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Hacks to reduce energy costs

Brekkie said:
Another hack to save on energy:

The other day a work colleague mentioned she charges her work laptop fully at work and her phone too... I thought now why didn’t I do that some people are way more savvy than me ...

I’m thinking may be cheaper to go into the office than wfh using up my own leccy and heating this winter... Mind you they got a smashing new kitchen at work with the latest gadgetry and 3 brand new flat bed smeg microwaves and a dishwasher...
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I used to do that when I was a member of the Go to Work club. But check with the boss first since many firms have regulations that only equipment that has been passed as tested by an electrician can be plugged in on their site. I had to ensure that I subnitted all such equipment for PAT testing on the day he came and checked the office..

On a personal note. I oncd went to the local hospital for my eye test, and I went on my mobility scooter. I took the charger since it was on the extreme range and I needed to sharge it up when I got there. I plugged it into the socket used by the cleaner, but when I got back from the eye test I found a snottoffgram from Matron, who had disconnected the charger. On the way back I had to push it to a shop who kindly let me use their electricity. NHS is very strict on their sites. I had a similar battle when in hospital and wanting to charge my mobile and had to plug it in to the socket in the hallway outside the ward. I was not allowed to use any of the sockets in the wall beside the bed. The Cardio ward was ok with it though. Sometimes one has to contrnd with a Jobsworth.

as an aside. When using a flatbed microwave, be sure that you rotate the food frequently because there will be dead spots that mean food can be undercooked, especially meat or frozen. There is a good reason why they normally have trundling turntables.
 
I have not fact checked this, but the Telegraph is advising that heating a room costs 8 times more than using an electric blanket, and 40 times using a hot water bottle.

I think there are plug in supply switches that connect to the internet, and receive tariff information from your supplier when the rates are expensive and disconnect whatever is plugged in until the electric becomes cheaper. You do need a smart meter and a supplier who has an active tariff that supports this. The smart meter does not do the switching, but it is the ability for the supplier to remotely read it every half hour to bill you in half hourly segments. I think they will be able to interact with things like Nest Hive or Siri / Alexa to do the automated switching of your connected devices but I don;t have any of those so unless they email or text me I would not know what the tariff was doing. There is a power socket that has a red/green LED that can do that apparently, but I don;t spend my time watching power sockets.
 
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Brekkie said:
On a another note just saw this about possible power cuts

www.bbc.co.uk

Homes face winter power cuts in worst-case scenario, says National Grid

Cuts would probably occur at peak times and customers would be warned in advance.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
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This is worrying me far more at the moment, we are all electric, no gas in the area we live, how I’m going to cook, keep warm and keep my son calm because it will freak him out considerably and will probably have off the scale anxiety and meltdowns, it’s going to be even more exhausting than usual :( - there must be people who need electricity for medical equipment etc how the heck they are going to deal with that I don’t know
 
lovinglife said:
This is worrying me far more at the moment, we are all electric, no gas in the area we live, how I’m going to cook, keep warm and keep my son calm because it will freak him out considerably and will probably have off the scale anxiety and meltdowns, it’s going to be even more exhausting than usual :( - there must be people who need electricity for medical equipment etc how the heck they are going to deal with that I don’t know
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I agree. Same with my son. And he has Raynaud's too, so the cold means lots of pain for him to deal with.
 
My Rayburn (smokeless coal and wood) needs electricity to pump the heat from the thermal store around the radiators, or the thermal store can overheat, and I have to waste the hot water in the thermal store down the drain. We don't have a bath. I can't just switch the coal off. Even when the dampers, slides etc are set to cook, some heat goes into the thermal store. It's going to take careful planning. I don't know how we will be notified of planned outages.
 
HSSS said:
Camping stove?
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Can you use camping stoves indoors? I do have a gas BBQ but don’t fancy standing out cooking in the cold with no way of getting warm once inside, my son with his autism has Very few foods he will eat, most of them you couldn’t do on a little camping stove. Hubby is considering getting a generator. Will wait and see - who knows what will happen?

As a side note I’m secretly stressing because even as a 60 year old woman I’m terrified of the dark, not just frightened but terrified, I still sleep with a night light lol
 
lovinglife said:
Can you use camping stoves indoors? I do have a gas BBQ but don’t fancy standing out cooking in the cold with no way of getting warm once inside, my son with his autism has Very few foods he will eat, most of them you couldn’t do on a little camping stove. Hubby is considering getting a generator. Will wait and see - who knows what will happen?

As a side note I’m secretly stressing because even as a 60 year old woman I’m terrified of the dark, not just frightened but terrified, I still sleep with a night light lol
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We used a two ring camping stove with a gas bottle for several years when, for various reasons, our kitchen was not useable. We could cook most things on it. The grill was a bit naff but worked.
 
lovinglife said:
Can you use camping stoves indoors? I do have a gas BBQ but don’t fancy standing out cooking in the cold with no way of getting warm once inside, my son with his autism has Very few foods he will eat, most of them you couldn’t do on a little camping stove. Hubby is considering getting a generator. Will wait and see - who knows what will happen?

