Saving electricity

[DealorNoDeal]

Bloody hell - our clock radio is ancient (+30 years old).

time to buy a new one I think.

A telltale sign that it's using quite a bit of electricity is if the case feels warm.

[Lance]

Retired ex-IT contractor, with nothing better to do than watch the electricity meter.

turn off the smart meter......

[Lance]

A telltale sign that it's using quite a bit of electricity is if the case feels warm.

but if you are paying to heat your house, is that "waste" heat actually wasted?

[_V_]

but if you are paying to heat your house, is that "waste" heat actually wasted?

With oil heating being so expensive, there's probably not much cost difference between heat from electrical appliances and oil fire CH.

I still think crypto mining aiming to break even on mining coins vs electricity cost, but with "free" heat, must be a solution?

[Lance]

With oil heating being so expensive, there's probably not much cost difference between heat from electrical appliances and oil fire CH.

I still think crypto mining aiming to break even on mining coins vs electricity cost, but with "free" heat, must be a solution?

I was mining before the elec price rise last year. The waste heat wasn't wasted. My office was the only warm room in the house most of the year.
It would have made money if I'd sold my ETH before the crash

[DealorNoDeal]

With oil heating being so expensive, there's probably not much cost difference between heat from electrical appliances and oil fire CH.

Wrong by a factor of over 3!

Oil - 10p/kWh (100p/litre; 10kWh/litre)

Electricity - 33p/kWh + £16/month standing charge

https://nottenergy.com/resources/energy-cost-comparison

[DealorNoDeal]

but if you are paying to heat your house, is that "waste" heat actually wasted?

That's why I deliberately didn't use the word "waste".

If you have gas or oil heating, then you don't want to be using electricity for heat because it's 3 times the price per kWh.

[ladymuck]

Bloody hell - our clock radio is ancient (+30 years old).

time to buy a new one I think.

Same here, I was in my teens when I got my alarm clock radio. Trouble is, not many modern ones have all the features I use!

[DealorNoDeal]

Same here, I was in my teens when I got my alarm clock radio. Trouble is, not many modern ones have all the features I use!

Unless the casing feels very warm, it's probably only using a few Watts (less than a couple of quid a month).

[DoctorStrangelove]

I'd be amazed if it was as much as that.

Bought my LED alarm clock in 1978.

It's been "fixed" two or three times since IIRC.

The LEDs are a bit dim now but just right for night time time checks.

Small iron transformers are much less efficient* than larger ones, I forget why, it's sommat to do with core losses and magnetising current or something.

*That's 98% against 99.5% for really big transformers. I'd guess the really little ones are even worse. If I could be arsed I'd do some measurements but that ain't going to happen.