how i reduced my energy bill (part 2)

[Creativity]

howdy

In a second part of the story I will cover the observations, share my idea's and results of the enhancements i have made for this heating season.

In fact, this time it is another house different situation, different heating system and different challenges! so sit comfy and enjoy the story (or bring some new idea's ).

House has 3 levels. On the ground level : a living room and open kitchen + a small toilet. 1st floor : bathroom and a sleeping room, 2nd floor : open space + sleeping room.

I am very happy this time insulation of the house seems to be quite good, previous tenants payed around 100Euro a month for electricity and gas. Of course 100E is 100E too much! let us see what we can do to bring it down a bit

Let us start from the kitchen.
Cooking plate is on gas (THE BEST IMHO ) so at least cooking will be cheaper than on the electrical plate i had previously

On the electric cook plate we have some drawbacks from the start.
The thermal mass of the heating element is big, so every cooking event brings us loses. Whenever we finish cooking the plate gives off the accumulated heat to the air. It is OK in the heating season,the heat is not wasted per se (although electric heat is still more expensive than other types). However, during the hot months it is a pure loss.
Next to it we have to watch out for the cooking ware. The contact surface of the pot should be ideally flat and clean.The old burned oil will insulate nicely and the cooking will take longer (aka more expensive). So scrub it good once in a while
Especially the aluminum frying pans are keen to bend their bottom. I bet it is when a big pan is placed on the relatively small plate. The central spot will get much hotter than the edges and voila.. expensive Tefal goes useless  It may be also overheating problem, I am not 100% sure. Some cheap pots come with a concave/convex bottom already. It is easy to check, just put it on the even surface and see if it contacts the surface with all of its bottom. Do the same test when on a hot plate. Concave/convex bottom will reduce the contact surface with the hot plate.
I regret i have not made a test when i had an electric plate  anyone willing to test the time difference to cook 1 glass of water in a bend pot vs a good one?
Is it all? no! also the cook plates of old types r not even.. well the option i see is to invest in a newer type.

Luckily, gas cook plate forgives more it doesn't matter if a pot has even bottom anymore, hot gas will touch it anywhere (and also form the pot sides, great!). Still, if the bottom is dirty with old burned grease on it... scrubbing 
The thermal mass is small, so no great loses here. The only drawback i see is the oxygen usage! Yep, a burner uses oxygen so we have to ventilate the space more than it would be normally necessary. It also means more cold air to heat up in the winter (or to cool down during the summer).

Kind of universal tips for any type of cooking plate:
1) as mentioned above, keep the cooking ware bottom clean
2) use the pot cover !
3) boil just the amount of water u need (do u really need to boil 1 liter of water if u make only one thee?)
4) small pot should not stand on a medium or a big plate (otherwise the part of the hot plate warms the air and not the food)

Well, that's enough for today

till the next time!

[the_big_m_in_ok]

Creativity said:

Cooking plate is on gas (THE BEST IMHO ) so at least cooking will be cheaper than on the electrical plate i had previously.

In a previous recession, while I was living in another state years ago, a local news evening show showed a man who built his own energy efficient house, which was an up-and-coming, new thing at that time.

He said his outside walls and ceiling were going to be 2X12's and that his whole house was going to be electric.
His reasoning was:  The power company could raise the price on gas you couldn't drill for and refine yourself, but you could produce your own electricity for less money in the future.

Does this sound like good advice to you?  Go with electricity instead of gas?

I do admit, I don't know what IMHO is.  Is that an improvement somewhere?

--Lee

[2tiger]

Hi, Creativity
Very Interesting thread.
Pearhaps I have an other idea for you.
Where did you connect your washing machine? Normally it is connected on coldwater-supply.
If you connected on warmwater-supply, the machine do not need to heat up water itself (electrically), for example for the 40 or 60  degrees-program.
So you will have to pay a little more for your gas-bill but save a higher amount on your electricity-bill.
Here in the north of germany we pay round about 0,06 EUR/kWh for gas and 0,19 EUR/kWh for electricity.   
Same thing for the dishwasher.

Good Bye

2Tiger

[gyulasun]

I do admit, I don't know what IMHO is.  Is that an improvement somewhere?

Hi Lee,

See this link: http://kb.iu.edu/data/adkc.html  where you can find what IMHO means.

rgds, Gyula

[Pirate88179]

I just got my electric bill for the month of October here in Kentucky, USA.  My bill's total was $29.00 US and that includes a mandatory recycling fee (tax) of $5.00.  (They don't recycle, just charge the tax for it)  It is pretty cold here but I am still using my oil lamps to help my heat pump out.  They really help heat my 900 square ft. apartment.  I also have a portable propane heater that I use in my van and I can use it inside the apt. too if the power goes out.  It is 9,000 btu's and works very well.

Last winter, I only spent about $5.00/month on kerosene for the oil lamps so I don't think that is too bad at all.  I use joule thief leds lights a lot for indoor lighting and I can use my earth battery for my outdoor Christmas lights.

I still want to get my bill lower.  My work continues.

Bill