The Big Switch Off...to Save Energy

Lounge
21

When I kept my NAP135’S *+ Supercap on 24/7, they used approximately 2kwh/day (2k÷24=83.33w/h, ÷3 = approx 28w/hr per component), with bigger transformers than a HiCap/140.

Our average daily electricity use (since 31 May) is 8.3kwh/day, or approximately 58kwh/week.

Supercap is on all day, as I am at home more since retiring. We’re not profligate, but not turning every Alexa and relevant item on standby off every night. 2 Fridge Freezers, double electric oven. 75in LED TV, which triggers the soundbar/subwoofer/rear speakers.

*Obviously I now no longer have the 135s, turning my active ATC’S on and off before and after use.

What could possibly have resulted in 175kwh/week???

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22

Sleep mode on PCs uses power assuming you meant “sleep” as opposed to shutdown.

As already advised by another person you need to properly identify what each device is using with a plug-in energy monitor.
The scattergun approach e.g. unplugging the washing machine isnt going to work.

I’d turn everything off and see if the meter is still spinning. If it is still turning double check everything is off, if you are 100% sure contact your supplier and explain the situation to them.

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23

Turn everything off, then turn the master switch on the consumer unit off as well?

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24

My EDF supplied smart meter (France) has an app that displays usage in the moment, and daily totals over a time graph. I would imagine other smart meters could do something similar? I also have a smart switch in my fuse panel with an app that displays just that circuits consumption. Again I imagine that you could wire in a similar item on the supply side before fuse panel.
The advantage of such devices is that you can switch devices off and see the change in real time, as well as getting a picture of high usage periods.

25

The question here is not just the high energy bill, which is too high and we are looking at ways to reduce, but simply the change made to switch off the Naim and replace with the Bantam One, and also the discovery that a tube heater and the washing machine has been turned off at the wall, and then the change in the weekly meter reading on a Monday morning.

The change is only accountable by what has been switched off.

GadgetMan worked out that this is 447 watts which is attributed to the Naim, and a tube heater. I do not thing the switching off of the washing machine makes any difference, there is only a led panel on the front that gets switched off.

The old Naim I have does not go into a stand-by mode, power is supplying the transformer without any energy saving circuit to reduce when no load is sensed (that was added only recently certainly not in the 80’ and 90’s, maybe even later?)

There are other changes we could make (turn off all the computers, all the lights…) but just for now only the changes mentioned regarding the Naim, tube heater and washing machine have been made, so surely must be all that is affecting the weekly meter reading.

(By the way, I really do not like led lighting, and the essentially single wavelength of emitted light does not suit me. For the sake of very few lamps in the house the saving and discomfort of the light quality is not worth it for me. Florescent tube in kitchen, standard lamp in the sitting room, hall light and stairs light hardly on, desk lamp on my desk in the dining room, center light hardly ever on, center light in two bedrooms hardly ever on, bedside light occasionally, light in the third does not work so desk light occasionally, and finally the loo light occasionally and the bathroom when we bath).

We really are at a bit of a loss to see where 175kWh is being used, hence the whole exercise.

Suggestions of a more methodical approach with a wattmeter plug must be the next step, but I thought where I started just making a small change in what was running in the house made some sense.

The computers are set to sleep mode (and here it is just a pc and an imac, I have already switched off a pc I used for backup and a macmini used to run old programs that stop with High Serria, and there is an HP laserJet 1320 printer).

Don’t have a smart meter.

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26

I have an energy monitor that ‘couples’ on the supply side and shows usage. If you turn something off and it drops considerably then that may be the culprit.

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27

I see no reason whatsoever why Naim products should be more susceptible to deterioration from daily (of whatever) on-off cycles. Other than a (tungsten filament) indicator lamp failure which might be related but completely trivial, I’'ve never had any hifi item fail through that in over 50 years - despite most amps having been secondhand on purchase and some in use still at 20-30 years or more old.

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Hmm. Sleep mode doesn’t save energy, it just means the PC will start up quickly. Off it certainly ain’t.

If the PCs are tower-style systems rather than a laptop they need to be switched of at the wall after being shutdown in Windows.

29

Can we be clear here please? Are you saying your WEEKLY electric reading was steady at around 175 kwh? i.e. roughly 725kwh per month? That’s a very, very high level IMHO.

If at this level, it suggests you are running material heating appliances (more than 80watts) and/or electric oven/hob and/or electric kit which has continuous material current draw – and the Naim kit isn’t responsible for this.

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Something is definitely awry; perhaps even your meter?

Using @GadgetMan’s figures above, your Naims could be using 0.432/kwh/day. Our fixed Octopus tariff (excluding standing charge) is 28.1p/kwh, so your Naims could be costing 12p a day to power.

I wonder if your meter IS dicky?

