# Sticky  over-looked energy saving devices



## MELOC

i was talking with a co-worker about coffee the other day and she told me her daughter just bought a coffee maker that uses a thermos pitcher instead of a glass carafe and a hot plate. i remembered a friend i hunted with who had a "coffee butler". it was a big, insulated coffee pitcher. i remember the coffee being HOT at noon when we drank it while out hunting. that was @ 6 or 7 hours from the time it was brewed, so it worked really well. a coffee pot that uses a thermos instead of a hot plate...what an awesome idea. the coffee never gets burned when left in the pot half a day and you save energy to boot! it would also be safer as the danger of a fire is reduced.

what simple and often over-looked energy saving devices do you use?


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## Windy in Kansas

When I make a pot of coffee instead of instant I nearly always put it into a carafe instead of leaving it on the hot plate of the drip machine. If it cools too much a few seconds in the microwave warms a cupful back up.

My last two electrical bills have been below $18.50 so I guess every little thing helps to add up to savings.


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## Ross

We put a hand crank on a small grain auger instead of a motor. Fine for filling a few buckets from a tank, and saves 100% of the potentialy used electricity.


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## MELOC

i imagine a hand powered anything is a good choice over anything electrically powered. the kitchen seems to have lots of electric devices that could be tossed in favor of manual devices.


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## mdharris68

Windy in Kansas said:


> When I make a pot of coffee instead of instant I nearly always put it into a carafe instead of leaving it on the hot plate of the drip machine. If it cools too much a few seconds in the microwave warms a cupful back up.
> 
> My last two electrical bills have been below $18.50 so I guess every little thing helps to add up to savings.


Windy, can you explain your energy usage? Do you generate your own? Do you have a solar powered computer?


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## Windy in Kansas

No, I do not generate my own electricity nor do I have photovoltiac panels, wind generation, etc. I am totally on grid. 

I am divorced and live alone so can keep energy consumption at a minimum compared to the usage by a family. 

My electrical loads are as follows:

Dusk to dawn yard light with 14 watt compact fluorescent bulb. 

Electric range. It is a Hotpoint and one large burner has a selector as to how much of the element heats, 3 selections to it.

Microwave.

Haier refrigerator which I think is a 7. cubic foot size. It is a manual defrost and I try to 
keep it defrosted on a regular basis.

Large capacity washing machine which I nearly always wait until I have a full load of any one color before doing a load. Quite a number of years ago I even purchased colored underwear so that I wouldn't have to do small loads of whites. I no longer do that however.

Electric dryer. I usually use only medium heat so as to not shrink clothing, which means much of the drying is done with air flow rather than heat from the element. I could no doubt line dry and save energy.

Television 27 inch model about 10-12 years old. Expect I could replace for greater conservation.

Stereo amplifier of 200 watts. Phantom load that I don't use for audio boost most of the time.

DVD player, another phantom load.

VHS tape player not very old so should be fairly efficient, but another phantom load.

Bookshelf stereo system used little, no phantom load.

One clock and one clock radio.

Computer, purchased in January so should be energy efficient. I turn off overnight.

Monitor 19 inch LCD flat panel or flat screen, I forget which is which.

Printer is turned off unless I am printing, as is scanner.

Treadmill used about 3 days a week, sometimes more frequently. 

Lighting in kitchen is typically with the fluorescent bulb in the over range microwave and is on several hours each evening. When meal preparation is done the fluorescent overhead fixture is used--80 watt unit.

As mentioned I have gotten into the habit of instant coffee with water heated in the microwave. When I do use my drip maker I transfer the coffee to a carafe to keep it hot and turn off the maker.

Lighting in living/dining room is with a desk swing arm lamp next to my computer and has a 10 watt CF inside the reflector. Also a lamp on a timer (another phantom load) comes on around dark and shuts off near bedtime. It has a 14 watt CF bulb. I frequently change the timer to throw off any potential burglar as to when I'm home. For reading at my recliner I use a 100 watt swing arm halogen floor lamp. It is also the torche lamp style and I bounce light off of the ceiling much of the time. 

Bathroom lighting is via ceiling fixture with 60 watt incandescent bulb. I consider it an in and out fixture that is not on very long at a time. Over the medicine cabinet is a fixture which as four CF bulbs in it of small wattages.

Other small loads, mouse unit which recharges the mouse battery, digital answering machine, electric razor recharger (once every 5 days for 8 hours, every few weeks electric screwdriver and also drill/driver recharge units, remote control batteries are rechargeable as are some other batteries and I use the one hour recharge time batteries that Walmart sells. The door bell also has a transformer so would be a draw.

Very infrequent use are shop tools including arc welder, table saw, 12 volt battery chargers, etc.

During the summer I don't use air-conditioning but instead use a whole-house attic fan. Often on overnight to really cool the house as much as possible.

About forgot, my water is electrically heated.

Lately normal KWH consumption has been in the 175 per 29 day range, meaning 6 KWH per day on average. With all of the franchise and other built-in fees it figures out to a little over 10Â¢ per KWH although the actual rate is about 8Â¢ per KWH. 

If I switched off the phantom loads and didn't keep a light on in the kitchen so much and used a clothes line I could no doubt save quite a bit more. 

I should mention too that I do check items with a Kill-O-Watt meter in order to know consumption on many items. 

While I use fans in the summer, less daylight length in the winter tends to offset their use somewhat. 

I currently line in town so have city water which means no electricity is used for pumping.

Well there is more information about myself than I generally share with anyone. I hope someone can benefit from it.


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## farmergirl

I use a hand-powered toothbrush, does that count?


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## Cloverbud

I'm in the clothesline crowd.


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## OntarioMan

I think that you're living proof that the most effective energy saving device is your head - i.e. a conscious effort to not waste electricity. 

$18.50 per month, wow! 




Windy in Kansas said:


> No, I do not generate my own electricity nor do I have photovoltiac panels, wind generation, etc. I am totally on grid.....


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## Windy in Kansas

OntarioMan said:


> I think that you're living proof that the most effective energy saving device is your head - i.e. a conscious effort to not waste electricity.
> 
> $18.50 per month, wow!


Thanks. I guess I learned it old school as the first electrical system I was exposed to was a 32 volt system in my childhood days. We had a bank of glass encased batteries that were charged with a Delco-Remy generator. I recall it being run on wash day (Monday) and another day during the week. At any rate electricity was precious and all means of conservation was used.

We had 32 volt lights, radio, electric iron, electric kitchen mixer, Christmas lights, and I'm sure a few other things that I have long ago forgotten. 

Our system was disposed of and the conversion made to REA service before I was old enough to attend school. The conversion process was a big deal to our family as the old plaster walls were taken out so that new wiring could be installed. Then sheetrock went back up, new paint colors, etc. Quite a process but not all of the two story farm home was done at the time.

The Delco-Remy generator and the rest of the system went to another rural family that used it for quite a number of years before converting to REA.

I have a goal to eventually conserve enough so that an off grid system supplemented by a generator might be used. Same for home heating needs, I hope to eventually build such an energy efficient home that solar needs will suffice. What could be better than to live without any utility costs other than telephone during ones old age?

Grid inter-tie systems are really better but I simply don't want to be paying $7.50 per month just to have a meter, twice that if the utility company requires a meter to measure excess generation rather than turning the one backward. 

A few years ago I did live without electricity for several months but found it simply was not my cup of tea. Nope, a flip of the switch for light is good.


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## wendle

For coffee, I use a hand crank coffee grinder, and a 1 cup stovetop percolator. Not sure what the difference is between propane used, and electric coffee makers though. 
Hand can opener. 
I got rid of all my carpeting, so most of the time sweep instead of running a vacuum. No hair dryers, or curling irons. No clothes dryer, instead hang clothes on a rack in the same room as corn burner. For baking I don't use an electric mixer, or blender, but mix by hand. 
I switched to a 45 watt laptop instead of the pc to conserve energy. 
I was able to find some fans that use only 43 watts for cooling in the summer instead of air conditioning. I don't have any outside lights on at night, but prefer the dark starlit sky. 
For the sheeps water I break ice in the creek during winter as long as I can instead of a trough heater. 
This year I started purchasing photovoltiac panels in the hopes of offsetting some of the electrical use. Last week was my first taste of charging a battery with solar, and using the power to run a jam box, just too cool.


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## Jim-mi

"A hand powered tooth brush"

Good thing I didn't have a coffee cup in hand when I read that. . . . . . .LOL

. . . . . Is there any other kind . . . . .??


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## Ross

> . . . . . Is there any other kind . . . . .??


You haven't seen the electric one with the remore screen that tells you when you're brushing too hard and been brushing long enough???? It gives you a smilely face when you're all done. Wish I had a link.


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## triana1326

I'm part of the line drying crowd. I also have all CFL bulbs in my house. We use candles a lot because I love the light they give, but they're not so good for reading...I also use a thermal carafe for our french press coffee, no machine in our house :nono: . We also use crank up flashlights and radio instead of battery-power, if that counts. Oh, and we have the VCR/DVD/TV and computer all plugged into power strips so we can turn them all the way off at night or when we're not using them...


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## mdharris68

Windy, thanks for the play by play energy audit. I have a lot to learn, as well as teach my kids about saving. I have a few habits that need to change to save energy.

As an answer to the original posters question.......

When choosing a new furnace, choose one with a variable speed motor, as it is ran off of a D/C converter which will cost less to operate. I can't quote any actual savings, but my guess would be around fifteen $ a month.


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## fishhead

My last electric bill said I used 257 KW and that's with electric hot water. I've got a timer on the water heater so that most days it only cycles 1 time. If I need hot water at a different time I just flip it on manual until it's hot.


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## BelleL

MELOC said:


> i was talking with a co-worker about coffee the other day and she told me her daughter just bought a coffee maker that uses a thermos pitcher instead of a glass carafe and a hot plate. i remembered a friend i hunted with who had a "coffee butler". it was a big, insulated coffee pitcher. i remember the coffee being HOT at noon when we drank it while out hunting. that was @ 6 or 7 hours from the time it was brewed, so it worked really well. a coffee pot that uses a thermos instead of a hot plate...what an awesome idea. the coffee never gets burned when left in the pot half a day and you save energy to boot! it would also be safer as the danger of a fire is reduced.
> 
> what simple and often over-looked energy saving devices do you use?


