[Misc] Suggestions to save energy this winter…

[Gabbafella]

Good theory, but you would have to commute several times a day to charge them.
I live on three 12v batteries that need a couple of hours charging every day.

I also need a new fridge. A new 240v fridge you can buy new for less than £100, second hand for peanuts.
A new 12v fridge is about £500, second hand as rare as hens teeth if any good

So become a cabbie. Long hours also means less time spent at home using electricity. Win win.

 

[Cotton Socks]

Slightly OT but also look around for new broadband & mobile providers. I've just switched from what was the only full fibre to house provider to one that has started to roll out full fibre to house using their own telephone cables. It did have a £30 installation charge but I've doubled my speed (teen still moans about latency but as I have no idea what he's talking about I ignore him because he just wants an ethernet cable to his room) & it's £20pm cheaper than my previous provider & that was after I haggled with the previous provider.

 

[1066familyman]

I was defrosting our old fridge, and thought the thing about not using a knife to do it was just some sort of safety warning about it slipping and cutting you or something. Anyway, I pierced the gas thing at the back, which hissed and stunk the room out.

Got a new fridge, A-rating. Our electricity usage plummeted overnight. It's about four years old now, and I reckon it has easily paid for itself in power savings alone.

Careful with Fridge/Freezer ratings now. They've changed from March 2021. That 4 year old model, if rated now would likely be a F or E rating. Not that it makes it less energy efficient than it was, just that technology has moved on and so has the new ratings system. More about it here:

https://www.techadvisor.com/article...r-major-appliances-what-you-need-to-know.html

 

[The Maharajah Of Hockley]

We've got a wood burner. Had it installed about 15 years ago, and it used to be one of the things I really looked forward to in the winter....a lovely, homely fire in the evening. But we've stopped using it - the health and environmental issues are overwhelmingly negative. I talked to an energy expert about converting it to electricity, but the costs involved are significant - both the conversion, then the on-going cost of the electricity (versus similar heat output from gas CH)

We're seriously considering getting one installed this autumn with the new regulations. Out of curiosity would one of these new fangled wood burners be a consideration for you?

 

[Deleted member 37369]

Fair enough, I won't bother with this thread no more.

So you’re admitting that all you want to do is disrupt with your political cr*p and not actually contribute useful ideas as others have.

Off you go to other threads that I don’t bother reading then!

 

[Cotton Socks]

Well whatever assistance comes from the government everyone in the UK will more for energy this winter. What suggestions does NSC to save on bills? Here’s a couple to kick things off…

1) Defrost food in the fridge overnight, it’s safer and instead of taking heat out of the room it gives your fridge a hand.

2) If you have a combi gas boiler, consider a lower 'flow' temperature. Seems this could save 6-8 percent on consumption

What does a lower 'flow' temperature actually mean? Do you mean radiators or hot water or both? If it's radiators I can't see the benefit. Water's at 55c and radiators at 60c. If I turn down the rad temp surely that will mean it will take longer to heat the room & the boiler will be on for longer? Just to be clear I have no knowledge of heating systems and am probably missing something very obvious.

 

[The Maharajah Of Hockley]

If you have an immersion tank, consider adding extra (or replacing) the insulation. We've replaced our 20 year old insulation with a £15 jacket from Screwfix and can see it's holding temperature far, far longer than previously

 

[Bodian]

What does a lower 'flow' temperature actually mean? Do you mean radiators or hot water or both? If it's radiators I can't see the benefit. Water's at 55c and radiators at 60c. If I turn down the rad temp surely that will mean it will take longer to heat the room & the boiler will be on for longer? Just to be clear I have no knowledge of heating systems and am probably missing something very obvious.

