Power Move con

Hi Noel @Firedog very interesting stuff…I like your idea of the 2.30-5.30 benchmark 3 hours, definitely worth logging to use as a comparator. Amorous foxes permitting! Actually, I’ve taken to switching off our yard PIR in winter as we sometimes spot it being triggered randomly. Not very secure, obvs, but with a nearby streetlight it’s really to give us extra light for the bins and for (expected!) callers.

Alarming how much stealth standby usage can cost, as in your TV example: not exactly stealth as such but years ago, well before the recent energy price hikes, we ditched our mains alarm clock, we worked out it was costing us 30 quid a year or something to run. We used to have a Teasmade, too, at one time in distant memory. Happy days, simple pleasures!

Regards….

I've done my background usage - by switching everything off and then looking at the IHD as I turned them on one at a time, then off do the next.

I put it all in a thread somewhere, but from memory:

4 watts smoke/co alarms (always on can only be turned off at the mains consumer unit).

3 W boiler control/timer alone.

85 W boiler on, pump running.

11 W broadband router (and attached drive).

90 W fridge/freezer running.

11 W laptop, plugged in, battery fully charged. (Both my 8-10 yo laptops the same).

60 W washing machine, 80 W on full spin.

I won't go on but I've done most things from each plate of the cooker hob, the air fryer, microwave, etc down to the kitchen and bathroom extractor fans.

The one that I found the most surprising is that my gas combi boiler takes 85 W when just a tap is turned on. That implies that it's using the pump where I thought it would just use mains pressure.

So if nothing like the fridge or boiler is running then the other “always on” things use a background of 20 watts.

(Alarms, router, boiler timer, get to 18 and then 1 or 2 for things like the IHD itself, the phone base station, etc).

I like the idea of checking the background usage and how much watts everything takes to run but I don't have an IHD. There wasn't one when I moved in and when I asked OVO (or it might have been SSE) for a new one, they said no. Can you buy an IHD yourself and would it be easy enough to connect it to the Smart Meter? 

Your wish is my command, O Master of the Lamp.

Thanks for that Blastoise186! Very informative link. 

Interesting stuff @Nukecad , took some research!

The one I’m amazed at is your 60 Watts for washing machine!
 

Mine is around 2200 Watts on its heating cycle alone (for low temperature 40 degree wash). That lasts about 20 minutes, so roughly 0.7 kWh all told, as the other parts of the low temperature wash cycles (rinse, spin, anti crease etc.) do use relatively few Watts, and are much quicker anyway. 

I ususally use a “mini 30” setting which is 30 degrees and runs for 30 minutes total.
That’s sufficent for worn once or twice, lightly soiled, clothing which is mostly what I am washing.

The manual says that cycle will use 0.17 kWh,  which I haven’t checked but seems about right depending of course how cold the fill water is.
I’m guessing that my measured 60w is just the motor as it tumbles the drum with no heater on.

(I do have it noted to do a full cycle usage test at sometime - with everything else turned off that can be off).

Remember that higher temprature, longer duration, cycles use more water per fill and more fills overall. So need to use quite a bit more power to heat all that extra water to a higher temperature.
eg. Say your mains water comes in at 20 deg, it will take twice as much power to heat the same amount of water to 40 deg than to 30 deg. (You need to heat it an extra 20 deg as opposed to an extra 10 deg).

Hi @Nukecad forgot to tell you, we followed your lead with the cool 30 degree wash cycle, and we now only do about one wash in three at our old 40 degree level. Makes a big difference to consumption. Occasionally white stuff even after going through the 30 degree wash shows slight staining and has to wait for the 40 degree wash, but generally speaking the 30 degree is just as good. I think “we” (hmmmm, you can tell from this who does most of the work in our house!!) use an extra rinse, or perhaps an extra rinse and spin.   And you’re right, it’s an phenomenally quick cycle. Anyway, a load was done yesterday morning at 30 degrees, air dried in the house over yesterday and today, and now by this evening is fully dry already.  We don’t use a tumble dryer.

One trick my gaffer has is to hang stuff outside from time to time which isn’t dirty as such but can still benefit from airing rather than being routinely washed every time…favourite candidates are dressing gowns and the car blanket, and my favourite disreputable winter cardigan (which in any case is a convenient grey colour!) can go longer between washes that way.  In winter or dodgy weather she uses our partially roofed garden arbour for the purpose, which is ideal as it means we don’t have to watch the weather too carefully while stuff airs.

Anyway, just a swift “thanks” for the heads up…we have a fairly modern machine but just had never before considered using a wash lower than 40 degrees…

Now I’ve reread the bumph, I guess I’ve probably misunderstood the brief. We don’t do much cooking at all (ready meals and takeaways don’t use much) and normally eat later than 7pm. I have economy 7 and put the dishwasher on at night, but I reckon that only saves about 10p a time. Laundry is done during the day I’m not getting up at 0300 to refill the machines, so savings are never going to be easy for us.

If you don’t use much power during the target hours, you are never going to be able to save much.

You don't have to do laundry during the night.

Do it during the day outside the 4 till 7 slot. Do it in the week rather than the weekend.