Electric Saving Tips

[MossRoad]

I visited my 9th grade biology teacher this past Sunday.

He's done several things to cut his electric bill. He has a clothesline and he uses it. He also has a large pipe on top of his house. It's black pvc, 3" in diameter and it's ran all over the top northwest side of his house. He uses a water hose to fill the pipe (water hose is ran up and attached to the black pvc) and has a spigot at the end that hangs down by his back deck. He said it holds 25 gallons of water. Gentlemen, that water is HOT and amazed me that it got that hot! He uses the water to fill his washer when hot water is called for when washing certain items. He says when he washes dishes, he uses the hot water from the roof to wash, but his wife won't bother with the hassle. He's also planted shade trees on the east, west and north side of his house to break up the sun that hits his house. He planted deciduous trees that allow the sun to come through in the winter.

It's a start I reckon.

Podunk

Yep. I have my garden on a timer that waters at night. I cannot water during the day because the garden hose lays in the sun. The water coming out of that hose will burn your skin and wilt the plants. I may have to bury it.

 

[EddieWalker]

I keep thinking about buying a heavy duty section of black poly pipe, or something similar, and running it through my attic for water before it gets to my water heater. I know it will heat up the water and it should just about eliminate the need for the water heater. I'm just scared of it breaking or leaking on me over time from the water tempatures being too hot for it.

Does anybody know why this wont work or why it's a bad idea?

Eddie

 

[MossRoad]

I keep thinking about buying a heavy duty section of black poly pipe, or something similar, and running it through my attic for water before it gets to my water heater. I know it will heat up the water and it should just about eliminate the need for the water heater. I'm just scared of it breaking or leaking on me over time from the water tempatures being too hot for it.

Does anybody know why this wont work or why it's a bad idea?

Eddie

It could leak in your ceiling. But it could also leak in your basement, your walls, etc...

It could freeze depending on your climate.

There is a company that makes a swimming pool heater that is basically a radiator in your attic that transfers the attic heat to the swimming pool water. It works.

But the color of the pipe does not matter if it is dark in your attic. Something like a copper finned radiator from a baseboard heater would probably work well.

 

[Tig]

Eddie, I have thought about using attic heat to preheat the water or heat the pool. My concern was condensation. It can be quite humid at times and the dripping water in the attic would make me nervous. Even with a catch pan I'd be afraid of the drain clogging and having a mini flood.

 

[DocHeb]

I keep thinking about buying a heavy duty section of black poly pipe, or something similar, and running it through my attic for water before it gets to my water heater. I know it will heat up the water and it should just about eliminate the need for the water heater. I'm just scared of it breaking or leaking on me over time from the water tempatures being too hot for it.

Does anybody know why this wont work or why it's a bad idea?

Eddie

There will be little heat gain from passive heat transfer from running a pipe through the attic - the real heat gain comes from infrared absorbtion from the sun hitting the pipe.

Excellent article with good references in the Taunton's Press "Fine Homebuilding" May 2008 issue regarding solar water heaters and even slab heating with solar heat.

 

[texbaylea]

I keep thinking about buying a heavy duty section of black poly pipe, or something similar, and running it through my attic for water before it gets to my water heater. I know it will heat up the water and it should just about eliminate the need for the water heater. I'm just scared of it breaking or leaking on me over time from the water tempatures being too hot for it.

Does anybody know why this wont work or why it's a bad idea?

Eddie

Eddie, at one time tempering tanks were available sized much like water heaters but much cheaper (no controls or burners). With this in your attic you could really raise the temperature of input water. I would certainly want to be able to bypass it and drain it when cool weather comes, avoid condensation and freezing. Less chance of failure with a metal tank.

I am thinking about a solar water heater as input to our electric heater. Our local utility has rebates and special financing available now. they dorequire an 80 gallon heater/storage tank. Mines a practically new 40 gallon also I may not have room. Need to put pencil to paper.

Vernon

 

[texbaylea]

Here is an old article but has some points to start your thinking.

Welcome To Home Energy Magazine Online

Vernon

 

[RedDirt]

The best way to save money is to stop it from leaking out.

What many are not aware of is that in a "mature" home (single panes, light or no insulation, etc), normally the biggest heat loss is infiltration (air gaps). So if one cannot afford any other remediation, weatherstripping gets the most bang for the buck and it's actually quiet inexpensive. Many older homes will recoup the weatherstripping investment in the first half of the first heating system or less.

In the old mining shacks we lived in when young weatherstripping was normally the first improvement after installing a good airtight wood stove and safe smoke stack. Even masking tape around the windows would save at least a chord of wood in a two room, five-six chord a season, cabin.

The house we live in now was built in the early 70's but I did a major (very major) renovation when we bought in 2000. 1800sqft heated area and we burn 2 chords the full season with wood as our only heat source. Yes, this is California, but I'm at 3000 ft elevation in the Sierras and we get snow. The house is so tight we keep windows cracked year round for adequate ventilation. R30 in the attic, R13 in walls and R19 in the floors. Double pane aluminum windows, solid or insulated exterior doors.

One way we get the most out of our wood heater in the rather spread out floor plan is to use a heat circulation system. I bought the best (read quiet) 12" diameter in-line fan I could find/afford and installed a duct system in the attic. The intake is in the Living Rm where the wood stove is located and the duct runs to ceiling registers throughout the house. There is a rheostat on the fan and we get about a 2 to 4 degree temperature differential between the hottest and coolest rooms with the fan set at one quarter throttle.

 

[Eagleview]

(I have the best clothes line in the area but the wife won't ues it).

mark

Hook an old pushbike up to the clothes dryer via an AC generator . Then tell her to either start using the clothes line or start pedaling .

 

[dmccarty]

Ceiling fans help keep you cooler while you raise the AC temperature.

CF lights really help. They not only use less power to generate the same amount of light but they generated less heat that in the summer adds to your AC load.

When our washer and dryer needed to be replaced we got a large front end loader and matching dryer. I know this dropped our water usage dramatically. At the time we were in the city and water was what I thought was expensive. With the rate changes due to water shortages I don't want think what the bill would be today. Our water bill before the new washer/dryer was $75-100. It dropped to about $50-75.

If I was on a well I would assume there would be some savings from pumping less water. The other power savings came from the dryer. The washer really rings the water out of the clothes which come out damp not wet.

Since the washer and dryer were much larger than our old set we do fewer loads which should lead to savings.

For us power use goes up in the summer due to the AC. During the winter the heat pump might be used a couple of times since we heat with wood. Each year in December/January I hear people talk about how much it costs to heat the house and they are talking $200-400 a month which I find unbelievable/scary. Given the price rise in energy I can't image what these people will have to pay next winter.

Hot water usage is usually the largest consumer of energy in a house after AC. There is a tax rebate from the Feds if you put in a solar water heater. Your state might have one as well. My best guess is that we could save $20-30 a month if we used solar for hot water. Our average power bill is about $115 a month so $20-30 is a big reduction.

At this point I want $1/watt PV panels for the roof. That way I don't have to worry about having liquid on my roof and in the attic leaking in my ceiling.

Later,
Dan