Smart meters for electric?

[The Natural Philosopher]

I can't hear mine washing. Perhaps they don't wash at all. Or perhaps its the distances involved (> 200m) .

I cant smell them, either.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I calculated that £10k worth of lead acid replaced every 5 years would be enough to run the house via an inverter/charger.

About 12kWh...

[Steve Walker]

But huge numbers of people get up and go straight out for the day, 5 or

6 days a week.

[Jacob Jones]

I should have said that I can't hear it washing unless I stand next to it.

I know mine does because the stuff being washed comes out much cleaner.

I can hear mine while in the laundry, but that is all.

[newshound]

So?

Machines these days spin stuff pretty dry, and for most things it does not matter if they sit there for half a day.

[Jacob Jones]

No big deal to move the stuff to the drier or line before going out.

Tho I would only use the line, I wouldnt run a drier while not at home.

[Steve Walker]

If you are in a larger household and washing every day, you want the washing done, dried, ironed and put away in one evening, leaving everything ready for the next batch.

[Jacob Jones]

If you want that, you are free to pay the higher cost of that approach.

Same with the washing machine, it won't last as long when used like that.

[Steve Walker]

Effectively a tax on people with children, who often need blazers, PE kit or coats washed and dried between coming home from school and going the next morning.

With a larger household, a wash every day is nigh on essential and makes a full load. Our previous machine lasted 12 years. Our replacement is a more expensive one, seems better built, has direct drive and comes with a long warranty period - it will hopefully last at least as long as the old one.

[Jacob Jones]

Who get tax benefits from having children.

The obvious fix for that is to have more than one of those items.

No, you are free to do multiple loads other than every day.

And it should be obvious that larger households cost more and that should have been considered when chooing to have more than 2 kids.

[Steve Walker]

Who get a small sum that is a fraction of the cost of looking after and bringing up children!

You don't normally buy more than one of those, as being school specific, logoed items, the price if high and children rapidly grow out of them.

At the start of the summer term, I bought two blazers, a jumper and a couple of items of PE kit ... that was over £250, for a normal, state, comprehensive.

Trousers, shirts and ties are cheap, so multiple of them is normal.

So we don't wash one day and then we need to do two washes the next ... still the same problem of peak pricing.

When we chose to have 3, we were both working, my wife's income has since stopped due to becoming disabled and on medication that leaves her permanently wiped out.

Many people's circumstances change.

[Jacob Jones]

Sure, but why should anyone be paying for your children.

And that tax concession does more than cover the higher cost of you choosing to only have one set of clothes and wash them every day before going to bed.

Thats bullshit with most of them and the ones that you only have one of don't need to be washed every day anyway.

But with more than 2 kids, the younger kids can use then after the older kids.

You dont need to wash those every day.

You should have considered than when you decided to have more than 2 kids.

So you don't in fact have a large family at all.

And you should consider that when deciding how many kids to have.

[invalid unparseable]

You're right, he's a fool.

[Max Demian]

You can suppress the final drain if it does; the final drain and spin can be done when you get in, and uses negligible energy as there's no heating.

[Max Demian]

You can go hungry and postpone cooking until the energy company say it's all right.

[Andrew]

+1. My neighbours machine doesn't seem to be able to get its balance right before spinning and it sounds like a Chinook on the other side of the party wall.

[Steve Walker]

Our old one regularly launched itself sideways when starting to spin, making us all jump and putting some sizeable dents in the casing. It also had a lot of motor/belt noise and we often had to pause the TV if the kitchen/living room door was open.

The new, direct-drive machine starts (and continues) to spin so quietly that it is possible to be watching TV, actually in the the kitchen, and not even notice that the machine has started spinning!

[Chris Green]

It doesn't make any difference what time you run them, you still end up with a machine full of damp clothes. It *really* doesn't matter if they've sat in the machine for a couple of hours before you extract them.

[Steve Walker]

No, but the point is that, if you have children, who typically only have one school blazer and PE kit and they come home with it dirty, you wash it overnight to use cheap electricity, but get up to damp items and don't have time to dry them before they go to school.

You generally need to wash earlier (at peak rate), so that you have time to dry as well, before going to bed.

[Chris J Dixon]

Times must have changed .(1) I don't ever remember having a school blazer that was washable.

When the household used to have to rise a lot earlier than nowadays, it was possible to run the washer overnight and load the tumble drier when the alarm went, still finishing the load on E7.

(1) Well I last wore one over 50 years ago. ;-)

Chris