Energy bills

[Yorick]

I cleaned the coils out on our fridge yesterday.

See...academically like, if you'd asked me what is gonna knock fridge performance I'd have immediately said dirty coils. It never occurred to me to clean them though.

Man they were dusty, as was the fan which blows air over them. They're inside a cover, whcih was pretty choked up with dust too. My smart metre reckons the fridge is drawing 75W less now

Apparently you're supposed to clean them every 6 months. First I've heard of it.

My fridge is only 2 years old and is sealed at the back.

We have 4 big fridges and they struggle when it's hot.

[DefTrap]

I cleaned the coils out on our fridge yesterday.

I was bored and dragged my fridge out to look - as far as a I know the coils have never been cleaned in 5 or 6 years - they seemed fine and relatively clean, they run all the way up the back of the fridge rather than stuck underneath, so maybe a better design than most?

However the drip tray thing was pretty minging, so that got emptied and cleaned. And cleaning underneath never does any harm ...

[Mr. Dazzle]

I was expecting the coils to be all up the back of mine too...they're not, they're tightly bundled into a space smaller than a shoebox, snaking back and forth. Right down the bottom.

No exaggeration to say they were solid with dust.

[Count Steer]

I was expecting the coils to be all up the back of mine too...they're not, they're tightly bundled into a space smaller than a shoebox, snaking back and forth. Right down the bottom.

No exaggeration to say they were solid with dust.

Do they have forced ventilation? I assume that all these enclosed jobbies have fans to drive the air over them (another thing to go wrong!...and to pull the dust in). I suppose it gives options for fitting them in tighter spaces if you don't need the air gap at the back?

[Mr. Dazzle]

Yeah....vents in and out and a fan. All choked up

Putting it right down at floor level seems like a bit of a silly move.

[cheb]

I tend to put my household appliances on a plinth, usually just a worktop offcut, I'm convinced that less filth accumulates round the back of them.

[Count Steer]

Yeah....vents in and out and a fan. All choked up

Putting it right down at floor level seems like a bit of a silly move.

I'll have a squiz at the back of my fridge/freezer later. It's bit of a hulk to move (it's just a Meile free-standing fridge/freezer though not one of those American style, wardrobe size things). I did think it was kaput one summer...v noisy and laboured...but switched it off for a few days and thawed it out completely. Auto-defrost struggles apparently in v hot weather and it was seriously iced up, but in places you couldn't actually see. (Google saved me buying a new main fridge/freezer but that's how we ended up with a second 'back-up/overflow' fridge. Quite useful as it turned out ).

Might be an idea for @Yorick - empty one and cram the stuff into the others and give it a couple of days recuperation if they're struggling with the heat. If it helps, do each one. Worked a treat for us.

[Yorick]

Might be an idea for @Yorick - empty one and cram the stuff into the others and give it a couple of days recuperation if they're struggling with the heat. If it helps, do each one. Worked a treat for us.

They work OK (ish) but can't get beer down to 2c when we have a BBQ.
The best fridge is in the guest apartment so had the beer in there for 3 days for yesterday's BBQ
It's got a sooper dooper chill option

[Mr. Dazzle]

I tend to put my household appliances on a plinth,

I like my fridge too, but that's a bit much.

[cheb]

I'll set them up, you knock them down.

Or throw a hoop round them and win them as a prize.

[Noggin]

This is vaguely what mine costs (cos the website is seriously unfriendly so the is the best I can find!)- not including the price for actually being able to have the electric!! That's just what I use. Mind you, my place is basically smaller than most of your garages!

Feb I was hardly here because of work and when I was I wasn't cooking or awake much! March and April I was here cos couldn't work. May, June and july (until the 21st) I wasn't here and unplugged pretty much everything except the fridge and freezer. (Might have left things like the pressure cooker and air fryer plugged in, they have a display)

One of the best things about this place is that I sit by the window so don't need the lights on that much. When I'm here the wifi/tv/laptop gets a lot of use.

