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Forum Index : Off topic archive. : Average daily power use

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Gizmo

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Joined: 05/06/2004
Location: Australia
Posts: 5116
Posted: 02:07am 29 Jul 2010
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I received my power bill today. Bitt cheaper than out the old place, but here I'm not running a bore pump and the hot water system is on a cheap tarrif. My average daily usage is 10.7kwh. I tend to use the electric oven a bit ( its a bugger of a thing, none of the thermostats work correctly and I usually need to manually switch the elements off and on to control the heat ), but apart from that I try to be energy aware and switch off most stuff when not in use.

The power bill included some interesting info. The average daily power usage around here is 18.5 kwh. Lots of families in the area. My hot water system is on the cheap tarrif, at the start of the year ( our summer ) 1/3 of my power usage was water heating. Now ( winter ), its over half. I like hot showers, wont give them up.

So I've put up a poll to see what others average power usage is like.

Glenn

The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now.
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VK4AYQ
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Joined: 02/12/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 2539
Posted: 05:02am 29 Jul 2010
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Hi Glenn

My power bill has gone from $650 a quarter in December to $188 in July with the installation of solar 1kw and Solar HWS, that was prior to the tariff increase this month, with a bit of tweaking I hope to get it down to unity by September Invoice, that will mean putting the HWS on Off Peak tariff. and it would be even better if the wind would blow a bit.

All the best

Bob
Foolin Around
 
neil0mac
Senior Member

Joined: 26/12/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 210
Posted: 06:07am 29 Jul 2010
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I'll bite. How come I can post to this topic but can't vote - or so it says?

AH So. Now I can.Edited by neil0mac 2010-07-30
 
Gizmo

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Joined: 05/06/2004
Location: Australia
Posts: 5116
Posted: 08:13am 29 Jul 2010
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It thinks you have already voted. Might be a glitch or a cookie issue.

Glenn
The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now.
JAQ
 
Robb
Senior Member

Joined: 01/08/2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 221
Posted: 07:44am 30 Jul 2010
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My daily usage is 12kwH mid winter and 6 kwH in march.
 
KarlJ

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Joined: 19/05/2008
Location: Australia
Posts: 1178
Posted: 07:56am 31 Jul 2010
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new forum feature??

was this use

where's the bit for generation!!!!

Turbine 1.5KW/hr
Solar Bairnsdale was 22KW/hr day summertime but one inverter died (flippin stupid sparkie)
12 panels in one string CMS2000 btw
now 9/day.

Perth place up and down more than I expected -made 19.5KW/hr last Sat but most of this week around the 15KW numbers, been cold at night and a little miserable during the day hence been boosting the HWS more than I'd like yesterdays use was 20KW/hr.

I've now got onto google powermeter which shows on-line consumption although the software is crap and it doesnt show the generation (even though I'm set up for it at my end)

Edited by KarlJ 2010-08-01
Luck favours the well prepared
 
VK4AYQ
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Joined: 02/12/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 2539
Posted: 08:17am 31 Jul 2010
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Hi All

My 1kw grid feed has done 510 kw over 182 days, 2.8 kw per day, not a lot but the Solar HWS saved 10 kw a day so that is the most important.

All the best

Bob
Foolin Around
 
DTMC
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Joined: 12/02/2010
Location:
Posts: 11
Posted: 05:17am 02 Aug 2010
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I cast my vote as 10-15kWhr/day for household usage, but sampling period for the current site is a little small so far. Setup is off grid 4kW PV array on trackers that have been running over rated for much of the 10 months or so that they have been up.

Bore pump and vacuum pump only run on power surplus to charging. Solar HWS (180l 4 panels) costs nothing with electrical side removed - don't need it. Chest fridge and freezer account for ~3kWhr/day. Lights (LED & CFL) cost almost nothing so I don't get too upset about a couple left running. Some lights are on motion detectors and/or timers (ie bathroom, laundry, bedrooms and other non-living areas) and the circuits are on daylight sensors. Natural light is used throughout. Ventilation/cooling is natural draught. Microwave (1000W) doesn't get used for more than half an hour each day and I don't own a TV.
Two servers use mobile processors and chipsets with SSDs for working drives and fairly aggressive power management, WOL... Laptops use a battery profile when plugged in. The only chink is the two printers that are always on.