As a side note I’m secretly stressing because even as a 60 year old woman I’m terrified of the dark, not just frightened but terrified, I still sleep with a night light lol
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You can. It’s not really any different to having a gas hob. In fact I’d place it (on a glass chopping board if necessar) on the hob as the safest place. You can get different type, from little ones with a hairspray sized canister to doubles with a grill run from a small gas bottle.

what sort of foods? There’s actually a lot you can do camping without electric if you are creative. Maybe I can help (or try to) and reassure you. Pm if you prefer.

Camping lights and torches are being made accessible here before the winter really hits.
 
lovinglife said:
Can you use camping stoves indoors? I do have a gas BBQ but don’t fancy standing out cooking in the cold with no way of getting warm once inside, my son with his autism has Very few foods he will eat, most of them you couldn’t do on a little camping stove. Hubby is considering getting a generator. Will wait and see - who knows what will happen?

As a side note I’m secretly stressing because even as a 60 year old woman I’m terrified of the dark, not just frightened but terrified, I still sleep with a night light lol
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BBQ indoors is a definite DONT. They have been linked to fatalities many times. Gas stoves should be ok provided you don;t block offf the airbricks After all we use gas hobs and ovens in our homes. And when I bought my house here, we used calor gas heaters and paraffin space heaters. Our AGA cooker split its boiler before we boughrt the house, and there were no radiators at all. We do have working fireplaces and I keep them swept.

Invest in tea lights and candles. I remember as a kid power cuts being an adventure and we became inventive with lanterns and battery powered standby lamps. We used to tell ghost stories during the powercuts if there was a stormy night.

Powercuts may be unusual to young 'uns, but we oldies should be able to cope like our grandparents did. I mean they went through the War after all. I went to a school that had minimal heating and it certainly was not luxury at the flick of a switch. It was a boarding school and we used to have to break the ice and unfreeze the pipes to get our morning and even evening wash. I remember hoar frost on the windows so you could not see out.

The sky is NOT falling down. It will be inconvenient for sure. dust off the thermos. consider an LPG heater. get batteries for the torch. consider a windup torch.
 
HSSS said:
You can. It’s not really any different to having a gas hob. In fact I’d place it (on a glass chopping board if necessar) on the hob as the safest place. You can get different type, from little ones with a hairspray sized canister to doubles with a grill run from a small gas bottle.

what sort of foods? There’s actually a lot you can do camping without electric if you are creative. Maybe I can help (or try to) and reassure you. Pm if you prefer.

Camping lights and torches are being made accessible here before the winter really hits.
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Make sure you have matches. And another box of matches in case you drop the first box in the sink or the loo. get a lighter.
 
Brekkie said:
Last year we needed a gas bottle for the repairs on the roof extension and had so much difficulty getting the actual bottle to refill they were only offering refills if you already had an existing bottle. In the end we managed to haggle for a bottle plus the gas for over £100.

I feel it’s a losing battle to overthink and we will be forced to adjust anyway.

Even having the means to afford the bills is not going to make an iota of difference in this case for us ordinary folk.
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You do need to go to major suppliers to buy the actual bottle. Somewhere like the calories shops or I think even B&Q. At least you have one now. Many smaller places and garages etc just do the swaps/refill and that part is much easier.

Yes, IF it happens we’ll have to adjust. But putting some simple plans in place now can save a lot of the worrying you’re doing now and make things easier if the worst occurs, even if it’s just a plan right and not actually enacted unless and until it’s needed.
 
Just seen a report on BBC about hacks to save money. They were in a flat that has an immerion boiler, and the presenter advised to reduce the temperature down to 40C. This is not a sensible suggestion due to the possibility of legionella thriving and multiplying at temps between 30C up to 50C so that was bad advice IMHO.

They also advised that you turn off the heated towel rail. Thats ok provided that your rail is not being used as the mandated heat sink. All piped water systems must have a heat sink that gives pressure relief if the boiler runs and all the other radiators are turned off such as by individual thermostatic valves. You can tell if it is the heatsink because the heatsink radiator cannot be turned off manually except by using a spanner.
 
Brekkie said:
Can anyone suggest re LPG heater - which one to buy?
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They do smell a bit, and you need some ventilation or you can get headaches. You need a carbon monoxide monitor on the wall or near it to be safe. We used one for a couple of years. Condensation can be a problem too without ventilation. We opened a small window a few mm when it was on.
 
One thing that may be worth consideing is an electric oil filled radiator. These come with a built in timer and different heat settings, They are quiet background heaters and not in your face radiant heaters, but they are quite efficient. They also hold their heat better than a water radiator so could help if you charge them up before a planned power cut. I have one but must admit I have not used it since I upgraded my central heating system. Bit like the night storage heaters, but come on wheels and a bit easier to move around.
Edit to clarify. By charge I mean fill with heat prior to the power cut at rhe notified time not an electrical charge
 
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We have 4 oil filled radiators, on wheels. They are great for topping up heat or if it's too cold for the Rayburn to cope with. They are thermostatic control using a dial, so they click on and off. Mine done have timers. However, this doesn't help when the electric is off. They are good for quickly heating up a room and come in various sizes.

Mine are not chargeable. I didn't realize some came with chargeable batteries.
 
Another vote for the oil-filled radiator. Mine must be 20 years old, and only used upstairs in the coldest part of winter. We don't have central heating - our only other heating is a downstairs gas fire dating from the 1970s. It's all perfectly survivable, just a bit inconvenient. Dressing for the cold is also an art that helps.
 
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