Our monthly email offering advice on all things electrical around your home. To discuss any of the topics we cover please contact us here.
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Steve Bishop is a qualified electrician and a member of NAPIT. To see his qualifications click here.
Hi <<First Name>>,
Well here we are again, another year drawing to a close, which means Christmas is hammering at the door, poking its money-grabbing fingers through the letterbox. This month's festive (and slightly tacky) Thrifty Shorts is dedicated to saving you cash on your electricity and heating this Christmas. So print it out, roll it up and thrash those grasping digits until they subside! Or you could just read on ...
- HEATING -
Show some control... By turning your thermostat down by just a couple of degrees you can save bundles but it might be a good idea to practice with thermostat control beforehand so you have it right on the big day.
Be a bleeder... Radiators don't feel that warm? If the top of your radiators feel cooler than the bottom, it may be they need bleeding to get rid of trapped air. A really simple job and it could save you a fortune.
Regulate it... Try regulating the heat in each room rather than warming up the whole house. Remember there will be a lot of oven and hob action going down on the big day and that tends to warm the house up.
- CHRISTMAS LIGHTS -
Go LED... If you have older Christmas lights then they will be less efficient. LED Christmas lights are not only reasonably priced to buy, they can use up to 90% less energy than traditional lights, and last longer! I know I keep banging on about it, but LED lights are the best way to save money, not only with your Christmas lights, but throughout your home. See our previous Circuit Shorts detailing how LEDs can save you wads here.
Save them... Only use them when you are actually going to benefit from them, like during darker hours, and when you are actually in the house. A display of 100 five watt bulbs switched on for six hours a day over the Christmas period will consume around 207 KwH of energy, which is roughly 22 days of the average households electricity consumption.
Time them.... Use a timer so that you don’t have to worry about forgetting to switch your lights off. Even if you like to leave them on to impress the neighbours throughout the night, this will really bump up your electricity consumption. Besides, it's highly unlikely you will attract an army of admirers to your stunning light show at three in the morning.
Make the most of them... When you have your Christmas lights on, why not switch off a few of the other lights in the room, that way you get even more of the benefit of your Christmas lights, but balance out your energy demands.
- COOKER -
No need to pre-heat... Don’t worry about pre-heating the oven, it’s not necessary for a long, slow cook like a turkey and don't buy a massive turkey if you don't need it as a smaller turkey will require less cooking time.
Shut it... Every time you open the door the oven loses heat and requires more energy to get back up to temperature. Try to keep the oven door clean so you can look in instead of opening it.
Defrost it... Defrosting food in advance can halve the cooking time.
Don't stuff it... Rather than stuffing the turkey cavity, cook your stuffing separately this will speed up cooking time.
Turn it off... Turn your electric oven off ten minutes before the end of the cooking time and it will still keep to the same temperature right to the end.
Keep it clean... Keep rings clean, as those crusty bits of old food absorb heat making an electric ring less efficient.
Steam it... Use a steamer to cook your veg, that way you can layer a number of vegetables on top of each other and still use one ring, or use a saucepan with a divider.
- DISHWASHER -
Don't use it... Here's an idea. Drag the rest of the family away from the TV and pass round the rubber gloves and Fairy Liquid. Make it a team effort, you could even sing Carols!
Soak 'em... Give your dishes a good old soaking for as long as possible, even overnight. You can then use a shorter cycle on your dishwasher.
Drip dry... Turn off your dishwasher after the rinse cycle, open it up, and let your dishes drip-dry. You'll save bundles by avoiding the heat-drying cycle on your machine.
Clean it... By keeping your dishwasher clean, the water coming through it will be clean too so there’s less chance of having to rewash your dishes.
- FRIDGE FREEZER -
Dont stuff it... I know this is probably a ridiculous thing to say at Christmas, but try not to cram your fridge too much. Air needs to circulate freely otherwise your appliance will have to work harder and use up more energy.
Shut it... Take all the food for cooking from the fridge at the same time as opening the fridge door less, means it doesn’t have to work as hard.
Keep it clean... Clean coils means your fridge will take less electricity to keep its contents cold.
Keep it away from the oven... If your fridge is next to your oven it will have to work a lot harder to keep cool with all that extra hot air around – especially if you open the fridge while you’re cooking.
- TV AND GADGETS -
Pretend it's the 50s... Children and teenagers (and some of us oldies) love to have the very latest electronic gadgets. And not only do these gadgets cost a fortune to buy, they also use bundles of electricity. Here's an idea - have a 50s themed Christmas and just give the kids wooden toys this year. I jest, obviously...
Turn it off ... Switch off everything from TVs to games consoles when not in use rather than leaving them on standby. If you can, put your digital recorder on a separate plug socket so you can turn off everything else at the mains but keep your series link recordings.
Charge it less ... Chargers are not huge energy consumers but every little helps when saving money. Either use a time switch to limit the charging time or switch off the charger when the battery is fully charged. It’s not necessary to charge gadgets overnight. Finally unplug chargers when you're not using them. If a charger feels warm when it's plugged in but not attached to a device, it's still using energy.
Size DOES matter... If you’re buying a computer, make it a laptop. These are far more energy-efficient than a desktop and monitor set-up and do the same job in most cases.
And finally ... talk to your family! Christmas day is all about families and friends. Instead of watching It’s a Wonderful Life for the umpteenth time, turn off the TV and play a board game. Or even better, all gather together and have a Christmas singsong! (I went too far didn’t I?)
- GO FIBRE OPTIC -
Fibre optic trees and decorations are a great option for energy efficiency as they only use a single light bulb located in the base of the unit. This means the whole decoration is only powered from one source.
I hope these festive, thrifty tips have been helpful. If you would like some advice on energy saving or if you would like to make an appointment for a free quotation on any of the services we provide (click herefor more details about the electrical services we can provide for you) then please contact me.
All that's left is to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a healthy, prosperous New Year from Steve, Sandra and Rosie at S W Bishop Electrical.
Next month: We've cooked up some brilliant ideas to light up your kitchen
