The easiest of all is to switch off lights when you are not in the room. By switching off computers will also save a lot of energy, just the computer fan alone uses around 300 watts which is equivalent to having on 15 low energy light bulbs. Change all your light bulbs to CFL (low energy bulbs). Most people complain that these lights are dim, but once on for a while they heat up and become much brighter. Most household appliances have standby lights on them, did you know that a DVD recorder can use 100 watts in standby mode? Most of us have DVD’s and TV’s and just by switching them off fully you will straight away be saving yourself money. Try to get the whole family involved by turning off unused appliances, you will be amazed at your next electric bill on how much you have saved.
Some energy companies are supplying energy meters free of charge, so why not get one of these and then you can see for yourself how much energy you are saving each day?
Another simple energy saving tip is to use an egg timer while you or your family take a shower. Set it to a maximum of five minutes, when the bell goes off turn the shower off. A family of four taking a five minute shower per day will use around 3 kilowatts if heated by electric; you can double this for a 10 minute shower. If you have a water meter you will also be saving half on your water bill. Turning off the tap while cleaning teeth and only boiling the right amount of water in your kettle will also save you money on electric and water bills.
Most households have central heating systems installed; the most common will be powered by gas, this is generally cheaper to run than most electric systems. The easiest way to control central heating is by a room thermostat, just turning the room stat down by 1 degree will save a lot of energy and you will see a big reduction on your bills.
Living rooms, family rooms and dinning rooms are best heated up to 21 degrees this is the temperature that we all feel most comfortable at. Bedrooms should be set to 18 degrees or less; this is the optimun temperature for the best nights sleep. Bedrooms can be controlled by TRV valves (radiator thermostats) these are not hard to install but you will probably need a plumber to do this for you.
The latest condensing boilers are great at saving energy, being 92% efficient. An old open flue boiler will probably be only 65% efficiency and so it would be best to replace this as soon as possible. A programmable roomstat is excellent for controlling room temperatures. Many of the modern roomstats can have 6 differernt time zones in a day which can be set to 6 different temperatures to suit you.
Hot water cylinders come in all shapes and sizes. Some have a spray foam lagging, some have a jacket and I have even seen hot water cylinders with no lagging!.Your local builder’s merchants will sell a retrofit jacket to put on your cylinder, so the thicker the lagging the longer the water stays hot which in turn leads to you saving money.
Saving water is easy: you can put a brick in the toilet system or a sealed plastic bag with water in and place in the cistern making sure, of course, this does not interfere with the ballcock. This alone could save a litre of water per flush. If you wash your car make sure you use a spray gun on the end of the hose instead of wasting the water by letting it just flow down the drains. Turning the tap off when cleaning your teeth is also a big saver of water, particulary when you remember that we should spend at least 3 minutes each time we clean our teeth.
Lagging the loft saves enormous amounts of energy and this need not be very expensive. You can get lagging companies to do this for you; if you are over 70 you will be able to get it free. Whilst your loft is being lagged you could also have your brick cavity walls filled with chopped fibre lagging. Did you know that the heat loss from your roof can be up to 30% and your walls up to 40%?
Sealing up around ill fitting doors and windows will also help to conserve energy and warmth. If you have an open fire, sealing this when not in use saves warmth as heat from your central heating just goes straight up the chimney. There is a purpose built balloon you can purchase to put up the chimney, just remember to take it out if going to reuse the fireplace.
With all the money you have saved by changing your living habits as above, why not put this towards having a hot water solar panel installed? Having solar panels could supply all your water during the summer months for free. However, one minor point to remember is just to make sure the cylinder gets up to 60 degrees once a week to ensure that any bacteria in the water is killed off.
When you stop and think about it, all the suggestions above are simple and easy to do. The best thing of all is that not only are you helping the planet and future generations but you are also helping yourself straight away to save money.
