Saving electricity

[3930dave]

To "celebrate" our province slamming us with ANOTHER round of electricity rate increases today (latest excuse - "Gee, this smart meter system is expensive to put in" :confused2, decided to start this...

I just checked the freezer on our kitchen fridge to make sure that the switch for the door heaters (for condensation in humid weather) was switched OFF.

Other than throwing the main disconnect, and going off grid, what are your tips for saving electricity ?

Rgds, D.

 

[brin]

My wife keeps her washer and dryer unplugged when not in use...as well as other appliances not being used..She read that they draw electricity even when idle if they are plugged in...Our electric bill is always very low.

Also and electrician friend of mine tightened all the screw on the connections in our panel power ..he said any loose ones drain electricity...

 

[3930dave]

Good points Brin.

Phantom power loads (idle appliances) - people will use power bars to switch them off, but you'd need a big one for the dryer ! Unplugging always works.

My panel had a few slightly loose screws (or was that me ? ), a buddy of mine had the one for his kitchen stove about ready to fall out of his panel. It's a good thing to have this panel checked, by a qualified electrician.

Rgds, D.

 

[creekbend]

We use the microwave when possible and not the stove. If we decide to bake a cake or brownies, we include it when we are cooking in the stove. We wash and dry full loads of clothes. We make sure that the filters stay clean for the central heat and air unit. We had the local electric Co-Op send a representative out for a free evaluation to detect leaks in regards to windows and doors; etc.

 

[KTurner]

Find out what you use on a more detailed level. The one big number that covers everything for an entire month doesn't tell you what your low hanging fruit is. You can get a meter that plugs into your wall, then your appliance plugs into it, and it will tell you how much energy your device is using either at that instant, or over time. This only works for things that plug into a standard 120v wall outlet, so it won't help for your electric dryer, electric water heater, climate control, etc. Leave your TV plugged into it for a week, then, with just a bit of math, you should have a good idea what percentage of your bill is due to your TV.

You can guesstimate energy consumption of those bigger devices by using a stopwatch and reading your electric meter.How to Measure Home Wattage. Just measure a baseline, then go turn on the big device, take another reading and then subtract your first reading from your second.

I've used both of these approaches and entered the data into a spreadsheet. I can tell you that my fridge accounts for about 13% of my power bill (during months when heat/AC are off). Coffee maker is about 4.5%. And so on. This also showed me that our home 'server' (desktop PC) is consuming 7% of our power. I'm replacing it with a external hard drive that plugs directly into our home network. This one thing should drop our power bill by about 5%. The savings on the power bill will pay for the external hard drive in roughly a year.

The one thing I'm not sure about is my water heater. I'm taking this to a bit of an extreme and have purchased a meter base and a meter off ebay to install on my water heater. The information provided by this meter will help me decide if I want to pursue solar water heating (which is more cost effective than solar electricity).

The information you gather will help guide you so that you don't go out and spend $600 to replace all your light bulbs with new nifty LED bulbs, only to find out that your power bill hardly changed (as the lights were only 1% of your usage).

Though, there are some things that are obvious without collecting all the data. Like, I need to string up a clothesline so we can stop using the electric clothes dryer.

Keith

 

[KTurner]

By the way, this is more of a long term approach for me. The local power company has pretty much had their plans for a new plant shutdown, two other coal plants are being forced offline and they're going to have to run new transmission lines to a plant a few counties over. And they're projecting increased usage. This is all taking place over the next 5-10 years. I'm expecting substantial increases in my energy costs due to this. I'm trying to get my ducks in a row before this stuff starts rolling down hill. It's bad enough already.

Keith

 

[jonyyuma]

If you have electric hot water, look into a timer for non use time, or when asleep. Clean the coils on the refrigerator and the small fan underneth too..Power is going to climb at the rate of expenses. It is not much of a secret that the power grid in some areas is in sad shape..Clothes dryers and dishwashers were already mentioned..