Yes - that's what I've been wondering. Pretty sure they mean radiators - hot water is separate, and basically just needs to be hot enough to clean the posts without too much chemical fairy liquid stuff. The hotter the flow temperature, the quicker the rooms heat up, and the faster the thermostats kick in. Or is it the idea to keep it at an even temperature and have it on longer, but lower/slower - so it doesn't need 'warming up' in the first place? My flow temperature dial has settings for sunny/ miserable / snowy - that is, they sort of recommend you turn it up when it's colder.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T022zY9I__0&ab_channel=TheHeatingHub

How to adjust your boiler heating flow temperature. As recommended today on Radio 4 PM programme.

 

[1066familyman]

...
Depends. Smart meters and suppliers such as Octopus means that for some cheaper over night electricity is a "thing" again, without needing to be on Economy 7. As I've got an EV, I've signed up with Octopus and got their Octopus Go tariff. As part of that, I get a 4 hour window over night (between 12:30 and 4:30) where I'm only charged 7.5p / kwh. All based around the fact that the Grid needs to be "balanced" and they actually *want* us to use electricity over night. Going to be very useful in winter when my solar panels won't produce enough to charge the car.

Thanks. We're with Octopus and I'm seriously now considering getting a Smart Meter for the potential savings opportunities. I think I did look at that 'Octopus Go' tariff before though and it didn't benefit us at all in terms of our usage.

I've read some bad things about smart meters before, in terms of reliability and especially about them making switching to different providers much more difficult (I used to switch all the time for cheaper fixes before the shit hit the fan for all the small companies).

I also heard one comedian refer to his smart meter as his 'anxiety portal'. Quite accurate I thought and something that could be a danger for me if I'm not careful.

How reliable has your smart meter with Octopus been? I'm finding Octopus quite customer friendly and so if I was going to go for a smart meter then this seems like the right company and time to do it.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Not sure if the relief is still available but remember to claim the WFH HMRC allowance for employees for anyone WFH

 

[Bozza]

I was defrosting our old fridge, and thought the thing about not using a knife to do it was just some sort of safety warning about it slipping and cutting you or something. Anyway, I pierced the gas thing at the back, which hissed and stunk the room out.

Got a new fridge, A-rating. Our electricity usage plummeted overnight. It's about four years old now, and I reckon it has easily paid for itself in power savings alone.

Do you have any idea of numbers from a smart meter or a fag pocket estimate?

We’ve been turning various things on and off to try and determine what our (old but functional) fridge freezer is doing as I think it could be one of our worst culprits.

 

[Blackadder]

 

[Bodian]

Do you have any idea of numbers from a smart meter or a fag pocket estimate?

We’ve been turning various things on and off to try and determine what our (old but functional) fridge freezer is doing as I think it could be one of our worst culprits.

Not now - as our old smart meter and all the records went when we were moved from the co-op to Octopus. But it was so noticeable at the time - to the extent that I still remember how surprised/amazed I was. It was something like 1/4 - 1/3 of our entire usage, which wasn't all that high anyway. So, could well have been over 1kwh a day I guess. Have you got some neighbours who could host your frozen stuff for a couple of days, then turn it off?

Having said that, at one of our offices we had a huge water bill for ages, and went round trying all sorts of things, checking for leaks, and so on. Turned out that the pipes were shared with the neighbour. Who has a swimming pool..... We must have filled it over and over for them!

 

[Cotton Socks]

Yes - that's what I've been wondering. Pretty sure they mean radiators - hot water is separate, and basically just needs to be hot enough to clean the posts without too much chemical fairy liquid stuff. The hotter the flow temperature, the quicker the rooms heat up, and the faster the thermostats kick in. Or is it the idea to keep it at an even temperature and have it on longer, but lower/slower - so it doesn't need 'warming up' in the first place? My flow temperature dial has settings for sunny/ miserable / snowy - that is, they sort of recommend you turn it up when it's colder.

[MENTION=5382]Cheshire Cat[/MENTION] has put a video below your post. I still don't understand the logic in it, but as my boiler chucks out plumes of 'smoke' when the heating comes on I'm turning it down from 60c & seeing what happens.