The best energy saving device that I use is my laundry line. I have one inside the house, in the bathroom, and one outside.
May God Bless You!
Belle


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## Dahc

Windy in Kansas said:


> My last two electrical bills have been below $18.50 so I guess every little thing helps to add up to savings.


You're lucky. Your power company hasn't figured out it's very lucrative to steal money from their customers yet.

Our first month, while we did not live here and the power was shut off at the main (on the pole), our power bill was $45. At my dad's house, basically next door, he leaves from time to time and I shut it off there too... $45... without fail. All this from a company that claims to be a cooperative owned by it's customers. Count your blessings while they last.

To veer back on topic. My wife got one of these coffee makers through the mail that comes with a carafe as a pot. $5 for all plus some coffee (which tastes like dirt) from gevalia. She's had it for about 2 years but it burnt up last week. The carafe still works very well.


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## Jerry in MN

Hi. This is my first post with HT. I live in the country and the yard light with a photosensor switch is rented from the power company. (Yea, a co-op but charges $27.25+tax/mo regardless of kWh use.) But I'm not convinced that the yard light has to be on all the time when it's dark. Maybe some sort of motion sensor and manual override switch could be hooked up to it instead? I get billed $3.25/mo for renting the light, plus for energy use I would guess I get billed another $6-12/mo depending on time of year. Or, maybe I should buy my own fixture and bulb instead? What have others here done?


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## Windy in Kansas

I purchased my own fixture to use.

My dad tied his own fixture into a switch inside the house as well as it being a dusk to dawn light. 

With few exceptions I always feel it is better to own anything than to rent.

BTW Jerry in MN, welcome to the forums.


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## Terry W

Dahc said:


> You're lucky. Your power company hasn't figured out it's very lucrative to steal money from their customers yet.
> 
> .


 Power company stealing money-- only from the residential customers!!!!

The 'base' bill for my brother's property-- where power is very liitle due to line loss--

The TV/VCR is plugged in all the time, phantom-- I refuse to let him keep my DVD player plugged in--
The shop vac is kept in the camper trailer-- it gets runs maybe 10 minutes a week to ull the big chunks out of the rug.
There are power tools that getused, sometiomes heavily, sometimes not at all
Anyway-- about 10 dollars a month, for what most would consider 'living in the dark ages'

now, the shop-- which currently incorporates two large bays in the strip---

TWO air compressors, TWO bathrooms, one hot water heater, Office-- cordless phones, printers, copiers
there are two welders used almost continuously for 10 hours a day, a CNC machine, 2 lathes, three mills, pneumatic hammer, ventilation fans, the lights

to use all his office equipment, and the shop machines in order to produce a cash flow in, only takes about 200 dollars a month in the electrical bill! He pays everything as it comes in, and evertything gets invoiced before it is even loaded for shipment-- Did I mention-- two LARGE bays--each is large enough to pull the longest flatbeds into-- the one bay is used to store and paint all the metal he ships--some beams are 80 feet long!

I cannot figure out why the power companies give the best rates to the commercial customer--When I lived in Florida, I would have given my eye teeth for a power bill under 300 dollars a month in the winter!!!


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## Liese

Jerry in MN said:


> Hi. This is my first post with HT. I live in the country and the yard light with a photosensor switch is rented from the power company. (Yea, a co-op but charges $27.25+tax/mo regardless of kWh use.) But I'm not convinced that the yard light has to be on all the time when it's dark. Maybe some sort of motion sensor and manual override switch could be hooked up to it instead? I get billed $3.25/mo for renting the light, plus for energy use I would guess I get billed another $6-12/mo depending on time of year. Or, maybe I should buy my own fixture and bulb instead? What have others here done?



When we moved to this farm, we had the power co turn off the auto. light up on a pole - they said we could have the whole things removed no charge if we want but haven't done that yet. It was almost $7/month to run that one light! For some reason the previous owners put the water heater on a seperate breaker directly over the heater so it's easy to flip on in the am as we head out for feeding and then I usually remember to flip it off about 10-11am, I have plenty of hot water for the rest of the day but we are very much into water conservation too. Have all lights with CF bulbs and run ceiling fans for cooling or getting the heat down from the 9' ceilings. Our electric usage is usually somewhere between 500-600 kwh in this all electric/heat pump house. I think the upright freezer a pretty big draw even tho it is manual defrost and I keep it full. But before we even pay for the actual usage our bill is $25. to start - these are administrative costs from Duke. The problem for us is that we'd have to make some big $ investments in the fridge and/or heating system to appreciably reduce the Kwh but the pay back would be over 15 years as I calculate it. It would seem better to boost insulation in this old farm house, plant trees, turn the screen room into a solar and generally keep low tech. Really enjoy reading about what others are doing too!


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## Jim-mi

Yes it will seem like a very tough bullet to bite . . .But . . . replacing older appliances --namely the refrigeration kind-- is one of the better ways to save that electric buck.
Those old--skinny walled-- things are hugh electrical hogs.

That ole 20 something cubic foot freezer that was so very cheap to obtain is -NO- bargin, electrically speaking.


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## Pelenaka

Have a hate - hate relationship with my local power company for years.
For the month of October about 2 years ago we did everthing possible to limit our electrical useage; candles, oil lamps, no clothes dryer, & no furnace, replace all lightbulbs with CFL. Limited use of microwave & vintage hotpoint range along with a '94 upright energystar freezer. Restricted television/PC useage. New energy star frontload washing machine. Bathed by lamp light committed we were.
No electric refrigerator as we have a restored '34 ice box.
Long story short all the line useage,tarriffs, taxes, fees, pole charge, totaled more than the actual useage. 
I get my revenage by picking free organic berries in their right of way and requesting a meter read every 3 mos.
$60 a month buys us limited furnace use, freezer plugged in 24/7, well planned use of crockpots, stove, & oven, along with tele, a CD player, & P.C.
Hope to be off grid natural gas wise for next winter. So the woodstove will be used to heat, cook, bake, and dry/iron laundry.
When I can plan to replace the freezer with a Sundanzer freezer.
Would be interested in first hand accounts with these type of frezers.
~~ pelenaka ~~
http://thirtyfivebyninety.blogspot.com/2007/06/thoughly-modern-millie.html


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## Liese

Jim-mi said:


> Yes it will seem like a very tough bullet to bite . . .But . . . replacing older appliances --namely the refrigeration kind-- is one of the better ways to save that electric buck.
> Those old--skinny walled-- things are hugh electrical hogs.
> 
> That ole 20 something cubic foot freezer that was so very cheap to obtain is -NO- bargin, electrically speaking.


Apparently tho there is a trade off - our fridge is a 1996 Kenmore, it has the older cheaper components and altho a new fridge would use less energy it will have computer components that are quite expensive to replace - according to the person at the local appliance store these fridges are also quite sensitive to power surges which we get pretty frequently out here. So in the end I bought a $40 replacement fan, replaced it and kept the older fridge. Now if there was something like a Sunfrost - without the $2400 price tag, available that would be a different story.

For 5-6 years we lived without refrigeration, perhaps it's time for me to research how to keep the goat milk cool enough between cheese making.


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## MELOC

solar ice builder...


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## OntarioMan

The marketing world and manufacturers have caught on to the "energy saving" trends, and they do somewhat take advantage of anyone who is a bit uneducated. Saving energy does not always equate to saving money - and as another poster has mentioned, it may take quite a while to recoup your additional costs for the additional "energy savings". Spending an extra $500 on a refridgerator which will save you $2 in electricity per month is no bargain in my opinion. Obviously, these are just fictional numbers, but my point is that you have to know the numbers.

As you mentioned, durability and simplicity are another factor - and some of the "energy savings" of modern devices come at the cost of simplicity and perhaps durability.




Liese said:


> Apparently tho there is a trade off - our fridge is a 1996 Kenmore, it has the older cheaper components and altho a new fridge would use less energy it will have computer components that are quite expensive to replace - according to the person at the local appliance store these fridges are also quite sensitive to power surges which we get pretty frequently out here. So in the end I bought a $40 replacement fan, replaced it and kept the older fridge. Now if there was something like a Sunfrost - without the $2400 price tag, available that would be a different story.
> 
> For 5-6 years we lived without refrigeration, perhaps it's time for me to research how to keep the goat milk cool enough between cheese making.


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## SolarGary

Hi,

Don't know if this thread also covers things that use a lot more energy than most people suspect, but here are a couple anyway:

The digital TV recording devices (TIVO is one brand) are terrible. They use 50 to 70 watts 24 hours a day. It does not matter whether its turned off or turned on -- it uses the same amount of power.
500 KWH a year -- as much as some refrigerators.

Radon mitigation systems that use fans can be very bad. Some of the fans draw 130 watts 24/7. 
1140 KWH per year.
I'm not suggesting that you take out your Radon system, but seeing if a passive system or a low power Radon fan will do the job could save a lot of electricity. I think that some Radon mitigation people just use a large fan in order to avoid any possibility of call-backs, even though a small fan, or even no fan might be fine. 
Just be sure to do a test after changing the system.

PC's can be even worse than people think.
On our two PC's, the peripherals use more power than the PC's do.
Our first go at PC power was to put everything on a power strip, and at night we hibernated the PC, and switched the power strip off -- this gets both the PC and the peripherals. 
During the day when away for the PC for a while, we hibernated the PC, but left the peripherals plugged in.
We have since found a power strip that powers down automatically when the PC powers down or hibernates.
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Conservation/MiniPowerMinder.htm

So far, it has worked fine.

Our total savings on 2 PC's is up in the 1800 KWH a year area!

Gary





Gary


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## Jim-mi

And how much faith would you have in an appliance salesman . . . ???
They are only after the buck..........

My SunDanzer chest freezer does not have --or need-- computer components.
It is a exceptionaly low energy user.
It has a brushless DC (24v) Danfoss compressor . . .long life.
In the 2 1/2 years or so that I've had it I Have not had to defrost (manual defrost) the unit. . . . . .so much for the "labor saving" energy hog "automatic" defrosting units.


Somebody's blowing smoke at you with ANY fridge\freezer that needs "computer components" to run the *widgets and whistles*


I'll step down from my soap box now........


