Front loader with COLD and HOT fill

[ronhic]

We heat to 19c

...but unfortunately, have no way of closing off our upstairs (though shut rooms) and have a pitched 15' ceiling height in 2/3 of our downstairs...meaning we heat about 75% more air than we need.

We also only heat from 5.30-7.30 am and from 5.00-10.30pm during the week.

Our gas bill alone for the 3 months over winter, noting outside temperatures of around -6c to +4c over night was in excess of $1200....then you can add in the electricity on top of about $600...

...so $1800 to heat the living part of the house + the study to 19c - part of the day. Oh, and the way the USD is at the moment, that's nearly USD$1900.

Rupunzel, how big is your house? 50 squares is equivalent to about 410 sqm - that's ENORMOUS.

 

[launderess]

Personally One Often Wonders If The Ideal

For fast laundry days would be a decent sized front loader *and* one of those vintage water heaters that gave 180F out of the taps. Long as it was located near enough to the washer there wouldn't be that much loss of water temp due to travel.

One could run a "whites" or such cycle as commercial laundries do here; warm pre-wash (with detergent) followed by a hot (and I do mean hot) wash, then several rinses.

 

[passatdoc]

15-16 C is plenty warm underneath a thick comforter at night. Sometimes wear a sweater during the evenings. Flannel pajamas during the winter. Thermostat is on a timer. The house heats to 16 C from 6-8:30 in the morning, and 18:OO-23:00 in the evening. A "high" winter gas bill would be $30-35/month plus an electric bill of $40/month. Electricity use goes up in winter since the circulating fan for the forced air duct system runs on electricity. Gas is very inexpensive here, I suspect because North America is self-sufficient in natural gas (USA produces a lot, and Canada makes up any shortfall, and there are delivery pipelines to bring Canadian gas across the border).

The climate here is subtropical, but there are definite seasons. Colder than Sydney, about as cold as Melb (but we are neither Mexicans nor Crow Eaters...) but drier climate (drier like Perth but a bit colder). Where I live, typical overnight low temperatures would be 40F/5C, however it can and sometimes does drop to 32F/0C and it's been as cold as 24F/-5C. Typically, the "heating season" begins in late November or early December through the end of March. December and January typically have the highest gas bills, then gas use begins to taper off in February. Bear in mind that the gas bill also includes gas for water heating and cooking on a gas range/oven, plus gas clothes drying. Most likely the taxes on natural gas are modest, but the commodity cost is also low. According to my bill, the commodity cost per therm is about 40-60 cents.

 

[gorenje]

My appartment has 50 square meters. My gas bill for heating and hot water reaches 90 EUR in january and february when the lowest temperature can be -15°C. I heat my appartment to 20 or 19°C.

Gas bills for heating & hot water:

January - 92 EUR
February - 89 EUR
March - 31 EUR
April - 16 EUR
May - 8 EUR
June - 5 EUR
July - 4 EUR
August - 3 EUR
September- 18 EUR
October - 25 EUR
November - 38 EUR
December - 47 EUR

My electricity bill is 17 or 18 EUR every month. (cooking hob, oven, dishwasher, fridge, vintage washer, dryer, and everything else ... except air conditioner.)

 

[fido]

I don't have gas but it sounds like it must be a lot cheaper in Slovenia than here in Hungary, as everyone here complains about the price. I could have gas, as we have it in the street but people say it has poor calorific value and sometimes there are gas cuts. Hungarian gas comes from Ukraine. My electricity is about 20 Euros a month which is for hot water, fridge freezer, washing machine, lights etc but not much cooking as I have bottled gas for my summer stove and logs for my winter one. I also don't have a tumble dryer or a dishwasher.

 

[gorenje]

@ fido - heating with Diesel oil is more expensive than gas, also here in Slovenia. But the most expensive is for those living in older blocks of flats that are conected to the municipal heating plant because in this case you have less autonomy than if you have your own heating system.

I pay cca. 380 EUR a year for heating and hot water, which is definitely not bad.
But I am single and my appartment have 50 square meters. Obviously I would pay more in a bigger appartment or house or in a bigger household.

 

[fido]

In an apartment you often get heat from your neighbours apartments, especially from below. I've known people who never have their own heating on for that reason. My house was very cold last winter but I've since replaced any single glazed windows with double glazed so I'm hoping it will have improved matters.

 

[dj-gabriele]

Gosh that's cheap!
Thus year I paid 2600€ for methane plus 200€ of fixed costs for heating! Plus 1200€ for hot water and 120€ for cooking gas! That summed up goes to 4120€ (5300USD/5100AUD).
And this for a well insulated flat of 130 square metres and hot water and cooking for 4! (Winter average is -5°C and we keep 22°C during all the heating seaon)

 

[spinspeed]

I have to say cold fill is the best. I just got 10kg LG truesteam washer and was really surprised to see it was hot and cold fill. However, it doesn't seem to take any hot water in. I suspect it will only do that when a really hot wash ie 60c or above is selected. It uses such a small amount of water for the wash that by the time the water level is reached water from the hot tank mounted on the roof would still not have reached the laundry room in the basement.

I am sure that blood sets in warm water and I was always told to wash blood stains in cold water first. Well that's what my mum always said.

 

[donprohel]

Why do you have four different bills, dj-gabriele?

Just curious, but how do you pay your utilities? I mean: methane + fixed costs + hot water (shouldn't this be included in the methane bills?) + etc. How does that work?

 

[dj-gabriele]

Different bills:

I get hot water via the local water-duct so I pay for how much cubic I use, we have two meters, one for hot and one for cold water.
Heating is done via a central methane furnace for all the 100 flats in my condominium and we pay in proportion of our flat sizes (heating is homogeneous and continuous so there is no per-use billing)
Gas is used for cooking and I have a personal meter.
Fixed costs are taxes for annual maintenance of the plant and compulsory checks.
Maintenance is billed along central heating costs.

My parents have a more conventional billing, having a simple combi-boiler. They get all their usage for hot water and heating and cooking gas on a single methane bill!

Does that explain it?

 

[donprohel]

Different bills explained

Yes, it does explain.

Many thanks, dj-gabriele