electricity usage puzzle

Tracy · 2007-04-08T21:09:20+00:00

Hi I have a friend who has decided to try and cut down on his gas and electricity usage so has been reading his metres twice daily (sad, I know :-) ) He has gas for central heating, hot water and cooking. He has discovered that between the hours of 22:00 and 10:00 he uses 6 units of electricity and between 10:00 to 22:00 he uses about 8 units. So in a 24 hour day he uses 14 units. This means that during the day when his TV and sky box is on he is using 2 units of electricity more than if he just had on what is using electricity during the night.He has had his meter checked and it is OKHe does not have an immersion and the only electricity used at night is lights, TV and fridge freezer and if the heating is on his central heating pump although the TV and lights are usually off by midnight as is the central heating. At first he thought it could be his security light but that has been turned off and disconnected. Before he goes to his bed he switches everything off that is on standby, even pulling the plugs out, so as far as he knows the only thing using electricity at night is a couple of clock radios and the occasional light when he or his wife gets up to the loo.So he has deduced that during the hours off 22:00 and 10:00 he is using on average 500 watts of electricity every hour. He read his meter again one night before he went to his bed at midnight and had used 1.5 KW in the preceding 2 hours, switched everything off and went to his bed. When he got up at 08:00 he read his meter and found he had used 3.5 KW in 8 hours during the night so has anyone any idea what could be using this electricity between these hours?There is no immersion heater, his shower is a power shower using hot water heated by gas, the only water heated by electricity is his kettle and there is no one boiling water during the night. When the washing machine and tumble dryer are used there is a noticeable increase of units used during the day and they are not used at night. He has even gone so...

Apr 08, 2007 29 Replies

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Stuart B 19 years ago

Even easier to buy those things to stop kids poking things in to sockets .They'll stop any leaks from the sockets won't they ?

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Steve 19 years ago

Yep, they stop the leaks and subsequent stains from electricity dribbling down the wall but do nothing to stop prying, inquisitive, determined little hands ;-)

Steve

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Dave Liquorice 19 years ago

I have a CD player that takes just as much "on" as in "standby". WTF a CD player needs a standby mode I don't know...

I've not stuck the power meter on our Sky boxes.

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Andy Wade 19 years ago

About 20 W for a Digibox, whether on or in standby. Not sure about the Sky+ PVR/HDD boxes.

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mike 19 years ago

Next door?

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mike 19 years ago

Mains vibrators use quite a lot.

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R 19 years ago

That's the Leccygremlin.

Well known for borrowing leccy for his nightlight. Gives it back in the day by going round hiding yer specs and keys in dark places so you need to put on the light to find em.

(Don't worry the men in cooats are coming tomorrow if Matron lets me out) ;-)

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Stuart B 19 years ago

Buzz off ..:-)

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Clive Mitchell 19 years ago

In message , mike writes

Particularly if you fall asleep while they're running.

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Andy Hall 19 years ago

Is your technique *that* bad.?

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