Thread: Home power consumption

my mly power consumption in units is around 400, as against 300 of neighbour1 and 200 neighbour2. Al o'us are middle class families and use the normal electrical and electronic equipment. For three years, i have been trying ways and means of cutting power consumption, but of no avail. My society electrician confirms there is no pilferage. Power supplier confirms no meter defects or reading. I've taken advice from quite afew people and acted on many of their suggestions. I don't know how to takle this situation.

when i purchased this 2BHK hse 10 years ago, i had got a private electrical contractor do concealed wiring without my supervision. I believe he is honest and claims to have done quality job.

Is it necessary to rewire the entire house, which is exhorbitant?

Plzz advise what could be going wrong.

Tkx in anticipation for early responses.

Electricity consumption depends on several factors, even when two households seem similar, the consumption could be different.

1. Main factor is number of hours spent at home. A family where all members go out of the house would have lower bill than one where we have a housewife, kids/children or older persons staying round the clock.

2. Usage habit. Most people forget to switch off the lights and fans when they leave a room. Particularly, in flats, people have a tendency to keep all rooms lighted even though they may be all in the living room. A family with better habits would end up with a lower bill.

3. Many people have a tendency to use AC at 22-23 C and then use blankets. Keeping the AC at 25-26 C and sleeping without blanks work wonders to the electric bill.

4. Also another major factor is the equipments used. Poor quality equipments are less energy efficient and use higher electricity. Many equipments now come with a energy rating now.

Rewiring will not result in a change in electricity consumption.

For starters you could replace all the tubelights and cfl bulbs with the new led lights from either BPL or Phillips. They will cost a lot but your electricity consumption will come down.
If you have a very old fridge like say 15-20 years old then changing it to a new 5star rated one would also make a lot of difference.
You said your monthly consumption is 400 units so I assume you do not use airconditioning or heating in winters so what else do you use besides lights? fans? you can get a ceiling fan that only uses 20 watts of power that most people use in western UP.. You might have to run around a bit to find one but its a good investment as it uses only about 15% of electricity as compared to a normal cieling fan.

With the above two changes your monthly consumption could come down by more then 60-70% so you would only use about 125-130 units a month... try finding out how much the changes cost and see how long it would take to recover the cost and go for it if that appeals you. LED lights are extremely long life as compared to a cfl or tube light and the 15-20 watts cieling fans will last as long as a normal fan lasts.

Hi,
I have experimented by changing our old fridge, using CFL bulbs and getting electronic choke for all our tube-lights.
All to no avail.
The real culprits are heaters, iron boxes, mainly computers, and TV.
Desktop computers consume more power than TVs. So if you are using Desktop PCs for d/l ing torrents, you could use a laptop instead.
If you have an LCD/plasma TV god forbid, they consume most power.

If there any leakage, even though you are not using electricity, it goes to the ground, and make your meter count!!

This wont happen if an ELCB is installed on the mains panel. For old homes, especially in India I dont think anyone has installed one of those!!
For instance, a microwave oven, when connected to the mains in "stand by" mode, where the "clock" is seen could be a scenario. If a leak occours, even though the oven is not working, it consumes a whole lot of power that is supposed to consume on stand by mode.!!

Same is the case with washing machines, small mixers, and AV appliances.
Save electricity, "Switch OFF", say no to "Stand by"!!

One more suggestion - replace the electric water heater/boiler with a gas operated one. This one change alone is saving me about 200 units per month.

Originally Posted by just4kix

One more suggestion - replace the electric water heater/boiler with a gas operated one. This one change alone is saving me about 200 units per month.

Isn't it risky? Are you referring to the cooking gas cylinder I've seen people using at home? Or is there a special gas-kit like for cars?

Another suggestion is to use LCD/TFT monitor instead of CRT if you're using Desktop Computer. Better buy a Laptop and save electricity half of the time like I do.

Originally Posted by itsmemad

Isn't it risky? Are you referring to the cooking gas cylinder I've seen people using at home? Or is there a special gas-kit like for cars?

No they are not risky atall and the loss of heat due to storage in electric water heaters is a lot but the gas instant heaters do not store water atall and only heat up the amount of water that you need... Very clever thing to use if you want to reduce your electricity consumption on water heating.

There are more-or-less instant electric heaters as well. The shower heater in my old place only stored a couple of litres.

Here we have solar water heater. No electricity at all!

But I can't recommend it on economic grounds for a couple or small family: I guess it would take years to recoup the cost. For a larger family, or organisation though, it should be examined.