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## Pelenaka

My SunDanzer chest freezer does not have --or need-- computer components.
It is a exceptionaly low energy user.
It has a brushless DC (24v) Danfoss compressor . . .long life.
In the 2 1/2 years or so that I've had it I Have not had to defrost (manual defrost) the unit. . . . . .so much for the "labor saving" energy hog "automatic" defrosting units.


Can I ask what is the one thing you don't like about the SunDanzer (if any)?

~~ pelenaka ~~


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## Jim-mi

Why yes you may ask about a negitive . . . . . . .



Darned if I can think of anything not to like about a Sundanzer.

After umpteen years with uprights some will not care for the *chest* idea.
My advice . . . get used to it and smile when you realize how little *energy* it took\takes . . . to keep your icecream firm\hard.


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## crafty2002

Jerry in MN said:


> Hi. This is my first post with HT. I live in the country and the yard light with a photosensor switch is rented from the power company. (Yea, a co-op but charges $27.25+tax/mo regardless of kWh use.) But I'm not convinced that the yard light has to be on all the time when it's dark. Maybe some sort of motion sensor and manual override switch could be hooked up to it instead? I get billed $3.25/mo for renting the light, plus for energy use I would guess I get billed another $6-12/mo depending on time of year. Or, maybe I should buy my own fixture and bulb instead? What have others here done?


You can buy a mercury light that has a dusk to dawn photo sensor on it for less than $40 at Lowes. They are easy to put up. I have put up probably 50 to 75 of them. They only use 35 watts and put out plenty of light for a back yard. That is about a dollar and a quarter a month for electricity @ .$10 a KWH @ 12 hours on a night on average. 
The light bulbs last for a few years but they are close to half price of what the whole fixture cost to start with. :shrug: 
You would break even in about 15 months if you bought one and installed it yourself and after that save 2 bucks a month.


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## grief

I saw something online about converting a chest freezer (small one) to a fridge. I don't remember where I saw that info!!!! Do any of you have information on that type of conversion?
Thanks! for your help.


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## grief

grief said:


> I saw something online about converting a chest freezer (small one) to a fridge. I don't remember where I saw that info!!!! Do any of you have information on that type of conversion?
> Thanks! for your help.


Searched my history on the computer and found what I was looking for! Sorry I didn't think about doing that before I posted.


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## mwhit

Windy in Kansas said:


> When I make a pot of coffee instead of instant I nearly always put it into a carafe instead of leaving it on the hot plate of the drip machine. If it cools too much a few seconds in the microwave warms a cupful back up.
> 
> My last two electrical bills have been below $18.50 so I guess every little thing helps to add up to savings.


Geez, our power company charges more than that to have power available at the pole. Then of course they charge a 'delivery' fee, which is usually higher than the actual usage. My light bills are insane. There are 6 of us, but I don't own a dryer, we burn wood as our only source of head, I have a propane stove, all CF bulbs and we are really careful with our usage. I unplug all appliances when not in use. My refrigerator and washer are both fairly new and efficient. I do not have any yard lights, I don't even leave a porch light on. I make 2 pots of coffee per day-- the first one goes directly into DH's thermos and the next one goes into a carafe for me. I don't think there is much else we could do to limit our usage. We do have an electric water heater, but in the winter a lot of my water is heated in the cookstove reservoir. Oh, and we do not have a water pump-- we have 'village' water.

My last electric bill was $186 dollars :grump: 

Michelle


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## annabella1

I made one of these and it really saves energy in cooking:
http://www.fastonline.org/CD3WD_40/... simple slow cooker...By Rev. J.D. Hooker.pdf
You just get the food hot and then close it up in this till it is done.


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## SolarGary

grief said:


> I saw something online about converting a chest freezer (small one) to a fridge. I don't remember where I saw that info!!!! Do any of you have information on that type of conversion?
> Thanks! for your help.


Hi, 
Maybe this one?
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Conservation/conservation.htm#Appliances

The one that starts with: "Very Efficient Chest Refrigerator"

Gary


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## mnn2501

$18.50 electric bills?? I'm happy if I get under $200 - and I do use cfb's and try to conserve. Summers in TX get hot and $350 is not unusual for July and Aug due to air conditioning when the temps never drop below 90 even in the dead of the night and days can be 97F - 106F


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## Drizler

Jerry in MN said:


> Hi. This is my first post with HT. I live in the country and the yard light with a photosensor switch is rented from the power company. (Yea, a co-op but charges $27.25+tax/mo regardless of kWh use.) But I'm not convinced that the yard light has to be on all the time when it's dark. Maybe some sort of motion sensor and manual override switch could be hooked up to it instead? I get billed $3.25/mo for renting the light, plus for energy use I would guess I get billed another $6-12/mo depending on time of year. Or, maybe I should buy my own fixture and bulb instead? What have others here done?


I put up a 175 watt mercury vapor light on a 4 by 4 pole up on top of the garage. The secret is putting in a simple switch in addition to the photocell. We only turn it on when we are out doing something or if there is some other need. Works fine and 25 foot up is supposed to be the best for coverage. It lights up our 2 acre yard fully and the whole 10 acre field to a slight extent. Couldn't deal with the newer type with the dull golden glow so we went with mercury vapor. I even use a merc vapor light for the garage. 175 watts lights up the place just like daytime.


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## Mel-

I just looked at my last bill (mid may thru mid june). $44 total for all electric house. $17.50 was in just getting elec to my door. why is your delivery costs so much cheaper in kansas?

I also have a new 7 cu ft haiger refrig. have hot water set to 100 degrees. am single and live alone. do not use a coffee maker or dishwasher. do large loads of laundry only but do have slip covers on furniture and 4 inside animals so I'd guess I do a large load every other day (wash my bedding pretty often because of dirt and hair also).

use a laptop most of the time, my pc is off unless in use a few minutes a day. do use a dryer but may need to look at clothesline dried clothes again. I just always hated the stiffness and hardness! and the fact they are dirty again before brought in from birds and insects.

tv and dvd player are the only other electronics besides a microwave that is in strip and turned off when not in use. so only phantom could possibly be tv and dvd (need to get on strip and see what happens).

all new windows and insulation in house. can't live without ac though and can't figure out how you can in southern kansas! I lived in eastern kansas a couple of years and it was worse than indiana.

my ac is a window unit only in the living room, don't cool the rest of the house. its one of the teeny jobies and even going all the time I usually only run $35 in the summer. need to see why my bill was $44 last month comparatively since I ditched the old fridge since last june! should be noticeably lower


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## KarenCCC

When I read Pelenaka's post about a hate-hate relationship with the power co., I said to myself that she must live in NY. I was right! Do you also have National Greed? ( I mean Grid). National Greed charges me over $35.00 a month for "delivery service". I have used $28 in electricity for the month, and then am charged $35 for delivery service. Now the company wants to raise their rates yet again, as the company claims that too many people aren't paying their bills, therefore, the company needs to charge more to those of us that ARE paying. Two other stories, if I may... I needed to have an outside line moved as I was putting an addition on my house. Three different electric co employees came out three different times to say that I could have line moved. I did, and it cost me $2,500 to have the overhead line moved 6 feet and new thingy where electric meets the house. My Uncle, who lives in KY, had to do the same thing... cost zero! And his electric co. said that if he dug the trench, they would move the wiring to his barn underground for free! Second story, my cousin lives in New Zealand and brought a native New Zealander friend to the states. While here, my cousin took her friend on one of those tours of new, expensive homes. While touring one home, the friend from NZ remarked to my cousin that it was not very sensible to put laundry rooms on the second floor, because then clothes would have to be taken down the stairs, outside and all the way to the clothesline. The friend from NZ was shocked to learn that not only are clotheslines not a necessity here in the US, but that some neighborhoods do not even allow them!


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## calboydoc

I just wanted to tell all of you thanks for you tips. My DH and I live in what you could kind of say is a duplex with my inlaws. We all share the electric, and for two famalies our bill is usualy $180.00 a month. After finding this site and using your tips our bill was $70.00 last month..... that is including 3 air conditioners. So THANK YOU


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## fishhead

Now that winter is here you can freeze water outside and put it in your refrigerator to save electricity. Just rotate the containers outside for refreezing.


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## Trisha in WA

I line dry all my cloths (no dryer even hooked up) in the living room where my wood stove is. I also use my wood stove for heating water for tea or coffee )we use a French Press too). I often use it for reheating food and sometimes even cooking dinner. We get our wood from neighbors who have storm downed trees (free wood=free heat). 
Lots of other areas we need to work on though...phantom load being a big one!


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## trapperJim

The largest contributor to reducing our elsctric bill was eliminating the (stand by) power. The TV, Bose enetertainment system and VCR's are on a power strip and OFF when not in use. We even eliminated our answering machine. We cook a lot with our antique Crawford and instead of using our power sucking Kitchen Aid range we can cook most anything in our large toaster oven. It requires no pre heating and can cook a whole chicken and even a standard size frozen pizza if you trim one edge off and cook it the foil covered rack rather than in a pan. We have National Grid for our power and our lowest bill so far was 27.43 . Our base rate is 16.21 so we used 11.22 woth of electricty. I can live with that. For coffee we use an old stove top perculator and keep it hot on the woodstove. However I do like the idea of the caraf over running the standard hotplate. Some good ideas on here.


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## DMD Farms

We have very affordable electricity here in Utah, but how long will that last and how often are we to expect the power to go off????
I started cutting back and going solar just to maintain some control ... sure glad I did that!!!


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## Drizler

It is nice to line dry stuff but lets face it if you have hard water some dryer action is still necessary. I hang our towels and heavy item in the basement for a day. Still the second day they have to get tossed in the gas dryer for a while so they aren't stiff as a board. Lots of calcium in the water here. Drying them some takes out the lint and cat hair that otherwise stick around. I guess it all helps though.


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## Windy in Kansas

Well the old theory is that if they are hung outside on a line the wind whipping them will help soften them, and the UV rays of the sun will help sanitize them. And the birds flying over will--oh never mind.


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## billybobaz

Hey that is not fair, I live within sight of a power plant and my electricity bill was almost $15.00 a month when nobody was living here for several months so there was no draw at all.