CheersEdited by DTMC 2010-08-03
 
Loomberah

Regular Member

Joined: 11/06/2008
Location: Australia
Posts: 43
Posted: 09:41am 05 Aug 2010
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[5-10kWh/day] for me, 6.5kWh/day is the long term average last I looked, but that includes lots of welding and other large power tool usage, water pumping to a pressure tank for house and large garden irrigation, as well as 1300W electric benchtop oven, 250W food dryer, 1500W toaster, dishwasher-internally heated (~2.4kW) cold water, washing machine- also internal ~2.4kW water heater), upright fridge and chest freezer, 2kW microwave, bread maker etc. Hot water is heated by solar only, and everything else is covered by 2.19kW + 945W tracked PV arays and a 200W WTG. This winter I've had to use a 1kW (truck alternator + Suyama motor) generator on a few days as the weather has been so cloudy (most recently 170mm rain in 3 weeks).

Edited by Loomberah 2010-08-06
Loomberah weather +solar&UV, astronomy, photography, organic farm
 
arpolis

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Joined: 04/08/2010
Location: United States
Posts: 26
Posted: 09:59pm 10 Aug 2010
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Goodness I wanted to vote and post so I wiped out my electric bills and here is what I have. I am on an averaging system and for the last 6 months averaged together I pay about $150.00. At a rate of .08c/KwH I use approx. 1875KwH/month. That equals about 62.5KWH a day. I think much of this is the crazy heat this year so my electric air conditioner is in overdrive all the time + my snake tanks all have heat elements to keep them warm 24/7. That’s a crazy amount of electricity. Can’t wait to get my HAWT up and running!
Will it work? Well lick your fingers and touch the two leeds. PZZZZZZZT
 
Trev

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Joined: 15/07/2006
Location: Australia
Posts: 676
Posted: 11:27am 26 Aug 2010
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Yeh I don't mind bragging.

I have not had any electricity bill for about 1 3/4 years now.

I would love to be able to vote, but it says I can't. But then, I have no idea how much power I use anyway, so i would have no idea where to put a vote!

I use power in the house & around the farm, Drive by Nature business shed, Live by Nature health clinic, AND my EV Hilux, minimum of 430km per week.

I have 2kW grid connected solar. 640w solar with a double White Pointer and a single White Pointer wind turbines into a battery bank.

My electricity acount is in credit. They owe me!

edit - well after posting I could vote. Voted more than 20kW, I use that much just in the EV Hilux each day.
Edited by Trev 2010-08-27
Trev @ drivebynature.com
 
VK4AYQ
Guru

Joined: 02/12/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 2539
Posted: 01:52pm 26 Aug 2010
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Hi Trev

I think you can keep boasting, as you aren't using you are producing, I think Glen needs to add another category for the producers.

It would be a wonderful thing if we could all do our bit for the environment as you have.

All the best

Bob
Foolin Around
 
Minnesota
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Joined: 31/08/2010
Location: United States
Posts: 2
Posted: 05:48pm 30 Aug 2010
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Hi all,

I have been monitoring my KWH monthly for years and now am at 4kwh/day when not running anything heavy like the A/C (3K per Hour!). The 4 kwh is basically our PC and fridge.

One big help was to install a whole house energy monitor. I bought a TED 1001 on Ebay (new) for just $65 recently. It displays your real time kwh use and allows you to see the effect of things turning on and off. You learn quickly how all the little devices in your house are using juice just sitting there, like TVs, stereo gear, phones, and even the garage door openers. I now have most of those replaced, placed on timers, or on switched power strips. I knocked the "background" usage in half with no real lose of "convenience."
 
vk4kij
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Joined: 04/05/2010
Location: Australia
Posts: 9
Posted: 07:26am 31 Aug 2010
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Hi,

About 1.5kW per day for a family of 3, but that's only for the fridge, lights, TV/DVD player, so I am cheating as the hot water, stove/oven is LPG and the heater is wood.

