to work out the volume of gas used.
3. Convert from cubic feet to cubic meters by multiplying by 0.0283.
4. Multiply by the volume correction factor (1.02264).
5. Multiply by calorific value (40.0).
6. Divide by kWh conversion factor (3.6).
Metric gas meters
1. Take a meter reading.
2. Subtract the new meter reading from the previous reading to work out the volume of gas used.
3. Multiply by the volume correction factor (1.02264).
4. Multiply by calorific value (40.0).
5. Divide by kWh conversion factor (3.6).
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