Nope, this isn't one of those weird hunting stories.
Like many people, my electric bill is the highest utility bill that I get every month. While it averages a little under $200 a month, I have seen it as much as $430.
I've been trying to cut down on power as much as I can.
For the last two months, the clothes dryer has sat empty and we've been hanging clothes out to dry. This has helped a lot and has saved me about $15 off of my bill. And I know that cold weather is coming and I can't really do that year round, but at least there will be a few more months of nice weather that I can take advantage of.
Our AC/heat pump has been serviced and the thermostat replaced. Now, we are able to keep the thermostat set 2 degrees warmer in the summer and 2 degrees cooler in the winter, which has helped with the cost a little but not by huge leaps and bounds.
In a few days, I'm going to install a 240v timer on my hot water heater so it won't be heating the water throughout the night when we never use it. I'm thinking I could shut the hot water off between 10PM and 5AM. By doing that, the hot water should stay warm enough for a while after it's turned off for the night if we wash our hands or something before it cools down, and by turning back on about 5AM, should be warmed back up for the morning shower. Or, at least that's the hope and plan. If I don't have to adjust the on/off time, that would be almost 200 hours a month the hot water heater won't be running.
The timer costed $53 so I'm hoping within about 3 months to have saved enough off the bill to have paid for the timer. Even if I cut off $20 or $30, that's 20 or 30 that I have for whatever else we need to buy.
I'm curious if anyone else here has tried that and how it worked out. And if you could see a difference on the electric bill?
Like many people, my electric bill is the highest utility bill that I get every month. While it averages a little under $200 a month, I have seen it as much as $430.
I've been trying to cut down on power as much as I can.
For the last two months, the clothes dryer has sat empty and we've been hanging clothes out to dry. This has helped a lot and has saved me about $15 off of my bill. And I know that cold weather is coming and I can't really do that year round, but at least there will be a few more months of nice weather that I can take advantage of.
Our AC/heat pump has been serviced and the thermostat replaced. Now, we are able to keep the thermostat set 2 degrees warmer in the summer and 2 degrees cooler in the winter, which has helped with the cost a little but not by huge leaps and bounds.
In a few days, I'm going to install a 240v timer on my hot water heater so it won't be heating the water throughout the night when we never use it. I'm thinking I could shut the hot water off between 10PM and 5AM. By doing that, the hot water should stay warm enough for a while after it's turned off for the night if we wash our hands or something before it cools down, and by turning back on about 5AM, should be warmed back up for the morning shower. Or, at least that's the hope and plan. If I don't have to adjust the on/off time, that would be almost 200 hours a month the hot water heater won't be running.
The timer costed $53 so I'm hoping within about 3 months to have saved enough off the bill to have paid for the timer. Even if I cut off $20 or $30, that's 20 or 30 that I have for whatever else we need to buy.
I'm curious if anyone else here has tried that and how it worked out. And if you could see a difference on the electric bill?