Is this a good way to save energy?

[sunman2112]

I have started soaking my clothes in the washer instead of letting them agitate (I let the washer fill and agitate a little to mix up the detergent with the clothes). I let them soak for a few hours or overnight and then agitate them for about one minute, then I let them spin for about half the time before the rinse cycle, and let the rinse and spin cycle go normally.
I only use about half as much detergent as recommended, and add about an ounce of bleach to each load.

After the washer stops, I open the lid and "fluff" the clothes and let them air dry for a couple of hours before I put them in the dryer.
Are my clothes getting clean? Anybody have tips to save more energy aroung the house?

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ADVERT DELETED

[adam2]

A more significant saving would be in not useing the dryer, line drying costs virtualy nothing.

[woodburner]

Anybody have tips to save more energy aroung the house?

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ADVERT DELETED

Turn the heating off and wear more clothes. Ues a carpet sweeper not a vacuum cleaner. Use a head torch and turn off the room lights. Add loft insulation.

[RenewableCandy]

In a totalitarian future music is banned...oh hang on a minute...

[adam2]

A head torch is useful for blackouts, but I doubt that it is cheaper than grid power to light the room.

Consider a head torch that uses 3 small batteries that cost 50 pence each.
That is £1-50 for perhaps 30 hours of not very good light, or 5 pence an hour.
5 pence an hour would provide very roughly 300 watts of grid power, that would light a room well with old fashioned incandescent lamps.
With 300 watts worth of decent low energy lamps, a whole house may be well lit.

Basic grid powered lighting to give a similar light level to that enjoyed 100 years ago, should use no more than 6 watts for main rooms, and one watt for each other room.
The brightest domestic, non electric light in general use was a duplex oil lamp, just about bright enough for reading if placed close by.
A decently equiped home would have had several, plus smaller oil lamps and candles.
A 3 watt LED lamp gives a similar light output to a duplex oil lamp, and a half watt LED is brighter than a candle.

[biffvernon]

A more significant saving would be in not useing the dryer, line drying costs virtualy nothing.

I had to buy some new clothes pegs about a decade ago.

[Tarrel]

Nothing lasts these days!

[woodburner]

Consider a head torch that uses 3 small batteries that cost 50 pence each.
That is £1-50 for perhaps 30 hours of not very good light, or 5 pence an hour.
5 pence an hour would provide very roughly 300 watts of grid power, that would light a room well with old fashioned incandescent lamps.

Rechargable batteries cost about the same, but can be used for 100 cycles, with a little care, and 500 cycles with a lot of care.

[vtsnowedin]

Consider a head torch that uses 3 small batteries that cost 50 pence each.
That is £1-50 for perhaps 30 hours of not very good light, or 5 pence an hour.
5 pence an hour would provide very roughly 300 watts of grid power, that would light a room well with old fashioned incandescent lamps.

Rechargable batteries cost about the same, but can be used for 100 cycles, with a little care, and 500 cycles with a lot of care.

True but will the power to run the charger cost less then just turning on your LED ceiling light? Someone will probably pop in that you can charge your rechargable batteries with a solar panel or hampster wheel generator for free but that is beside the point.
Actually once you get the lowest power consuming bulbs in place the largest savings would come from motion detector switches that turn off all the lights people of all ages leave on when they leave the room.

[frank_begbie]

I wash all my things by hand in an old home brew bin with something called a "Posser" thats what my Gran called it. (a brush stale with a copper thing with holes in on the end).

I do spin the clothes in a stand alone spinner, then hang them on the line.

I suppose to be really Green I would use an old Mangle worked by hand.

Don't see many of those about these days.

[the_lyniezian]

I wash all my things by hand in an old home brew bin with something called a "Posser" thats what my Gran called it. (a brush stale with a copper thing with holes in on the end).

I do spin the clothes in a stand alone spinner, then hang them on the line.

I suppose to be really Green I would use an old Mangle worked by hand.

Don't see many of those about these days.

You can find vintage examples on eBay. I've looked.

[featherstick]

We are thinking of buying a tumble dryer.

We have a 5 year old who wets the bed 2 or 3 times a week, a 7 month old who is weaning, and me who runs twice a day - airdrying is not keeping up with the washing.

Any recommendations?

[therabble]

I have a tumble dryer, but since it's belt broke about a year ago, I haven't got around to fixing it so we have saved quite a lot of money!

We air dry all our clothes, and it is an effort as I have four kids so there can be at least 1 wash load a night.

In the summer it all goes on the whirlygig, and the missus has made a cover for it so we're not constantly bringing it in and out when there is a rain shower.

In the winter it goes on clothes horses in front of the log burner overnight which works well.

It's the wet springs/autumns that are the problem - not enough heat to dry it quickly so can end up with a lot of clothes drying all round the house, and that amount of moisture is not great inside.Plus we run out of clothes!

I'm no expert on tumble dryers, but if the condensing ones are more efficient (and more complicated) than the blown air ones and also don't need to vent outside, but instead have a tank of water that needs emptying. Some of the cheaper ones don't have timers so you can't set them for economy 7. I have a feeling it won't be long before the missus pushes me to fix mine!

[Tarrel]

I'm not aware of condensing ones being more efficient (unlike boilers). Their main benefit is they don't need a vent to the outside.

Regarding a timer, could you perhaps use a plug in timer on the socket? Some of these are rated to 13A. It would allow you to set the machine to come on at night.

We find the Rayburn is great for drying washing. We have a tumble drier which we bought when we were letting the house out as a holiday home, but we never use it. I do have absolute sympathy with those drowning under a constant stream of washing however!

[therabble]

A 13amp plug in timer would work in a lot of cases, although some dryers the start button must be pressed when the machine is on. Older ones tend to have proper buttons that would work well with the plug in timer.

Apparently you can get heat pump tumbler dryers which are most efficient, but probably cost the most, and as with most modern electronics probably break quickly!