 

[Bozza]

Not now - as our old smart meter and all the records went when we were moved from the co-op to Octopus. But it was so noticeable at the time - to the extent that I still remember how surprised/amazed I was. It was something like 1/4 - 1/3 of our entire usage, which wasn't all that high anyway. So, could well have been over 1kwh a day I guess. Have you got some neighbours who could host your frozen stuff for a couple of days, then turn it off?

Having said that, at one of our offices we had a huge water bill for ages, and went round trying all sorts of things, checking for leaks, and so on. Turned out that the pipes were shared with the neighbour. Who has a swimming pool..... We must have filled it over and over for them!

Thanks.

Just from looking at our baseline usage when on holiday - c2.5kWh a day, it could very well be using c2kWh a day, I think.

The only other things we think were left on in the house when we were away were the router (which could have been turned off) and a small fish tank filter/light/heater.

We’ve tried to isolate the latter and the usage is very low indeed. Not to mention we were away when it was scorching here, so it’s unlikely the heater would have kicked in at all.

(If you use the Loop or Hugo Energy apps you might get all your historic usage data as it comes from the smart meter. I think it’s supplier agnostic).

 

[schmunk]

Not sure if the relief is still available but remember to claim the WFH HMRC allowance for employees for anyone WFH

From 6 April 2022 the Covid relief ended and the previous rules have resumed - you can only claim WFH relief if you are required to WFH by your employer (e.g. there is not an office available for you), and not if you merely choose to WFH.

https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/working-at-home

 

[portlock seagull]

We now know the government CAN simply print money, subsidise everyone and everything (not just friends of the Establishment) when push comes to shove.

So really the government should just pay for everyone’s energy for the foreseeable future. Least until it hurts them so much they tackle inequality by taxing the Energy profiteering. After all, what’s the point of accumulating wealth when the peasants revolt and cut our leaders heads off? Which will happen sooner than later as society implodes under a wave of crisis (climate, energy, famine, war, pestilence…)

 

[Cotton Socks]

Thanks. We're with Octopus and I'm seriously now considering getting a Smart Meter for the potential savings opportunities. I think I did look at that 'Octopus Go' tariff before though and it didn't benefit us at all in terms of our usage.

I've read some bad things about smart meters before, in terms of reliability and especially about them making switching to different providers much more difficult (I used to switch all the time for cheaper fixes before the shit hit the fan for all the small companies).

I also heard one comedian refer to his smart meter as his 'anxiety portal'. Quite accurate I thought and something that could be a danger for me if I'm not careful.

How reliable has your smart meter with Octopus been? I'm finding Octopus quite customer friendly and so if I was going to go for a smart meter then this seems like the right company and time to do it.

The smart meter itself just sends back readings to your supplier so you don't have to do it manually. The older smart meters sometimes used to go 'dumb' when you switched suppliers & you had to press the button to take the readings yourself. There were problems with some meters sending back false readings as they do run by basically battery. To ensure that's not happening keep an eye on your kwh usage not the 'actual' bill if there's a mad jump then there could be a problem but it's getting more unlikely with the new meters.
The 'anxiety portal' is not the meter itself, they give you a little gadget that tells you what you're using each day & what makes it peak etc. Turning on the kettle sends it very high for a short space of time. When I 1st got mine I couldn't work out how I'd used 30p of gas when I'd been away but just before getting on the phone realised it had put on the standing charge. It doesn't 'save' you money in itself, it just helps you to see where you are using elec & gas. Tbh after the initial 'wow' factor mine was consigned to the 'cable' box as it was taking up a plug socket. The ac/dc adapter came in handy for an xmas decoration though!

 

[Weststander]

A R4 article today, backed by several websites:

Modern combi boilers:
Hot water - only have this high enough for your needs. They spoke of just marking 3 on a modern Worcester Bosch boiler.

Central heating - too high a temperature makes it inefficient, losing its A rating. Try a flow temperature (water exiting the boiler) of just 50C on a post 2010 home, 60C before that. For a Worcester Bosch, again marking 3 was mentioned. Alter depending on spells of weather.

Systems with hot water tanks - 60C or more was noted as safe temperature for hot water.