Of course, it needs some sunshine, or at most, only light cloud cover. This is fine, here in Chennai, for most days of the year. Last few days, though, no hot water.

Whilst there is an optional electric element, I feel that heating a 200Ltr tank by electricity would be ridiculous. Having a small electric heater to use on sunless days would be a good idea.

Originally Posted by itsmemad

Isn't it risky? Are you referring to the cooking gas cylinder I've seen people using at home? Or is there a special gas-kit like for cars?

Another suggestion is to use LCD/TFT monitor instead of CRT if you're using Desktop Computer. Better buy a Laptop and save electricity half of the time like I do.

As Admin said, there is no risk at all provided that you replace tubes every two years or so. Just like gas cooking stove.

Originally Posted by Admin

No they are not risky atall and the loss of heat due to storage in electric water heaters is a lot but the gas instant heaters do not store water atall and only heat up the amount of water that you need... Very clever thing to use if you want to reduce your electricity consumption on water heating.

but wont you be increasing your gas bill ?

It works out a lot cheaper then using electricity.

Originally Posted by Admin

It works out a lot cheaper then using electricity.

Eggzzactllllyyyy.

Originally Posted by just4kix

As Admin said, there is no risk at all provided that you replace tubes every two years or so. Just like gas cooking stove.

However, there is a risk of gas wastage. There is an auto-cut in the electricity geysers which has spoilt our habit of turning it Off on time. Even if we change our habit, there is a chance that without the auto-cut feature, we may lose all the gas in one day.

You dont have to turn the gas water heater on or off every time you use it... it turns on automatically as soon as you turn on the hot water tap and shuts down when you turn the tap off... There is no way you would loose all the gas in one day unless you have a habbit of leaving the taps on after use.
You should have a look at one of them to find out how it works becaus it is hard to explain this way....

An electric heater stores water and every hour or so it will turn on even tough you dont use a single drop of water and the reason being it has to constantly keep working against te loss of heat that occurs despite te good insulation it has from the storage tank... now compare this with a gas heater... there is no storage so no loss of heat that way and since gas is cheap in India (try finding out about the subsidy) as compared to electricity it shouldnt be very hard to find out what would work out cheaper.

Okay, I googled "gas water heater." Now I know how it operates.

One more thing, who provides the gas for it? LPG companies, Gas water heater companies or private operators?

The same gas cylinder supplier as your cooking gas. All you need to do is get an extra gas cylineder.. so if you use gas for cooking you would need three cylinders one for cooking one for the water heater and one spare refill.
Even if you cant get a new connection just buy an empty cylinder and thats all you need..
Some people have pipelines at home for gas and do not keep cylinders in the kitchen so those people dont even need an extra cylinder as there ae gas regulators available that allow two outlets from te same cylinder... Those people who have gas supplied by gas pipeline can get some pipework done to take the gas to the heater.

many times we keep our equipment on remote start mode and feel that we switched them off.
they continue to consume power, though lower than normal.
the O P may arrange to note daily meter readings and and test with switching loads completely OFF.
He need not wait for end of month.

For a family of 4, a typical cyclinder for the gas-fired geyser will last 2+ months in Summer and about 1.5 months in winter. And I am assuming that people will use the shower where there is more wastage of hot water. If one hot water bucket is used per person per day assume another month extra.

A gas cylinder costs around Rs. 375. It saves 300 electrical units per month. So you can do the math.

if possible go for a png connection to save more money in running ur water heater

Originally Posted by Admin

Those people who have gas supplied by gas pipeline can get some pipework done to take the gas to the heater.

Can these run on natural gas also. As Delhi is serviced by IGL PNG, are you aware of anyone using PNG for this purpose?

Originally Posted by panchabhut

Can these run on natural gas also. As Delhi is serviced by IGL PNG, are you aware of anyone using PNG for this purpose?

yes there are water heaters available consult igl to find out the models its available in mumbai through mgl

Hello,
if you buy known appliances and gadget then i will suggest u buy the ifb product it best product for appliances like washing machine,dish washer, microwave oven .

Please don't over promote a product.
Now a days we look for Energy saver label in electrical appliances.
Front loading machines , in the long run will give you back pain !
(or the servant maid will get it !!)
I know, because in U.S most WM are front loading type !!
But in the Flat complex common facility it was top loading machines.
insert coin to operate.
Dryers front loading type.
In India mostly WM with dryers not used.
SOLAR Energy FREE! most of the time.!!!