Switching off South Africa's geysers could save up to four stages of load-shedding — Ramokgopa

And take cold showers. No, Eskom's problem has nothing to do with peak generation but general availability so switching it on and off does nothing to alleviate the problem and only shifts the load. Geyser insulation is rather good so that if you leave it off for a day you'll still have hot water the next meaning no real saving. Insulating pipes might be a better option resulting in less wastage and water that needs to be heated and might save a few units each month.
 
leon.davibe said:
yea the ripple boxes was forced installed thanks to pressure from nersa i think (salt)

so most geysers are off during 2 peak times anyway

they send a ripple before and after peak times to switch on and off
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That was a major fail with most relays eventually malfunctioning or missing the ripples. So people bypassed them. There was also no regulation backing it so it couldn't be seen as tampering with their infrastructure. Removing it might be seen as theft but after all this time I doubt anybody will check or even has documentation of where they were installed.
 
Switching off the geyser saves very little
Yes it does but very little

One of the problema of loadshedding is forcing all the fridges+ other devices to switch on at the same time just as the power is switched on after loadshedding

Hence why the transformers burn out

Just forcing more and more devices to switch on at exactly the same time makes it worse not better

Zero ****ing logic
 
I can't remember if it was a national scheme or a Gauteng scheme but around 2008 or so. I remember the idea of solar geysers being subsidized. Of course it never happened. Solar geysers should have been subsidized and should have been the norm by now.

RSA reaping what the ANC has been sowing.
 
Swa said:
And take cold showers. No, Eskom's problem has nothing to do with peak generation but general availability so switching it on and off does nothing to alleviate the problem and only shifts the load.
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I didn't read anything about switching them back ON. Only the OFF part.
So he might actually be onto something
 
I don't have a problem with ripple controllers as such, because if you can smooth out evening peaks then that makes a difference.

But that's one more thing that Eskom would need to be competent in order to manage properly, and clearly they cannot.
 
Nemesys said:
At the time Eskom allocated a maximum demand to each municipality and their bigger direct supply customers. If the maximum demand was exceeded the customer/ municipality were finned heavily. The municipalities had a electricity controller who monitored their power usage and when the demand approached the maximum allocation could switch off geysers through the ripple relay system and other non-essential services to stay within their allocated usage.
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They still do for some of their larger customers the same as the capacity charge we pay. It's not an allocation though but more a maximum usage allowance and if you go over it you are charged significantly more. I think municipalities were just too stingy going for a lower allowance and then ended up exceeding this.
 
Swa said:
They still do for some of their larger customers the same as the capacity charge we pay. It's not an allocation though but more a maximum usage allowance and if you go over it you are charged significantly more. I think municipalities were just too stingy going for a lower allowance and then ended up exceeding this.
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Yea with the big boys you get a hefty bill just because you will switch on certain devices

Have heard someone say that he doesn't do certain jobs because of this

Tells them sure if i get 3 contracts like yours i switch on the devices and you can get your **** in 3days

So just wait the 3weks until i have that amount of queries

Or pay the premium and i switch it on now and you can have your **** in 3days
 
Paulsie said:
I didn't read anything about switching them back ON. Only the OFF part.
So he might actually be onto something
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That's the worrying part. If this guy thinks we can go without geysers or some other heating mechanism. Switching them on and off (if that's what he intended) won't save anywhere near 4 stages of load shedding, it won't even save one in general.
 
Doubt if it would even be 1 stage but 4 stages that is a load of BS.

KatieKim said:
I can't remember if it was a national scheme or a Gauteng scheme but around 2008 or so. I remember the idea of solar geysers being subsidized. Of course it never happened. Solar geysers should have been subsidized and should have been the norm by now.

RSA reaping what the ANC has been sowing.
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It happened was an eskom scheme, I had one installed through it in 2012. Also had my filament lights switched to led through another scheme iirc 2014 ish, cannot remember if that was municipality or eskom.

> Convert your 200 lt High pressure geyser to solar R11 500
> (You claim back Eskom subsidy of R5000: R11500-R5000=R6500, it takes 8 weeks)
Still working today. Times I actually need electricity for geyser is about 5 days during winter. Its permanently off at the DB
 
Yeah the minister can literally can and fsck himself.

Something sound off about his numbers in general anyway.
 
My monthly electricity bill is about R600 to R700. That is with my PC and laptop on 16hrs a day for 5 days a week at least. My geyser is also on all the time (take a reasonably long shower once a day). Use the oven twice a week maybe. How much does the geyser really use? Doesn't seem like there's much to shave off.
 
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