Turning lights off when you leave a room?
Discussion
The Mrs has just fainted at our leccy bill and decided she's going to get it down - she gets phases like this. One thing she's decided is to always turn lights out when you leave a room.
Obviously if you leave a room with no short term intention to return you should turn the light out. I accept being guilty of not always doing that.
But I say if you leave a room with a short term (ie minutes) intention to return the electricity you use turning the light off then back on again is greater than the electricity you use keeping the light on while you're gone. No scientific basis for thinking this but seems to me there should be a sweet spot less than x minutes = leave the light on. She says that can't possibly be correct, even if you're fixing to come back in 2 minutes you should still turn the light out.
Who's right?
Obviously if you leave a room with no short term intention to return you should turn the light out. I accept being guilty of not always doing that.
But I say if you leave a room with a short term (ie minutes) intention to return the electricity you use turning the light off then back on again is greater than the electricity you use keeping the light on while you're gone. No scientific basis for thinking this but seems to me there should be a sweet spot less than x minutes = leave the light on. She says that can't possibly be correct, even if you're fixing to come back in 2 minutes you should still turn the light out.
Who's right?
Turn them off by all means - unless you've got some weird bulb that takes a huge initial load to light up (which I doubt you've got). However, and assuming you've got low energy ones in there now, you may lessen the life of the bulb with repeated on/off cycles very quickly, the replacement of which might outweigh the savings on electricity.
Also, remember to turn off the kettle when it gets to 90ºc, and turn the TV off during adverts - as that will save more energy than effing around with lights.
Also, remember to turn off the kettle when it gets to 90ºc, and turn the TV off during adverts - as that will save more energy than effing around with lights.
Edited by mmm-five on Tuesday 19th October 15:31
If she's anything like Mrs Jim, she'll moan about the bills, but she'll boil 3/4 of a big kettle to make a single cup of tea, and complain that the kettle takes so long to boil.
If I begin to explain the nuts and bolts of exactly how she is the cause of all her own (and my, for that matter) problems, she will call me rude names.
It's great in our house.
If I begin to explain the nuts and bolts of exactly how she is the cause of all her own (and my, for that matter) problems, she will call me rude names.
It's great in our house.
jonsp said:
The Mrs has just fainted at our leccy bill and decided she's going to get it down - she gets phases like this. One thing she's decided is to always turn lights out when you leave a room.
One way to operate is to have very low power LEDs illuminating the place to a basic level the whole time and then just turn brighter lights on/off as and when you need them.I'm slowly training my other half here. Her 13 year old son, however, is a nightmare. I woke up for the obligatory old man piss the other night, as I walked through the flat, the spare bedroom, both living room, kitchen and under cabinet, bathroom and heated mirror were all on. I could also see that there was a lamp on in his bedroom.
It's definitely more efficient to turn off.
It's definitely more efficient to turn off.
Don’t forget to factor in wear and tear on the light switches 
My biggest electric saver is only boiling what you need, my mother in law always fills the kettle up, even if making one cup
They also have incandescent bulbs in their landing up and downstairs which come on and dusk and stay on all night
Total bonkers, of course always moaning about lack of money. Decent Philips led bulbs can be had for less than a fiver if you wait and look around.
My biggest electric saver is only boiling what you need, my mother in law always fills the kettle up, even if making one cup
They also have incandescent bulbs in their landing up and downstairs which come on and dusk and stay on all night
Total bonkers, of course always moaning about lack of money. Decent Philips led bulbs can be had for less than a fiver if you wait and look around.
jonsp said:
No scientific basis for thinking this
No! 
Every little helps, but leaving a 40W bulb (or ten 4W downlighters...) running for a minute costs .001p. (Check my maths because I struggle to believe it myself: 40/1000 X 14p/kWh /60) Even leaving them on for an hour costs .56p.
Google says boiling a litre of water from 20° takes .183 kWh or 2.5p. So only boiling half a litre for that cup of tea saves more energy than running the 40W light for 2 hours.
Sorry, I seem to have vanished down a power usage rabbit hole, but I might stop shouting at the kids for leaving lights on.
I've had Hive LED lights and movement sensors in my house since they were available.
Programming them for dusk and dawn is simple, and movement sensors in hallways, the kitchen, dining room, landing and stairs means that noone is walking around in the dark unnecessarily. I don't really care money wise if a light is left on as LED's costs pennies per day. Plus i've not changed a single bulb since i moved in, and some of the hive kit i brought from my previous house.
Then i have timers in the lounge for the bulk of the evening, and sensors for front and back door to switch LED based lights on.
Heating - again hive thermostatic valves in each bedroom, 1 thermostat per floor of house. I've used their trending data to work out how long i need to switch the heating on before the thermostats record a difference (easy to do, and for me its 12 mins downstairs, 16 mins upstairs), so i program the heating to come on only when needed. House is modern and well insulated.
Bought a load of hive kit off of ebay - saved a fortune at the time. Only other thing i've done is get those foil cassettes/strips that fit behind radiators - worth it in my view , plus had UV insulating film added to windows. Stabilises heat loss/gain in house. About £450 for entire house to be done 4 years ago.
4 bed house, 3 adults living here, elec and gas bill has been (up until last 2 months) never higher than £80 /month. I work from home too with a small datacentre in my office. So it can be done in terms of reducing energy costs.
Programming them for dusk and dawn is simple, and movement sensors in hallways, the kitchen, dining room, landing and stairs means that noone is walking around in the dark unnecessarily. I don't really care money wise if a light is left on as LED's costs pennies per day. Plus i've not changed a single bulb since i moved in, and some of the hive kit i brought from my previous house.
