Energy bill increases

[ColinJ]

For me the optimal was low temperature boiler ( I had mine set to 52°) thermostat set to 18 and rooms to 20 with a fleece on if feeling cold.

I was wearing long thermals top and bottom, cotton socks with big woolly socks over them, Ron Hill tracksters, long-sleeved top with a padded lumberjack shirt over the top, a buff round my neck, a second buff on my head, a big bushy bear on my face, and woolly mitts on my hands. I don't think I want to do much more than that in terms of clothing!

Maybe I will drape a lightweight duvet or blanket over me though. That would make a big difference.

 

[Wobblers]

I was wearing long thermals top and bottom, cotton socks with big woolly socks over them, Ron Hill tracksters, long-sleeved top with a padded lumberjack shirt over the top, a buff round my neck, a second buff on my head, a big bushy bear on my face, and woolly mitts on my hands.

Does that not make you look a bit grizzly in the morning, Colin?

 

[ColinJ]

Does that not make you look a bit grizzly in the morning, Colin?

You tell me...?

Well, perhaps not big and bushy by some standards but enough to keep an old chin warm in a chilly room!

As for the missing 'd'... I don't know if it is my laptop not rgistering keystrokes propely (there you go, it just did it again!) - or me not typing hard enough?

 

[mjr]

Keep us informed how you think these are. I'd probably use for energy monitoring. Got Smart Sockets in my lads room but they are a faff to set up as you have to knock off the 5 ghz portion of the wifi, then add it back on - they don't do power monitoring.

I've got a https://www.mylocalbytes.com/products/smart-plug-pm-1 which doesn't require knocking bits off the wifi network and does do power monitoring. That said, its setup is easiest with a mobile phone because it sets up its own temporary wifi when first powered on, which you then connect to and tell its web interface which wifi to use and the keys and so on. It's intended for use with HomeAssistant or compatible open systems, rather than the Big Tech Snoopy offerings like Alexa, so it might not be what anyone wants. I like it, but then I'm the sort of idiot who builds his own bikes and his own smart home controllers... and last night, trying to add a new feature, I accidentally set up a feedback loop where turning a light on resulted in the light being turned off, and vice-versa. The fast-flashing lights were not appreciated! Disco must be dead... 🕺🕺🕺

The hot tub is on a single socket, so would be useful to see what it uses with just the pump/filter running, no heat ! And then the gaming PC's..

I would expect that the heater will dominate the pump power consumption, but the pump will run for longer. The heater will probably consume 3000W+ while the pump is probably something like 250W on low if it's a multi-speed one (and if it's a single-speed, it should run less often to achieve similar water throughput). Look up the specs of your hot tub's pump and heater if you want to get a pretty good idea. A smart socket probably won't tell you much more, similar to most kettles, where reading the label and timing boils with a stopwatch gives a pretty good estimate.

The gaming PCs would be far more interesting because there's a very wide variety of possibilities...

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I've got a https://www.mylocalbytes.com/products/smart-plug-pm-uk which doesn't require knocking bits off the wifi network and does do power monitoring. That said, its setup is easiest with a mobile phone because it sets up its own temporary wifi when first powered on, which you then connect to and tell its web interface which wifi to use and the keys and so on.

The ones I mentioned above use the same method to setup
ps Your link doesn't work it goes to 404

 

[mjr]

The ones I mentioned above use the same method to setup
ps Your link doesn't work it goes to 404

Well that's ruddy shopify and its failure to keep the same links live for you! WooCommerce is far better... Anyway, for some reason, the -uk has changed to -1 since I bought it, so I've edited the previous post and changed my bookmarks. Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Well that's ruddy shopify and its failure to keep the same links live for you! WooCommerce is far better... Anyway, for some reason, the -uk has changed to -1 since I bought it, so I've edited the previous post and changed my bookmarks. Thanks.