Please check out our website if your interested in anything to do with Renewable Energy
http://www.natural-energysolutions.co.uk
http://www.natural-energysolutions.co.uk/solarpanels.html
Thank you for reading, British Gas Energy Smart
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{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
The two wires are not live and neutral, one is the live feed from the time clock , the other is the switch feed back to the boiler.
You can fit a mechanical thermostat you just need to connect the two wires to the correct terminals.I would go for a Honeywell T6360 cost around £15. Connect Live feed to terminal 1 and switch feed to terminal 3.This thermostat will work without a neutral , but will not react to temperature changes as quickly.
try doing ballet that will help you get super flexible and also tone muscles
SPOILER ALERT!
Radiators – Vital Part of an Efficient Central Heating Systems
The bad news bears lost…….
No more than 50 dollars a month for both…
Some people are thermometers, some are thermostats. Thermostat people don't register the temperature in a room, they change it.
It's likely either air in the system which you can bleed out through the rads or more likely there is sludge in the system. Depending on how bad this is you can either have the system power-flushed by a professional for around £300 + (this is the best option as it will avoid any future blockages occuring) or you can buy chemicals (Fernox or Sentinel) that you add to the system to break down the sludge.
A good way to judge if you have air or sludge in the system is feel the rads – if they are warm at the bottom and cold at the top it is air in the system.
If they are cold at the bottom and arm at the top it is sludge in the system as the sludge is heavy and suts at the bottom of the rads.
If neither appy it could just be a case of you needing to bracket the pipes properly. SOmetimes as the pipes expand/contract they bang and hit on joists etc. xx
If you have to ask, you are in over your head.
im not quite sure what the thermometer is trying to show its in c in the first shot and in f on the second, and the temp is about the same before and after, sounds like bs to me, blind people with science always works
Hi, well we cant get airconditioner to kick in. I put the inside temp on 15 c and the outside temp had been sitting about 25. Ive gone into the units menu,and i think i have it right. We only seem to be getting cool FAN air. it just gets hotter and hotter in the house. can you try to help on this matter? Thanks- Doug ( Okanagan Canada
Thanks
RT why is it always so F'in hot in my room…ugh/// maybe you have the heat on check the thermostat
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Turn down the boiler Thermostat.
Like just for the song ^^
water bills,Dstv bills,zesco all up but the reason given for this reduced inflation rate is non-food items????seriously!!!!
Worcester make their own wireless programmable room t/stats,theirs would be the easiest to install.Very effective.
In Chicago,
IL a 50 year old hospice patient
& her husband are falling behind on gas,
electric and water bills…. http://fb.me/Klw24w1M
Since you have a dimmer, I would put in as much wattage as the dimmer will handle. I assume that is about 600 Watts (that's what ours are).
We have 8 – 40 watt bulbs in our chandelier and two 150 watt cans in the ceiling over the dining room table.
RT $1,000 for sugar water and salt? Big Pharma bills … and consumers pay
i'd never faced such a thing, so i dunno
one 40 watt and all the rest are 60 watts
When you did that you added fresh water in the system and fresh water has air it it. You have to bleed all the air out of the radiators. Start with the furthest one and work your way back to the boiler. If you have a expansion tank on or around your boiler do not let the air out of it.
City looks to reduce water bills –
The Angels Camp City Council will consider reducing water bills for residents… http://bit.ly/euPWDp
Houston Hard Hitters:The Future Of The South vol1 hosted by michael 5000 watts listen to it HerneyTheGreat.bandcamp.com
It depends on what livestock you will keep. I'm assuming you will have a freshwater aquarium with plants in it?
A freshwater tank requires way less lighting than a saltwater one so you should be fine. If you plan to keep large amounts of plants in there then I would upgrade to a higher wattage lamp fixture. I highly recommend the compact fluorescent lights and they are relatively inexpensive. So far you have less than 1 watt per gallon in your aquarium. You might consider getting a 45 watt lamp and that way you will boast to boast to 2.3 watts per gallon. Best of luck.
Watts at 01/13/2011 01:27:06.
Kitchen Counter: 0W, Central Air: 0W, Office Equipment: 52W
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