Then i have timers in the lounge for the bulk of the evening, and sensors for front and back door to switch LED based lights on.
Heating - again hive thermostatic valves in each bedroom, 1 thermostat per floor of house. I've used their trending data to work out how long i need to switch the heating on before the thermostats record a difference (easy to do, and for me its 12 mins downstairs, 16 mins upstairs), so i program the heating to come on only when needed. House is modern and well insulated.
Bought a load of hive kit off of ebay - saved a fortune at the time. Only other thing i've done is get those foil cassettes/strips that fit behind radiators - worth it in my view , plus had UV insulating film added to windows. Stabilises heat loss/gain in house. About £450 for entire house to be done 4 years ago.
4 bed house, 3 adults living here, elec and gas bill has been (up until last 2 months) never higher than £80 /month. I work from home too with a small datacentre in my office. So it can be done in terms of reducing energy costs.
1) Replace all the bulbs/lights/lamps in the house with decent low wattage LED units.
2) Replace the kettle with a boiling water tap (3p per day instead of 2.5p every time a kettle is boiled)
3) Replace your washing machine with the latest A+++ rated models.
4) Replace your tumble dryer with the latest ‘Heap Pump’ condensing model.
5) Replace your Fridge/Freezer with the latest A+++ rated model.
6) Fit a smart thermostat and a heating system that learns.
7) Make sure your TV’s are the latest energy saving LED models.
8) Make sure your home is very well thermally insulated so your boiler/pumps aren’t running as much.
Admittedly the above will cost you thousands, but I took the question to be a more general one on how to lower the heating bills
I have just moved to a new home, which has all the above, so I am now curious to see what happens with regards to energy bills having done pretty much all that can be done within reason.
2) Replace the kettle with a boiling water tap (3p per day instead of 2.5p every time a kettle is boiled)
3) Replace your washing machine with the latest A+++ rated models.
4) Replace your tumble dryer with the latest ‘Heap Pump’ condensing model.
5) Replace your Fridge/Freezer with the latest A+++ rated model.
6) Fit a smart thermostat and a heating system that learns.
7) Make sure your TV’s are the latest energy saving LED models.
8) Make sure your home is very well thermally insulated so your boiler/pumps aren’t running as much.
Admittedly the above will cost you thousands, but I took the question to be a more general one on how to lower the heating bills
I have just moved to a new home, which has all the above, so I am now curious to see what happens with regards to energy bills having done pretty much all that can be done within reason.
Anything that requires heat will eclipse the energy usage of your method of saving power.
Dishwasher, washing machine, kettle, electric power shower, computer, tumble dryer... eg: I would have to turn my 4watt led room light off for 250 hours to save the equivalent of 1 dishwasher cycle.
Dishwasher, washing machine, kettle, electric power shower, computer, tumble dryer... eg: I would have to turn my 4watt led room light off for 250 hours to save the equivalent of 1 dishwasher cycle.
Unless you're using old style incandescent bulbs, they will not consume very much at all. My house uses LED bulbs for the lamps and the 'big lights' and at most they consume 3p an hour of electricity according to the smart meter.
In fact - do you have a smart meter? Just look at it and start turning things off to get the figure down. As above, anything that uses heat will be the culprit. My mother inlaw wondered why her bill was high until it turns out she'd bought 3 electric space heaters to dot around the house instead of putting their actual heating on.
In fact - do you have a smart meter? Just look at it and start turning things off to get the figure down. As above, anything that uses heat will be the culprit. My mother inlaw wondered why her bill was high until it turns out she'd bought 3 electric space heaters to dot around the house instead of putting their actual heating on.
Lord Marylebone said:
2) Replace the kettle with a boiling water tap (3p per day instead of 2.5p every time a kettle is boiled)
Quooker's 3p a day claim is the background running costs, you also need to add the electricity cost of heating the water you use. And you don't need to boil a full kettle every time.And there's the £1k purchase cost!
voram said:
MethylatedSpirit said:
Anything that requires heat will eclipse the energy usage of your method of saving power.
Which is why electric car owners will find themselves shivering in winter if they actually want to arrive at their destination.
Why is it soo many women are thick as f
k when it comes to things like burning energy, leaving lights on, then have a melt down as they are surprised about the bills?
I realise the OP is getting it in the neck not his missus....
All the women ive dated and most of my friends partners have been like that. but then they also break anything electric, have cars like a skip, cars covered in dents etc etc.
Is it the way they are bought up being slightly different than boys (less so these days surely?), something genetic? or social media influence dumbing them down? just becoming lazy more so than blokes when living with someone? entitlement so not caring about the bills?
I don't get it. Most of them have lived independantly before so will have had to pay bills and therefore suffered the consequences of being too liberal with the leccy and gas usage so should know surely?
k when it comes to things like burning energy, leaving lights on, then have a melt down as they are surprised about the bills?I realise the OP is getting it in the neck not his missus....
All the women ive dated and most of my friends partners have been like that. but then they also break anything electric, have cars like a skip, cars covered in dents etc etc.
Is it the way they are bought up being slightly different than boys (less so these days surely?), something genetic? or social media influence dumbing them down? just becoming lazy more so than blokes when living with someone? entitlement so not caring about the bills?
I don't get it. Most of them have lived independantly before so will have had to pay bills and therefore suffered the consequences of being too liberal with the leccy and gas usage so should know surely?
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