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Daily Discussion Thread: 🐤🕊️🦜 Sunday, 5 January, 2025
(aussie.zone)
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this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2025
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Holy shit, I had the air con on for a few hours yesterday and used 10kwh more electricity than usual
$5 just to keep the inside temp below 30 😐
Maybe that's perfectly average and expected, but that's the most electricity I've ever used in a day (at least while I've been paying the bill). Do split systems use that much?
It's already 31 inside, I don't really feel like I've got much other option but to turn it back on, but the moment it's bearable it goes straight back off :/
You made me check and lol
Holy moly! Maybe I shouldn't complain then lol
If you don't mind me asking, how many people in your house, and how many bedrooms in total? Any gas?
(Just asking for the sake of comparisons)
Just me and my partner, 4 bed. Not sure what the air con system is as it's a rental and there are vents in all of the ceilings so...!? Gas is just for the hob. But we're hardcore gamers etc and I'm a data hoarder 🏴☠️ so our base is already quite high. But let's blame the Chrissy tree lighting we still haven't taken down :D
Is this a smart meter? I wanna get one of those.
Yeah, the moment it's bearable I switch it off too. But then I wonder if turning it on and off stops being efficient at a certain point.
Yep! I think the idea is that everyone will have one by 2030. For me it actually works out well, because I have no clue where my power Maine/metre is. I've got a switchboard/circuit breaker box inside, but I don't have a metre anywhere on my property. I'm guessing they're probably all located on a wall at unit number 1 or something, as from what I can see, my neighbours don't have one either
It's pretty neat, although I can only access my usage data the day after. I'm pretty sure data is reported to them hourly, but my supplier just chooses to only tell me about it the next day. Having a smart metre also means you can get a little sensor installed that monitors your live energy usage and reports it back to your phone in near real time. You generally need to be in close proximity to it though, so it wouldn't work for me being on the other side of the lot
Well worth it though! Don't fight them if they want to install one for you!
I used 22kw yesterday, the highest I've gotten to recently is 26kw. That was with a large split system in the lounge running all day keeping everyting in the low 20s, plus one in the bedroom running all night (plus a few hours before bed to cool everything down).
Normally I would be around 10kwh on a fairly mild day, but can go up closer to 40kwh in winter when I need a lot of heating.
Oh wow, that seems quite high! How many people to your house and how many bedrooms if you don't mind my asking?
I've got gas heating, oven/stove, and hot water, so the biggest power draw I have is the portable air con. My energy usage varies a bit, but is generally between 4-6kWh, occasionally dipping down to 3, or poking up to 8. Any more than that is abnormal for me, even if I use the dryer and aren't proactive about keeping lights off
Just me and the pets. Two bedroom. It's open plan with poor insulation and a wall full of windows in the lounge - south facing so I don't get the sun at least, but very bad insulation wise.
I have electric everything except hot water, and do a lot of food prep so I have three freezers and two fridges running which adds a bit in too. If I'm out of the house the baseline usage is around 4-5kWh.
Before I had the new split systems installed the heating and air con used a lot more power, so this is pretty good for me.
You know that sticker on appliance that shows the electrical ratings? Look for a number that says Watts. So say your appliance is rated 500 Watts, then in one hour it will use 500wh. Divide by 1000 to get kWh. So 0.5kWh. Then you can multiply by number of hours to get the total used. Eg if it ran for 3 hours, that’s 1.5kWh. (More or less. Could by slight variations due to start up power draw, fan speeds, intensity, etc.)
Thanks, I appreciate the intention/sentiment, but I do know how energy ratings and usage works. The porty doesn't have any stickers (pretty sure it's at least a decade old, and whatever adhesive was holding the sticks on had long since disintegrated by the time I got it)
Watts are also just the product of amps x volts. I've got a smart plug in one of my boxes that I could use to determine how many V/A it's pulling and then work out wattage based on that, but I don't think it really changes much. I'm gonna use it anyway on the days like today where the weather is a bit difficult, even if probably costs about $10-15/day to run (my assumption based on yesterday's cost and running time). The "bury your head in the sand and deal with the fallout later" approach, if you will
Oh sorry, didn’t mean to explain thing you already knew! I often think back to how I unknowledgeable I was at your age and wish someone had helped me out. So if I ever mention things you already know, just ignore!
All good SC, I do appreciate the help anyways
Fwiw I only know all of this stuff because I'm quite the nerd and fuck around with electronics. Nobody's really ever taught me all of these things, I just wanted to go find it all out for myself