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[This message has been edited by JazzMan (edited 12-08-2008).]

I'm impressed.

Any special tricks on your water heater? I've heard people putting timers on them to turn them off while at work, etc. That way there's hot water when you need it, but it doesn't keep the water heated all day long when no one's home.

My gas bill was $172 last month. I'm working on some conservation measures of my own now.

I used solar water heater, with cloudy day booster if i need it.
my electricity bill is normally $177 each 3 months

quote Originally posted by Mr. Cheapass: Using rigorous conservation at my house I was able to get my last month's electric bill down to.... $11.64. I had unplugged my trusty 40 year old fridge a while back because, though it kept food very cold, it was an energy hog. I converted to fluorescent all throughout the house and only use one light in any given room that I'm in at the time. 43 kWh, that's all I used last month. The previous two bills were in the $12-13 range and due to a "Customer appreciate bonus" that the utility gave out in October of $25 this bill will be the first time I've actually had to send any money in. Hehehehe.... Now I heat with natural gas, that bill was $43 for three of four weeks heating last month, but still, combined with the electric that's still under $60 for the month including hot water (I run my water heater at 140°). Mr. Cheapass

Dam James you are tight! Are you gonna leave me some $$ in your will? Can't take it with you...
Why don't you get a car Like Ken & Heidi got

Damn, that's one ugly car.

My sister and her husband did something like that when they were first married. After the third sub-$20 month in a row, the electric company sent someone out to inspect the meter, thinking they had tampered with it.

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[This message has been edited by JazzMan (edited 12-08-2008).]

quote Originally posted by JazzMan: ... The other thing I did was to put my TV on a power strip so that I can cut off the power to it when I'm not watching it. Since I only watch it maybe 5-6 hours a week nowadays leaving it plugged in uses energy 98% of the time I'm not using it. ...

Does a TV really use any significant amount of electricity when it's plugged in but turned off?

Most of our newer generation electrical appliances use energy when turned off but still plugged in. Anything that uses a remote is guaranteed to be using power. I'm sure there are many other appliances drawing power that I'm not aware of. Oh, just thought of one more, when we do laundry, the washer will show us that the load cycle is completed, it's still using power even though the machine is basically shut down. May not be that much but when you add up all the appliances in your house that have some automated feature on them, it adds up.

Nice job on reducing your power needs Jazz. I'm still trying to get my family to turn off lights when they leave a room.

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Ron
Land of the Free because of the Brave. Most gave some, some gave all.
My imagination is the only limiting factor to my Fiero. Well, there is that money issue.

i agree that's impressive. if i was a bachelor in a southern state i could probably get close. problem adds up when you have a family.

electric bill: heat pump, lights(some stay on all the time, nightlights, one in the basement) washer, dryer and dishwasher run once a day, tv's stereo's dvd players, clocks, 2 refers, deep freeze, fans, stove, microwave, etc.

gas bill: heat (when the heat pump kicks off) water heater (again with dish washer, clothes washer and showers) dryer is gas.

phone bill

dish bill

water bill

trash bill

internet bill

cell phone bill

doctor bills, credit cards, house payment, 2nd mortgage, car loan, student loans, INSURANCE, blah blah blah.

its amazing i have $12 in my wallet.

I think you'll find that most modern devices are sucking up watts when off, some not much... others quite a bit. Borrow a low current amp (a/c) around the power cords and find out. Most ones with timers and displays probably draw about 20-30 watts, others like those plasma/LCD TVs draw a heck of a lot more so they stay warmed up for when you hit the on button.

A modern electric hot water heater can stay hot for days without kicking back on... when we had no power for three days, my new 80 gallon water tank (yeah it's big) stayed hot the whole time even with me using the shower and hot water for washing and shaving etc. I just didn't use the big tub

I wish I had the money to drop into retrofitting my house for a geothermal heatpump. Massively more efficient than other heat or a/c options.