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## Suemo

We pay $25 monthly just for the meter. Not sure where all the electricity goes but I am going to try some of the hints some of you have provided.
I dry outside but I do believe, here at least , you get less wear out of the towels and bedding as they are whipped so fiercely by the wind they wear at the edges.
I love cooking on and in my wood stove in the winter. I want to try a solar oven but we have had so much wet ,cloudy weather this spring. What I really want is a clay oven....
Trying to figure how to heat water via the roof with out getting all the poisons from the hose...
I keep the pc turned off except when I am using it . I do think the laptops run cheaper.
Often I never turn the lights on until evening do keep the celing fans on allways. Pull the curtains over the windows after shutting the windows to keep the cool night air in.
Also have shade screen on the east porch. That really makes a difference!


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## Drizler

When it comes to lighting up the property and it isn't freezing cold try buying one of those under the counter 15 watt flourescent bar lights. They cost all of$15 and will light up at least an acre with some degree of lighting. It isn't a 275watt mercury vapor but to just put light into an area it works nearly as well. I put our Mercury Vapror on a switch and only use it when I want the light for a specific purpose. Otherwise it is left off. Those big pole lights need to be mounted right as well. They should be mounted on a pole 25' in the air to get maximum lighting effect rather than stuck on the side of a building where much of their output is wasted like mounting on the front of a garage or barn. For those jobs put one of those little bar lights where they are protected from the rain. That silly little light will easily light up the whole dooryard. Those CFL flood lights work well too. Mine have survived 3 winters in Northern NY with no issues and even come to full brightness in under a minute. I wouldn't use them in motion detector mounts though. The nice part is that they fit in standard sockets.


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## ChristieAcres

My DH designed and built our Wood Stove, built the Wood-Rack, the little Kindling Rack, and the Drying Rack. He is installing a Radiator (sandblasted/painted/restored it today) in our BR, with a Thermostat, the hot water circulating via the master BA under the sink. Now, initially Propane heats the water, but not for long. The Wood Stove is being modified and will be heating the water, it will be sent to the Hot Water Tank, then pumped to the Radiator in our BR. That soon won't be the coolest part of our home! During the nice weather, I have a clothesline outside. I can cook on our Wood Stove, heat water, make coffee, etc... Here is a picture:


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## wind power

Hi folks,
FWIW take out anything which pulls the amps...which are the big elctrical consumers...especially 220, that means the heat pump and or air conditioner, electric heat, electric water heater, electric stove ( biggy here.. use your microwave more), electric dryer...get some exercise, load a wood stove, hang that laundry on a line, open some windows, use a few fans after all this is a homesteading forum most around here are probably not governed by a Nazi neighborhood association.

When an appliance such as a refrigerator craps out go with energy star stuff at the minimum.
Replace the old TV set with an LED screen...I have a 27 inch job which only pulls 130 watts...some are even better than that. 
Take those vampire loads out of the equation too, unplug the DVD player or anything else which has a remote, and pull those phone chargers off the wall when done charging too.

The only thing we all should be pulling electricity for is 110 volts and that should be for lighting mostly with CFL's mostly and a mircowave oven


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## John Hill

My friend and I crossed the Pacific Ocean in 1976. We left with 3 gallons of diesel and hand most of it still in the tank when we reached the other side.


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## caroline

I learned a lot from reading the posts...
I live alone--well, I have a Beagle and 3 cats...my last energy bill was 36.57 for a month. I have a 92% energy star propane furnance, my hot water heater is new and is propane, my house is 1450 sq ft or which 2 bedrooms and a bath are closed off in the winter and hot summer.

I use energy effiecient light bulbs and only have one light on at a time--the room I am in.

I have Samsung energy star stackables (washer and dryer)that I just purchased for half price from Lowes----they were 1200.00 for the pair, free elivery and installation. They are incredibly energy effiecient. I love them. I have new windows and new storm door and new exterior doors, all energy eff.
Even so, around all the windows I did the plastic with the hair dryer---really works!
I power down every night, and during the day keep the heat se on 68---and at night set on 62.

Last fall I bought a new energy star freezer, small chest model and filled it every time something I would eat was on sale. So far this winter (since the first of Nov) I have been real grocery shopping once. I do go in for milk and fresh fruits. Have a huge larder of pet food to last till spring and TP---you got it---enough for a year.:clap:

I do like someone above---wash about one load a week, all colors. 

I am really trying, hope I am doing all the right things. I know there is much more I could do if I had a partner to help (and teach me) and lift things. 

I use a feather comforter on top the blankets on the bed at night and it's always a one-dog night at my house. 

Tell me what else i could o, and if I am doing this right.....comments wanted!


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## Mickie3

caroline said:


> I learned a lot from reading the posts...
> 
> <text deleted>
> 
> Tell me what else i could o, and if I am doing this right.....comments wanted!


Sounds to me like you are doing extremely well and should be proud of yourself. 

Have you thought about making your shower more energy efficient? That is the only thing I can think of, off-hand.


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## caroline

I did buy a low flow shower head attachment for the 2nd bath, the guest bath. I never use that room.
The one luxury I do allow myself every night is a bath----I love them! I have a large soaker tub but limit the water in it to one fourth the amount it could use. 
Got my water bill yesterday for three months----$18.26! I had guests over the holidays.....

I am moving soon, hopefully, and want to find a place that will make me as self suffiecient as possible and want a pellet or wood stove at that point.

Thanks for your comments. It's good to know my efforts were not useless.


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## AgrarianDr

I would like to add to the mix Solar Tubes - especially the ones with the internal directional "fins" to capture the low lying winter sun. Well placed, you would never need or turn on a light during the day - ever, even on terribly overcast days. And since it is not a "direct" light, you don't get burned up as you do standing under a typical skylight


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## SCRancher

I have not had much luck with CFL bulbs - they all seem to burn out in under 18 months, but then again regular bulbs seem to burn out in less than 6 months. I purchased my first LED bulb - it's in a ceiling fan with both CFL and regular light bulbs. The LED's produce a much better and brighter light then the CFL and it only uses 4 watts of power for a 40 watt effect.

Due to the negative experience I have had with CFL's I'll leave this one LED light in for about 2 years before I buy another - hopefully by then the price will come down from the ~22.00 I paid for the 1 light.

I counted up the # of light bulbs in my house, it's over 60 so rushing into LED or even CFL was out of the question.

I have NO idea why my house goes through so many light bulbs except it's an old house build in 1911 and has a severe case of mixed up wiring, some areas have 2 single un-insulated wires going through porcelain stand-offs each wire is around 2 feet apart; then I have areas with brand new wiring that I installed myself.

LED Lights - great idea if they would just get the price down.


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## machinist

I'm loving this thread! We have done much of what is mentioned here, but have a ways to go. I hope to get the panels up soon and operating.

So far we have replaced the fridge and freezer with the most efficient we could afford = about 840 WHRs/24 hr day each. Those are the only big draw on our system. I chose to include those to make it easier on us old folks. Other items are:
-12 volt CFL's in common light fixtures converted to 12 polarized plugs. 
-12 volt notebook computer with USB powered speakers.
-Wireless internet and phone system that draws about 24 watts, but requires an inverter to 110V.
-!2 volt flat screen antenna TV's, 8 watt and 60 watt. Small one in the storm cellar.
-12 volt SW radio, Kenwood R5000. 
-12 volt radios, AM/FM/SW.
-12 volt fans, O2cool 10".

The 12 volt stuff avoids inverter losses and I got some real deals on HEAVY gauge wiring to make it efficient.

Everywhere we can we have converted to non-electric. I have an extensive metal shop that is impossible to do completely on alternatives, but have tons of manual tools for wood and metal. 

Our food efforts include manual food processors, a cranked corn sheller, cranked burr mill (although for volume work there is an electric motor and a gasoline motor), cranked lard press/sausage stuffer, lard rendering kettle on a tripod for wood fire use, chain hoist for shop use, but also for butchering, and kerosene lights in the food processing room/sunporch/plant starting room. Also have an LP range in there. 

We refurbed a 6,700 gallon cistern that was here, and have gravity flow water to the basement and a hand pump on the back porch. A 110 volt pump is used now, but will go away. Also have a 2,500 gallon irrigation tank for watering animals and with gravity flow to the gardens. Have a 12 volt pump to move that water to the house, if needed. 

To conserve both water and electricity (lower HP), we converted to a wringer washing machine and line dry exclusively, either outdoors or indoors. Cold water can be run by gravity to the washer and rinse tubs. Hot water must be heated and carried. 

I have wired a basement 12VDC buss line that allows easy wiring to outlets upstairs and uses #2/0 welding cable for low resistance. Outlets fused individually, plus main fuses. 

Heat is by wood stove that I built. It has a secondary small firebox that is mounted with one long bolt to convert it to a wood cookstove using a small fire for warm weather use. It looks like a normal box type heating stove, except it has a second small door for the cooking part. Airtight, too. 12 volt car fans circulate it through the house. 

We are working toward a no-tillage operation in the gardens, and have that going in one of the 4, plus close to it in a second one. Use mulch and hand tools, including a push cultivator. 

The henhouse is well insulated and has storm windows and door, so water doesn't freeze in there until about January, avoiding an electric water heater. Lots of windows provide solar heat for them. 

That is some of the highlights, but the list is much longer. We are working very hard on this. All ideas are much appreciated!


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## Txrider

Dahc said:


> You're lucky. Your power company hasn't figured out it's very lucrative to steal money from their customers yet.
> 
> Our first month, while we did not live here and the power was shut off at the main (on the pole), our power bill was $45. At my dad's house, basically next door, he leaves from time to time and I shut it off there too... $45... without fail. All this from a company that claims to be a cooperative owned by it's customers. Count your blessings while they last.
> 
> To veer back on topic. My wife got one of these coffee makers through the mail that comes with a carafe as a pot. $5 for all plus some coffee (which tastes like dirt) from gevalia. She's had it for about 2 years but it burnt up last week. The carafe still works very well.


$22.50 a month is the minimum charge for my cooperative. If ya got a meter you pay at least that amount minimum. Pretty cheap power though.


