Considering our options. Our power bills are horrendous! Only two at home now, all the kids have flown the coop, but our power bills are going through the roof! We have a fully insulated ceiling to floor older home. Not double glazing unfortunately. We use a Yunca multi burner as only heating plus boosts our hot water. Mainly do washing in cold water. Our one luxury is a spa pool, which when we had it installed 4 years ago was about $40-50 per month to run. Going to get the electrician out to check our meter board!
ira78,
Jun 24, 4:03pm
What do you define as horrendous?
cantabman1,
Jun 24, 4:26pm
Solar install long term will save you lots, as long as you are going to stay in the same house.I'm guessing at least ten years to really see the benefits.
kacy5,
Jun 24, 4:32pm
We put solar in for hot water and it is connected to a wet back with a power booster if needed. With all the sun this autumn/winter we have had so far and the fire at night, the hot water has rarely had to be turned on to give it a boost and then only for an hour or two when visitors stayed. No regrets at all about getting it installed.
lissie,
Jun 24, 5:52pm
My understanding is that your first thing should be to improve insulation - so do the double glazing - probably cost less than solar anyway
bluefrog2,
Jun 24, 7:12pm
The solar hot water system you can install for a pool or spa can be a lot cheaper than a proper solar hot water system. It uses black rubber tubes instead of sealed glass panels. Remember, solar only works if you get a lot of sunshine, so how well it works depends on your area, and how much direct sun you get.
macandrosie,
Jun 24, 7:55pm
Between $400 & $500 a month
macandrosie,
Jun 24, 8:00pm
Our heating inside is adequate. We have expol under the house, topped up ceiling batts, walls are all batted. We installed an HRV system 3 years ago. There are3 fans in the roof which I'm now told take a bit of power. Our house is definitely drier though, the floors squeak a lot more!
jonners2013,
Jun 24, 8:01pm
Good idea getting a sparky in to check things out. That usage to higher than normal for 2 people, especially when the heating is a wood fire. It may well be that the spa is using more than you realise, as they usually do.
jane310567,
Jun 25, 12:44am
my plumber installed solar with gas backup so the water it has to heat is already warm! He raves about it. We have gas only instant and love it - only use what you need. Our $90 bottle lasts 6-10 weeks - family of 4.
stevo2,
Jun 25, 12:45am
Ok. before doing anything you need to ascertain whether you are using heaps of electricity to run the house or heaps on hot water. Obviously if your hot water portion of that account is not high, you will save buggar all by changing the method of water heating.
macandrosie,
Jun 25, 4:29am
Yeah stevo2 our hot water usage is minimal. Just talking with our power company today. I think the spa is the main problem, but our sparky is gonna take a look & see he can work out what's going on!
lissie,
Jun 25, 5:51am
That sounds a normal bill to me - bu that was with both gas and electric - so more line's charges - 2 people, no spa.
Do you have good thermal curtains on those windows - that touch the ground (or fall below the window sill?) - makes a difference
unclejake,
Jun 25, 6:38am
IMO the absolute best thing you can do is to buy one of these (~$140) and monitor what's going on yourself. I have one and got a big surprise as to what was using noticeable amounts power, and what was hardly using anything. You can fit one yourself in seconds and then play around with leaving certain things on or off.
I would say dont bother with gas as you already have the wetback. And since you are in the south island you can only get LPG. If you could get Natural gas I would be saying yes instead.
mack77,
Jun 25, 7:07am
Surely the solution to your problem is just to move North where the average temperature is much higher. Remember that heat loss is directly proportional to the difference in temperature of the two bodies e.g. between that of the hot water and that of the air. This still holds true even when the hot water is in an insulated vessel. If you're not prepared to move North you'll just have to be prepared to pay high heating costs for the privilege of living in Gore.
macandrosie,
Jun 25, 5:31pm
Yes I consider it a privilege living in Southland - yes we can have 4 seasons in one day, but all my siblings live in Auckland & I would never go back there to live! But it's a shame the power companies have to hike up the power over winter when the lakes are all full again, & we're lucky enough to be able to afford a spa etc where there are others who struggle to keep warm because of the cost of power. Friends in Australia get quarterly power bills & when we were their 2 years ago they were horrified at their account being $400! Even if was $600 per quarter I wouldn't complain. All their electricity is coal powered, so much for climate change! I think the Aussies are bit behind or simply don't care about climate change, but I'm no fanatic either!
harrislucinda,
Dec 7, 7:57am
same works well but not to day still got snow all over them
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