Zak Saves Energy (and himself money, quite a lot of money)

Lo dudes :)

A little while ago I got that little gaget for measuring electricity useage, and drove my entire family barmy by using it on loads of stuff, from microwave to kettle, pc to tv, dvd, lamp shades etc etc.

It got to the point where my lovely and patient missus, Sair, got two new lamp shades with dimmers built into their metal bases (nice lamps, I liked them too) where you touch the base, and the lamp dims or brightens. I checked them on my little meter and the two of them would be using 16w (8w each) while OFF. So I made her take them back.

We got a huge new fridge freezer (A rated bosch) to replace two smaller ones (on in house, one in garage) and ebayed the two old ones (for pretty good money)

All the PC's in my office go off at the wall now.

etc etc etc

I even found the microwave oven uses 8w when it's not being used.

So, what have I saved?

Well, comparing this last quarters bill (in units, not money, because clearly electricity is more expensive now) with same quarter last year, and working out daily useage....

Same quarter 07 we used just over 12kWh per day
This quarter we used just under 8 kWh per day!

I have reduced my electricity use, by 1/3

ONE THIRD!!!

The fridge freezer, with the money I got for the old two , is now already paid for and that's less than 4 months!

OK, it's now getting to winter, so the lights and stuff will be on more, and I'll use a small 500w oil radiator for my boy at night on a low setting, and my PC will prolly be folding at night in proper winter to keep the dogs warm (uses less power than another electric heater) in their room.

But if I can do it, so can you. But you need a patient wife/husband/partner cos you gotta be ruthless!

you're an inspiration to us all -where did you get said gadget? :)

B&Q if I remember right, they were on offer.

I looked for ages in the one near me and couldn't find them though.

I got some of those lamps too :o, tho i admit I switch most things off at the wall when not in use, the cooker included, but not the microwave. Lesson learned :)

I have a free gadget from E-on (got it free when I switched to them a couple of months back) - it monitors the total electricity usage, and lets you monitor daily, monthly usage and costs. It you switch something on, it'll show "Up 30watts" so you know how much electricity is being used.

So far I've found out that ikea 7w energy saving lightbulbs use more than 7watts! the cheeky blighters! :P

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zak33

All the PC's in my office go off at the wall now.

---

Should always do that, or if you're a bit lazy but not that lazy you can switch it off at the extension. I always do that before I go to bed, I just push the switch off with my foot and off to bed I go :D

The only thing plugged in the mains is my IKEA lamp and the Router and the good thing is the lamp doesn't use any power :)

You'll find that all those appliances on standby use the 9W. It's a pity my brothers and sisters don't have the same mentality like you Zak as I can hear them swearing everytime they gotta crouch down and put the TV in or switch on the power surge extension. But I've no idea how much I've saved I'll just have to go check the electricity bill when it comes :)

Nice post :thumbsup:

I was looking at a device: Maplins

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CaseyV9

I was looking at a device: Maplins

---

Was £10 in the Maplins at Stratford a week ago. Maybe it'll come down again.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by moogle

Was £10 in the Maplins at Stratford a week ago. Maybe it'll come down again.

---

They have these on offer every few months.

Life DFS sofas, you know there is going to be a sale in a couple of months, so why buy one now at full price?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Funkstar

so why buy one now at full price?

---

Because you* have no patience ;)

*Not you literally, answer to the question that do.

Zak's actually doing better than that, he just doesn't realise i've got a 3kw heater on in his garage on 24/7 since i last visited ;)

TiG

I have a nifty gadget that cuts power to all my peripherals when the PC tower is switched off, which we got free from Powergen a while ago. :)

Lovely Zakie meter man! (Sorry Paul and John) Blimey I'm amazed that the microwave was still consuming power when not being used as with other stuff. I noticed that a circuit breaker I had got warm even though the plug was not in use obviously consuming leccy. I suspect mobile phone chargers might do the same thing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Powderhound

I have a nifty gadget that cuts power to all my peripherals when the PC tower is switched off, which we got free from Powergen a while ago. :)

---

Still will be pulling power :inquisiti:
But better than not turning them off I suppose :)

Ahem...

Ring any bells?

http://forums.hexus.net/general-disc...ng-device.html

Whilst I'm in the process of working out why my shower has no power supply, I'm forced into the inefficient world of baths.

I've been as frugal with them as possible, to the point of leaving the water sitting in the bath till it's stone cold. I've got thermostatic valves all around the house now and the bathroom radiator nicely shuts itself off whilst the bath is radiating it's heat.

Why chuck hot water down the plughole?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zak33

We got a huge new fridge freezer (A rated bosch) to replace two smaller ones (on in house, one in garage) and ebayed the two old ones (for pretty good money)

---

Can't beat a decent chest freezer located in a nice cool garage for efficiency.

Just switched out our halogen bulbs for white LED versions, 50W>1.25W each!

I think we've got the wrong ones though as they're a bit too directional - there are others though which are better, which I'll get hold of :)

Can you get get LEDS to replace proper light bulbs now? that I think is the future - you wouldn't have to turn your lights off at all really - it'd save you hundreds of quids...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tumble

Can you get get LEDS to replace proper light bulbs now? that I think is the future - you wouldn't have to turn your lights off at all really - it'd save you hundreds of quids...

---

LEDs are no more efficient than CFLs as I understand it (in fact they're usually less efficient)- they're just much easier to package in many applications. A 1W LEd may look impressively bright but it's not going to light up a whole room like an 11W CFL.

Well done Zak- but now it's late autumn and the heating's on I can't be bothered to save electricity, since it's all heating up the house anyway. Next summer I suppose I will have to get my act together. All quite a lot of faff though it seems to me, by leccy bill is usually less than £30 a month.

Nice one Zak33.. Very interesting thread there http://forums.hexus.net/general-disc...ng-device.html

Was suprised at the power some stuff drained while it's off! Will deffo be switching things off at the mains from now on. Visit to Maplins tomorrow to get one of those measuring things for myself. :)

I think I might have to go back on a power saving mission too - I will have to administer some serious pimp hand to my housemates but as I pay the bills its justified ;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Moby-Dick

I think I might have to go back on a power saving mission too - I will have to administer some serious pimp hand to my housemates but as I pay the bills its justified ;)

---

and so the battle is joined ;)

Because you need team help on this.

I tell you how important itis though. I got my missus a multiplug (with surge protector) and a large easy to flick switch on it, so that when she's finished with her pc/monitor/camera/printerscanner she can hit it with her foot and not bend down and crawl under the desk to unplug it all.

Sounds lazy? Maybe.
Cost? yes, £7 on special offer in Wickes
Worth it? Yes cos she does switch it all off, every time, cos it's easy, and I'll get that £7 back in a year. And that makes the surge protector free, which I wanted anyway. Ad one year later, the savings just mound up.

that would be the way to do it.

I think the Pimp Hand would be as good.... but there ya go ;)

Pimp hand guides the world around , one bitchslap at a time ;)