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31

Dont think this is what I meant - sorry if it wasn’t clear.

Your figures suggest you have somehow made a saving of 447Watts of continuous energy use.
Your Naim system will be 40Watts (ish)
Your Heater is 80Watts
That leaves 327Watts of energy saving that you have somehow made, but not yet identified. Hence why I was suggesting it is something else, e.g. Halogen Lamps

32

I don’t think it’s the Naim system either - even if it was using 2 kWh daily (which it won’t be) that would only be 14 kWh saved and you didn’t do the switch off until mid week.

I purchased several TP-Link energy monitoring plugs a few years ago (loads of manufacturers make them) which could not only switch the item’s power on/off automatically but continually read the actual device’s power consumption live and over time. This allowed me to identify items of particularly high usage and decide on things I’d rather not keep on 24/7. Such plugs connect to an app on a Smartphone.

In reality from a convenience viewpoint it was more of a change to not using certain items at all such as the tumble dryer.

Our Samsung washing machine uses surprisingly little electricity on short/quick cycles at 30-40 C.

The dishwasher uses a couple of kWh per cycle but I prefer a proper hotter cycle for many items that might not be perfectly clean on a shorter one.

Conventional lighting is now costly - didn’t bat an eyelid a few decades ago using 6 x 100W bulbs in a knocked through room. Hated CFLs but decent LEDs can be very good and can be purchased with more than one output wavelength to simulate cool/warm lighting.

Do you use gas or electric ovens? A conventional electric oven is potentially costly if you’re only 2 and not needing the full capacity and smaller counter top versions are fairly reasonable from places such as Amazon.

Fridges and freezers can be significant - we had 2 of each including an old chest freezer in the garage which started tripping teh consumer unit - since I emptied that and turned it off the daily usage has dropped by at least 2 kWh.

Multiple small gadgets/chargers/adapters all add up too if on 24/7.

We probably use what many would consider excessive electricity but do not use gas currently.

Don’t have a Smart meter either, but the new ploy to try to encourage uptake from Ovo seems to be suggesting it may be faulty due to age. That has been mentioned by others but you wouldn’t knoew if it wasunder or over reading until you got a replacement and there was an article from Europe saying many of the Smart meters are not accurate.

If you’re happy to manually read the meter and a bit of quick arithmetic I doubt a Smart meter would help much - you need to identify the culprits using lots of energy.

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33

The second question about selling off your hi-fi really does depend on how much enjoyment it brings you.

Mine is used daily for streaming audio with a projector (300W) and the immersive experience is well worth the cost for me.

Is your TV a plasma set by any chance as that could be using several hundred watts/hour. I was sad at the demise of plasma initially but modern TVs are excellent and much cheaper to run, though you have to factor initial outlay vs overall saving over time for any high consumption product just as you’ve done with solar.

Good luck with the decisions, but we’re only here once - expensive bills at the limit of affordability is definitely a reason to try to cut down but if it’s purely for ‘eco-friendliness’ then losing a few little pleasures you’ve got accustomed to and which may actually improve quality of life is probably justifiable, or should be.

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34

You should check your neighbour isn’t doing Attic Horticulture with an extension cord. :scream: :thinking: :+1:t2:

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35

Sounds like the OP has come to his conclusion and isn’t going to be swayed by alternative rational discussion…

36

Spot on. You’ve got to have something, otherwise…

For context, 2 cappuccini and a couple of toasties in Costa would cost around £16 :scream:, or more than 100 hours of energy use listening to a small-ish Naim stereo.

It always comes down to “balance” , for me

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37

And whatever is using it, it is effectively all delivered as heat - a considerable heat output this tine of year (though considering recent weather…). Powerful computers are common culprits, though normal to let them sleep when not in assuming not active servers, and big TVs can consume a lot, though again not continuous, otherwise freezers, especially if old with limited insulation, or with leaky seals, though I note only small.

What water heating? (Boiling water tap in kitchen?)

It is not single wavelength at all (not unless red ir green of blue etc). But approximation of ‘warm’ light like tungsten is often poor, and I find it is necessary to try multiple brands until I find one I like. (The previous CFL lamps were worse!) In kitchen, bathrooms and hall I use “natural white”, ~4000k, which I find consistently is pretty natural, to the extent that in the kitchen when we turn the lights on towards dusk, while still light outside, there is no change in lighting colour.

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38

A 62/Hicap/140 will only draw the power that @HungryHalibut has indicated.
On a different track, do you have a plasma TV or an LED TV? The plasma ones draw about 400-500 Watts when on, so may be the reason for your high consumption.

Best regards, BF

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39

Please explain a little more…

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Would have to wonder if that heater is actually 800W and maybe on a timer - it won’t be heating much otherwise unless it’s a tiny space.

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