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## acde

a simple tip for those lights that get left on all the time, replace with lowest wattage possible. my average bill is 40.00


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## farmerj

Windy in Kansas said:


> No, I do not generate my own electricity nor do I have photovoltiac panels, wind generation, etc. I am totally on grid.
> 
> I am divorced and live alone so can keep energy consumption at a minimum compared to the usage by a family.
> 
> My electrical loads are as follows:
> 
> Dusk to dawn yard light with 14 watt compact fluorescent bulb.
> 
> Electric range. It is a Hotpoint and one large burner has a selector as to how much of the element heats, 3 selections to it.
> 
> Microwave.
> 
> Haier refrigerator which I think is a 7. cubic foot size. It is a manual defrost and I try to
> keep it defrosted on a regular basis.
> 
> Large capacity washing machine which I nearly always wait until I have a full load of any one color before doing a load. Quite a number of years ago I even purchased colored underwear so that I wouldn't have to do small loads of whites. I no longer do that however.
> 
> Electric dryer. I usually use only medium heat so as to not shrink clothing, which means much of the drying is done with air flow rather than heat from the element. I could no doubt line dry and save energy.
> 
> Television 27 inch model about 10-12 years old. Expect I could replace for greater conservation.
> 
> Stereo amplifier of 200 watts. Phantom load that I don't use for audio boost most of the time.
> 
> DVD player, another phantom load.
> 
> VHS tape player not very old so should be fairly efficient, but another phantom load.
> 
> Bookshelf stereo system used little, no phantom load.
> 
> One clock and one clock radio.
> 
> Computer, purchased in January so should be energy efficient. I turn off overnight.
> 
> Monitor 19 inch LCD flat panel or flat screen, I forget which is which.
> 
> Printer is turned off unless I am printing, as is scanner.
> 
> Treadmill used about 3 days a week, sometimes more frequently.
> 
> Lighting in kitchen is typically with the fluorescent bulb in the over range microwave and is on several hours each evening. When meal preparation is done the fluorescent overhead fixture is used--80 watt unit.
> 
> As mentioned I have gotten into the habit of instant coffee with water heated in the microwave. When I do use my drip maker I transfer the coffee to a carafe to keep it hot and turn off the maker.
> 
> Lighting in living/dining room is with a desk swing arm lamp next to my computer and has a 10 watt CF inside the reflector. Also a lamp on a timer (another phantom load) comes on around dark and shuts off near bedtime. It has a 14 watt CF bulb. I frequently change the timer to throw off any potential burglar as to when I'm home. For reading at my recliner I use a 100 watt swing arm halogen floor lamp. It is also the torche lamp style and I bounce light off of the ceiling much of the time.
> 
> Bathroom lighting is via ceiling fixture with 60 watt incandescent bulb. I consider it an in and out fixture that is not on very long at a time. Over the medicine cabinet is a fixture which as four CF bulbs in it of small wattages.
> 
> Other small loads, mouse unit which recharges the mouse battery, digital answering machine, electric razor recharger (once every 5 days for 8 hours, every few weeks electric screwdriver and also drill/driver recharge units, remote control batteries are rechargeable as are some other batteries and I use the one hour recharge time batteries that Walmart sells. The door bell also has a transformer so would be a draw.
> 
> Very infrequent use are shop tools including arc welder, table saw, 12 volt battery chargers, etc.
> 
> During the summer I don't use air-conditioning but instead use a whole-house attic fan. Often on overnight to really cool the house as much as possible.
> 
> About forgot, my water is electrically heated.
> 
> Lately normal KWH consumption has been in the 175 per 29 day range, meaning 6 KWH per day on average. With all of the franchise and other built-in fees it figures out to a little over 10Â¢ per KWH although the actual rate is about 8Â¢ per KWH.
> 
> If I switched off the phantom loads and didn't keep a light on in the kitchen so much and used a clothes line I could no doubt save quite a bit more.
> 
> I should mention too that I do check items with a Kill-O-Watt meter in order to know consumption on many items.
> 
> While I use fans in the summer, less daylight length in the winter tends to offset their use somewhat.
> 
> I currently line in town so have city water which means no electricity is used for pumping.
> 
> Well there is more information about myself than I generally share with anyone. I hope someone can benefit from it.



WOW...I have a base $22.50 charge and the power is added to that. All our phantom loads are pretty well switched and when we leave for weekends I kill the rest of them.

I don't have a welder or any high power tools and with two in the house on electric water heat, our bills are $68ish or so each month. So we use about $45 worth of electricity each month. Our lowest usage has been 278 and our average is about 450 KwH. And we sit in the dark at night.


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## choo_choo

Cost of electricity here has gone up drastically even with the wind farms.
I'm working on a wind gen and solar panel of my own.hopefully one this year.
But even in summer with only TV, well, and refrigerator My light bill is still $60 average.

To save electricity in winter I built 4 solar convection windows, this helps heat the house on a calm day, so furnace doesn't come on (blower fan) and pellet stove is turned down low or off, which also reduces consumption.
I installed an oversized pressure tank for the well, so pump doesn't kick on as often.
Thus saving electricity.

I have had several of the "Mr. Coffee" type pots. Yes they brew pretty quick but same as others. The hot plate wastes electricity keeping pot warm all day and coffee gets burned taste etc. Plus I am a coffee hound when at home. 3 or 4 pots a day. Then there is the broken carafe. plus the clock is a constant draw.
So I went back to the coffee pot on the stove. Doesn't take much longer to brew.
I leave pot on the log burner or even the pellet stove to stay warm.

Space heaters; big electric draw. Now I warm a couple good sized stones in the oven while baking, or on the log burner or even the pellet stove, get them as hot as I can, Lay and heavy old rug on floor by feet, put the stones on it and then a blanket over legs and stones. Get about an hours worth of free heat. And I can do this to keep foot of bed warm also!


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## 2livfree

solar oven can be made cheaply. solar water collector can be made cheaply. you can wash your clothes in bucket or tub. if you have a deep well you can pull the water up around an old freezer (that doesn't work) and keep things cool 40-50 degrees.


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## old school

Windy in Kansas said:


> When I make a pot of coffee instead of instant I nearly always put it into a carafe instead of leaving it on the hot plate of the drip machine. If it cools too much a few seconds in the microwave warms a cupful back up.
> 
> My last two electrical bills have been below $18.50 so I guess every little thing helps to add up to savings.


 $18.50 Now thats impressive!!


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## old school

lorichristie said:


> My DH designed and built our Wood Stove, built the Wood-Rack, the little Kindling Rack, and the Drying Rack. He is installing a Radiator (sandblasted/painted/restored it today) in our BR, with a Thermostat, the hot water circulating via the master BA under the sink. Now, initially Propane heats the water, but not for long. The Wood Stove is being modified and will be heating the water, it will be sent to the Hot Water Tank, then pumped to the Radiator in our BR. That soon won't be the coolest part of our home! During the nice weather, I have a clothesline outside. I can cook on our Wood Stove, heat water, make coffee, etc... Here is a picture:


That is a cool looking wood stove I have never drempt anything like that up in my life. Thank you for sharing


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## grandma12703

We are completely off the electric grid. Admittingly we don't have a lot of electrical uses, however with 2-125 watt solar panels and a battery bank of 8. We have television, watch DVD's once a weekend, lights, and use a blow dryer on low every morning. We use a 20# of propane (approximately) every month (costs about $18.00) for a propane refrigerator and propane stove. We only cook small meals in the evenings. 

Once in a while when we go several days without significant sunlight we charge our batteries from a generator we have for extremely hot day use of a small airconditioner. Our laptop battery is charged with a solar charger and we use a hotspot connection for internet.

The barn has small lights that are charged from individual solar panels (I think 15 watt panels). 

We use a wood burning stove for heat. This winter I think we are adding a small propane ventless heater for extremely cold days so that nothing freezes inside. (nothing froze last winter but we had a mild winter).

We have 11 channels of television with an antenna. 

Granted it is only the two of us so for a family I am sure you would have to adjust up. We are only home in the evenings and weekends so the inverter is off during the day.


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## grandma12703

We do got to a laundry mat for laundry because of my office clothes, however I hope to purchase a non-electric washer from Lehmans soon so that I can do these at home. I love to hang laundry on the line and in the cold months I hang them on an indoor drying rack.


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## 2livfree

grandma12703 said:


> We do got to a laundry mat for laundry because of my office clothes, however I hope to purchase a non-electric washer from Lehmans soon so that I can do these at home. I love to hang laundry on the line and in the cold months I hang them on an indoor drying rack.


the laundry plunger is cheap but if $25 isn't cheap enough you could buy a dollar store plunger and drill a few holes in the top for the water to go through


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## Soap Natsee

MELOC said:


> i was talking with a co-worker about coffee the other day and she told me her daughter just bought a coffee maker that uses a thermos pitcher instead of a glass carafe and a hot plate. i remembered a friend i hunted with who had a "coffee butler". it was a big, insulated coffee pitcher. i remember the coffee being HOT at noon when we drank it while out hunting. that was @ 6 or 7 hours from the time it was brewed, so it worked really well. a coffee pot that uses a thermos instead of a hot plate...what an awesome idea. the coffee never gets burned when left in the pot half a day and you save energy to boot! it would also be safer as the danger of a fire is reduced.
> 
> what simple and often over-looked energy saving devices do you use?


There's a trick to getting coffee to stay hot in a thermos, pour boiling water into it and dump it out before putting the coffee in. I usually do it in three steps, just a little bit, put the lid on, shake it around, dump out, put in a little more do the same, then put in about a cup of HOT water and put the lid on until the coffee is ready to put in. I've bought extra coffee just to sacrifice to warm up the cold thermos when on heading out in the field, out of town etc.

I posted my 'human powered washing machine' in here a couple days ago.

Turn thermostats down at night, close curtains when it's dark out.

I just picked up a single cup coffee maker so I don't have to run the 12 cup machine when I only want a cup. Brand starts with a "K".


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## wkyongae

We only turn our water heater on when we need to take a shower It only takes 45 min. to heat up. We figure we save money by the fact that the water heater is not cycling on and off when no one needs hot water. And as a bonus in the summer we save even more because we get 2 days of showers for the price of one 45 min cycle time.


