Like you I am a lover of wine. I developed my interest in wine in university when my friends would host wine and cheese parties, which were not only fun because of the new people I met but also because of all of the different types of wine I was exposed to. 
An Easy Way To Save $30 A Month In Electricity Bills
October 8th, 2008 by
Scott Young
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While this blog is normally reserved for wine related topics I wanted to share a money saving tip that Tom (one of my readers) recently shared with me that I thought was definitely worth passing on.
Here’s what he suggested:
Would you be interested in saveing up to 30.00 a month on your electric bill??I’m sure you would and here’s how to do it … go to Walmart and buy an outdoor timer that’s rated for at least 1,200 watts. Make sure to get the outdoor unit as those cheap indoor timers while they’re rated to handle the load don’t have that 3rd ground prong on the plug … the timer is less than $15.00 … take the timer and plug it into the wall where your referigerator is plugged into … now plug the refrigerator into the timer … now set the timer so that the fridge will stay off for 4 hours during the middle of the night when you’re not useing it (say between 1 and 5 am) … don’t worry, as long as you do’nt sit up all night opening the fridge, your milk etc won’t spoil, but you can open it once or twice while it’s off with no problem..
Next if you have the standard 220 volt electric water heater, go to a building supply like Lowes or Home Depot … buy a 220 volt appliance timer (around $25 o $50) . If you have a 110 volt waterheater like I do you can get the cheaper 110v outdoor timer..in either case, just make sure the timer is rated to handle the load of the appliance plus a few hundred watts..you can find out how many watts your heater uses by looking at the label on the heater…also the higher priced 220v timers can be programed for multi events so you can turn the heater off at night and during the day while you’re at work as well..the key is learning not to use the heater during the times when its off.. in the case of a 220v heater, you will need to hard wire the timer into the heater from the power supply.. now set the timer so that the heater is off during the times when you don’t normaly use it … say 10:00 pm to 6:00 am and sit back and watch for your next electrical bill that should be lower..I found living alone that I was only using the hotwater during the evening hours of 3pm to 9pm so I set mine to stay off for the other 18 hours of the day..
Your savings should pay for the timers in the first month or 2..after that its like free money in your pocket..I am currently using 200 kw less every month than before I installed the timers.
I hope you will share this idea with as many as you can..even in your blog..if everyone did this..can you imagine just how much less coal, natural gas etc would be going into our air??
I’ve tried it and am living proof as I’m now saving a good $30.00 a month on my bill!!!
- Tom
I personally have been starting to implement Tom’s ideas starting with our cable boxes for our TV’s (which are always on so “steal” electricity when you don’t use them, but will also be looking at adding them to our fridges as well.
Our hot water tank uses natural gas so it won’t apply in our case but there are lots of household items we use each day that suck energy that we can certainly cut down on.
Let me know what you think. Is this something you have done or plan on doing? If you do try it out let me know how it has affected your electrical bills by leaving a comment below.
Thanks!
- Scott “The Wine Making Guy”
| 3.6 (2 people) |
Tags: lowering electrical bills, lowering heating bills, reducing your electrical bill, saving money
October 9th, 2008 at 3:36 am
Thanks for passing along theses tips Scott. How do you apply this to your cable boxes?
October 9th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I never read that tip before. Keeping the fridge off! Interesting. I found another site which gave some ways to save electricity, but looking for more good advice. Also, what can we do to get help after we use methods to save? Any other tips or info on gov’t programs? Thanks
http://www.waystosaveelectricity.com
October 10th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Hey Daryl,
I just plugged the timer into the wall then the power bar to the timer.
Pretty straight forward.
- Scott
October 10th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Hey John,
My other suggestion would be to understand that anything you have plugged in all the time still draws current even if it’s not technically “on”.
That’s why I went after the cable box with the timer.
Other suggestions are welcome!
- Scott
October 14th, 2008 at 7:42 am
Super ideas!!! Thanks for passing them on!
Debbie
October 30th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Israel wines…
Gilbert\’s favorite Chardonnay and Richter\’s Cabernet Sauvignon are among the wines included in this unique series presented by the National Hockey League Alumni Association to help support charities selected by the NHL Alumni Association and the …
November 25th, 2008 at 6:59 am
One thing we did to inexpensively cut out winter heating bills was to set our (forced-air natural gas) furnace fan to have the fan run continuously.
At first-glance it seems like you would use more energy, but it definitely doesn’t. In the winter, the constant air movement recirculates warm air that rises and tries to escape through the roof - that air comes back down and stays in the home. (its called reducing “air stratification” - or reducing the layering effect that naturally occurs.) the savings are around 8% on fuel consumption in winter, and about the same in summer if you have A/C.
In terms of electricity, it actually doesn’t consume that much power to keep the fan running - more is used when constantly starting and stopping it. (We also installed a whole-home energy controller to save even more on any appliance with a motor -furnace fans, fridges and freezers, even our vacuum cleaner. -another 10% more in guaranteed savings with that installed!)
Running that fan also helps balance the heat, reducing cold and warm spots in the home. There is an increased comfort level as well.
As an added bonus, the circulation helps reduce frost on the windows which can lead to damaged window framing and even mold problems!
It helps in the summer too - cooler air from the basement is circulated upstairs so the home stays cooler - with or without A/C!
-about the only down-side would be if your fan is noisy. Although ours is far from quiet, we found that after a day, we no longer noticed it.
What we did notice was having to replace the furnace filters more-often. That’s really a good thing though, since all the extra particles now being caught are being pulled from the air, that means my lungs are no longer being “the filter” in the home. Better indoor air quality!