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Old 06-01-18, 08:31 AM   #1
pr0cess0r
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Default Where to start to save on Energy bill?

Hello, im new to the forum and would like to know where to start to save on my power bill.

Its a 1970 house and it use baseboard heating.

Im wondering if to start its better to switch to heat pump or to start with insulation?

I dont want to open wall or anything like this for now but dont know where to start.

Im in Quebec and winter can be very cold so im not sure about heat pump efficency most of the winter.

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Old 06-01-18, 11:03 AM   #2
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Look around for really cheap used servers and use them to mine cryptocurrency.
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Old 06-01-18, 11:09 AM   #3
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i dont think your comment help me at all... but i dont want to make any high risk investment for mining.

If you want to mine you have to buy good recept equiment motherboard that can support many gpu so no old servers are not good for this..

One of my friend have 60 gpu mining and he make good money with them plus he is trading crypto but to make money you need to have money!

so i just look for some help idea how to start impriving my home.
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Old 06-01-18, 11:28 AM   #4
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There are coins that mine well on CPUs but not GPUs. I would say that Monero is probably the most stable one. I mine earnhoney (more profitability but more uncertainty/less stability) on really cold days, and even my old Core i7 from 6 years ago ends up with a lower net cost per heat generated than a heat pump - on the order of getting back 90-95% of the power cost. Something more efficient will actually make a profit.

I personally have found that just one GPU and one 6 core CPU will easily keep my apartment warm, but your place gets much colder. The nice thing about used servers is that they're crazy cheap if you wait for a deal. (Reddit's homelab section is a good resource.) I would say that 10 or so total CPUs (chips, not cores) would be a good start for your case.

And then there are infrared heat lamps for localized heating, easily fine tuned with ordinary dimmers. The point of those is not really to reduce the cost of getting heat but to try to get more of it where it's really needed.
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Old 06-01-18, 11:41 AM   #5
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i alredy have two server running 24/7 i should try to use them to mine. Didnt know that there is some money that i can mine with cpu. Hydro is very cheap so maybe i will be even.
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Old 06-01-18, 03:37 PM   #6
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Insulation.
My new windows I put in 2 years ago and insulation projI started 3 years ago and finished about 6 months later plus high efficiency heat pumps has decreased the power bill 100 to 150 per month during the summer and 50 to 100 in natural gas in winter.

I didn't want to bust open walls either. So what I did was take a 5 inch hole saw and make a hole at the top of the wall between the stud exposingthe bottom half inch or so of the wall header and hand filled with cellulose.
And it worked.
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Old 06-02-18, 01:46 AM   #7
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Start with ceiling and floor insulation if accessible.

Church had unoccupied parsonage kept at 60F
Associate pastor's familily moved in, 4 kids.

Floor and ceililg uninsulated, they were warm climate foks and wife liked house at 74F

Installed just R11 in floors an ceiling last November where there had been none. Heating bill each months since then has been lower than the previous year. About 2000 sq ft ceiling and 1000 sq ft floor insulated. Outdoor average about 40F, so BIG savings, heating bills would have gone up over 50%otherwise.

Walls still uninsulated as large single pane windows.

definetly start with insulation if yu have none or little now.

Is electric your only source of energy? No big free wood source, NG or ??
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Old 06-02-18, 06:51 AM   #8
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my only source is hydro but its cheap over here.

Rate D structure
Fixed charge per day in the consumption period: 40.64¢
Price of energy for energy consumption up to 36 kilowatthours (kWh) times the number of days in the consumption period (1st tier): 5.91¢/kWh
Price of energy for the remaining energy consumption (2nd tier): 9.12¢/kWh

I will look to add some insulation to ceiling the ceiling.

Is it a good idea to hire some one to make a leak test of my house to know what to improve ?
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Old 06-03-18, 01:58 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pr0cess0r View Post


Is it a good idea to hire some one to make a leak test of my house to know what to improve ?
I think you are better off buying, renting, or borrowing an Infrared Camera. You should be able to spot most leaks easier than a blown door test as well as quickly see the results of your labor.
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Old 06-07-18, 01:47 PM   #10
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As your using baseboard heat right now your best bang for buck is to install a cold weather ASHP with your house winter heating in mind.
My guesstimate is your winter heating bill will be around 50% or more lower then the current bill with the two tier pricing.

Divide your yearly heating bill in half to get a sense of pay back time vs a heat pump installation costs. If your bill heating bill is high ASHP's pay back time is relatively quick especially when compared to the ducted GSHP's.

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