Christmas went well

[Soapman]

 Merry Christmas and Happy new year to everyone. Christmas is over,all the family is gone and I have my house back. I had my sister and brother in-law here for 4 day.That was a big test. My wife and I never realized how energy concious we are until they came. They left every light on and had to have the TV on even when they weren't watching it. My brother in-law couldn't seem to turn any of the taps off all the way so I spent most of the time trying to figure out why the well pump was still running.Twice my wife and I went to bed first only to wake up in the night and find the tv still on and they were in bed. They said they never turn theirs off at home. I'm all ready losing my hair and pulling it out for 4 days didn't help. The funny part was when my kids ( 7 & 4 ) started to ask them why they kept turning every thing on. I've taught them well.

 Now for some more serious stuff. I finally got some numbers on the panels on the roof. In full sun I got this,  15.6v  3.54amps = 55.2 watts. Right? This is exactly what I was expecting.

 My father got me an unexpected Christmas gift. It's a small generator. 2 stroke 950 watts. Not the most enviromentally friendly by any means but he said he got it at 85% off. Between this and my solar power I should be laughing the next time the power goes off. Ahh why wait...... HA HA HA

 Hope everyone had as fun and as interesting a Christmas as I did. :-)

[mikey ny]

Soapman,

         "why do they keep turning everything on"? Ha Ha.They live in that other world. They have no clue. It is amazing how many nice educated people live such a wastefull life. A lot of my family is like that too. We take half the lite bulbs out of the house before holidays because we know the big energy users are coming. We love to have company, especially family but we can't figure out how to train them into our conservative ways. Our kids have learned a lot from "those" people.They are very smart yet very wastefull. If it were'nt for them being so wastefull I don't think our kids would be so appreciative of our efforts.

               

[Countryboy]

There is a very simple solution to this problem.

Simply remove the large master breaker in your breakerbox, and replace it with a small amperage breaker.

When they try drawing more power than the breaker can support, it blows and they lose all power.  Put them on an energy budget, and make them decide what power usage is most important to them.

If you have a Kill-A-Watt meter, you can be kind and make labels for all switches, telling how much power that switch will use.

[TomW]

CountryBoy;

absolutely fantastic idea. Low cost, simple, foolproof and no need for human enforcement.

Cheers.

TomW

[thirteen]

maybe a tv that runs off of quarters or quarters for the lights while your energy sucking relatives are there might help. You might make enough to buy another solar panel. Just a funny thought. Have a good New Year.  

[wooferhound]

I hate it when the guests . . .

• can't sleep unless the TV is on.
  
• turn on the Hot water and leave it running while doing something else.
  
• Open a window to cool their room off in the winter
  
• ask to turn the heat up instead of putting on a sweater
  
• go out to get something from the car and leave the house door open
  
• etc.
  

[nanotech]

You know the worst part for me?  My wife and son are two of "those people"!!  

My son will leave his laptop open and running, I don't think he understands the concept that a light switch also turns a light OFF, and when he takes a shower he drains it down to cold water.

My wife leaves a light on in the bathroom for the cats.  Excuse me??  They're CATS!!  They see in the dark!!  WTF do they need a light for??  She also refuses to use any of the power settings on her computer because she keeps thinking it's off instead of in power saver mode.  Yes, she leaves it running 24/7......

I think I'm going to start setting our house up with some sort of Killa-Watt controlled system so that when people start going over a certain amount of energy used in a day, they run out and can no longer use any.  Let's see how important having instant access to thier computers are when it limits them to only a couple hours a day.  Let's see how important the cats' lighting is when they stumble through the house in the dark!!

GAH!!!  It's so annoying at times!!

Oh, well.  They're family.  You've gotta love em no matter what they do.  Especially when one is She Whom Must Be Obeyed!!

[RP]

Buy your wife one of these cat shaped nightlights, replace the bulb with an LED, tell her you love her and give it to her in a box wrapped with a bow.  She'll have to use it then!

http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=cat+nightlight&btn
G=Search

[rossw]

My new place is all C-Bus controlled (a home automation system - all the switches, movement sensors, light sensors etc etc) are simply connected via CAT5 cable and all the output relays, dimmer channels etc "programmed" for what does what).

I specifically set it up so each bedroom can have its power turned on and off seperately.

This works really well... we live entirely off-grid, but with an on-grid lifestyle - 42" plasma TV, dishwasher, LCD TVs in each bedroom etc....

However, little concessions - the 120 odd lights in the place are all either 7W or 11W FCLs instead of 50W halogens, except a few (like in walk-in-robes etc). The system detects a person moving and turns the lights on and off only when they are required - and then, only to the brightness required (if its already light enough, it doesn't turn the lights on at all!)

Arguably nicest is my 14YO daughter who is still comming to grips with "energe consumption" - finds that the system automatically shuts down her room when she has used her quota for the day! Boy was I popular when that first happened (NOT!)

Other nice things - we had guests, who found that they had to have the bathroom lights on AS WELL AS the heat-lamps. DUH! However every time they turned the heat lamps on, the system turned the bathroom lights off! While technically savvy, they are not energy savvy, and came to tell me of a "glitch" in the system. Looked all sheepish when I explained the logic!

We also have the system set up to preferentially run certain loads when there is plenty of power - for example, the bore pump only runs when we have spare power from R.E. OR if the tank is getting low.

Think about it and you will find all sorts of ways to make your life easier and use less power, I'm sure

[dinges]

Ross,

You have a high-tech system. Which I find attractive in one way for its technical aspects. On the other hand, simplicity has its advantages too. 'Just' changing behaviour could have the very same effect; turn off the lights when you're not there, instead of relying on movement sensors to detect physical presence. Awareness of energy usage is a first step. Changing behaviour is a next step. Changing behaviour can be done by the person self, or with the help of technical solutions like you have implemented. (just thought of something: you could hold a contest where people can guess how many meter (or kg?) of cable you have in your house...)

BTW, don't put your daughter's telephone usage on a quotum (even when it's VOIP). That would make you really unpopular.

[disaray1]

This is Disarray's wife - cats can't see in the dark - that's a myth. Give the woman a nightlight! Happy New Year, everyone.

[nanotech]

Ah, but they can certainly see better than us in very dark areas.  

Something I keep trying to remind my wife of is that there's a sodium lamp not 30 feet outside the bathroom window.  If I can see well enough to pee without turning a light on, I'm pretty sure our cats can find thier food dishes and the litter box...