Quote:
Originally Posted by thinkxingu
The $103 was my August/September bill (read date of 9/18). Summer months aren't a fair gauge of power for us because we're up at camp most of the time.
The biggest electric cost for me is electric baseboard heating. We haven't changed that for a myriad of reasons, but are beginning to look at options again. I haven't ever paid for wood—and I just scored 2.5 cords or so of free 3-year-seasoned hardwood, for a total of about 5 year's worth in my rack—so that helps a lot.
What I did and what I think of the outcome:
* Water heater to vacation mode when away. I think this is negligible as when we'd return home after a week, the water would still be warm enough to shower and the elements wouldn't run very long to catch up.
* Dehumidifier setting. A dehumidifier is essentially a refrigerator, so turning this up 5% certainly had it running less. I couldn't go any higher, though, as it would begin to smell musty.
* New refrigerator. We had replaced our 20+ year-old refrigerator in spring with an Energy Saver model, and it definitely runs much less than the old one. I'm sure I'm saving here.
* Increasing AC from 72 to 75 when home and to 85 when away. I think this is the absolute biggest saver. I'm actually weirded out to think we'd only raise it a couple degrees when we were away and that we'd use blankets at 72.
* Washer/Dryer: I began setting my Speed Queen washer to heavy duty. This doesn't use any more water, which we run cold anyway, but has a much more powerful spin dry to where the clothes are almost dry. This runs the dryer for a much shorter period of time, which I'm sure helps.
* Dishwasher: I noticed that my dishes tended to be dry as soon as the cycle was done, so we shut off the heating element option. I gotta think this saves a few bucks as we run it two to three times a week.
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Thanks for sharing your results, Think! Fun, eh? Some questions and comments:
Wood: How did you "score 2.5 cords of free wood"?
Dehumidifier: I have one in the basement and one upstairs. For the one upstairs I noticed that if it smells musty, turning on the dehumidifier for one hour gets rid of that, so I've been able to run it one hour a couple of times a week. Dehumidifying the basement down to 50% takes several hours. Again, it only needs to be done once or twice a week. Also, I think it was John Mercier who said that if you dehumidify the basement that will lower the humidity in the house so I've been mindful of that. The ridge vents I installed with the roof replacement last year seem to have improved the humidity problem, which was previously severe.
Washing machine: What determines the capacity to remove water from the clothes? Is it the "power" of the spin dry or the length of the spinning? I tried spinning it twice today and it did seem drier. By the way, if you hang "wetter" clothes in the house in the winter you will appreciate the increased humidity. Perhaps not something you want to do with a family.