experts needed,tips on cutting electric bills

[kez]

i'm on a pay metor (like a pay as you go)that cost me £25 a week in electric.i'm in the uk with a company called e-on.i've changed my rate so its cheaper in the day(as thats when i get most of my grow hours in).i have a 600 watt light with fans etc....as anyone heard of or got any idears how i could cut my payments so i could maybe get another light in there...any advice would be nice......

 

[MHHSP]

For a start replace every light in the home with energy efficient cfls, the 17 watt ones.
Try to cut down on usage of electricity, computers, tv, microwave, heat?, water heater is a big one, but gotta have that on if your living there.
Look into LED lighting if you have the cash ; )

 

[statusquo]

heat?, water heater is a big one, but gotta have that on if your living there.
Look into LED lighting if you have the cash ; )

Edit: I'm not an expert lol.

Exhaust your air into your living area instead of outside. This will heat your place and use all that otherwise wasted energy put off as heat. Also you can run your lights at night which might mean cheaper rates (depending on where you live). Computers tend to be a big power sink so if you are one who tends to leave your comp on when you aren't around, start turning it off. Lastly, LEDs are energy efficient you just have to be careful with which one you are getting - a lot of sub par products.

 

[kez]

i was thinking more like something on the lines of some sort of breaker broad that half the ele input.....?

 

[edgey]

if u want more lights you gotta pay the £££££ some lights are more expensive than others to run but don't make that much difference , add that on to the fact that extra lights may also need extra cooling , bigger fans and it all adds up .

i was like you now i'm putting nearly £20 a day in mine lol

edgey

 

[prefersativas]

Put a timer on your water heater so that it's off when you won't need it. That would save up to 15% on your electric bill.

 

[kez]

wow...£20 a day....and the elec company haven't phoned or come round....

 

[MHHSP]

ahh the electric company in most cases is your friend (don't steal power, pay bills on time) your paying them for a service, they are happy to get it.

 

[B. Friendly]

Tips:
1. during veg you can run half your lights 12 hours and the other half 12 hours, doing 24hours but with half the electricity. Or same concept on 18/6. I guess you could do the same in flower to cut your bill in half.
2. Switch to digital ballast if you don't have, they are more energy effecient
3. Ask an electrician if 240v is better than 120v or whatever your electrical sockets are over there.
4. running off of a single circuit would be more effecient, so do it off a 30 or 40amp breaker with a board timed and live sockets.

 

[Pompey_Monkey]

One tip:

Grow more than it costs to grow. Money in > money out = profit.

Fuck the ConDems.

 

[edgey]

wow...£20 a day....and the elec company haven't phoned or come round....

started off an extra 10 a week for a 400 on 18/6 now i seem to have lights on in every room for one reason or another

edgey

 

[Pompey_Monkey]

4. running off of a single circuit would be more effecient, so do it off a 30 or 40amp breaker with a board timed and live sockets.

Why is running off a single circuit cheaper? You are going to be using the same amount of electricity whether running of one, five, fifty or however many circuits.

 

[kez]

to be honest its all gaga to me....i was hoping some might come on and say "this is what you need,and this is where yo get it".....anyone???

 

[CANNATOPIA]

A lot of good Ideas here!

 

[headband 707]

Electricity is cheaper at night run your lights at night..
Change all your lights to energy eff
And stop being so damn decadent lol

 

[B. Friendly]

use CANDLES to light your house, zero electricity!!!
maybe a lantern as well

Run a heater off of a PROPANE unit during winter or cold periods for house

 

[NoMoreMrNiceGuy]

i was thinking more like something on the lines of some sort of breaker broad that half the ele input.....?

Hey Kez, It sounds like you're looking for a quick magical fix to cut your electric bill.....sorry man, it's not out there!! BUT, as our brothers (and/or sisters) here have pointed out, there are ways to reduce your bill a good bit.

Here's my 2 cents;

1. NEVER EVER EVER steal power for a grow op!!!! You don't want THAT kind of legal trouble on top of being busted for growing!

2. All house lights changed to energy eff CFL's.

3. Water heater- A) Is it possible to switch to a gas unit (propane or better yet natural gas)?? This change alone will offset a percentage of your bill to a weekly gas bill, thereby lowering your electric bill to a "seemingly" acceptable level. B) if staying with electric heater, make sure that it's adjusted down to 55* C (130* F) or lower. Insulate heater with commercially available blanket. Be diligent to lower your hot water usage, shorter showers, etc!

4. As others have said, turn off shit!! Also, did you know that you can save up to 25% of your bill by UNPLUGGING the appliances in your home (plasma TV's, computers/monitors, DVD players, cell phone chargers, etc.) when not in use???????? Well, it's true. See article from Berkeley below.