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## stanb999

I do see a lot of the claims for low power are taken up with other bills. Propane being a big one. Here propane is nearly 3 times as expensive as electric so it's no "deal".

Also our big HOG is the well. A 1 HP pump uses energy. I have been thinking of switching to a cistern with a smaller well pump and a real small pressure pump. But even here the "savings" would take years to pay back. 

What's the average rate by you all? here it's 11 cents for the first 200 KW then 10 cents for the rest, delivered. No "extra".


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## GregYohn

Use an Android smart TV usb plug. I got mine for $65 and uses 5 Watts instead of 100 watts for PC. Can not do everything, but just attach it to the hdml port of your TV. Like a smartphone but with a bigger screen.


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## doomas

Liese said:


> When we moved to this farm, we had the power co turn off the auto. light up on a pole - they said we could have the whole things removed no charge if we want but haven't done that yet. It was almost $7/month to run that one light! For some reason the previous owners put the water heater on a seperate breaker directly over the heater so it's easy to flip on in the am as we head out for feeding and then I usually remember to flip it off about 10-11am, I have plenty of hot water for the rest of the day but we are very much into water conservation too. Have all lights with CF bulbs and run ceiling fans for cooling or getting the heat down from the 9' ceilings. Our electric usage is usually somewhere between 500-600 kwh in this all electric/heat pump house. I think the upright freezer a pretty big draw even tho it is manual defrost and I keep it full. But before we even pay for the actual usage our bill is $25. to start - these are administrative costs from Duke. The problem for us is that we'd have to make some big $ investments in the fridge and/or heating system to appreciably reduce the Kwh but the pay back would be over 15 years as I calculate it. It would seem better to boost insulation in this old farm house, plant trees, turn the screen room into a solar and generally keep low tech. Really enjoy reading about what others are doing too!


 For most people its easyer to increase the quality of the doors windows and insulation


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## catspjamas

My power bill for July 5 - Aug 5 is $66.32. 565 KWH for 31 days. I'm with a coop that gets it's power from the TVA. I thought I was doing pretty good. It has gone up $10, but I set the thermostat on the water heater from 130 to 140, because it's only 30 gallons and in the winter I was running out of hot water when I took a shower. Not that I take that long a shower, it's just the water coming into the tank is freezing in the winter. And I got an upright freezer. The freezer saves me in grocery money and eating out. I'd like to get a smaller refrigerator. Right now, I have the refrigerator/freezer combo 17 cf, I think. And I really don't need anything that big, it's just me. I've not stopped using the dryer enough to see a savings there. I use CFL in all my light fixtures. I don't have a/c, but I do run ceiling fans 24/7. Winter I heat with wood and/or Monitor kerosine heater. I hadn't thought about the phantom power. I'll have to start turning the power strip off too.


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## wkyongae

Just the other day we received our electric bill. $29.95 Would have been lower but washed our 68 by 14 foot trailer with a power washer. Also mowed grass and trimmed all with electric. As I have said turning the hot water heater off really helps lower the electric bill.


----------



## unregistered358967

Great thread. As I'm considering going off-grid I've been preparing my family by unplugging things when not in use. We are very frugal with electricity (doing what a lot of you are doing in the above posts) so I can't add much but I discovered a small way to save the other day.

I have a cellphone charger in my car and as I had errands to run, chose to plug the phone and charge it back up that way instead of using the house electricity.


----------



## farmerj

one option also. Seen this in an OLD place.

There was a whirly bird on the house. A shaft ran down into the dining room/living room. It ran a ceiling fan.

The heat from the attic went out the whirly bird vent running the fan in the house.


----------



## wkyongae

Well, the electric just went up to $40. Been drying wild mushrooms. Gotta love it here in Western Washington. Here comes the shrooms and no warmth or sunlight to dry them. Using the oven is not the best way but the quickest.


----------



## Ky-Jeeper

Dehydrator???


wkyongae said:


> Well, the electric just went up to $40. Been drying wild mushrooms. Gotta love it here in Western Washington. Here comes the shrooms and no warmth or sunlight to dry them. Using the oven is not the best way but the quickest.


----------



## Osiris

My oven still has a pilot so it dries stuff well with no additional gas usage. I admit I do have a dehydrator tho. 

Here's a neat site that has a lot of 'off-grid' tools, etc. They even carry a retro crank for your 'kitchen Aid' mixer so you can convert it from electric to manual. Ever hear of an 'air-powered' ceiling fan? Wanna get a NEW treadle powered singer sewing machine?
Lots of neat stuff. 
http://www.cottagecraftworks.com/self-sufficient-living-off-grid-power-tools-c-42_125_311.html

Of course, if you're going all the way, they've even got the horse drawn carriages. All hand crafted. 
http://www.cottagecraftworks.com/kitchen-food-prep-c-53.html


----------



## Deeplines

Awesome info. 

I'm buying a Kill a watt Meter next month and doing a house survey. I'll post my results.. I'll try to be thorough in my report as in brand of appliance and estimated year I bought it and how much it uses (on and off).


----------



## farmerj

anything that "goes to sleep" is a parasitic loss. Anything that sits idle is a "high use" parasitic loss.


----------



## Ryan Paul Romer

Just wondering if anyone tinkered with this yet. Burning wood to get gas that burns, which can be used in propane stoves, heaters and can run a engine (Fema offers these plans free). The other thought would be HHO...You seen the scifi part trying to run cars, it does not produce that much. However it does produce enough to burn on a stove...Anyone tried these devices yet? Gasifer or the HHO Generator?

Many of these on YouTube by the way...

Thanks, Ryan.


----------



## gsteinisu

Ryan Paul Romer said:


> Just wondering if anyone tinkered with this yet. Burning wood to get gas that burns, which can be used in propane stoves, heaters and can run a engine (Fema offers these plans free). The other thought would be HHO...You seen the scifi part trying to run cars, it does not produce that much. However it does produce enough to burn on a stove...Anyone tried these devices yet? Gasifer or the HHO Generator?
> 
> Many of these on YouTube by the way...
> 
> Thanks, Ryan.


I have not built one yet but hope to soon! Check out flash001USA on YouTube. He has comprehensive build video's and tests them too. They are very interesting and will be my guide to building mine when I get all the pieces rounded up.


----------



## hawgsquatch

I work 13 hour shifts so the last thing I do when I leave home is trip the breaker. I use a 25.00 solar panel from harbor freight to charge my laptop and it stays charged about three days. I have led bulbs in everything and skylights in my Airstream. I have a monthy bill for propane AND electricity of about 25.00. When I install a wood stove later this year I hope to maintain that through our mild winter here. My little chest freezer is on a timer so that it runs 8 hours a day at off peak times and I keep it stuffed with gallon jugs of water when not stuffed with meat. I will stay frozen for four days without electricity.


----------



## farmerj

The MOST overlooked energy saving device?

The off switch.


----------



## katlupe

We perk the coffee on top of the stove (either wood or propane) and then pour it into a thermos with push down button type of thing. Put hot water into the thermos before bedtime so it the morning, the thermos is hot. 

Instead of using an electric light at night when I want to read till bed, I have a Kindle Fire which is back lit and you can read in the dark. 

This year, I bought a solar battery charger and have been replacing all our household items that use batteries with the rechargeable types. It will charge four of the same type at a time. I have been building up sets of rechargeable batteries so each thing that uses batteries will have 2 sets. 

Since 2008 we have been using the Neuton electric lawnmower. My husband bought 4 batteries for it when he got it. That way he can just run down one battery and take it out and put it on the charger. Then take out a charged battery that is ready to go. He loves it and we have a very big area to be mowed. Best of all no gas or fumes. He has a bagger on the mower and that grass he gives to our horses. It is safe with no chemicals or gasoline fumes on it and best of all, it saves us hay. 

He also bought me a Neuton electric garden cart. That works good for me and has helped me with gardening since I have issues with walking much of the time. 

We started out with the propane refrigerator and for the most part, I loved it. It was great. Constant cold temperature. But as we closed in our house with insulation, the fumes (which weren't apparent before) started bothering me. He was going to vent it to the outside, but then we decided to live without one until we could afford the SunDanzer. Which we did. It took us 6 years though! :ashamed: Now we have it and it uses less power than my laptop. I love it. Next item to buy: the freezer!

We use solar flashlights that we charge up every day in the sun. They work great and we really use them daily. After a period of time they have to be replaced, but we get our money out of them.


----------



## JeepHammer

Windy, you rock!

People comment on our 'Butcher Block Island' in the kitchen with 'Antique' grinders on it...
What a old time dÃ©cor we have.

They aren't decoration.
5 minutes on a grinder handle and we turn roast into hamburger,
5 minutes on a grinder handle and we turn grain into bread flour,
And NOTHING beats fresh ground coffee! 
(No life before coffee!)

I purchased them because of mounting, and ease of cleaning.
If it comes apart without too many little pieces, and fits in the dishwasher, then I'm all for it.
(Dish washer is fine, I make my own power and have my own well)

And lets face it, fresh bread, pasta, coffee just plain tastes better!
Not overheating the grains leaves the nutrients in the grain, so it's better for us...


----------



## Fishindude

Can't stand those rural all night security lights on a pole. We don't have one, but several neighbors on the road do. I don't care for the 'light pollution' at night. Can't see the stars with one of those burning.


----------



## DWBayless

Fishindude said:


> Can't stand those rural all night security lights on a pole. We don't have one, but several neighbors on the road do. I don't care for the 'light pollution' at night. Can't see the stars with one of those burning.


Agreed. Before we moved out into the country, we had a neighbor who had a dusk till dawn light that shined directly into our bedroom. You could read by the bloody thing. There were streetlights on the other side of the house. You couldn't see the stars. 

We've got no neighbors within a quarter of a mile here, and there is a mountain between us and them. The nighttime sky is one of the best things about getting out of the suburbs/cities.


----------



## DWBayless

Until we build the new house, we are staying in an all-electric mobile home, on the property. It is hard to take saving a couple of milliamps from phantom loads seriously, when using kilowatts to heat water/air/food, etc. Even so, we've picked up a new, more efficient refrigerator, and have all of our phantom loads on switches. We use about 15KWH/day, averaged throughout the year - much more during the winter, much less during the summer. This is much better than the house we were renting before moving out here. We averaged about 35KWH/day. It was old, big, and not well insulated. 