 

[The kid]

To "celebrate" our province slamming us with ANOTHER round of electricity rate increases today (latest excuse - "Gee, this smart meter system is expensive to put in" :confused2, decided to start this...

I just checked the freezer on our kitchen fridge to make sure that the switch for the door heaters (for condensation in humid weather) was switched OFF.

Other than throwing the main disconnect, and going off grid, what are your tips for saving electricity ?

Rgds, D.

As a retired Electric Service employee there quite a few things you can do and will add up to quite a bit of money in savings.

First off, is your home ALL elelctric? Our utility dabbled in serveral pilot programs to manage the home energy use. I'm not sure what your speaking of when saying "smart meter". Is your utility using what is referred to as "Time of Use" rate. This is simply rates set for different times of each day. There are peak power use times. If the utility can get customers to adjust thier usage to these off peak times it reduces there overhead cost when buying power off the "Grid".

The first think I'd do is adjust my water heater if electric to a lower temp. You also can install a timer which allows to heater to only heat only when you regularly use it. Water Heaters are well insulated, but extra is better by adding a WH blanket. Also insulate the hot water lines.

Look into the new tankless water heaters. They are pricy, but provide instant hot water and mounted usually one per water source. They are small enough to be mounted inside a cabinet.

Is your house tight? As in windows, ceiling insulation. Some utilities will provide a home energy audit that will point out areas needing improvement. Tell me a little more about your home and how it's heated and cooled.

-Robert

 

[uglyboywith11fingers]

Also an electrician friend of mine tightened all the screws on the connections in our panel power ..he said any loose ones drain electricity...

Anyone else wonder if maybe the power panel wasn't the only thing with loose screws :confused2:??? No dis-respect intended.

Loose connections can/will cause overheating, and perhaps a fire, particularly where there's a heavier current draw... and perhaps cause what-ever is on that circuit to run in-efficiently.

for sure, loose screws are a safety issue. (no pun intended)

Pete

 

[The kid]

Here's some good info about your electric meter as to what all the information displayed on the front of it means and some tips on conservation.

http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/measure.html

 

[Baby Grand]

We replaced our 1980's fridge a few months ago and saw an immediate 15 to 20 dollar drop in our monthly bill. I figure that fridge will pay for itself in 3 to 4 years; sooner if rates go up.

Longer term plans include replacing the sump pump with a gravity drain. Last year it was common for that pump to run for 3 minutes every 8 to 10 minutes, for months at a time, due to the near monsoon weather we had. Buy digging a trench from the sump to the nearby intermittant creek, I can have a gravity drain. I will install a holding tank, mid run, so I can clean out the lines and put some critter screens in, just incase anyone comes a callin'.

This is all part of my master plan to justify buying a 'hoe with The Plant Manager. I did a similar cost benefit analysis before buying a welder generator, selling the benefits of being able to preserve all the food she keeps in the storage freezer and being able to stay in the house, keep warm and enjoy a hot shower. She was critical of this analysis after I bought it, but losing power for 6 days in August and 5 days in October convinced her that the Commisar of Central Planning was not blowing smoke.

"Wall Warts" (plug-in small battery chargers) are another source of constant demand. Try to find a way to eliminate them or at least control their eating habits.

 

[The kid]

Anyone else wonder if maybe the power panel wasn't the only thing with loose screws :confused2:??? No dis-respect intended.

Loose connections can/will cause overheating, and perhaps a fire, particularly where there's a heavier current draw... and perhaps cause what-ever is on that circuit to run in-efficiently.

for sure, loose screws are a safety issue. (no pun intended)

Pete

I have personally seens hundreds and repaired hundreds of meter bases where either line or load wire burnt the terminals off the backside of an electric meter. If you own an older home and made upgrades, the load increases thru the meter. Think of the meter as a fuse link. Those connection inside that base should be inspected and tightened each time a major elctrical item is added to the home.

