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[Misc] Suggestions to save energy this winter…



Bozza

You can change this
Helpful Moderator
Jul 4, 2003
57,126
Back in Sussex
II do need to change a few halogen bulbs for LEDs in the room our son now uses. We didn't bother previously as the room wasn't really used. Otherwise we've LED in rest of house.

Install the Hugo Energy app too. It's broadly similar, but there are a couple of small differences - it feels a bit nicer to use generally. I'll be keeping both.

Since we've become energy-obsessed over the last week or so, the one major change we've made is to our living room lighting. As previously explained the three wall lights, each with two bulbs, were inherited with the house and I've never given them a thought until now.

Six halogen bulbs at 42w each means they were costing a small fortune to run and I had no idea. We're now largely not using them, and just turn on a single standard lamp with an energy efficient bulb. That alone will save us hundreds of pounds over the course of the year.

Many rooms in this house have numerous recessed ceiling lights. My son's bedroom has seven. Until recently some of these were halogen, but are now all LED. However, when he's in there gaming, he doesn't need his room lit up by all seven lights, so we're going to get him a lamp instead. As we lose daylight and lights are on more and more, this will also save a bit, once we've trained him anyway!
 






Deleted member 37369

Well-known member
Aug 21, 2018
1,994
Install the Hugo Energy app too. It's broadly similar, but there are a couple of small differences - it feels a bit nicer to use generally. I'll be keeping both.

Since we've become energy-obsessed over the last week or so, the one major change we've made is to our living room lighting. As previously explained the three wall lights, each with two bulbs, were inherited with the house and I've never given them a thought until now.

Six halogen bulbs at 42w each means they were costing a small fortune to run and I had no idea. We're now largely not using them, and just turn on a single standard lamp with an energy efficient bulb. That alone will save us hundreds of pounds over the course of the year.

Many rooms in this house have numerous recessed ceiling lights. My son's bedroom has seven. Until recently some of these were halogen, but are now all LED. However, when he's in there gaming, he doesn't need his room lit up by all seven lights, so we're going to get him a lamp instead. As we lose daylight and lights are on more and more, this will also save a bit, once we've trained him anyway!

Thanks for tip ... I will download Hugo :thumbsup:

Literally just changed the 3 halogen bulbs for LED in my son's room.

In our lounge we have one ceiling light - a 'smart' low energy bulb - which we rarely use as we find a corner lamp with a 4W bulb is fine in the evening when watching TV.
 


Cheeky Monkey

Well-known member
Jul 17, 2003
23,814
Would never have a smart meter because it just creates a neurotic mindset imho. Unless you’ve lived in a cave for the last few decades, or are a bit thick (advance apologies Bozza et al) you KNOW what’s costing you the most to run.

Another top tip is buying a quick boil kettle. Anything over 45-60 seconds to boil, get rid, and again ensure it’s AA or AAA energy rated. You can buy a cheap electric kettle, but you’ll pay more in the long run.
 


Baldseagull

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2012
11,839
Crawley
Some very good info in this video (with couple of caveats) - As mentioned, only works for combi's, not heat only or (most) system boiler's with a hot water cylinder.

I've been turning down all my combi's for past couple of years to a a flow temp of 67/65 - by the time the heating water return to boiler it's under 55 which is in condensing mode. (55 as per Rich who i know in video can be a little low imo)

Another 'trick' (or proper set up by your installer..) is to match boiler to load - No good putting say 18kw of heating down pipework to rads that only have <10kw load as it will cycle (on/off)

Seen some Q's farther up - if anyone wants to PM or drop message on here with some boiler deets will try to offer advice if i can. (Gas Safe engineer, Vaillant, Viessmann, and WB trained, Heat Geek qualified)

Why is it only combi boilers that benefit from this, and not all condensing boilers? I understand why it could be more of a benefit with a combi.
 




Baldseagull

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2012
11,839
Crawley
Would never have a smart meter because it just creates a neurotic mindset imho. Unless you’ve lived in a cave for the last few decades, or are a bit thick (advance apologies Bozza et al) you KNOW what’s costing you the most to run.

Another top tip is buying a quick boil kettle. Anything over 45-60 seconds to boil, get rid, and again ensure it’s AA or AAA energy rated. You can buy a cheap electric kettle, but you’ll pay more in the long run.

Horses for courses, a low wattage kettle that takes longer to boil I can boil for free with power from my solar panels, but a higher wattage kettle requires help from the grid.
 


Baldseagull

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2012
11,839
Crawley
Ouch... 1900 litres of heating oil delivered... £1775

Going to be watching the gauge like a hawk to keep an eye on consumption this winter.

Reduce the hot water hours, turning the room stats off / down... extra jumper, lighting the fire in the sitting room in the evenings... still no chance this will get us through the winter.

You want to watch your tank like a hawk, a lot of thefts lately, seemingly well timed soon after a delivery.
 


The Clamp

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jan 11, 2016
26,023
West is BEST
If you have a gas hob, boil water on that and not in a kettle. Kettles cost a fortune. Gas is far, far cheaper than electric. If you’ve no gas stove, think about a camping Gaz mini hob. Cheap as chips to run and will save money. Can also be used to cook one pot meals.
 




Bozza

You can change this
Helpful Moderator
Jul 4, 2003
57,126
Back in Sussex
Would never have a smart meter because it just creates a neurotic mindset imho. Unless you’ve lived in a cave for the last few decades, or are a bit thick (advance apologies Bozza et al) you KNOW what’s costing you the most to run..