Even so, after I started tracking how much energy all of the 120V stuff in the house uses when off, I went out and picked up a bunch of switchable power strips. We've started using a clothes line rather than the dryer, and switch everything off while not in use, including the coffee pot, with the hotplate. 

I'm would love to get rid of the refrigerator/freezer. I don't eat meat or dairy. I almost think that a root cellar would be more my style, but don't have any experience with one.


----------



## riverrose31

I use a portable solar panel to charge my cell phone


----------



## red-beard

If you use pumps or motors, soft starters can help reduce the surge current. 

http://www.hypereng.com/index.html

The best way work with motors is with Variable Frequency Drives. They are more expensive but will save you electricity and if you install a generator or solar, allow a smaller setup. Most of the "mini-split" Air Conditioning units are VFD. And all VFD setups are soft start.


----------



## ke4mcl

paint the roof white.
did it on my place using white elastometric paint and noticed a small drop (about $10) in monthly electric bill (average $150). 

vent the shed/workshop.
i used 2 junk solar panels from a roadsign board and a radiator cooling fan from a ford ranger to vent my shed. no smarts. the fan is bolted to side of shed and blows through a hole in the wall. panels are connected straight to fan. you'd think it would burn up on stall but its been running for about 2 decades now. during the day the fan circulates dry air, at night its off.

as has been said here, LED/CFL the whole place.
when i first did this i noticed a drastic drop (about $40) on my bill. its not just the power the incandescents use which is not that god awful, its the heat they generate that your a/c system has to fight. this is obviously skewed by how many incandescents you have on and how often you run the a/c. i even put LED's in the fridge. CFL's have warm up times to hit full brightness.

you offgrid music lovers..
if you havent already, look into class D audio amplifiers. its a new tech in audio amps that is about 85-90% efficient compared to the usual 50% or so for conventional audio amps. soundwise the things sound amazing until driven to distortion, thats their only caveat.


----------



## carolpalmer

We often think about the appliance which save energy. There are many other ways one can ensure that energy is saved like the building envelopes. Today people are more aware of the need for saving energy and is contributing their bit in this initiative. 
The energy required for heating and cooling is determined by Building envelopes or building shell, fabric or enclosure. One cannot underestimate it's impact on energy consumption. It is said to be 50% in cold climates and over 60 % in the residential sub sector in cold climate countries. Building are responsible for more than one-third of global energy consumption. It helps in improving occupant comfort and the quality of life of millions of citizens. Other options include the lower cost automated dynamic shading and glazings, durable and low cost reflective roof materials and reflective coatings. Customers check for the energy star and ratings for the best energy efficient windows Check this useful article on http://northtechwindows.ca/2016/10/03/consider-selecting-energy-efficient-windows/ .
Always remember that powering our homes with renewable energy would save money and help the environment whhich includes rooftop solar panels,wind turbines, solar ovens, hydro power, and solar water heating, solar air conditioning.


----------



## Paris

Windy in Kansas said:


> No, I do not generate my own electricity nor do I have photovoltiac panels, wind generation, etc. I am totally on grid.
> 
> I am divorced and live alone so can keep energy consumption at a minimum compared to the usage by a family.
> 
> My electrical loads are as follows:
> 
> Dusk to dawn yard light with 14 watt compact fluorescent bulb.
> 
> Electric range. It is a Hotpoint and one large burner has a selector as to how much of the element heats, 3 selections to it.
> 
> Microwave.
> 
> Haier refrigerator which I think is a 7. cubic foot size. It is a manual defrost and I try to
> keep it defrosted on a regular basis.
> 
> Large capacity washing machine which I nearly always wait until I have a full load of any one color before doing a load. Quite a number of years ago I even purchased colored underwear so that I wouldn't have to do small loads of whites. I no longer do that however.
> 
> Electric dryer. I usually use only medium heat so as to not shrink clothing, which means much of the drying is done with air flow rather than heat from the element. I could no doubt line dry and save energy.
> 
> Television 27 inch model about 10-12 years old. Expect I could replace for greater conservation.
> 
> Stereo amplifier of 200 watts. Phantom load that I don't use for audio boost most of the time.
> 
> DVD player, another phantom load.
> 
> VHS tape player not very old so should be fairly efficient, but another phantom load.
> 
> Bookshelf stereo system used little, no phantom load.
> 
> One clock and one clock radio.
> 
> Computer, purchased in January so should be energy efficient. I turn off overnight.
> 
> Monitor 19 inch LCD flat panel or flat screen, I forget which is which.
> 
> Printer is turned off unless I am printing, as is scanner.
> 
> Treadmill used about 3 days a week, sometimes more frequently.
> 
> Lighting in kitchen is typically with the fluorescent bulb in the over range microwave and is on several hours each evening. When meal preparation is done the fluorescent overhead fixture is used--80 watt unit.
> 
> As mentioned I have gotten into the habit of instant coffee with water heated in the microwave. When I do use my drip maker I transfer the coffee to a carafe to keep it hot and turn off the maker.
> 
> Lighting in living/dining room is with a desk swing arm lamp next to my computer and has a 10 watt CF inside the reflector. Also a lamp on a timer (another phantom load) comes on around dark and shuts off near bedtime. It has a 14 watt CF bulb. I frequently change the timer to throw off any potential burglar as to when I'm home. For reading at my recliner I use a 100 watt swing arm halogen floor lamp. It is also the torche lamp style and I bounce light off of the ceiling much of the time.
> 
> Bathroom lighting is via ceiling fixture with 60 watt incandescent bulb. I consider it an in and out fixture that is not on very long at a time. Over the medicine cabinet is a fixture which as four CF bulbs in it of small wattages.
> 
> Other small loads, mouse unit which recharges the mouse battery, digital answering machine, electric razor recharger (once every 5 days for 8 hours, every few weeks electric screwdriver and also drill/driver recharge units, remote control batteries are rechargeable as are some other batteries and I use the one hour recharge time batteries that Walmart sells. The door bell also has a transformer so would be a draw.
> 
> Very infrequent use are shop tools including arc welder, table saw, 12 volt battery chargers, etc.
> 
> During the summer I don't use air-conditioning but instead use a whole-house attic fan. Often on overnight to really cool the house as much as possible.
> 
> About forgot, my water is electrically heated.
> 
> Lately normal KWH consumption has been in the 175 per 29 day range, meaning 6 KWH per day on average. With all of the franchise and other built-in fees it figures out to a little over 10Â¢ per KWH although the actual rate is about 8Â¢ per KWH.
> 
> If I switched off the phantom loads and didn't keep a light on in the kitchen so much and used a clothes line I could no doubt save quite a bit more.
> 
> I should mention too that I do check items with a Kill-O-Watt meter in order to know consumption on many items.
> 
> While I use fans in the summer, less daylight length in the winter tends to offset their use somewhat.
> 
> I currently line in town so have city water which means no electricity is used for pumping.
> 
> Well there is more information about myself than I generally share with anyone. I hope someone can benefit from it.


Whew. I use


----------



## Paris

Windy in Kansas said:


> No, I do not generate my own electricity nor do I have photovoltiac panels, wind generation, etc. I am totally on grid.
> 
> I am divorced and live alone so can keep energy consumption at a minimum compared to the usage by a family.
> 
> My electrical loads are as follows:
> 
> Dusk to dawn yard light with 14 watt compact fluorescent bulb.
> 
> Electric range. It is a Hotpoint and one large burner has a selector as to how much of the element heats, 3 selections to it.
> 
> Microwave.
> 
> Haier refrigerator which I think is a 7. cubic foot size. It is a manual defrost and I try to
> keep it defrosted on a regular basis.
> 
> Large capacity washing machine which I nearly always wait until I have a full load of any one color before doing a load. Quite a number of years ago I even purchased colored underwear so that I wouldn't have to do small loads of whites. I no longer do that however.
> 
> Electric dryer. I usually use only medium heat so as to not shrink clothing, which means much of the drying is done with air flow rather than heat from the element. I could no doubt line dry and save energy.
> 
> Television 27 inch model about 10-12 years old. Expect I could replace for greater conservation.
> 
> Stereo amplifier of 200 watts. Phantom load that I don't use for audio boost most of the time.
> 
> DVD player, another phantom load.
> 
> VHS tape player not very old so should be fairly efficient, but another phantom load.
> 
> Bookshelf stereo system used little, no phantom load.
> 
> One clock and one clock radio.
> 
> Computer, purchased in January so should be energy efficient. I turn off overnight.
> 
> Monitor 19 inch LCD flat panel or flat screen, I forget which is which.
> 
> Printer is turned off unless I am printing, as is scanner.
> 
> Treadmill used about 3 days a week, sometimes more frequently.
> 
> Lighting in kitchen is typically with the fluorescent bulb in the over range microwave and is on several hours each evening. When meal preparation is done the fluorescent overhead fixture is used--80 watt unit.
> 
> As mentioned I have gotten into the habit of instant coffee with water heated in the microwave. When I do use my drip maker I transfer the coffee to a carafe to keep it hot and turn off the maker.
> 
> Lighting in living/dining room is with a desk swing arm lamp next to my computer and has a 10 watt CF inside the reflector. Also a lamp on a timer (another phantom load) comes on around dark and shuts off near bedtime. It has a 14 watt CF bulb. I frequently change the timer to throw off any potential burglar as to when I'm home. For reading at my recliner I use a 100 watt swing arm halogen floor lamp. It is also the torche lamp style and I bounce light off of the ceiling much of the time.
> 
> Bathroom lighting is via ceiling fixture with 60 watt incandescent bulb. I consider it an in and out fixture that is not on very long at a time. Over the medicine cabinet is a fixture which as four CF bulbs in it of small wattages.
> 
> Other small loads, mouse unit which recharges the mouse battery, digital answering machine, electric razor recharger (once every 5 days for 8 hours, every few weeks electric screwdriver and also drill/driver recharge units, remote control batteries are rechargeable as are some other batteries and I use the one hour recharge time batteries that Walmart sells. The door bell also has a transformer so would be a draw.
> 
> Very infrequent use are shop tools including arc welder, table saw, 12 volt battery chargers, etc.
> 
> During the summer I don't use air-conditioning but instead use a whole-house attic fan. Often on overnight to really cool the house as much as possible.
> 
> About forgot, my water is electrically heated.
> 
> Lately normal KWH consumption has been in the 175 per 29 day range, meaning 6 KWH per day on average. With all of the franchise and other built-in fees it figures out to a little over 10Â¢ per KWH although the actual rate is about 8Â¢ per KWH.
> 
> If I switched off the phantom loads and didn't keep a light on in the kitchen so much and used a clothes line I could no doubt save quite a bit more.
> 
> I should mention too that I do check items with a Kill-O-Watt meter in order to know consumption on many items.
> 
> While I use fans in the summer, less daylight length in the winter tends to offset their use somewhat.
> 
> I currently line in town so have city water which means no electricity is used for pumping.
> 
> Well there is more information about myself than I generally share with anyone. I hope someone can benefit from it.