But, I still pay almost as much each for the pleasure of being able to have electricity I did want to get the electric changed from 6kw thingies to 9kw thingies. Just occasionally the electric goes if I do washing and cooking and stuff at the same time! But, then the charge for having electric is even more, so it doesn't seem worth it. Cheaper to just not use everything at once

[MrLongbeard]

My usage;

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[Mr. Dazzle]

Looking at my account, I either use £0.26 of gas a day or £1.10 a day - there is no in between I assume the smart meter has a minimum resolution or something. The standing charge is £0.26 so that explains some of it but I can't work out what's going on with the rest...the meter does show a steadily increasing number too, so I doubt it's buggered.

I reckon they can only charge me per cubic meter, even though it's priced in kWh. Maybe? It's about 11kWh to the m³ IIRC so that makes sense?

[JackyJoll]

Looking at my account, I either use £0.26 of gas a day or £1.10 a day - there is no in between I assume the smart meter has a minimum resolution or something. The standing charge is £0.26 so that explains some of it but I can't work out what's going on with the rest...the meter does show a steadily increasing number too, so I doubt it's buggered.

I reckon they can only charge me per cubic meter, even though it's priced in kWh. Maybe? It's about 11kWh to the m³ IIRC so that makes sense?

You’re switching the gas lamps on and off from the apartment next door, that you took rent of, secretly.

[Mr. Dazzle]

They shouldn't complain, I let them have an extra pail of coal at Christmas.

[irie]

Late 2021 saw increases on the horizon so in September 2021 fixed our Shell Energy gas/electricity for 24 months until September 2023 (obviously). Looked expensive at the time (increase of 33%) but now looks like an incredibly good move. Suspect that after September 2023 the shit will hit the fan. We shall see.

[Kneerly Down]

Late 2021 saw increases on the horizon so in September 2021 fixed our Shell Energy gas/electricity for 24 months until September 2023 (obviously). Looked expensive at the time (increase of 33%) but now looks like an incredibly good move. Suspect that after September 2023 the shit will hit the fan. We shall see.

Missed fixing ours with British Gas by a couple of hours because while in the process of moving supply to them I went to do something more important.
Had I known that'd cost me the best part of £10k or so I'd have not done the other thing, which wasn't actually all that important.
SWMBO doesn't know that and it's probably best kept that way!

[MingtheMerciless]

My "couldn't-be-bothered-itus" meant I clicked on a new 2 year fixed deal with Ovo in August 2021, I had also seen leaving Ovo could be a royal pain and couldn't be arsed with all that. Very unusually for me it seems like a stroke of luck. Not looking forward to what it will rise to in September next year.

[Mussels]

My "couldn't-be-bothered-itus" meant I clicked on a new 2 year fixed deal with Ovo in August 2021, I had also seen leaving Ovo could be a royal pain and couldn't be arsed with all that. Very unusually for me it seems like a stroke of luck. Not looking forward to what it will rise to in September next year.

Similar here, I hadn't bothered with a new fix as there was little difference. Then at the end of September last year and it was fairly obvious where prices were headed so I found an 18 month fix that will take me through next winter.
Procrastination occasionally has benefits, if Russia vs Ukraine hadn't happened I might not be so happy.

[irie]

My "couldn't-be-bothered-itus" meant I clicked on a new 2 year fixed deal with Ovo in August 2021, I had also seen leaving Ovo could be a royal pain and couldn't be arsed with all that. Very unusually for me it seems like a stroke of luck. Not looking forward to what it will rise to in September next year.

Similar here, I hadn't bothered with a new fix as there was little difference. Then at the end of September last year and it was fairly obvious where prices were headed so I found an 18 month fix that will take me through next winter.
Procrastination occasionally has benefits, if Russia vs Ukraine hadn't happened I might not be so happy.

In September 2021 when I fixed for 2 years the contract get out cost was £60 so there really wasn't much of a down side.