-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Extra Uses For Off-Peak Electricity
- Thread starter ME_UK
- Start date
PITA
Model 3 Performance
That's sort of our plan...
We have an Air to Air Heat Pump, with internal wall units that can provide heat.
So If I do a Washing Load to finish about 00:30 ... I can stay up, hang out the washing on a floor standing laundry folding rack. With a dehumidifier in the centre. A wall unit on Heat mode, draughting warm air towards it, with the dehumidifier taking out the moisture.
Been using this routine for over a year already and it's very effective. In tandem to using a Condensing Tumble Dryer.
The reason I didn't buy a Heat Pump Tumble dryer is they're far too slow. I need a fast dryer during off-peak rates... which ours does brilliantly.
I don't mind staying up late... and it'll only be through December washing days anyway. Just to take the edge of those 30p kWh rates...
Under 'normal' conditions, our 27 kWh Powerwalls and Solar Array would get us through... at cheap rate
Last edited:
That’s pretty high. Worth checking out. I’m in a 5 bedroom 3 storey house and I’m in IT so have a Synology NAS, Unifi wifi access points and network switches, a couple of Intel NUCs running VMs, 5 or 6 Sonos speakers plus fridge etc, and my baseline is 200W. So 400-500W for someone not running stuff 24x7 “on purpose” seems really high. At current rates 1Wh costs you around £2.75 per year, so your 400-500W are costing you £1,100 to £1,400 per year.
I too am in IT. Our baseload is 580W or so. The rack alone is 400W (and that's way down). 2x48 port switches (1 PoE). PoE powering a number of Unifi access points. Unifi router. VM Modem, VM STB. 8x8 HDMI distribution system. 6 or so Sonos Amps. A few Pis. A few other little odds and sods. I could get 40W back or so by swapping out the HDMI distribution for a newer, lower power 8x1 (only really need 1 input).
I am well aware of how much it's costing to run this baseload. We were at nearly 1kW a few months ago! I am still trying to trace 80-100W which I can't account for outside the rack. If its something unnecessary that would be a quick cheap win.
I am well aware of how much it's costing to run this baseload. We were at nearly 1kW a few months ago! I am still trying to trace 80-100W which I can't account for outside the rack. If its something unnecessary that would be a quick cheap win.
Drew57
Active ember
Most usage March-September is supplied by 5kW solar with 16.3kW battery storage. The Octopus bill shows virtually nothing except the standing charge throughout this period although I do occasionally charge the Tesla on IO just to maintain 'fair use' of the tariff.
The rest of the time we use the IO 6 hour period:
Gas is still the biggest cost - with two nest controlled combi boilers we tend to heat one part of the house until around 20.30 then switch to the smaller system at 21.00 which warms the in-use bedrooms etc for 10pm (one of us could live with room specific electric storage heat but it's been made clear that our relationship would then become as cold as the rest of the house so that's not happening)
The rest of the time we use the IO 6 hour period:
- 2 EVs charging (Fiat 500e rarely as mileage is very low)
- 9.6kW batteries charging (supplemented during the day by whatever excess solar puts into the remaining 6.7kW batteries)
- Dishwasher
- Washing machine
- Tumble dryer or smart socket controlled large Heated drying maiden
- 5L boiled water storage - heats at 1kWh for ~30 mins at 4.50am, negligible trickle charge until switching off at 7.30pm (then refilled)
- Shark vacuum cleaner charges 2 nights/week
- Smart sockets/timers on lamps etc
- Battery powered lawn mower (charged mostly by solar)
- Battery powered Drills & other electrical tools, laptops, phones etc.
Gas is still the biggest cost - with two nest controlled combi boilers we tend to heat one part of the house until around 20.30 then switch to the smaller system at 21.00 which warms the in-use bedrooms etc for 10pm (one of us could live with room specific electric storage heat but it's been made clear that our relationship would then become as cold as the rest of the house so that's not happening)
Like others here I've been using my immersion heater overnight to get hot water. Only problem is, it's about 30 years old and doesn't seem to work - never noticed before because I never tried to use it! So this weekend's job is to replace it. Other than the obvious stuff like running tumble dryer and dishwasher overnight, I'm starting to think about the best way of heating the house with nighttime electricity. Don't want to spend loads, and don't want to burn the house down, but a few electric heaters on a timer would probably give a good saving over the winter.
