answered about 6 months ago by Mike
Can't speak with any authority on water heaters, but with the aircon we need to keep our cure room for soaps at fairly constant temperature and humidity. The room we are now using for the cure room was previously our bedroom (we have since moved out somewhere else to live). In the soap cure room (except in winter) we run the aircon 24/7 on economy mode to maintain 24 C. This is a lot cheaper than previously when we would turn the aircon on at night to cool the room down..... it had to work really hard to get a hot room cool and therefore chewed up a lot of power. Running 24/7 we have found it about 30-50% cheaper.
Possibly the same principal applies with water heaters, but never put it to the test.
answered about 6 months ago by sandyg
I have to agree with Grubby, in my experience using the water heater for the required 10 mins before the shower certainly keeps the bills down - in our first house the switch for one was outside!!! and we didn't find out for 2 months that it was on constantly - the bill dropped significantly when it was turned off.
answered about 6 months ago by hippo
grubby is right on the money.
I had a switch for my water heater put outside my bathroom next to the light switch. I only turn it on 10 min before using the shower and then off once I am done. Also in the summer heat seems to keep the warm even without the heater.
I guess it save me about 300000 - 500000 a month on my electric bill.
I also unplug my DVD and cell phone charger when not using...along with any other appliances that I don't use alot.
If you don't have a ceiling fan I would recommend one of those also. They are fairly cheap and it will allow you to use the AC alot less and at a lower power setting, this will save some money also.
answered about 6 months ago by jojosan
Air-conditioning 101: Energy-saving tip
Have you ever wondered what the "Dry-mode" of your air-conditioner is for? The one with the Water-drop icon on your remote control? You are in luck if you have it because you have one of those'fuzzy-logic', micro-computer controlled air-conditioners. Dry-mode, simply said, is removing excess moisture in the room.
Comfort-cooling is perfect at 24~25 degrees centigrade. This should be your setpoint temperature and optimal in energy efficiency/saving.
The setting works in a very simple way. The compressor runs for a certain period of time until the setpoint temperature is reached. Then, the fan is automatically switched off 1 minute later, and the accumulated water on the evaporator fins (indoor unit) drains to the outside. By coupling compressor and fan operation, intermittent operation can be precisely controlled according to room temperature so that air is efficiently dehumidified (roughly 40% humidity).
In the Cool-mode, when the compressor switches off (the outdoor unit), the indoor fan continue to operate and the remaining water on the evaporator is blown by the fan into the room again, making you feel humid.
When you enter your room, run the air-conditioner in Cool-mode at the setpoint temperature for about 30 minutes to bring down the temperature of the room rapidly. Then switch to Dry-mode afterwards. To save further, try to set the temperature to 26, or even 27, before going to bed, and believe me, you will still feel comfortable, and save money, while you are asleep.
By rule-of-thumb, a 1 deg.C temperature difference (from 27 to 26) increases energy consumption by 10%, and 2 deg.C (from 27 to 25) will cause an increase of 25%. Setting your air-conditioner to 20 deg.C will double your energy consumption. The Dry-mode is more energy-efficient as it uses half the current than the Cool-mode. Less compressor operation, more savings. Less indoor fan operation, more savings.