I think someone posted about this before, but it's not the smart meter that could create a neurotic mindset, it's the little monitoring device that comes with some installations. I say "some" as my mum has a smart meter but doesn't seem to have the little monitor.

And I say "could" because we've had a smart meter for years and I've never paid any attention to it. As far as I knew all it did was send through our meter readings to our supplier. Why should we care one way or another about that?

But, now it is proving valuable as it's allowing me, via the Loop and Hugo apps, to look at our usage and try to figure out what is costing what. Of course I knew that whacking the oven on to cook a lasagne costs more than turning the light on etc but beyond that, and by your definition, I certainly was a bit thick when it came to this stuff. And I guess I was because we've been in the fortunate position where energy bills were not an issue for us. In the big scheme of the household budget, electricity costs were quite some way down the list. Gas was more prominent, but that's always been easier to work out: when the boiler is on it's costing money.

Because we have a smart meter I can jump back to August 2021 in the Hugo/Loop apps and look at the corresponding days last year and see we were averaging around 10kWh per day. Since we've become focused on this over the last week or so we've got that down to around 6.5-7.0 kWh/day.
 


mikeyjh

Well-known member
Dec 17, 2008
4,604
Llanymawddwy
Come October I shall be taping up all the bedroom and toilet windows at the opening points,even brand new windows can let in cold air so let warmth out, basically go round the house and anywhere that you can feel a draught tape it up if practical,we've a log burner so have no need for radiators in the living room at all, the tip is a great place to load up with unwanted wood for the fire in the winter,get to know the chaps at the tip bung them a tenner and you won't have to buy little bags of logs for £9 a pop.

You're likely to cause yourself a few condensation problems there and potentially cost you more than you're saving. Especially so if you're not keeping at the house at a constant temperature. I've had several tenants taping up vents etc (and drying clothes on the bloody radiators) leading to this particular problem.
 


BLOCK F

Well-known member
Feb 26, 2009
6,702
Just had our logs delivered this morning.
The lad delivering them said they are really busy as many people have, like us, got in early with their orders.
No surprise, really.
 




LamieRobertson

Not awoke
Feb 3, 2008
48,278
SHOREHAM BY SEA
What a great thread ..some good ideas being shared …apologies that I’ve nothing to add to what’s already been posted


Ps it’s slightly off topic but related..make sure you are earning as much interest on your savings as possible..I use Atom and Marcus which are App based and it’s so easy to whip money across to my ‘spending’ account .. not the best payers but competitive…every little helps

Anyway ..back to thread topic!
 








Fungus

Well-known member
NSC Patron
May 21, 2004
7,139
Truro
Have you looked into smart thermostat valves for the radiators? Last I looked ta them they were expensive, but might be worth a look.

Interesting, I wasn’t aware of those, but will check it out. Our annual service is due soon, so will ask for recommendations. A great idea if the price is right.
 


Fungus

Well-known member
NSC Patron
May 21, 2004
7,139
Truro
Do these Hugo/Loop apps only work with v2 smart meters? Wife says we’re on v1. I blame her for always wanting new tech immediately, rather than waiting for it to mature.k
 


Is it PotG?

Thrifty non-licker
Feb 20, 2017
25,303
Sussex by the Sea
Kevin 'Bloody' Wilson knows:

Like at Christmas time at our house, we couldn't even afford a fire
But we made do with what we had back then when I was young
Dad used to suck a peppermint and we'd all sit around his tongue
We couldn't afford no sparkling tinsel for our Christmas tree
So we'd just wheel old Granddad in and make the old **** sneeze
(Ahh-choo! Wheel him 'round the other side nanna)
 


Deleted member 37369

Well-known member
Aug 21, 2018
1,994
What a great thread ..some good ideas being shared …apologies that I’ve nothing to add to what’s already been posted


Ps it’s slightly off topic but related..make sure you are earning as much interest on your savings as possible..I use Atom and Marcus which are App based and it’s so easy to whip money across to my ‘spending’ account .. not the best payers but competitive…every little helps

Anyway ..back to thread topic!

I've had accounts with Atom for years and also one with Marcus ... although have now moved those savings to a Chase account which is very good and again app based.

1.5% on the instant savings account
1% cash-back on anything you spend using debit card (or Apple/Google Pay) for 12 months
5% interest paid on rounding up amounts (small amounts but better than not having it)
 




LamieRobertson

Not awoke
Feb 3, 2008
48,278
SHOREHAM BY SEA
I've had accounts with Atom for years and also one with Marcus ... although have now moved those savings to a Chase account which is very good and again app based.

1.5% on the instant savings account
1% cash-back on anything you spend using debit card (or Apple/Google Pay) for 12 months
5% interest paid on rounding up amounts (small amounts but better than not having it)

:thumbsup:

I hope this isn’t wandering too off topic
..but I have a Santandar 123 lite account (other bank accounts are available)..,it does have a £2 monthly charge ..but offers cash back on gas/elec bills along with mobile, broadband, council tax and water bill …I use it purely for bill paying via an app…every little helps right
 


studio150

Well-known member
Jul 30, 2011
30,186
On the Border
Johnson has now given us all the advice we have needed for saving energy.
Yet again getting the big decisions right.

If you have an old kettle buy a new one for £20 and you will save £10 a year in energy costs.

Just brilliant, we are surely going to miss these types of big decisions from Monday.

But £10 off a £3,000 bill is surely a must.

No doubt some gloomster will be along and say why not put the hot water into a flask to save on reboils, or reducing the amount of water in the kettle, but come on spend £20 to wait two years to break even, its a brilliant idea.

Just the short of sales pitch that the Shopping Channel needs.
 


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