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  • #31
    Probably the biggest energy hog is the dehumidifier in the basement.. 785 watts! It turns on and runs for 10 minutes and then turns off for 10 minutes... I'm thinking about installing a cycle timer on its power plug so it turns off for 4 hours and then turns on for two or something. Dehumidifiers are just basically air conditioning units that simply pump the heat back into the house instead of expelling it.. Everything else is the same.. and what I know about air conditioners is that they are horribly inefficient when they first start up and the longer they run, the more efficient they are.. err.. more or less.. there is a plateau.. but its not 10 minutes.


    FYI check out a heat pump hot water heater, it heats your water and dehumidify s the basement at the same time. Works best with households who use a lot of hot water over the course of the day but preferably stretched out a bit. The trade off with them is that they are not fast response so if there is sudden high demand for water, the electric coils turn on in the tank (unless you are devious person who makes folks wait for hot water )
    I personally like the external units that sit next to a standard hot water heater compared to an integrated one in case there is need for service. There is person called heatingstuff who sells the external ones on Ebay.

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    • #32
      The humidifier certainly is a load, which I hesitated to use until the solar energy was coming in. Older
      wall warts, furnace transformers, devices with remote off-on, and the like can be quite inefficient, and
      there were SO MANY here that they really added up. I found fixes. New energy star stuff is way better.
      Bruce Roe
      Last edited by bcroe; 08-18-2017, 11:28 AM.

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      • #33
        Originally posted by max2k View Post

        Off topic but since it's your thread feel free to stop this: are you sure you haven't missed '1' in front of her age ? Not all 14 yo can do all that . I hate to ... on your parade but contrary to popular beliefs such talented kids are more problematic to bring up unless you have good plan for her school education: they need to be constantly challenged to keep their interest and conventional public school fails miserably in that regard . It is designed as 'extended day care' focused mostly on the needs of the least performing students so we get evenly dumb crop at the end. Such kids get quickly bored there leading to all kind of problems and often unable to produce BS results school expects them. Public system kills such bright minds. Private schools have their own issues that's why I say you better have very good plan. One math teacher from a private school once tried to prove to me that comparing 2 numbers with simple fractions one greater than 1 and another less than 1 requires putting them over common denominator first. His claim was that result of comparison: 1 1/3 and 3/5 depends on the way you go about it. I let him work it out to his shame. Math teacher in my own school would lower my mark if I'd go that way missing simpler solution.
        She's a handful for sure... We have good schools in my town that are talked about in a positive light.. There are probably challenges I'm not aware of yet, but so far it looks like all I need to do is to keep her away from drugs and religion and we'll be just fine.

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        • #34
          Originally posted by Murby View Post

          She's a handful for sure... We have good schools in my town that are talked about in a positive light.. There are probably challenges I'm not aware of yet, but so far it looks like all I need to do is to keep her away from drugs and religion and we'll be just fine.
          NOMB, but if a child learns and internalizes true critical thinking skills, and you show a child how much fun it is to be curious, they'll find out just how satisfying it can be to have that curiosity self satisfied. At that point, it becomes a matter of guiding and encouraging the intellectual powerhouse that's been unleashed. I'm not sure schools can be counted on to do that these days, if they ever were. More NOMB, but seems to me way too much of that curiosity these days, and for some time now, is being channeled to things that have not much lasting value.

          But all that's way off topic. Rant mode off.

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          • #35
            A Prepper with a Desktops, Laptops, Cell Phon. connected to the grid, and kids in public schools. Ironic.
            MSEE, PE

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            • #36
              Originally posted by J.P.M. View Post

              NOMB, but if a child learns and internalizes true critical thinking skills, and you show a child how much fun it is to be curious, they'll find out just how satisfying it can be to have that curiosity self satisfied. At that point, it becomes a matter of guiding and encouraging the intellectual powerhouse that's been unleashed. I'm not sure schools can be counted on to do that these days, if they ever were. More NOMB, but seems to me way too much of that curiosity these days, and for some time now, is being channeled to things that have not much lasting value.

              But all that's way off topic. Rant mode off.
              Modern schools make deliberate efforts to kill that fun and curiosity. How about learning multiplication table by completing 10 worksheets (for each decimal number including 0 & 1) 100 examples each that were computer- generated with pearls like 2 x 3 = ? and then on the very next line: 2 x 3 =? in case someone didn't get it first time . I'd be ready to strangle whoever gave me such assignment by probably 10% of the first sheet. Give this to 8 yo, call it 'Math' and they will love 'Math' to the rest of their lives. The same problem was approached differently in my school- we were given assignment to learn the table on our own over summer. None did of course. Next year teacher simply moved on to long division passing all these 2 x 3 etc. Long division requires knowing multiplication table fluently so while it was readily available everywhere it got annoying real fast to look up all those numbers so everybody learned in no time even though it was never taught or tested explicitly . We were also prohibited from use of calculators almost to the end of high school; besides in those days it was impossible to divide 1/3 by 3 and get 1/9 on the calculator. Yes, this is off topic and NOMB anymore but this is where many problems start.

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              • #37
                Originally posted by Sunking View Post
                A Prepper with a Desktops, Laptops, Cell Phon. connected to the grid, and kids in public schools. Ironic.
                He needs to implement 'drills' to be consistent- power off, no cell phones, computers, water for a week and do it every month. It would ensure his arms still shoot, food supply is eatable and that 3 yo laptop in the barrel is still operational so when SHTF there won't be any surprises .

