What does a house base load look like?

[Rolfe]

My base load used to 90 W, but with all the devices and gizmos added over the years it has crept up to 150 W, or 255 W with the fridge/freezer running.

Another vote for, it's all fine. Actually, with the hifi and the kitchen strip light being switched off, my baseline seems to have gone down to the lowest I've seen it. I'm looking at double figures at the moment, although switching on that strip light has rather wrecked that. No matter, that strip light is essential to my lifestyle.

 

[Rolfe]

A really dreary day in the first week of January, we generated 0.9kWh. The next day, we generated 5kWh!

I have a friend in Glasgow with 10 panels on a feed-in tariff. She said she has sometimes been contacted by her supplier in the middle of winter to check if her panels were off-line, as there had been no generation at all for several days. She replied, yes, this is the west of Scotland. I'll be interested to see what my system manages in winter.

(On 31st August my system generated 41.17 kwh. On 2nd September - yesterday - it generated 2.74 kwh.)

 

[Gadget Geek]

Ah, yes. One of the benefits of living in the south west.

Edit: I actually had the opposite problem this week. My meter reading for the FIT was challenged for being higher than expected. I sent them a photo as proof.

 

[Rolfe]

I have a Sonos system with a sub woofer that uses nearly 40w on standby which is ridiculous.

I had actually turned the amp off using the button on the front, but it was only when I switched the entire boiling of it off at the mains that I saw a significant decrease in load. I think that's the most useful thing I found out in the exercise.

 

[Rolfe]

That's the idea. Move all heavy loads to the off peak. I get up in a morning and empty the washing machine, which has run its cycle overnight.

Ah, yes. One of the benefits of living in the south west.

Edit: I actually had the opposite problem this week. My meter reading for the FIT was challenged for being higher than expected. I sent them a photo as proof.

I used to run the washing machine overnight when I lived in Sussex, not because I had an off-peak tariff, but because I could hang it out in the morning to get the morning sun, then go to work. Then I changed to running it in the evening, often when I was in my dressing-gown having put everything I'd been wearing in the wash, and pegging it out last thing before I went to bed. Saved time in the morning, and the clothes got the sun from sunrise. (NE-facing garden.)

But that was in Sussex. I very seldom see a forecast here that justifies hanging stuff out the night before. Running the machine overnight, then deciding whether to risk hanging it out in the morning or just put it all on the pulley is much more rational.

(How could your export be higher than expected? It can't be higher than on a cloudless day, and how would they know you hadn't had a cloudless day?)

 

[Gadget Geek]

(How could your export be higher than expected? It can't be higher than on a cloudless day, and how would they know you hadn't had a cloudless day?)

I think they use average models of weather and compare that with your previous quarter reading.

 

[Cocijo]

I had actually turned the amp off using the button on the front, but it was only when I switched the entire boiling of it off at the mains that I saw a significant decrease in load. I think that's the most useful thing I found out in the exercise.

Yeah. Some of these use juice at a by-today’s standards an unacceptable rate. The issue with my Sonos system is that all speakers and sub are Wi-Fi enabled as well as getting on a bit now.

 

[Bam Bam]

Yeah, I just wasn't aware of usage until we got the solar system with the really informative Givenergy app.

Real-time and historic data. I spent the first year studying it like a real boring dull man!

Gave me a real sense of what different appliances use.

Usage went up significantly when I got a dehumidifier for Xmas, and then again with the EV.

But dropped substantially when our smart immersion failed and we switched back to (much cheaper, sadly) gas for hot water.

 

[Alb]

I'm interested in seeing what other people's houses are consuming when there's no extra malarkey going on like kettles and vacuum cleaners. Fridge, freezer, the odd appliance in standby, everybody out.

Your base load (house unoccupied) looks completely normal to me. It's a standing load of less than 200W.

 

[gus]

When I had my system installed a couple of years ago, I was wondering the same thing on base load, I brought one of these and was surprised with the results Monitor microwave display consumes 40w, found out the microwave - Samsung has a button to blank the display, the other one was a Sony tv on standby, the Samsung one was negligible.

 

[Rolfe]

Your base load (house unoccupied) looks completely normal to me. It's a standing load of less than 200W.

Thank you, that is extremely reassuring. I guess there's nothing hiding anywhere and my massive usage of yesteryear was a combination of incandescent light bulbs, turning on electric heaters rather than turning up the central heating temperature, and a bunch of not caring if things that weren't being used were switched off or not.

I am thinking about that kitchen strip light though. It's a new-ish bulb, but it's obviously not a low-energy thing at 40 watts or so. I don't think these things have changed in many decades. I had a strip light in my garage loft which failed, and asked an electrician to repair it. He ripped the entire thing out and installed a unit that seems to be a row of LEDs. He said it would be more energy efficient. Since getting the new system I have realised that these garage strip lights pull 100 watts each! The original ones are still in the main garage, four of them, and I accidentally left them on one evening. I spotted the excess base load on the GivEnergy app and went out and turned them off. 400 watts on one switch! Anyway, might be worth getting the sparky to replace the 25-year-old strip light under-unit fittings in the kitchen with something similar, since I have these on so much.

Sudden thought. Although I haven't often left the main garage lights on for an extended period, there have been times, before it was replaced, that I left the garage loft strip on for days on end without realising. That might have contributed to my previous massive usage!

 

[Rolfe]

When I had my system installed a couple of years ago, I was wondering the same thing on base load, I brought one of these and was surprised with the results Monitor microwave display consumes 40w, found out the microwave - Samsung has a button to blank the display, the other one was a Sony tv on standby, the Samsung one was negligible.

Looks like a handy gizmo. I might get one, although I'm not sure I need anything else to get obsessed about with this subject.

 

[gus]

It was a handy gadget to have to see what some things consume, it has been used by most of the neighbourhood. ?

 

[Gadget Geek]

Have you considered LED strip light? I fixed some under the stair rail.

 

[Rolfe]

I don't think that would do the kitchen, but I can look into it. Thanks.

 

[Caramaddy]

I changed my strip lights for LED strip lights in the loft / utility room and garage. The lighting is far superior and of course cheaper. Wicks was where I bought them.

 

[Rolfe]

It does seem like a good idea. I didn't realise how power-hungry the strip lights were till I looked at the GivEnergy app, and the LED substitute fitted in the garage loft gives excellent light.

 

[Bam Bam]

It does seem like a good idea. I didn't realise how power-hungry the strip lights were till I looked at the GivEnergy app, and the LED substitute fitted in the garage loft gives excellent light.

Yeah its funny because the strip lights were always considered the efficient ones back in the day (for me meaning the 1990s).

 

[Rolfe]

That's where I was coming from, and why I never worried about the small kitchen one. It's on the bottom of a wall cupboard in a dark corner, and the space under it is where I do all my food preparation. It's also nice to have that corner lit, so it stays on all day. But now, it's looking like a significant load!

 

[Gomev]

We, 2 of us, live in a modern 3 bed end terrace and our base load is approx 2.5kWh per day and our normal total daily usage is around 4-5kWh/day. Heating and hot water is gas unfortunately but not a lot we can do about that at the moment. Cooking is electric. An example below, note the 20th-22nd we were away from the house for a few days. Peaks are EV charging.