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Reducing my studio's electric bill


LadyLake

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I wonder if the extra electric cost has more to do with all the laundry I've been doing to support my year-round sports son that changes clothes three times a day and just left for college. ;) I think the ideas you mentioned about spot lighting high activity areas and using energy saving bulbs are good ones too. Maybe I shouldn't worry so much. We'll see!! Thanks!

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Gee you all sound lucky. I'm down in FLA and our bill more than doubled this summer. Our town's contract ended with the company that provides the service and did they ever make up for the part in the contract that did not allow an increase for 10 years. Now we are really paying for it! Count your blessings!

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Hi Joan

I havent noticed a spike in my electricity from using my longarm. I guess it is the extra washing. Also, I recently went around the house turning off all the standby equipment and saved nearly 20%. The clock on an oven uses the equivalent of a 2 bar electric fire on for 2 hours a day - at least thats what I read recently! Wish I could turn mine off.

I would think if you gave your power company the specifications of the longarm motor they could tell you how much it would cost to use per hour.

sue in australia

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Originally posted by LadyLake

I wonder if the extra electric cost has more to do with all the laundry I've been doing to support my year-round sports son that changes clothes three times a day and just left for college.

I find things that create heat are sure to use a lot of electricity. Hot water, clothes heater, space heaters, incandescent light bulbs, halogen light bulbs, some appliances, and check other small electricals that have lights on all the time. Even leaving a phone charger or other chargers plugged in without the device will drain some power. Do we really need all those gadgets plugged in ALL the time? Have you ever turned off the lights at night and looked around your house at all the little red, green, blue, clocks, radio, DVD, etc. lights staring back at you? That's what I mean. It's no wonder our power bills are more now than a decade ago.

Hope you find that your power consumption goes down with the empty nest. Ours did drastically.:)

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Joan,

Do you have an auto shut off iron?

The real energy guzzlers are those things that change temperature. Irons take a hefty dose of energy.

That is also why "cool" florescent lights take less energy than the incandescent type that get real hot.

If you are using your wash machine (hot water) more, or the dryer more, that also can explain the electric jump.

Victoria G

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Originally posted by lizziesgirl

I could talk to the Amish that we work with and see if they could come up with a treadle for the longarm. Might be kind of tricky to master but would be fun to watch...LOL

ROFLOL My DD is trying to build a treadle Singer for me. We laugh about this too! LA Treadle, LOL:P:P:P

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I actually did a little experiment over summer and unplugged anything I wasn't using on a daily basis like mixer, treadmill, fans, sewing machines, etc. I also started unplugging things like my computer, washer, dryer, etc and plugged then in only when being used. I charge things only until they are charged and no longer and use my dishwasher and washing machine on off hours - I can set mine to start in the middle of the night or early in the morning. I don't let my dryer run longer then needed - I find my clothes are totally dry before the buzzer goes off in my dryer to I take them out.

I saved a wapping 30+% of my power bill just by doing this! I was totally amazed. Many items pull power just by being plugged in, even if they aren't being used. Is this a little inconvenient - sure, but it becomes habit and it doesn't take but a second to plug and unplug something.

My power company was sending out monthly home energy reports which showed how you were doing - these reports were not in the power bill but a separate report. This helped me keep on track. I was really happy with the results. Try it, I think you'll be surprised as the results....Mercedes

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Hi.

My husband is really into energy saving and changed all our light bulbs to flourescents. Here are some other things we do/do not do.

Run the dishwasher during off-peak times

Dry clothes on Perm. Press

Do not use the heat to dry the dishes in the dishwasher, open the door to help air dry before putting them away

Use cool water - not cold - to wash the clothes

Unplug cell phone and other chargers when not in use

Turn off computer monitor(s) when not sitting in front of them

Turn off TV when not watching it

Have all high effeciency - "E-STAR" rated appliances

Use the sun for heat by opening the drapes

Keep cold & drafts out by closing the drapes

Every window has a curtain or insulated drape

This year, we will add insulated shades to some windows

Use a whole-house fan to cool

Use window air-conditioners in rooms that are actually used, rather than central air (Our 4-bedroom house does fine on one AC upstairs and one down stairs)

Suppliment heat in rooms we are actually using with oil-filled electric heaters (thanks Linda Stellar for this!!)

Insulated attic

Some things are extra work, for sure. Some things I'd rather take the easy route and not be so effecient but, over all it is not a big deal to take a few extra steps to use less oil and electricity. My DH studied this stuff in college and finds it fun to use less as time goes on. He can not wait to get a hybrid diesel car!!

I do not think our big LAs use much more power than a regular DSM. TV/computer monitors, irons, heat and AC are probably the biggest energy users.

It would be interesting to see what others do to use less power!

Lisa

APQS Liberty

NJ

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Those are all great ideas; I think when we move we'll do some serious energy usage review.

Speaking of leg-powered LAs, since we are moving soon, neither one of us is sleeping real well, so my husband went down to my quilting room to sleep on the floor. He said he rolled over in the middle of the night and heard this loud noise -- he had rolled onto my power fabric advance pedal!

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