Off-grid.

Ian.
 
windlight
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Joined: 03/03/2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 331
Posted: 10:46am 02 Sep 2010
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Since moving into the new house in mid May our average daily use has been 9.93Kwh all off solar, slightly distorted by transferring some power to the other system.

Batteries have received 2195Kwh and put out 2048Kwh that's 93.30% efficiency since being installed which was last October in time for the house to be built. This system ran the packing shed cool room for around 8 weeks in summer and was left to the inverter to manage, yes the generator did run sometimes but I don't know how much.

Since moving in the batteries have received 927Kwh and given out 748Kwh that's 80.1% efficiency. Mostly we remain within the top 10% of the batteries, even with winter such as it was we only dipped close to 70% charge on the batteries 3 times. The reason for the lower efficiency on the batteries since moving in is operating in the top 10% where charging efficiencies are abysmal but that figure is about what I would expect.

Allan
"I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it" - (Act II, Scene IV).
 
VK4AYQ
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Joined: 02/12/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 2539
Posted: 02:46pm 02 Sep 2010
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Hi Windlight

Sound like a real success story, keep up the good work.

All the best

Bob
Foolin Around
 
OneToRemember

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Joined: 19/05/2008
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 11
Posted: 02:49pm 05 Sep 2010
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In the UK you can now get a Feed in Tariff (FiT) for solar in the UK. It's taking off well and I believe the problem is now that the panels are in short supply.

Payback looks likely to be about 8 to 10 years so worthwhile. my problem is that my roof is partly shaded by trees.

With electric cooking mmy KWh are quite high but I would prefer this to gas.

r.
great books @ http://www.Onetoremember.co.uk

Buy and sell renwable energy bits and pieces free at http://www.EnergyBook.co.uk

 
paul_mac1

Regular Member

Joined: 17/05/2010
Location: Australia
Posts: 74
Posted: 07:53am 30 Sep 2010
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My consumption is 7.8kwh/day.
We had a company round last year who replaced all our old light globes (34 of them) for free, for the new energy saving ones, our usage was 9.6kwh/day, so that's helped alot.

Turbine project on hold, as I can't find parts for the motor, been let down on parts by a fellow forum user

Regards,
Paul
 
Big Al

Newbie

Joined: 06/10/2010
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 38
Posted: 08:52am 06 Oct 2010
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Have voted in 10KW area.Live on my own and use about 7KW per day-- far too much. Even that is a lower figure than I had been using since getting a complimentary energy monitor. Here in chilly Scotland we nearly all use gas central heating so in winter my energy usage far higher than my voted figure (have only shown electrical).
Obviously my megaW Generator in a shoebox ( to be developed in the next couple of years) will cut the electicity bill and I am hoping one of the moles I am training for deep tunneling will strike natural gas and cut my gas bill. I do not expect the mole to survive but the ejection of its corpse from the tunnel will tell me all I need to know and it will be buried with full moletary honours. rgds Big Al
Big Al

Every Day is a school day (even at 67)
 
GWatPE

Senior Member

Joined: 01/09/2006
Location: Australia
Posts: 2127
Posted: 12:17pm 20 Oct 2010
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I have voted in the 5-10kWhr/day category.

The typical daily peak power grid consumption is between 1&2kWh. The solar/windmill renewable battery inverter supplies between 1&3kWhr/day, and the GTI solar supplies 1-3kWh/day directly. The average GTI export is between 1-10kWh/day in Winter and up to 25kWh/day in Summer. No air conditioning and an all electric appliance house, with occasional slow combustion fire use in winter. Electric OFF peak water heating supplements the Solar, averaging 1-5kWh/day. The net is an electrical credit over the whole year, including water heating. Surplus power sold easily pays the rates and firewood.

Gordon.




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