if you’ve been reading regularly, you may know that I have been on a bit of a crusade to decrease our electricity bill after it tipped over $1000 about a year ago. This has been primarily in the form of replacing particular devices and next week sees another major step towards saving a bit of cash on the power bill.
We already have a small reverse cycle air conditioner installed upstairs however, try as it might, it can’t quite cover the whole house by itself particularly in Winter. In the colder months a little portable heater comes out (a Dyson model) but at 2400W it absolutely chews power for a very limited heating area.
to this end, we’re getting a 7.1kW 7.1kW Panasonic ECONAVI reverse cycle inverter air conditioner installed. At maximum, power consumption would be 2.21kW but once the room has reached the desired temperature that consumption could back off quite a bit with conservative estimate of at least 50%. Hopefully it would be lower given the whole room would be at the desired temperature rather than an area less than one square metre.
Other items still to tackle are my desktop computer (hoping to get an upgrade in this financial year) with a major focus on reducing power consumption and maybe also the washing machine (an aging Asko One which has had two new doors on it and velcro holding the powder receptacle shut) which uses 10kWh per cycle. That’s massive compared to an estimated 0.95kWh for a Panasonic 10kg EVONAVI front loader washing machine. With may three cycles a week that’s 27kWh a week saving and assuming thirty cents per kWh that’s around $400 a year in savings (or $100 off per quarterly bill). Don’t get me started on the clothes dryer!
Of course, it is very important to make sure you clean your air conditioners. The filters can become clogged as can the rotating cylinder inside the indoor unit. Read your unit’s instructions on how to best clean it or perhaps call a professional so that optimal performance versus energy consumption can be maintained.
In the meantime, the new fridge is performing admirably and the VT60A television is using about half of the power the VT20A plasma was pulling down.
Anyway, little by little these changes make a difference and whilst it can be costly up front they should help decrease what you have to pay to the electricity company and hopefully give you many years of service if properly maintained.
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