household enery saving advice?

how old are your fridge and feezer?

The modern A-rated ones use a lot less eleccy that one's even a just a few years old.

[Mr Speirs]

Oh and use the washing machine and dishwater at off peak times too.
Is your oven gas or electric?

Originally Posted by Jabba

how old are your fridge and feezer?

The modern A-rated ones use a lot less eleccy that one's even a just a few years old.

i was thinking about that

the washing machine is about 1 year old and A rated, but the fridge and frezzer are probably 8 years old.

Originally Posted by Mr Speirs

Oh.
Is your oven gas or electric?

gas oven

Originally Posted by hovis

is it best to have it on low all day, or have it coming on and off through out the day

Yes, one of the questions involving life, the universe and heating I've pondered over.
I'd like the heating timer combined with the thermostat so rather than completly shuting down the heating can be maintained at a lower temperature through the day and over night, and raising for the morning rush, and evenings.
According the the British Gas installer, last year, they could only offer this type of thing with a Combi... don't know why .

[peterco]

Originally Posted by Mr Speirs

Oh and use the washing machine and dishwater at off peak times

That would work if you are on economy 7.You pay a higher charge during the day and cheap during the night.
Install a wind turbine(extreme option)

[timwilky]

Turn down the heating a tad and put on some warm clothes.

Do a bit of cleaning etc. the more work you do the warmer you will be.

I have a little gadget called a "Powerdown now" which has one master socket (my computer) and two slaves (monitor & whatever) when the master is shutdown, the two slaves are powered down thus not leaving your monitor in standby. Ive got em on four PC's in the house. Im sure it saves a bit, doesnt work on the tv though, I think it sends a shutdown signal through the earth pin, and looks like my TV's isnt connected (just guessing here)

Steve

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by Reckless Rat

According the the British Gas installer, last year, they could only offer this type of thing with a Combi... don't know why .

What rubbish! does not require a specific type of boiler. Sounds like what you are looking for is a timer/thermostat. You can get battery powered ones to replace your standard room-stat, which has different temp settings for different times of the day. They are popular with underfloor heating systems, since the idea is to never let the floor cool too much.

Hovis, do you have thermostatic valves on your radiators? Fitting these can avoid overheating rooms, so saving you money on the gas. Also you might want to turn the thermostat on the boiler down a touch if your rads are really hot. Having a boiler service can also put your boiler efficiency back to where it should be, so saving gas.

Originally Posted by Luckypants

What rubbish! does not require a specific type of boiler. Sounds like what you are looking for is a timer/thermostat. You can get battery powered ones to replace your standard room-stat, which has different temp settings for different times of the day. .

Sorry, getting a bit OT.
Yep, that's what I'm after.
We had one in the original install spec put together by Brit Gas Sales rep, but it got pulled by the BritGas Surveyor.... who's supposed to check the spec is OK.
In fact IIRC the surveyor was totally confused by the idea of a timer/thermostat. Will take a look to see what's available... Thanks!

[embee]

What you want is a programmable room thermostat. Honeywell are highly recommended. As said, your "advice" from Mr.Gasman was rubbish.

I have 2 wireless Honeywell room-stats, zoned upstairs/downstairs heating, so broadly speaking only the relevant part gets heated (don't heat downstairs at night).

You can replace whatever type of room-stat you have with the approprite type of programmable one.

As for reducing bills generally, loft insulation, draught proofing, turn room temp down a degree or 2, wear warmer clothes (seriously), turn hot water temp down a bit (generally advised to keep to 60C to avoid possible bacteria etc in hot water, but personally I use 50C, haven't died yet). Leave curtains closed during the day in rooms you don't use. Hot water is expensive stuff, minimise the amount you use.

I found my old fridge and freezer were using best part of 1kWh per day each, new A rated ones will halve that, a new fridge might use 150kWh per year instead of 300. Weigh up savings in energy vs cost of appliance and consider the economics.