List of electricity saving devices - Page 2

NationalEnergyConsulting · 07-13-12, 10:48 AM

EH40 - Intermatic Electronic Water Heater Timer 240V 30A 7200W DPST

this one is expensive. but could have major savings for a family of a constant routine.

rhizomatic · 07-17-12, 12:13 PM

Bought a kill-a-watt yesterday for ~$25 and am 15 hours into reading the power demands of my fridge. Cool tool! Thanks Daox.

Ryland · 07-18-12, 09:20 AM

When I had an electric water heater I had one of the $35 Intermatic water heater timers and it worked great! set it to come on for an hour at a time at 5am and at 3pm.

I also like my motion sensor light switch in the garage, it's set to turn off after one minute and comes on anytime someone walks in the garage.

Mobile Master Tech · 07-18-12, 06:08 PM

Utilitech LA19DM/LED 7.5w LED light bulb-on clearance for $9.98 and almost sold out at Lowe's (item #338802). It has a 3000k color temperature, which is almost as pleasing as a 2700k warm white incandescent or CFL, plus a 99% power factor for those of us planning to go off-grid solar like me. All the other LED's I've looked at so far have been less efficient per watt, not pleasant in appearance or light color, or wickedly expensive. Although its 450 lumen output is less than a 13w CFL (usually around 650 lumens), all the light is pointing down and not lost to the interior of the bulb or the fixture. They work beautifully in recessed can lights because they are oriented more like a reflector bulb than a standard omnidirectional output. They are dimmable to near invisibility, and the effective light output in a can fixture is near that of a 15W R30 CFL or a 65W R30 incandescent.

I bought 7 of these a month ago when they had 2 pallets in stock, now down to around a dozen left at the Buford Ga store.

RobbMeeX · 07-21-12, 05:06 PM

Thanks to this thread I've got a belkin conserve socket coming. I think I'm gonna put my GF's two phone chargers on it and see what happens. Those smart strips are neat but $$.

Daox · 07-22-12, 08:52 AM

I'll add the TED products to the list. The TED (the energy detective) is a whole house electricity monitoring device. That means it measures how much power the entire house is using. It works very nice for measuring loads that the kill a watt can't get to. I've also found it extremely helpful for measuring the base load (how much power your house uses when you aren't actually powering anything) and reducing it. I have the TED 5000-G which is now their most basic kit. They used to sell a TED 1000 or something like that which was less expensive but also less accurate. With my TED I've been able to reduce my base load from about 130W down to about 80W so far. This saves me about $50 a year, so even though the price is a bit much, there definitely is a payback on it.

The Energy Detective (TED)

rhizomatic · 07-28-12, 09:37 AM

Decidedly low-tech and minor... but I use an insulated coffee urn instead of the heating pad on my coffee maker to keep coffee warm. We invariably would drink two small pots during the morning, and I didn't want to brew one big pot, have to heat it electrically, and then have it get burnt anyway. This way, I save the energy from my 1025watt coffee maker and have better coffee: I can brew one big pot and keep it hot and unburnt for hours. The kill-a-watt suggests I'm saving a mere 0.20kwh per day.

Ryland · 07-29-12, 02:02 PM

I forgot all about it, but my water boiler seems to use around 50 watt hours to heat 4 cups of water while I understand a microwave can use 100 watt hours or more and stove top takes 200 watt hours or more to heat 4 cups, most water boiler I see have a switch that you press down, just like you do on a toaster, once it senses that the water is boiling it triggers and turns off, something that is not possible with a microwave or stove top, it also allows you to not worry about leaving the stove on and heading out the door and doesn't waste energy by staying on any longer then needed, my parents even got one and run it off their solar electric system because it's so much cheaper then boiling water using LP gas and they can't make LP gas, because of the LP gas savings it has more then paid for it's self.

I'm also a big fan of double wall stainless containers, my coffee press pot is all stainless steel, no glass to brake and it keeps coffee hot for a number of hours, my vacuum insulated double wall Kleen Kanteen will keep coffee to hot to drink for up to 3 hours and I've filled it with ice and had the ice last nearly 24 hours, so I can cut back on my reheating and re-cooling of beverages as well as saving beverages from going bad.

07-13-12, 10:48 AM	#11
NationalEnergyConsulting Lurking Renovator Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Gaspe Posts: 1 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	hotwater tank heater! EH40 - Intermatic Electronic Water Heater Timer 240V 30A 7200W DPST this one is expensive. but could have major savings for a family of a constant routine.