HenryT
Active Member
To be fair, I'm getting pretty fed up only watching the TV between 00.30 and 4.30 am, but needs must..
cryo
Member
I use two 2KW oil filled rads with integrated timers and temp control from Toolstation (£49 each) from 00:30-04:30 and this means the central heating does not come on until approx. teatime in the colder months. Out of interest one of these heaters in my large kitchen only uses 2KWh overnight (10p on go) and the kitchen starts the day at 26/27C.
ACarneiro
Active Member
I know it’s none of my business, but isn’t 26° a far too high temperature to have in the middle of winter?
We have a similar sized house with a hot tub - we were running at around 170W per hour in May when we went on holiday. About 4kW per day....I know I'm taking a hit for the hot tub and the giant fridge freezer. Back in May when we went on holiday, that was around 50p for the day. That's an equivalent of 97p per day run rate on current tariff...
Just for the heck of it - here's my cost mapping for the last 10 days - the red bits are all caused by needing some extra charge in one of the cars due to extenuating circumstances (long story). The orange bits are typically the oven going on.
Attachments
Interested in the air fryer plan - heard that this could make a big difference rather than the oven, but need to investigate further....
Only just switched to GoFaster so this is very helpful.
I have set up some basics to come on during my off peak 2:30/6:30, dish washer, washing machine, tumble dryer (if wet cloths still around), under floor heating. I may get my coffee machine to come on too (1L boiler) and could plug in an electric heater if needs must. I have a dyson heater but it won’t work with a smart plug as the switch defaults to off
I have an electric immersion backup for my hot water tank so could look at installing a smart plug there and getting a few hours of brining it up to temp for the morning rush, will have to see.
Car coming next week but will probably only be topping up 5~10% a night on average.
Rest of the stuff like phones, tablets, batteries probably wouldn’t cover the cost of another smart plug so won’t bother with them. Will see how it goes after a few months and review if it’s worth it or drop back to normal variable.
I have set up some basics to come on during my off peak 2:30/6:30, dish washer, washing machine, tumble dryer (if wet cloths still around), under floor heating. I may get my coffee machine to come on too (1L boiler) and could plug in an electric heater if needs must. I have a dyson heater but it won’t work with a smart plug as the switch defaults to off
I have an electric immersion backup for my hot water tank so could look at installing a smart plug there and getting a few hours of brining it up to temp for the morning rush, will have to see.
Car coming next week but will probably only be topping up 5~10% a night on average.
Rest of the stuff like phones, tablets, batteries probably wouldn’t cover the cost of another smart plug so won’t bother with them. Will see how it goes after a few months and review if it’s worth it or drop back to normal variable.
X-Cile
Member
Pretty much the Dishwasher and washing machine only for us.
Being an avid lawn junkie, I contemplated about mowing the lawn after midnight but I think that might be pushing it with the neighbours....
Being an avid lawn junkie, I contemplated about mowing the lawn after midnight but I think that might be pushing it with the neighbours....
ACarneiro
Active Member
Same one I installed. I did look for smart plugs (ideally compatible with Philips Hue) but couldn’t find any rated for 16A…
Jason71
Well-Known Member
My background used to be that but with judicious use of internet time switches, changing settings etc and getting rid of some bad background offenders I got it down to 250. that's 4-6kwh saved per day.
e.g. surprising how much energy a shaver socket with a toothbrush plugged into it 24 hours a day can use.
cryo
Member
26'C when I get up bearing in mind the heaters switched off at 04:30 and the temp will slowly drop throughout the morning and afternoon. The heaters are effectively warming the fabric of the building and making sure the house temps do not get too low at night. I have them set at the lowest power (approx.1- 1.5KW) and they do this for a very low nighttime power cost on octopus go. I do not suggest you stating to my wife that 26'C is too high a temp in winter
Similar threads