Contractors cutting corners on cost will install aluminum wire instead of copper.And yes I've seen fires too. Aluminum expands and contracts badly thus causing a loose connection in the breaker panel or meter base. Aluminum forms aluminum oxide around the wire thus causing the wire to get hot. Usually a electrical grease is put of the wire to prevent this corrosion. Alum Oxide is the same material spark plug insolators are made from. Get the idea.

As stated loose screw can steal from you. As that wire is heating up consuming energy, the home owner never sees it, untill it's too late and in need of a costly repair. Robert

 

[kiotiken]

To "celebrate" our province slamming us with ANOTHER round of electricity rate increases today (latest excuse - "Gee, this smart meter system is expensive to put in" :confused2, decided to start this...

I just checked the freezer on our kitchen fridge to make sure that the switch for the door heaters (for condensation in humid weather) was switched OFF.

Other than throwing the main disconnect, and going off grid, what are your tips for saving electricity ?

Rgds, D.

Dave,
As a fellow Ontarian, I'm in the same boat. Are you with HydroOne or another provider? HydroOne sends out pamphlets with your bill just about every month and great coupons for energy saving devices at least a couple times a year. Really, follow what they're saying and used the coupons. Other than that, eliminate phantom loads.

Are you on a smart meter yet? We have the chart on the inside of one of our kitchen cabinet doors and refer to it as needed. Put the dishwasher, washing machine, dryer etc on during low, off peak periods. Put a timer on your water heater if it's still electric, you probably don't need hot water all day and almost definitely not all night.

I have been working at it over the past 6 years, and I'll keep going. It doesn't make sense to put $14K worth of new windows and doors in to save $5/month on your electricity bill, but as you need to replace things, do it in a way that reduces your consumption, it's only going to get worse.

Finally, regardless of what you think of the fit program (I'm guessing from your post, you're not a big Dalton fan), take advantage of it, even at the now reduced rates. I tried, but was late getting to the party and they said my area is over capacity, but it's a great program from the making money stance. Welcome to microFIT | Ontario Power Authority

 

[newbury]

Get a P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor or similar.
It settles arguments and lets you know what's a power pig.
Make sure lights are OFF and put a master switch/ups on your entertainment center so you can effectively unplug everything at once.
Make it easy for all members of the household to use.
Stop using the computer.

 

[edlegault]

1. Energy Star appliances -- if you are contemplating new ones anytime in the future.
2. Anything remote controlled (TV, Sat/cable box, VCR, DVD, stereo, etc) is never really OFF unless you remove the power. Try using some switched outlets or build a switched outlet box/power cord for these things and turn them off completely when not in use.
3. Those "wall wart" chargers for cell phones, laptops, i-pads, etc., again, are using phantom amounts of energy when the devise is not actually plugged in and being charged.
4. Extra freezer/refrigerator in the garage, workshop or barn -- do you really need it? I know, I like my drinks cold and like having a place to put that extra meat and ice cream :licking: These are typically older and less energy efficient models that could probably be replaced by a newer, small, more energy efficient model (see #1).

 

[The kid]

A good investment is a programmable HVAC thermostat. The house the way you want it when occupied, cut it back when not there. If your HVAC is over twenty years old, upgrading that would make a major reduction dent in that ever escalating utility bill.

 

[nybirdman]

You aren't going to beat the power companies;ours just got a rate increase because there wasn't enough power used because of the easy winter!We have done all the power saving that we can and our bill is still $100+ a month,and no electric heat.

 

[The kid]

Energy conservation is simple. You get out of it what you put into it. No you can't beat the electric company but there is enough technology out there to save a bunch of money without having to switch to Gieco.

 

[3930dave]

Hey, thanks all, for the great comments.

We are pretty careful already here, about 10 kwh/day here, outside of AC season.

I started this thread because I'm always looking for efficiency gains that I hadn't thought of, and to help other folks by sharing ideas.