Windy in Kansas said:


> No, I do not generate my own electricity nor do I have photovoltiac panels, wind generation, etc. I am totally on grid.
> 
> I am divorced and live alone so can keep energy consumption at a minimum compared to the usage by a family.
> 
> My electrical loads are as follows:
> 
> Dusk to dawn yard light with 14 watt compact fluorescent bulb.
> 
> Electric range. It is a Hotpoint and one large burner has a selector as to how much of the element heats, 3 selections to it.
> 
> Microwave.
> 
> Haier refrigerator which I think is a 7. cubic foot size. It is a manual defrost and I try to
> keep it defrosted on a regular basis.
> 
> Large capacity washing machine which I nearly always wait until I have a full load of any one color before doing a load. Quite a number of years ago I even purchased colored underwear so that I wouldn't have to do small loads of whites. I no longer do that however.
> 
> Electric dryer. I usually use only medium heat so as to not shrink clothing, which means much of the drying is done with air flow rather than heat from the element. I could no doubt line dry and save energy.
> 
> Television 27 inch model about 10-12 years old. Expect I could replace for greater conservation.
> 
> Stereo amplifier of 200 watts. Phantom load that I don't use for audio boost most of the time.
> 
> DVD player, another phantom load.
> 
> VHS tape player not very old so should be fairly efficient, but another phantom load.
> 
> Bookshelf stereo system used little, no phantom load.
> 
> One clock and one clock radio.
> 
> Computer, purchased in January so should be energy efficient. I turn off overnight.
> 
> Monitor 19 inch LCD flat panel or flat screen, I forget which is which.
> 
> Printer is turned off unless I am printing, as is scanner.
> 
> Treadmill used about 3 days a week, sometimes more frequently.
> 
> Lighting in kitchen is typically with the fluorescent bulb in the over range microwave and is on several hours each evening. When meal preparation is done the fluorescent overhead fixture is used--80 watt unit.
> 
> As mentioned I have gotten into the habit of instant coffee with water heated in the microwave. When I do use my drip maker I transfer the coffee to a carafe to keep it hot and turn off the maker.
> 
> Lighting in living/dining room is with a desk swing arm lamp next to my computer and has a 10 watt CF inside the reflector. Also a lamp on a timer (another phantom load) comes on around dark and shuts off near bedtime. It has a 14 watt CF bulb. I frequently change the timer to throw off any potential burglar as to when I'm home. For reading at my recliner I use a 100 watt swing arm halogen floor lamp. It is also the torche lamp style and I bounce light off of the ceiling much of the time.
> 
> Bathroom lighting is via ceiling fixture with 60 watt incandescent bulb. I consider it an in and out fixture that is not on very long at a time. Over the medicine cabinet is a fixture which as four CF bulbs in it of small wattages.
> 
> Other small loads, mouse unit which recharges the mouse battery, digital answering machine, electric razor recharger (once every 5 days for 8 hours, every few weeks electric screwdriver and also drill/driver recharge units, remote control batteries are rechargeable as are some other batteries and I use the one hour recharge time batteries that Walmart sells. The door bell also has a transformer so would be a draw.
> 
> Very infrequent use are shop tools including arc welder, table saw, 12 volt battery chargers, etc.
> 
> During the summer I don't use air-conditioning but instead use a whole-house attic fan. Often on overnight to really cool the house as much as possible.
> 
> About forgot, my water is electrically heated.
> 
> Lately normal KWH consumption has been in the 175 per 29 day range, meaning 6 KWH per day on average. With all of the franchise and other built-in fees it figures out to a little over 10Â¢ per KWH although the actual rate is about 8Â¢ per KWH.
> 
> If I switched off the phantom loads and didn't keep a light on in the kitchen so much and used a clothes line I could no doubt save quite a bit more.
> 
> I should mention too that I do check items with a Kill-O-Watt meter in order to know consumption on many items.
> 
> While I use fans in the summer, less daylight length in the winter tends to offset their use somewhat.
> 
> I currently line in town so have city water which means no electricity is used for pumping.
> 
> Well there is more information about myself than I generally share with anyone. I hope someone can benefit from it.


Whew. THAT WAS 10 years ago. I live in south jersey and my bill in the summer is about $400! Awful but we can't shut the air off. Health issues :/. I think it costs me $18 a month just for the dryer :/ 
Wow.


----------



## Paris

Paris said:


> Whew. THAT WAS 10 years ago. I live in south jersey and my bill in the summer is about $400! Awful but we can't shut the air off. Health issues :/. I think it costs me $18 a month just for the dryer :/
> Wow.


 What does in rememberence mean? I just joined this homesteading yesterday. Anyone from south jersey?


----------



## In The Woods

Last year I bought a kill-a-watt meter and studied just about everything in my house. After that the first thing to be replaced was our 25 year old freezer. I replaced it with an energy star chest freezer (hard to find around here). I don't have the exact number in front of me but I think my savings are now $16 per month which is close to 20% of my electric bill.

I was surprised that my 10+ year old refrigerator isn't that bad of an energy hog - same goes with our 3 window A/C units.

That is about all I can do as far as appliances. We have only a 40 gallon electric water heater which is fine for the two of us. The clothes dryer is only used once or twice a month.

My electricity is relatively cheap at $0.066 per KW. My monthly averaged bill is $73 per month.


----------



## Forcast

How much are the killawatt meters?


----------



## wy_white_wolf

Forcast said:


> How much are the killawatt meters?


https://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Ele...=1502023102&sr=8-1&keywords=kill-a-watt+meter
www


----------



## Forcast

wy_white_wolf said:


> https://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Ele...=1502023102&sr=8-1&keywords=kill-a-watt+meter
> www


Thanks
How do you use it with larger plugs? Or dont you use for stoves ect.


----------



## In The Woods

Forcast said:


> Thanks
> How do you use it with larger plugs? Or dont you use for stoves ect.


You can only use it for 120V devices. Another thing is you can't check hard wired things like ceiling fans.

The cost was well worth it to me as I said above. It paid for itself in 1 month of electricty savings by replacing my freezer.

But beyone that I guess I am somewhat a geek at heart - I really liked checking everything in my house from the refrigerator, A/C units, to all the small stuff like TV's and electronics. I made a chart that show how much each thing uses, the cost per hour, day, and month. I really didn't have anything else to replace.

Was actually surprised by the little bricks that plug in - when the item was not in use they weren't using any power at all. I had always heard that you need to unplug those bricks when not in use. This verified to me that I can leave them plugged in.


----------



## Gary in ohio

THe most overlooked power savings devices in many homes is a switch...


----------



## In The Woods

Gary in ohio said:


> THe most overlooked power savings devices in many homes is a switch...


Or the brain which tells the finger to flip the switch....


----------



## HeavyHauler

I know I'm necro'ing, but our electricity bill is insane. $650ish this month and we turn off all our lights when not in use.

We have CFL light bulbs, but are switching to LED's, Walmart has LED lights on sale for $2.50 a bulb.

I found a lot of great tips here that we'll be using.

We really need to reduce our electricity usage. $650ish a month is craziness!


----------



## mnn2501

HeavyHauler said:


> I know I'm necro'ing, but our electricity bill is insane. $650ish this month and we turn off all our lights when not in use.
> 
> We have CFL light bulbs, but are switching to LED's, Walmart has LED lights on sale for $2.50 a bulb.
> 
> I found a lot of great tips here that we'll be using.
> 
> We really need to reduce our electricity usage. $650ish a month is craziness!


Do you have electric heat?
My highest bill is in the low $400 range and thats in Texas in August with the Air conditioning on


----------



## HeavyHauler

mnn2501 said:


> Do you have electric heat?
> My highest bill is in the low $400 range and thats in Texas in August with the Air conditioning on


Yup, whole house is on electric unfortunately.

There used to be a wood stove in the basement way back in the 50's to 70's, but then my grandparents switched to all electric.

I've been thinking about putting a wood stove back in. But the chimney would have to run up through my 2 year old daughter's bedroom closet.

I would need locking doors on it, and get her a dresser for her clothes.

Summer time, we won't be running AC. The basement stays really cold all summer. So we'll spend our time down there, when not outside.

Our winters get down to -55c in the deep of winter. So heating is big. I'm gonna put plastic wrap on all the windows next year.

Not sure what else I can do. But I don't want a $650 hydro bill. I want to get it as low as possible.


----------



## mnn2501

Whatever you do will cost money and affect the house. Were in I the north still I'd want gas forced air and a wood burner if possible, but that all costs $$$ to put in. Plastic on the windows and insulation will help, but you're still in for big electric bills.

Electricity was "penny cheap" (from an actual commercial from my youth in the 1960's) back in your grandparents day - not so much anymore.


----------



## HeavyHauler

mnn2501 said:


> Whatever you do will cost money and affect the house. Were in I the north still I'd want gas forced air and a wood burner if possible, but that all costs $$$ to put in. Plastic on the windows and insulation will help, but you're still in for big electric bills.
> 
> Electricity was "penny cheap" (from an actual commercial from my youth in the 1960's) back in your grandparents day - not so much anymore.


I'm not against spending money on things that will help in the long run.

We're surrounded by trillions of trees. All it takes is a permit, chainsaw and an axe. Also a way to transport the wood/tools.

We're gonna lessen our bill as much as possible. Use the savings to buy things we need and for our eventual land purchase.

Any savings will help.


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