Some Ideas on Eliminating Phantom Loads

Here are some ideas from Marc on eliminating phantom loads.

 

 

These suggestions are in the  "Phantom Loads 102" area -- if you are just starting to get rid of Phantom Loads here are some other things to try.    I have used Marc's first idea for all of the chargers  for my battery powered tools -- I think the savings will be worthwhile.
 

 

Thanks very much to Marc for providing these.

 

Marc's email:

Gary,

A couple of ideas in the area of conservation that I’m doing. They are in the categories of turning stuff off and phantom loads.
·         Using a timer to charge rarely used items (cordless vacuum, etc.) for only 2 hours a day instead of 24. The timer is one of those security timers used for turning a light on and off while you are on vacation.
o  I set up two charge times of one hour each rather than one longer two hour period.
o        While the savings is not huge it is for only three appliances. Every little bit helps especially if one is trying to get off the grid.
o        Any thoughts on how this would affect the performance or life of the battery? I have not noticed any degrading of performance.
o        All three appliances are on one timer with a power strip. One could also build a “charging station” based on this concept.
o        The numbers for me break down as follows with an energy cost of $.08815 per KWH. (This does not take into consideration the cost to run the timer.)
 
Watts
Hours
WattHours/day
KWH/day
KWH/week
KWH/month
KWH/year
6
24
144
0.144
1.008
4.32
52.56
3.5
24
84
0.084
0.588
2.52
30.66
5
24
120
0.12
0.84
3.6
43.8
 
 
348
0.348
2.436
10.44
127.02
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Watts
Hours
WattHours/day
KWH/day
KWH/week
KWH/month
KWH/year
6
2
12
0.012
0.084
0.36
4.38
3.5
2
7
0.007
0.049
0.21
2.555
5
2
10
0.01
0.07
0.3
3.65
 
 
29
0.029
0.203
0.87
10.585
 
Cost in $
 
per day
per week
per month
per year
 
0.0126936
0.0888552
0.380808
4.633164
 
0.0074046
0.0518322
0.222138
2.702679
 
0.010578
0.074046
0.31734
3.86097
Total
0.0306762
0.2147334
0.920286
11.196813
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
0.0010578
0.0074046
0.031734
0.386097
 
0.00061705
0.00431935
0.0185115
0.22522325
 
0.0008815
0.0061705
0.026445
0.3217475
Total
0.00255635
0.01789445
0.0766905
0.93306775
 
·         Turned off redundant digital clocks (the kitchen had three).
o        My microwave had an option to turn the clock off. This would be a great feature for all appliances with digital clocks.
o        I installed a “thumb switch” in the power cord for the under cabinet radio. When we want to use the radio we turn the switch on first. It saves having to plug and unplug it all the time.
·         Keeping coffee warm in a carafe instead of the coffee maker.
o        My coffee maker is rated at 900 W. We only use it on weekends for about 5 hours each day. The warmer does not run continually but assuming it runs 30% of the time that is approximately 10 KWH per month.
o        I also hear that coffee gets a burned taste if the warmer is used.
These are small reductions but once that first 50% reduction is achieved it gets harder to find areas to reduce further. I've already done the lighting and the PC. The ducts are now sealed and the additional insulation is going in this weekend. We recently purchased this house (Aug) so I don't have any historical data to use for year-over-year savings, but I didn't want to wait to make improvements.
 

"Warm" regards,
Marc

 

 

 

Gary Nov 4, 2007