5. Digital ballasts are a great idea.

And lastly, grow a wee bit more than you consume so you can make a few close friends happy and help pay the electric bill......

[SIZE=-2]

[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-2]

[/SIZE][SIZE=-2]

[/SIZE][FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva][SIZE=-2]

[/SIZE][/FONT]​

[SIZE=-2]

[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-2]

[/SIZE]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]Eliminating "standby" electricity loss from home appliances could save up to 25 percent on electrical bills, study shows[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]09 Feb 2001[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]By Robert Sanders, Media Relations[/FONT]​

[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]Berkeley - If you need proof that your appliances are sucking energy even when they're sitting unused, just turn out the lights some evening. All those glowing red dots and flashing digital clocks are a clear sign your household appliances are spending your money while you sleep. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]One of the biggest energy gobblers are the transformers that continuously recharge your cell phone, power your computer peripherals and keep your Game Boy ready for use. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]A recent study by students and scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) shows that the average California home pays between $50 and $70 every year to keep those little red lights burning, the clocks ticking and the electronics humming while the appliances go unused. Eliminating this standby or "leaking" electricity could save households between six and 26 percent on their average monthly electricity bill, the study found. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]"We've only recently found out how substantial the energy savings can be," said Daniel Kammen, professor of energy and resources at UC Berkeley and director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory. "People could save enough power to offset the rise in electricity rates." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]J.P. Ross, a master's degree student in the Energy & Resources Group, conducted the study last spring, the first time anyone in this country actually went into homes to measure standby power consumption. He sought out 10 homes in northern California of varying size, number of occupants and income level. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]Checking every appliance in each house, he and co-author Alan K. Meier of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division at LBNL found that standby energy use averaged 67 watts per household, more than you would waste by burning a 60-watt bulb day and night all year long. Standby usage ranged from six percent to 26 percent of the homes' annual electricity use. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]In a 1999 study, Meier and his LBNL colleagues had estimated average U.S. home standby usage at 50 watts, or about five percent of nationwide annual electricity usage, based on lab measurements of leakage in many different appliances. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]"Whether it's six percent or 16 percent, it's a significant quantity of electricity being wasted," Ross said. "Typically, the larger the house, the more appliances and the greater the standby energy use." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]On average, each of the 10 homes contained 19 appliances using standby power. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]The study was small and localized, considering there are more than 10 million households in the state, but Ross said the message is unambiguous: more needs to be done to reduce leaking electricity. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]One solution is to unplug appliances when not in use, Kammen said. An alternative is to group appliances on one surge protector or power strip so that all can be turned off at once. This works well for entertainment systems or for a computer and its associated printers, scanners and other peripheral devices. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]Computer printers are one of the big energy wasters, some of them drawing 11.5 watts when idling. Some TVs and video cassette recorders draw almost as much, while set-top cable boxes can draw twice that: the most wasteful Ross found drew 23 watts when the box was off. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]And one of the newest appliances on the market, personal video recorders meant to replace VCRs, can draw 50 watts when "off," he said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]A permanent solution, however, is in the hands of appliance manufacturers. While it is impossible to turn off many U.S. appliances, in Europe many come with two "off" buttons: one a remote ready and another that actually turns the appliance off. Rechargers, on the other hand, could include a feedback circuit that shuts off the transformer when a battery is fully charged. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]The range of standby waste in similar appliances shows that it is possible to reduce standby waste substantially with no loss of function. Meier and Ross advocate a standard of one watt standby usage for energy efficient appliances. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]"Our model predicts you could get a 68 percent reduction in standby usage if all appliances drew only one watt when not in use," Ross said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]This shouldn't be too hard for industry to achieve, he said, "Manufacturers have to pay attention," he said. "People from industry are getting interested because policy makers are now interested." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]The California Energy Commission, for example, set up a workshop on standby power use after LBNL published Ross's results in May 2000. Ross also reported the results at an international conference in Italy last September. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]For now, homeowners need to take a close look of their energy leakage. Ross found it was possible to reduce his own small household standby usage to 14 watts, by getting rid of his cell phone, unplugging his "powerless" power tools and unplugging other appliances when not in use. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]"We don't have to buy into the current paradigm of ever increasing power usage," Ross said. "We should all question how much power we are using." [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]The study of standby power usage was funded by the Energy Foundation and the assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy of the U.S. Department of Energy. [/FONT]

 

[Nicoli]

use CANDLES to light your house, zero electricity!!!
maybe a lantern as well

Run a heater off of a PROPANE unit during winter or cold periods for house

Excellent tip on the candles, I have been doing this since like feb of this year and it makes a huge difference, if you dont need the extra lighting, go with a candle, it saves alot over the year.

 

[dragging hooks]

go to the laundromat to wash and dry your clothes
both wash and especially the drier use a lot of juice

I do it so my use won't send up any red flags