How to save electricity?

[limlim]

ksme:

Limlim,
So will it save costs for us if we turn off the heater main power daily and on only when we need to use? Will it spoil the heater faster or causes spikes or whatever you said earlier for other appliances?

Thanks for your advice. Just looking for ways to reduce my bill too but not be penny wise, pound foolish.

I guess it will not spoil the heater if you on/off the heater power daily.. and there is no coils inside.. there is no current surge problems.

Not too sure how the gas heater works plus different model may work differently.. some keeps the water always hot and ready for use.. some only heats up when the water is flowing.. if it is the always hot type.. than, turning it off will definitely save some costs.

[Imami]

MMM:

Imami:

There was I experimented with toilet bowl flush. Someone told me each flush costs $0.20. For a month (to coincide with sp services billing cycle), we flush the toilet bowl using recycled water. The water charges dropped by $13. There are only three of us in the household.

My pils told the kids that flushing cost $. So after they used the toilet eg. urine, they will just wash iso flushing.... But guess what.... the toilet started to stink and I've to get my maid to wash more regularly since it smell and I cannot stand it. It finally came to a point that dh just got to tell his parents to flush after each use as it really stink. Well.... the toilet don't smell that bad now.

So I guess sometimes, we cannot be penny wise pound foolish.

What we do - boy pee, then mummy and papa. Three pee one flush (recycled water). I ask the boys at home to aim properly. When their marksmanship is good, it last longer (before the next toilet wash). To camo the stench, pour a little dettol. This work for us.

[Imami]

Busymom:

peapot:

Wa! Busymom, $700 is alot! Do you mean $700 every month?? Can pay for 1 maid's salary or 1 month car installment or 1 year road tax or 1 year car insurance after abit of top up. I already find my $350 too high but I guess yours is much more.

I oso din know until now.. :oops:

BTW, no side business one hor. But we are a family of 6 + 1 now. We don't use dryer, but quite a lot of washing (not sure if maids are loading the washing machine full or not though).

Wait till you hear about our grocery bills... that's why recently have to take action and personally see what are the groceries that are bought from NTUC. :nunchuk:

Hey, good idea! Let's start a grocery thread!

[Lynn2010]

vinlene:

How about modem? It is on 24/7 in our house.. Does it consume alot of electricity? We were told by the service provider guy that it is okay to leave it on 24/7 but i wonder will the box get spoilt by the heat it generated? :roll:

Not sure about electrical consumption, but ours has never been off for Y..E..A...R...S

[Lynn2010]

Busymom:

peapot:

Aiyo, not fair leh...everybody I know or hear about has lower PUB bills than mine. It's so exasperating!


We hardly use the dryer. Only thing must be the air-con, computer, fridge and oven. I hardly use dryer. Should I off air-con main power? When I want to use air-con then I turn on main power.

I also try to collect rain water but seriously if it's a pail, require at least 10 showers before I can fill up the pail. So I give up on that idea.

Erm.. ours $700+... :yikes:

Used to be $500+ according to DH. But now with a new addition, aircon is on most of the time in the day...

In our case, guess it's aircon and water tank heater. The heater is also on 24/7 because don't know when my kids need to wash after pooing...

Busymom..... wow $700+ is quite extensive unless you leave in a big detach house with swimming pools. As i've shared, we turn on 3 aircons (about 8 to 10 hrs), 1 aircon 18hrs, heated tanks - bill around $360.

Curiously (not criticize), why your kids need to wash buttocks with hot water? Mine never so are my sis kids. I dont think kids will catch a cold if they wash their buttocks with room temp water. Besides, Singapore so hot.

[CookiesMonster]

We shower with cold water to set an example to our kids. We shower with hot water only if the weather is cold. Even then, we set it to the lowest as hot water is drying to the skin. Besides, it also prepares DS for NS. Unless times have changed and we are churning out strawberryboy instead of Men.

[Lynn2010]

Kiasucy:

Got a shock of my life to see my water and electricity consumption usage suddenly shot up 1/3 above the national average for Jun12 while the past six months have been maintaining below national average. What could have gone wrong. Does it mean it is time to change my washing machine? How will one know? Does charger for vacuum cleaner consume a lot of electricity if we leave it one whole night? Was it because the past month have been estimated and June actually reading include adjustment for the past month ? Does it happen to you?

Read somewhere in the bill that there is a website for us to enter our meter reading :? Is it necessary to do that to ensure no data integrity issue in the bill? Else how do you double check the billed reading?

My June and July bill usually gets quite high due to more aircon usage (hotter weather).
Any change in lifestyle, additional appliances, people, etc? Change maid?? Change maid also got effect. Some maids use water like nobody business, let the water runs, etc.

[Imami]

What's the breakdown for your bill? Like mine - (estimate $12 for water, $40-45 electricity, $4 for gas, the rest for gst/refuse charge/sanitary/surcharge). Water shd be easier to start off with if you are keen to change the lifestyle to reduce the charges?


I am putting up pails to collect rain water soon. Bought Irobot. Need to save elsewhere so that the monthly bill remain the same with irobot. :sad:

[janet88]

I cannot wait for 3 small biz to flush loo. Very smelly…at most tahan twice.


As for heater, I usually switch it off after 15 min. Bathing with hot water strips the body of its moisture.

Hardly use dryer unless it is year end rainy season.

Switch on more fans in the house to cool down instead of air con. But if really hot, have to switch on air con. Heat is unbearable.

[Imami]

janet_lee88:

I cannot wait for 3 small biz to flush loo. Very smelly...at most tahan twice.


As for heater, I usually switch it off after 15 min. Bathing with hot water strips the body of its moisture.

Hardly use dryer unless it is year end rainy season.

Switch on more fans in the house to cool down instead of air con. But if really hot, have to switch on air con. Heat is unbearable.

Pour some dettol into the toilet bowl to remove that pee stench. But seriously, must flush after each pee. The stench can be very bad.

I have a ceiling fan in the living room. It's good! Even on very warm day, we don't need aircon in the hall. Maybe you all can consider installing ceiling fans?

I Have wall fans in all the bedrooms, but it seems ceiling fan is more powerful. Shd have installed ceiling fan.... Easier to clean too :sad: