General homebrew discussion, tips and help on kit and malt extract brewing, and talk about equipment. Queries on sourcing supplies and equipment should go in The Store.
How come you paying so much for green power? We have green gas and LX and don't pay any extra (not according to our bill anyway...)
I'd agree with the idea that the fridges are maybe a little dodgy.... did you see that article for the link Dogger put up over at Brodies about beer fridges contributing to greenhouse gases?
There's nothing like getting energy-efficient appliances to keep bills low.
Life is like a box of chocolates.... sometimes you get a hard one!
My fridges are old and yes, prob not doing the enviro any good.
Green energy from Origin costs extra, at least 100% solar does and i figured if i am going to buy 'green' energy i wanted the real deal. Its cost me an extra 6c a kwh.
Well, my keg system is all done and I turned on the fridge on the weekend and had it set at "Colder"....the damn thing did not stop for 28 hours that I know of .
Adjusted to the middle of the range as I started thinking about this thread .........thanks doc. My wife will hit the roof too when she realises how much it is going to cost to run.
Cheers
Boonie
A homebrew is like a fart, only the brewer thinks it's great.
Give me a flying headbutt.......
hahahah i done the same thing with my kegs yesterday and woke up this morning still running. Luckily my missus wont say anything as she lives with me and its my house
Am thinking at getting another fridgemate for the kegs fridge. Would that be viable?
Ah, beer, my one weakness. My Achille's heel, if you will.
drsmurto wrote:Green energy from Origin costs extra, at least 100% solar does and i figured if i am going to buy 'green' energy i wanted the real deal. Its cost me an extra 6c a kwh.
Green Power from Origin is certified by the State Government alliance for green power. This means that it has to be generated from new green power initiatives, not existing ones (such as hydro). In this way the extra money you are paying stimulates new investment in new green generation capacity. There are two types available from Origin: wind and solar. Solar costs slightly more than wind (6.1c as opposed to 5.5c). I'm still evaluating which is better environmentally; there may not be any way to know. I suspect solar might be a smarter choice in a country like ours. Check out Green Electricity Watch for ratings of the different products that are currently available.
Timmsy wrote:Am thinking at getting another fridgemate for the kegs fridge. Would that be viable?
Yep, and it's good to be able to tweak the temperature for different types of beer.
My 'new' second hand fridge has a seal that's a bit dodgy. And these days I'm more critical of how efficiently the household fridges or freezers are running.
In searching for a new seal, I came across this site that may be of interest to fellow brewers:
Be very careful with Origin energy, about 4 or 5 times instead of coming to read our gas or electricity meter they have just estimated the bill at about four times our very low average usage.
Just got one yesterday for electricity, 400 $ when all our other ones have for the past year have been 90 - 100 $ This is for two of us with our only Electricity appliances being computer tv dvd fridge. No kettle microwave, heater, aircon or nothing.
So i checked our meter, and what do you know, They estimated the reading. how they would estimate four times more than our average i dont know but f--- me.
Check your Meter to make sure the reading on the bill corresponds with your actual meter.
Also they didnt even write on the bill that it was an estimated reading (which is illegal!!!) some poor f**kers would jsut pay the bill thinking mysteriously they had used more electricity.
You're right rwh, of course you will have a credit, that is fair enough, but it is still a bit much to pay before you even get to use the power, however, if it is a problem I am sure there will be no problem having some of the bill deferred. Mini Moose, before you get too snotty on the supplier there are a couple of things to consider, firstly there may be a good reason they had to estimate the bill, dog, locked meter box etc. and secondly, the meter readers are usually contractors these days, so the supplier is only acting on the information received from them, just chill a bit and make a phone call.
MiniMoose wrote:Be very careful with Origin energy, about 4 or 5 times instead of coming to read our gas or electricity meter they have just estimated the bill at about four times our very low average usage.
<snip>
They are BASTARDS. Just Check dude.
by the way we have green energy too.
OMG! How can that be legal!! I've had similar fun with a Sydney based energy provider...I started seeing $250 here and $200 there regularly coming out of one of my bank's lines of credit with their company name against each MONTHLY payment. Seeings as how I'm NOT a customer of theirs, I enquired what they were doing. It turns out that some stooge entered the wrong details for the bank account and Westpac SIMPLY OK'D IT WITHOUT CHECKING WITH ME! So I'm paying for some families electricity!!!
Got it all sorted after a chat with Consumer Affairs! Got interest back too! But stuff me, you can lose money and not even have any say in it nowadays!!
i wouldnt have a problem if they called and said we were unable to read your meter, can we arrange to have it read. Or if they actually stated on the bill we were unable to read your account and this is an estimated reading.
we are having a human experience, yes, but when this has happened to you 4 or 5 times and it seems like your for ever calling origin its frustrating. Once we even got a call from some overseas debt collecter, after a flood of overdure notices when, origin had specifically told us they had our account on hold and we wont be recieving any bills or notices, until they sorted out the problem.
My partner and i dont have the money to pay a 400$ at once even if they would carry that on as credits.
I suppose its the fact the the big guys couldnt really give a damm about the average joe. as long as their profit margains are up all's sweet in their world. Just look at the petrol tycoons.
Well, my first power bill came in after putting the kegs on and running and old large 430 Litre all Fridge No Freezer unit.
It appears I have added over $150 to my power bill which I find hard to believe....mind you I run it pretty cold when I am attempting to get the beer cold asap to drink .
Cheers
Boonie
A homebrew is like a fart, only the brewer thinks it's great.
Give me a flying headbutt.......
That website that was posted is a goodie with the fridge seals, why pay someone to do it when you can do it yourself?
I've got 4bdr house with missus, 6 year old boy and 17month old girl and our cheapest bill was $280 and dearest we just paid was $340(including about $10 clean energy and $25 ambulance cover). Problem I have here is that i'm continually going around turning the lights off after everyone, power points etc. This household has the 2nd tv on when no-one is even watching it, and im sure they dont know how to turn a switch off.
If you want your fridges running and the electricity bill normal, you just have to become the electricity nazi and switch everything off that doesn't need to be on(the beer fridges must be on)..
I was reading that just by shutting your computer down everynight you can save(i think) about $30 a year on your electricity bill
To be updated shortly....
HOMEBREW:IF I HAD TO EXPLAIN, YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND
2 friges, 1 deep frezzer, 1 AC, 1 stove, no hot water (gas) 4 x 5 foot long fish tanks with heaters & lights $774 a qurter.
Seeing im on disability ill be paying that off for the rest of my life.
Boonie wrote:And apparently if you turn the Microwave off, the ones with a clock, I have heard it will save $60 per year
Per year? Maybe in your life time?
agreed.. they use stuff all. let's conservatively assume 5 watts of power (which is more than it would be):
rough guess of 15c per kilowatt-hour (means you use 1 kilowatt for 1 hour, get charged 15 cents)
5 watts would take 200 hours for 1 kilowatt-hour of power to be used.
$6.57 per year on that example - keeping in mind it's most likely far less than 5 watts.
on the basis of $60 per year and 15c/kwH, it'd need to continuously be using nearly 50 watts
My missus can't complain about the power my brewing costs, she's got 6 6foot fish tanks that are kept at 28c 24/7 + all of the filters and a snake that's kept at 32c, now that we are in winter the heaters will be all on full bore all day all night I hate to think what the bill is going to be.
I reckon I could start up a comercial brewery and I still wouldn't chew as much juice
.........thanks doc. My wife will hit the roof too when she realises how much it is going to cost to run.
How can that be legal!! I've had similar fun with a Sydney based energy provider...I started seeing $250 here and $200 there regularly coming out of one of my bank's lines of credit with their company name against each MONTHLY payment. Seeings as how I'm NOT a customer of theirs, I enquired what they were doing. It turns out that some stooge entered the wrong details for the bank account and Westpac SIMPLY OK'D IT WITHOUT CHECKING WITH ME! So I'm paying for some families electricity!!!