Congratulations on being the Energy Miser King

Very Impressive. I don't have that kinda will power for electricity.

I do however have that kind of will power for using gas. My gas bill is about 50 bucks a month or so in the winter. It's great. Gas dryer, furnace and water heater. But I keep my water heater temp at 0 degrees. Probably because it looks like this:



It's awesome. I love it.

And my t-stat is set to 60 at night, 70 from 6-8, 60 during the day, and 67 from 6-10. Sweatshirts are good.

Eric

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Used is such a harsh term. . . I perfer "Previously obsessed over" ;)
88 base coupe: Busted again
Wait. . . Did I just say I can't wait to do more work on my Fiero?. . .what, am I retarded?

quote Said by Crazy Dave "You can take Steve out of the trailer park, but you can't take the trailer park out of Steve."

(\__/)
(='.'=) <<<< Cute Bunny.
(")_(")

quote Originally posted by JazzMan: Using rigorous conservation at my house I was able to get my last month's electric bill down to.... $11.64.

holy sheep dip! $11.64?!?!?
I am happy when mine comes DOWN to $70

quote Originally posted by Racingman24: Very Impressive. I don't have that kinda will power for electricity. I do however have that kind of will power for using gas. My gas bill is about 50 bucks a month or so in the winter. It's great. Gas dryer, furnace and water heater. But I keep my water heater temp at 0 degrees. Probably because it looks like this: It's awesome. I love it.

That's the same water heater I have. Have you been in my basement taking pictures?

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1986 SE 350 V8

[This message has been edited by tesmith66 (edited 01-24-2007).]

On Demand water heaters are by far the best. Only hot water when you turn on the hot faucett. Ceiling fans will drasticly reduce your heat and cooling bill. My house gas bill dropped almost 50% when I installed. Been on now for past 15 years....never off. Just switch direction in spring and fall.

I pay from 250-300 a month. It's crazy around here.

quote Originally posted by Scott-Wa: I wish I had the money to drop into retrofitting my house for a geothermal heatpump. Massively more efficient than other heat or a/c options.

The high school my kids went to is only a few years old and is heated and cooled with geothermal heat pumps. They have a back up system but to my knowledge, it has never been used, only tested and serviced for emergency use only. Forward thinking school board IMO.

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Ron
Land of the Free because of the Brave. Most gave some, some gave all.
My imagination is the only limiting factor to my Fiero. Well, there is that money issue.

Funny this should come up. We're looking into reducing our utility bills by 1/2. I was inspired by http://www.builditsolar.com...rences/Half/Half.htm

So far I've:

- Replaced almost all the lights in the house with florescents (those suckers are expensive)
- Reduced multiple-bulb fixtures to single bulb
- Put a timer on our bathroom exhaust fan. It now runs for 20 minutes to clear the humidity out after a shower (we have a real problem with mold without it) then shuts off automatically
- Just installed a programmable thermostat on the heater/AC. M-F Goes to up 68 degrees automatically @ 6:30am and goes to 58 @ 10:30 pm.

Next I'll be building a solar hot water heater using these plans (or something similar) which we'll use during the summer and we'll be upgrading to an on-demand hot water heater for the winter. We're also thinking about changing our lighting (just the overhead lighting for now) to DC bulbs powered by PV cells and batteries.

[This message has been edited by OKflyboy (edited 01-25-2007).]

quote Originally posted by Black88GT: I pay from 250-300 a month. It's crazy around here.

Wait untill June when it goes up another 43%

I used LESS energy this month, and it's visible on the chart they send on the bill, but my bill was $20 MORE than last month. Connecticut has (I think) the second highest energy prices in the United States and it just went up again. I hate those f*&kers

Man electricity is killing me. 11 bucks a month would be a nice dream. 1300 last month but thats three home and a barn and a shop plus two 30 gpm deep wells. I'm gonna solarize this whole damn place and get off the grid.

Jazz you are the Frugal King of Power. I bet I could save money by hiring you just to police everyone here.