The ones that arrive for me were the Gosund ones which apparently can be flashed with Tasmoto although I have no idea what that is, but they are bit cheaper than the ones you have bought I got 3 for £19 delivered although they have now gone up to £22

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I was wearing long thermals top and bottom, cotton socks with big woolly socks over them, Ron Hill tracksters, long-sleeved top with a padded lumberjack shirt over the top, a buff round my neck, a second buff on my head, a big bushy bear on my face, and woolly mitts on my hands. I don't think I want to do much more than that in terms of clothing!

Maybe I will drape a lightweight duvet or blanket over me though. That would make a big difference.

Colin, I think you need to move about more, do some house work or something
Not even me, here in Scotland, would wear all that, even sitting at the computer
My central heating is always at 18C btw, and I'm not menopausal

 

[jowwy]

Colin, I think you need to move about more, do some house work or something
Not even me, here in Scotland, would wear all that, even sitting at the computer
My central heating is always at 18C btw, and I'm not menopausal

But isnt he something like 3st soaking wet lol

 

[ColinJ]

Colin, I think you need to move about more, do some house work or something
Not even me, here in Scotland, would wear all that, even sitting at the computer
My central heating is always at 18C btw, and I'm not menopausal

It is true that I spend many hours just sitting around on the computer, reading, or doing crosswords.

I don't the feel the cold as much if I have had some decent exercise, as long as I haven't over-exerted myself. Not a fan of housework though! I don't mind working on my bikes.

But isnt he something like 3st soaking wet lol

I wish! I am getting back down towards a more respectable cycling weight but am still currently 83 kg (13 st 1 lb).

I didn't feel the cold much when I was very overweight, but felt it a lot when I was skinny (about 74 kg or 11 st 9 lbs).

 

[Deleted member 26715]

We were with British Gas, solar panels going in Monday, everybody said Octopus were the best company to be with for the tariff, as they offer the best on the export & there is cheaper overnight available. We were with them a couple of years ago & the account was still active, so I contacted them to switch our supply, somewhere process we ended up on their 12 months Fixed tariff, it looks like the things to come!

Quick contact with them & they have now put us on their variable, but logically it's going to be up there soon.

 

[gzoom]

^ I think I mentioned this a few pages, back, commercial electricity rates are at 70p/kWh+ already, bare in mind no one knows what Putin will do next. Turn off gas completely to Germany this winter, and we'll are going to be suffering black outs across the whole of Europe. As gas is what still powers over 50% of UK electricity generation.

Its pretty clear the sooner everyone can get away from fossil fuel reliance the better, but its not going to happen quick enough to avoid the pain thats coming. Currently it feels like we are in the 'phoney war' stage, the sun is out, days are long, lights off, even hardly needing any hot water, so all these prices feel/look very abstract. In 4 months time things will be very different .

Not a huge amount anyone can do either, go back to burning logs/chopping wood.....even coal?? Or you find a way to increase your income along with lots of saving now.

 

[cyberknight]

as we get disability + carers allowance iu got a letter saying we might be eligible for an extra payment from the government,i dont hold out much hope but every little helps.
i still have to everyone to turn stuff off every day though as the family are clueless

 

[jowwy]

^ I think I mentioned this a few pages, back, commercial electricity rates are at 70p/kWh+ already, bare in mind no one knows what Putin will do next. Turn off gas completely to Germany this winter, and we'll are going to be suffering black outs across the whole of Europe. As gas is what still powers over 50% of UK electricity generation.

Its pretty clear the sooner everyone can get away from fossil fuel reliance the better, but its not going to happen quick enough to avoid the pain thats coming. Currently it feels like we are in the 'phoney war' stage, the sun is out, days are long, lights off, even hardly needing any hot water, so all these prices feel/look very abstract. In 4 months time things will be very different .

Not a huge amount anyone can do either, go back to burning logs/chopping wood.....even coal?? Or you find a way to increase your income along with lots of saving now.

or find ways to cut your energy use....add solar power if you have the capital, switch off unused appliances, maybe add a solar panel or two out the back of the house/garden to charge phones, ipads, tools etc etc it all helps in the longer term. If you have the money to do it now

 

[vickster]

Ref solar… What about the millions of people who don’t live in a house and/or don’t have a garden and/or don’t own the property they live in?