Water/Electric consumption
Dawn
After the posts awhile back about water comsumption I had decided to
see if we couldn't do a little better on ours. So I have a new bill
which reflects small small changes. I am making sure my dishwasher is
full before running and full loads of clothes are washing. Anyway my
average for this last time period showed us using 10 cu. ft. a day.
This is down from the usual 13 for the same time frame the past couple
of years.
Then as a little sidenote....my heatpump fan died so we quit using it.
I have just been procrastinating calling someone to come fix it.
Anyway my electricity useage dropped to 25 KWH a day from 32-34 a day.
Our main source of heat is the woodstove, but I had been somewhat lazy
the last few months. If the fire was dead in the morning I would just
kick on the heater because I was leaving soon for work, so why build a
fire. Once I had no choice my consumption dropped nicely.
Dawn, thinking the clothesline may get more use this summer than it
has since we moved into this house. :)
Jeff
> Hello to the group,
> After the posts awhile back about water comsumption I had decided to
> see if we couldn't do a little better on ours. So I have a new bill
> which reflects small small changes. I am making sure my dishwasher is
> full before running and full loads of clothes are washing. Anyway my
> average for this last time period showed us using 10 cu. ft. a day.
> This is down from the usual 13 for the same time frame the past couple
> of years.
You're down almost 25% for no expense, I think that's pretty good.
And, that may not be at all bad for a household. You'd probably have
to upgrade toilets, washers, shower heads, etc to go lower. I just ran
across this:
http://www.owasa.org/pages/WaterCalculator.html
Recycling gray water for toilets would be the next step.
> Then as a little sidenote....my heatpump fan died so we quit using it.
> I have just been procrastinating calling someone to come fix it.
> Anyway my electricity useage dropped to 25 KWH a day from 32-34 a day.
> Our main source of heat is the woodstove, but I had been somewhat lazy
> the last few months. If the fire was dead in the morning I would just
> kick on the heater because I was leaving soon for work, so why build a
> fire.
I haven't run my woodstove for several months. More solar, and more
insulation and living in a different part of the house. Electric bills
are half what they were last year when I fed it constantly.
Once I had no choice my consumption dropped nicely.
> Dawn, thinking the clothesline may get more use this summer than it
> has since we moved into this house. :)
Well, I haven't tried it in sub freezing weather, but clothelines work
well on sunny days, no matter what the temperature is. The only weather
that they work poorly in is wet!
Jeff
Paul M. Eldridge
>Hello to the group,
>After the posts awhile back about water comsumption I had decided to
>see if we couldn't do a little better on ours. So I have a new bill
>which reflects small small changes. I am making sure my dishwasher is
>full before running and full loads of clothes are washing. Anyway my
>average for this last time period showed us using 10 cu. ft. a day.
>This is down from the usual 13 for the same time frame the past couple
>of years.
Congratulations, Dawn! As Jeff indicated, you've already reduced your
demand by some 25 per cent with presumably little or no inconvenience.
If you haven't already done so, the next step might be to replace your
current showerhead with a low-flow version; not only will you save a
significant amount of water, it will be hot water, so you'll be saving
two ways.
Low-flush and/or dual-flush toilets are another great water saver. I
replaced an old 20+ litre per flush Crane with a 6 lpf Kohler that
outperforms the original by a wide margin. At an average of 5
flushes/day, say, that's a savings of over 25,000 litres/year (6,800
gallons).
>Then as a little sidenote....my heatpump fan died so we quit using it.
>I have just been procrastinating calling someone to come fix it.
>Anyway my electricity useage dropped to 25 KWH a day from 32-34 a day.
>Our main source of heat is the woodstove, but I had been somewhat lazy
>the last few months. If the fire was dead in the morning I would just
>kick on the heater because I was leaving soon for work, so why build a
>fire. Once I had no choice my consumption dropped nicely.
If your system is on its last legs and in need of replacement, you'll
be happy to know the current generation of heat pumps are much more
energy efficient than those of the past (i.e., minimum 13 SEER and 7.7
HSPF). Within your budget considerations, look for a heat pump with a
high HSPF, ideally 8.5 or better. If it's a relatively new system but
hasn't had a tune-up recently, I would get this done when you replace
the defective fan.
>Dawn, thinking the clothesline may get more use this summer than it
>has since we moved into this house. :)
Great idea. It all adds up.
Cheers,
Paul
hchi...@hotmail.com
Way cool, Dawn. Water doesn't cost us anything but the cost of
pumping it to the storage tank, but since our system is not fully set
up, the work of filling it keeps us aware of usage. I'm not keeping
tight track, but it looks like we use an average of about 7 cu ft/day,
and we have all the water saving features. I expect that to increase
as the weather warms up.
I've never been comfortable leaving a wood fire burning in an
unoccupied home, so I'd have had more electric expense in your
situation. A gentle reminder that it is about time for a spring
chimney cleaning.
Depending on time and money, we have a lot of projects planned, one of
which is a more efficient and safer woodburning method. Right now
though, I'm watching the markets in horror and fascination. The
manipulations and rescues and behind the scenes deals are engrossing,
if you can get beyond the mainstream media news. There are drops,
sucker rallies, backdoor Fed bailouts and new agencies, banks taking
the low interest money from the Fed and flipping it into Euro
investments rather than pulling down interest rates, and games that
are so complex that you can only touch the surface of what they might
do.
Jeff
I choke it down and put it on idle. With a new liner, I'm not worried.
With that said, it does have unexpected consequences.
I returned once from my girlfriends house to find the house next door
burned down and my door smashed in (The door was mostly intact because I
had it reinforced, but the frame was smashed).
Apparently after putting out the fire next door, the firemen noticed
a wisp of smoke coming from my chimney and *had* to investigate.