07-18-12, 06:08 PM	#14
Mobile Master Tech Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: May 2012 Location: Atlanta, Ga Posts: 142 Thanks: 38 Thanked 41 Times in 34 Posts	Utilitech LA19DM/LED 7.5w LED light bulb-on clearance for $9.98 and almost sold out at Lowe's (item #338802). It has a 3000k color temperature, which is almost as pleasing as a 2700k warm white incandescent or CFL, plus a 99% power factor for those of us planning to go off-grid solar like me. All the other LED's I've looked at so far have been less efficient per watt, not pleasant in appearance or light color, or wickedly expensive. Although its 450 lumen output is less than a 13w CFL (usually around 650 lumens), all the light is pointing down and not lost to the interior of the bulb or the fixture. They work beautifully in recessed can lights because they are oriented more like a reflector bulb than a standard omnidirectional output. They are dimmable to near invisibility, and the effective light output in a can fixture is near that of a 15W R30 CFL or a 65W R30 incandescent. I bought 7 of these a month ago when they had 2 pallets in stock, now down to around a dozen left at the Buford Ga store. __________________ "I‘d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don‘t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that." Thomas Edison, 1847 — 1931

07-21-12, 05:06 PM	#15
RobbMeeX Eco OWNER!! Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: ATL Posts: 99 Thanks: 25 Thanked 7 Times in 6 Posts	Thanks to this thread I've got a belkin conserve socket coming. I think I'm gonna put my GF's two phone chargers on it and see what happens. Those smart strips are neat but $$. __________________ In it for the money (savings)

07-22-12, 08:52 AM	#16
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	I'll add the TED products to the list. The TED (the energy detective) is a whole house electricity monitoring device. That means it measures how much power the entire house is using. It works very nice for measuring loads that the kill a watt can't get to. I've also found it extremely helpful for measuring the base load (how much power your house uses when you aren't actually powering anything) and reducing it. I have the TED 5000-G which is now their most basic kit. They used to sell a TED 1000 or something like that which was less expensive but also less accurate. With my TED I've been able to reduce my base load from about 130W down to about 80W so far. This saves me about $50 a year, so even though the price is a bit much, there definitely is a payback on it. The Energy Detective (TED) __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

07-17-12, 12:13 PM	#12
rhizomatic Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Southern California beach town Posts: 45 Thanks: 22 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Bought a kill-a-watt yesterday for ~$25 and am 15 hours into reading the power demands of my fridge. Cool tool! Thanks Daox.

07-18-12, 09:20 AM	#13
Ryland Master EcoRenovator Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Western Wisconsin. Posts: 913 Thanks: 127 Thanked 82 Times in 71 Posts	When I had an electric water heater I had one of the $35 Intermatic water heater timers and it worked great! set it to come on for an hour at a time at 5am and at 3pm. I also like my motion sensor light switch in the garage, it's set to turn off after one minute and comes on anytime someone walks in the garage.

07-28-12, 09:37 AM	#17
rhizomatic Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Southern California beach town Posts: 45 Thanks: 22 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Decidedly low-tech and minor... but I use an insulated coffee urn instead of the heating pad on my coffee maker to keep coffee warm. We invariably would drink two small pots during the morning, and I didn't want to brew one big pot, have to heat it electrically, and then have it get burnt anyway. This way, I save the energy from my 1025watt coffee maker and have better coffee: I can brew one big pot and keep it hot and unburnt for hours. The kill-a-watt suggests I'm saving a mere 0.20kwh per day.

07-29-12, 02:02 PM	#18
Ryland Master EcoRenovator Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Western Wisconsin. Posts: 913 Thanks: 127 Thanked 82 Times in 71 Posts	I forgot all about it, but my water boiler seems to use around 50 watt hours to heat 4 cups of water while I understand a microwave can use 100 watt hours or more and stove top takes 200 watt hours or more to heat 4 cups, most water boiler I see have a switch that you press down, just like you do on a toaster, once it senses that the water is boiling it triggers and turns off, something that is not possible with a microwave or stove top, it also allows you to not worry about leaving the stove on and heading out the door and doesn't waste energy by staying on any longer then needed, my parents even got one and run it off their solar electric system because it's so much cheaper then boiling water using LP gas and they can't make LP gas, because of the LP gas savings it has more then paid for it's self. I'm also a big fan of double wall stainless containers, my coffee press pot is all stainless steel, no glass to brake and it keeps coffee hot for a number of hours, my vacuum insulated double wall Kleen Kanteen will keep coffee to hot to drink for up to 3 hours and I've filled it with ice and had the ice last nearly 24 hours, so I can cut back on my reheating and re-cooling of beverages as well as saving beverages from going bad.