When I got my power bill this time last year I was alarmed at the power usage during winter. I was using my split system to heat the house during waking hours. But used a small electric heater on thermostat during the nights to take the chill off the air. Such heaters are far from efficient which I have proven as my power saving experiment has come to fruition.
This winter I threw out all my portable electric heaters and used only my split system for heating. Maximum 21 degrees. Mostly it was on 18-20. At nights I left it on with low fan speed and temp set on 16 or 17. I also fitted anti-draught rollers to my two outside doors and installed foam seals around their edges. I should also mention that I took advantage of the Murray Energy scheme which includes free replacement of all globes with compact fluoros. I’m sure the globes would have helped to reduce power consumption, but they were by no means the major contributor.
These changes reduced my energy usage by 619 kWh for the May-August cycle, compared with last year. This equates to a saving of just over $100 for a quarter, which is quite significant.
The graphs don’t lie (pulled straight from the Country Energy website). Compare the three August readings. The first one was before my split system went in and I was using the house’s ancient electric heater. The last two reflect the results of my experiment.
I was truly relieved to see this graph, as using the split system at night was a bit of a gamble. But it has paid off, literally.
While we’re on the topic, I measured the temperature of my hot water out of the tap at 70 degrees C a few weeks ago. What’s yours? Leave it in the comments.
Nice study. Unfortunately, I can’t post the temperature of our hot water because I don’t have a thermometer. I should get one of those….