Our place is heated by Natural Gas, as is our hot water. AC is an older unit, but reasonably efficient, and we tend to not use it except for really scorching days. The Smart (Utility) Meter forced on us means that we are on Time of Day billing, and we do shift as much as possible to low rate hours.

I also use a whole house B+D meter, to track overall use. This meter does not have the resolution of a Kill A Watt meter, but does a good job of checking monthly useage, and works as a reminder if I've left a heat lamp going in the garage or some other higher wattage item. It does have a Null (Tare) function that you can use to zero out a constant running item, so that you can measure something else (or, just do the math yourself - the resolution on this means you really need another meter if you are trying to count individual watts).

Couldn't find the meter on the B&D site, so here is a Amazon listing:

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-EM100B-Energy-Monitor/dp/B001ELJKLE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335905962&sr=8-1]Amazon.com: Black & Decker EM100B Energy Saver Series Power Monitor: Home Improvement[/ame]


EM100B is the model #, if the link does not work out.

I like the gravity drain sump idea, our first house (backed onto a ravine) had that, but that solution is now likely specifically banned in Canada (our gubmints are hard at work trying to figure out how to tax gravity, but haven't quite figured it out yet :confused2: ). Worked great in our house, but the contractor goofed on the house next door - he left the loose O pipe too long at the outlet into the ravine and it lifted up and froze in the winter.

Based on the number of ground mount solar arrays I see, I suspect the farmers in our area already have MicroFit fully booked (good for them, I'm glad to see the revenue going their way). I'm not really looking to do a major Alt Nrg installation on this property, I'm more inclined to do that on a remote retirement property. At this point, I'm leaning towards being totally off grid, esp. if I continue to live in Ontario.

Newer appliances.... hmmmm.... not always so straight forward, (total) cost wise. Newer refrigerators (until you get into really high end ones), tend to have smaller hp compressors running at higher rpm and use thinner wall coils - translation - many of these newer fridges burn out in < 5 years. If you need/want to make the jump, talk with an appliance repair guy that has been at it 10+ years, for a recommendation. Eventually, I want to make the move to a Sunfrost fridge, they seem to balance energy with lifespan pretty well.

Refrigerators, home compost bins and sustainable living products - Sun Frost

Sunfrost developed their original units to safely store medicines and vaccines in remote parts of the world, VERY off grid. In the original design, efficiency was a priority, as was long life.... the nearest repairman would often be hours or days away (by plane). I'm hoping the legacy lives on long enough for me to buy a unit for my next house. DC is an option for their units.

Picked up a Sylvania LED strip recently ($16) - not bad output for 1.0 watts, but strangely the light pattern is at 90 degrees to the strip - not what I expected, but not a deal killer for me.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Sylvania-Under-Counter-Linkable-Strip/dp/B000IV5PB0/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1335907195&sr=8-8]Amazon.com: Sylvania Under Counter 9" Led Linkable Strip Light White: Home Improvement[/ame]


Sylvania product # LED/UC/W/9/W

Sorry, not trying to make this an Amazon ad, honest, but couldn't find the LED strip on the Sylvania site.

Keep 'em coming guys, we all could use to save a little more !

Rgds, Dave.

 

[grsthegreat]

as less electricity is used, be prepaired for the rates to increase. Gas prices increase as gas use decreases because the production companies need the revenue to operate.

weve done the florescent lamps, setback thermostats, light timers so exterior lights shut off at 10pm, etc.

but our bills dont seem to decrease any.

ID LIKE to switch to led lighting, but the savings in electrical cost will never pay for the cost of the lamps. I checked into swapping out my 11 watt and 20 watt landscape lights to LED.... but it would take me aprox 20 years to recoup the cost. maybe after the cost of lamps go down ill do it.

also, i really agree on the refrig & freezer taking most of the power. A new refer will use drastically less electric than old ones.

I had a client that had a real old refer with a built in beer tap. I put a meter on it and it was accounting to nearly 25% of his power bill