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                • #38
                  Originally posted by max2k View Post

                  Modern schools make deliberate efforts to kill that fun and curiosity. How about learning multiplication table by completing 10 worksheets (for each decimal number including 0 & 1) 100 examples each that were computer- generated with pearls like 2 x 3 = ? and then on the very next line: 2 x 3 =? in case someone didn't get it first time . I'd be ready to strangle whoever gave me such assignment by probably 10% of the first sheet. Give this to 8 yo, call it 'Math' and they will love 'Math' to the rest of their lives. The same problem was approached differently in my school- we were given assignment to learn the table on our own over summer. None did of course. Next year teacher simply moved on to long division passing all these 2 x 3 etc. Long division requires knowing multiplication table fluently so while it was readily available everywhere it got annoying real fast to look up all those numbers so everybody learned in no time even though it was never taught or tested explicitly . We were also prohibited from use of calculators almost to the end of high school; besides in those days it was impossible to divide 1/3 by 3 and get 1/9 on the calculator. Yes, this is off topic and NOMB anymore but this is where many problems start.
                  Max: That was Canada right ? Much better in a lot of ways. Things are not the same in the U.S. Besides, that was then. This is now.

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                  • #39
                    Originally posted by J.P.M. View Post

                    Max: That was Canada right ? Much better in a lot of ways. Things are not the same in the U.S. Besides, that was then. This is now.
                    with 100 sheets- Canada, around 2000; long division- good old USSR

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                    • #40
                      Originally posted by Sunking View Post
                      A Prepper with a Desktops, Laptops, Cell Phon. connected to the grid, and kids in public schools. Ironic.
                      Why is that ironic? I'm a prepper, not some psychopathic hermit who thinks the government is one big conspiracy...


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                      • #41
                        Originally posted by max2k View Post

                        He needs to implement 'drills' to be consistent- power off, no cell phones, computers, water for a week and do it every month. It would ensure his arms still shoot, food supply is eatable and that 3 yo laptop in the barrel is still operational so when SHTF there won't be any surprises .
                        I've wasted money on a few things I'll probably never need to use.. The guns and ammo, iodine pills and I'll probably never get motivated enough to actually grind wheat berries into flour.. But the rest of the stuff we have is all used on a regular basis... we just have a lot more of it than the average person.. 40 tubes of toothpaste.. 10 bottles mouth wash, a 5 year supply of the personal hygiene stuff for my wife...(lol).. Pressure canned soups and stews we eat weekly.. 200 lbs of instant mashed potatoes we use weekly.. things of that nature.. ..

                        I think the battery back up system will also be a waste of money... but its an insurance policy no different than any other insurance investment. On the other hand, if the utility companies in Michigan end up having their way and are able to kill net metering, that battery backup system might come in handy.

                        The only real significant difference between us (preppers) and most people is that we've done 3 to 5 years of grocery shopping all at once.

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                        • #42
                          I decided to join the solar energy community by installing my PH system on the roof of my house in Missouri City, TX, where Center Point Energy is the distribution company, my electricity provider is Just Energy, after some difficulties with the installer and getting the permits to generate electricity, I finally flipped the switch on July 30th, I can track my PH production using the SolarEdge portal, it was very exciting until I received the first utility bill that shows no reduction despite I'm generating, last bill still shows no reduction at all, I just learned Just Energy do not buy-back my electricity and Center Point Energy reports to Just Energy total kWh used without differentiating kWh self-consumption and kWh exported to the grid. I was told by Center Point that I need to find an utility provider to sell back the excess electricity +/- 500 kWh July-August. So basically I'm exporting electricity and paying for it, the worst part is that my bill still the same, no usage reduction no credit for exporting electricity, I read a lot about Smart Meters, still don't know if I have the right one, I can see the arrow pointing to the left (exporting) and 542 kWh exported. It's been a very frustrating experience, neither; Center Point or Just Energy gave me an explanation on what is happening and what I need to do to get this right. Very frustrated and disappointed.

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                          • #43
                            I was just approved today.. DTE showed up, reprogrammed my meter, and we are producing power and exporting to the grid.

                            Its been totally overcast and cloudy all day with slight thinning of the clouds and even a couple of moments when the sun was able to get through..

                            We were approved at 11am, its currently 3:13pm and we've made 16kw of power... The sun is now shinning through and my SunnyBoy 6.0-US is pegged at 6048 watts.... Dipping to 5500 and back up to 6000... WOW that is so cool..

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                            • #44
                              Originally posted by Murby View Post
                              I was just approved today.. DTE showed up, reprogrammed my meter, and we are producing power and exporting to the grid.

                              Its been totally overcast and cloudy all day with slight thinning of the clouds and even a couple of moments when the sun was able to get through..

                              We were approved at 11am, its currently 3:13pm and we've made 16kw of power... The sun is now shinning through and my SunnyBoy 6.0-US is pegged at 6048 watts.... Dipping to 5500 and back up to 6000... WOW that is so cool..
                              Glad it all worked out for you. Keep us posted on how your system is performing.

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                              • #45
                                Great news so far! Lots of hard work paid off.

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