How do you save on the electric bill

[PrincessPerky]

Re: How do you save on the electric bill

What is a lava rock?

On the shower, let me know please if the low flow thing works, I tried an old one long ago (as a teen) and I most certainly noticed the difference.

[Jorge]

Re: How do you save on the electric bill

Lava rocks can be found at any Kmart, Target, etc. where the charcoal is. Basically, it's natural (volcano) rock (I assume - I've never read the ingredients. ) that retains heat.

[Tree0164]

Re: How do you save on the electric bill

Lisa Let us know about the low flow.

I am really trying to get my electricity bill down and it doesn't help that DH wants to keep the house like an igloo today. Thank fully he works during the week so I atleast keep the ac down.

[sonj]

Re: How do you save on the electric bill

I got my dryer vent cleaned and I swear after 2 weeks of AC usage adn washing laundry my electric bill went down $12.00. My clothes dry SO much faster now.



****I work for a air duct cleaner so the dry vent cleaning was free

[niki_the_tiger]

Re: How do you save on the electric bill

My hubby works nights, so during the summer, I have the a/c on in the bedroom all night and he has it on all day while he sleeps. (and forgets to shut it off when he leaves the room in the afternoon :S)

So basically that was on all day. The one downstairs I tried to keep off until it got really hot and then that was on the rest of the day, but off at night.

For his garage, my hubby shuts off the breaker whenever he's not in there. Lately, he's been out there every day - trying to finish up his latest job, but usually it's two days a week.

I will have to go around and unplug things we don't use. For example, my sound system... I'm so lazy, the plug is hard to get to, but I barely use it and it's always running.

The laptop we tend to leave on when we're not using it... but I heard laptops are fairly cheap per year on electricity - is this true?

I would love to do my laundry at midnight but it's right against the tenants wall and my washing machine likes to make a lot of noise (old... broken... poor thing, but I don't have money to replace it), so I can't put it on later than 9:30 (they go to bed at 10ish). I do use the dryer late sometimes, but most of the time I need to do my laundry during the day.

We have gotten good at shutting off lights when we're not in the room (mostly) and I have started opening all the blinds during the day rather than using the lights (I usually avoided this before cuz I didn't particularly like giving up our privacy - our neighbors are always outdoors).

We also need to get a bunch of those energy efficient light bulbs. Thanks for all the suggestions. Looking forward to reading more!

[mom-from-missouri]

Re: How do you save on the electric bill

clothes line, not using the heat cycle on the dish washer, keeping AC off when not home and heat on 60 when not home, turning off or unplugging the computer and TV when not in use, keep blinds closed during hottest or coldest part of the day to block out sun or keep heat in, used an electric blanket on the sofa, set to low, last winter for us to snuggle up in while watching a movie, instead of cranking up the heat. With 4 of us (plus a few cats) under it, after a bit we were even able to turn the blanket off.

[ken1706]

Re: How do you save on the electric bill

If you worry about turning off lights and TVs and clocks, consider this.

I took a look at the wattage of my small electric hot water heater. It's 5500 watts. That's equal to 110 50-watt light bulbs! Just one hour of the hot water heater being on is 5.5kwh. If you get charged 10 cents per kwh that's 55 cents

Lowering the temp of your hot water heater is a good idea. But I would also suggest keeping it off and only turning it on for a little bit before you shower. In the summer it only takes 5 minutes to get the water warm enough to shower. If you use the gym for showers, this makes the most sense since the hot water can be off for days. If the shower is used several times a day, lowering the hot water temperature probably makes the most sense.

[terry1156]

Re: How do you save on the electric bill

Do you have a programmable thermostat? If not, get one. It will pay for itself in less than a year. Then you can set it to shut off in the middle of the day when your husband is sleeping, or at the very least when he goes to work so it doesn't matter if he forgets.

[pennywise]

Re: How do you save on the electric bill

There are some very good ideas here. Good job on analyzing the hot water heater, these are the kinds of thinking and sharing we need so whoever wants to implement the saving idea can. My hot water heater is gas. I think it only goes on when we use it. Guys: how does a hot water heater work: on all the time, or just when used and the water needs heating?

[34saving]

Re: How do you save on the electric bill

Most hot water heaters keep a reserve of water hot so it's available instantly. (There are some that heat the water as it's needed, but those are unusual in American houses.) To help save on hot water (aside from previous suggestions) insulate your H2O heater. (Thermal blanket.)

[terry1156]

Re: How do you save on the electric bill

You also need to be careful not to turn your water heater <b>too</b> far down - under a certain temp and bacteria will start to grow in the tank - can't remember the exact temp off the top of my head.

[pennywise]

Re: How do you save on the electric bill

I have the blanket on the hot water heater, but now you have stimulated my thoughts, should I turn my hot water heater down and only up before use, or let it stay on at a set temperature? It is gas. Thanks for the great idea, and I do need more information to make a decision as I have a knowledge deficit on the workings of a hot water heater.

[34saving]

Re: How do you save on the electric bill

I'm not frugal enough to really answer the question, but I'd leave it set at a reasonably low temperature because 1) I wouldn't want to have to wait for 15mins, 1/2 hour, whatever to have hot water. 2) With an insulated system the price of keeping the hot water probably isn't all that expensive compared to getting it hot. 3) If you turn it off you might have the bacteria problem Terry was talking about. (I haven't heard of that, but Terry seems to be a reliable guy ) 4) I have a toddler around, so it's very important that my water is consistent. If I were manually turning it up and down all the time I would never be able to have that consistency.

[mom-from-missouri]

Re: How do you save on the electric bill

"You also need to be careful not to turn your water heater too far down - under a certain temp and bacteria will start to grow in the tank - can't remember the exact temp off the top of my head."


I know someone whose baby got sick because of bacteria in the water tank. I thought that the CDC recommended they not go below 130 degrees, but I am not sure--I do remember from when I had my preschool, that I had to have mine between 135 and 145. That was per the santation department. Higher was considered the burn zone, and lower was not considered "clean" . Last year I turned it off while I was on vacation, and the
water had a funny smell to it when I turned it back on. I had to drain it all back out-what a waste of water-(used it for the garden) and waited a couple days before I used it for cooking or consumption.

[cercis]

Re: How do you save on the electric bill

Legionnaire's Disease http://www.osha.gov/dts/osta/otm/leg.../hotwater.html

They say not to lower below 140F.

My inlaws have a water on demand tank. It isn't a tank, per se, it is a small unit that mounts on the wall and when you turn on the hot water tap, water flows through coils which are heated by a gas flame (in their case) and it comes to you hot (I've never noticed a delay, it seems to take the same amount of time as in a home with a traditional tank). The benefit is that only the water you are using is heated, not 40 or so gallons.

That will be one of our first upgrades in a new home. It's more expensive at first, but it is a lot more energy efficient. They use propane as their gas source and that stuff is HIGH, but they're on co-op electricity which is even higher. They've been there 5 years and they estimate that it's paid for itself (based on propane usage in a similar house).

For AC, get used to the idea that you don't need to cool your house to the 70s. No one died from living in a house cooled to the 80s. My house is 84 at night (because I can't sleep if it is too warm) and 87 during the day. I find that this temp makes it easy to face going out into the 100F outside and playing and working. Any cooler and I want to pass out when I walk out the door.