A gentle reminder that it is about time for a spring
> chimney cleaning.
>
> Depending on time and money, we have a lot of projects planned, one of
> which is a more efficient and safer woodburning method. Right now
> though, I'm watching the markets in horror and fascination. The
> manipulations and rescues and behind the scenes deals are engrossing,
> if you can get beyond the mainstream media news. There are drops,
> sucker rallies, backdoor Fed bailouts and new agencies, banks taking
> the low interest money from the Fed and flipping it into Euro
> investments rather than pulling down interest rates,
Sounds like the yen carry trade. Say, that hasn't worked out so well for
Japan, has it?
and games that
> are so complex that you can only touch the surface of what they might
> do.
Oh man, it is fascinating. It's soaring again today, for what reason
I'm not sure yet. Nobody wants to be left behind, either up or down.
It's all propped up by cheap money and the assumption the Fed will bail
you out when your money gambles flop. Look at who got bailed out with
Bear Sterns, and who didn't.
When will the chickens come home to roost?
Jeff
Jeff
> On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 18:35:03 -0700, Dawn <lin...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hello to the group,
>> After the posts awhile back about water comsumption I had decided to
>> see if we couldn't do a little better on ours. So I have a new bill
>> which reflects small small changes. I am making sure my dishwasher is
>> full before running and full loads of clothes are washing. Anyway my
>> average for this last time period showed us using 10 cu. ft. a day.
>> This is down from the usual 13 for the same time frame the past couple
>> of years.
>
> Congratulations, Dawn! As Jeff indicated, you've already reduced your
> demand by some 25 per cent with presumably little or no inconvenience.
> If you haven't already done so, the next step might be to replace your
> current showerhead with a low-flow version; not only will you save a
> significant amount of water, it will be hot water, so you'll be saving
> two ways.
>
> Low-flush and/or dual-flush toilets are another great water saver. I
> replaced an old 20+ litre per flush Crane with a 6 lpf Kohler that
> outperforms the original by a wide margin. At an average of 5
> flushes/day, say, that's a savings of over 25,000 litres/year (6,800
> gallons).
Hi Paul,
Have you seen anything retro looking? I have an on the wall tank
(though not one of the high ones) and have been avoiding replacing it
because I don't want to take the bathroom out of the 20's. I don't use a
lot of water (3 or 4 CF/day), but I'm just one individual. I don't care
so much about the pot, as the tank.
Jeff
Paul M. Eldridge
> Hi Paul,
>
> Have you seen anything retro looking? I have an on the wall tank
>(though not one of the high ones) and have been avoiding replacing it
>because I don't want to take the bathroom out of the 20's. I don't use a
>lot of water (3 or 4 CF/day), but I'm just one individual. I don't care
>so much about the pot, as the tank.
>
> Jeff
Hi Jeff,
No, sorry, I haven't seen anything along those lines. You might
contact the speciality plumbing stores in your area and see if they
stock anything that would work or could order from one of their
suppliers, but expect to pay big bucks. My sense is that you would
need to replace both the tank and bowl to approach the efficiency of
these newer units, since much of the flushing action is dependent upon
the design of the latter.
The alternative is to place a 2-litre pop bottle filled with water or
sand inside your tank; if the flushing operation is compromised, it's
a simple matter of taking it back out.
Cheers,
Paul
Dawn
>
> Once I had no choice my consumption dropped nicely.
>> Dawn, thinking the clothesline may get more use this summer than it
>> has since we moved into this house. :)
>
>Well, I haven't tried it in sub freezing weather, but clothelines work
>well on sunny days, no matter what the temperature is. The only weather
>that they work poorly in is wet!
>
> Jeff
I live in the Pacific Northwest so we get a goodly amount of rain. I
have used the line a few times late winter this year.
Dawn, starting to think garden and that extra water consumption.
Dawn
<paul.e...@ns.sympatico.ca> wrote:
>If your system is on its last legs and in need of replacement, you'll
>be happy to know the current generation of heat pumps are much more
>energy efficient than those of the past (i.e., minimum 13 SEER and 7.7
>HSPF). Within your budget considerations, look for a heat pump with a
>high HSPF, ideally 8.5 or better. If it's a relatively new system but
>hasn't had a tune-up recently, I would get this done when you replace
>the defective fan.
>
Our house was built in 2002. So a nice tune-up/check-up is in order
for the heatpump.
Dawn, still procrastinating.
Dawn
>
>Depending on time and money, we have a lot of projects planned, one of
>which is a more efficient and safer woodburning method. Right now
>though, I'm watching the markets in horror and fascination. The
>manipulations and rescues and behind the scenes deals are engrossing,
>if you can get beyond the mainstream media news. There are drops,
>sucker rallies, backdoor Fed bailouts and new agencies, banks taking
>the low interest money from the Fed and flipping it into Euro
>investments rather than pulling down interest rates, and games that
>are so complex that you can only touch the surface of what they might
>do.
Oh Harry you are making my head swim.
Dawn, happy to garden and stay calm.
Paul M. Eldridge
>Our house was built in 2002. So a nice tune-up/check-up is in order
>for the heatpump.
>Dawn, still procrastinating.
Hi Dawn,
You're in pretty good shape since 1) your system is relatively new, 2)
you live in a reasonably mild climate and 3) your electricity costs
are low compared to other parts of the country. Nonetheless, a
tune-up would help ensure everything is running as it should and
hopefully extend the service life of your equipment. Dirt build-up on
the inside A-coil can hurt efficiency badly, so if you have an
electronic air cleaner clean it regularly, or if you have throw-away
filters change them once a month.
Cheers,
Paul
hchi...@hotmail.com
>Dawn, starting to think garden and that extra water consumption.
Cheap portable swimming pool, rainwater harvesting. Plants like the
rainwater better anyway.