Will switching off geysers prevent loadshedding?

[Nerfherder]

It is all about hot water usage management. This business of maintaining water hot 24/7 is just BS.

*waits for thread about burst geyser*

This has been debated before, the maths says you are wrong. What you should probably do is get a heat pump.

 

[Moosedrool]

It is all about hot water usage management. This business of maintaining water hot 24/7 is just BS.

Insulation actually works well.

Donno if it's just me but if I put my geyser off and only on 2 hours before showering my electrical bill ramps up. The only time it's efficient to switch off is when I leave for a couple of days.

 

[wingnut771]

Insulation actually works well.

Donno if it's just me but if I put my geyser off and only on 2 hours before showering my electrical bill ramps up. The only time it's efficient to switch off is when I leave for a couple of days.

Maybe try 1 hour.

 

[Moosedrool]

Maybe try 1 hour.

My ex used to enter hell and come back to earth when bathing or showering. Anything colder than hot lead was unacceptable.

So maybe I should try that again now that I'm single.

 

[wingnut771]

My ex used to enter hell and come back to earth when bathing or showering. Anything colder than hot led was unacceptable.

So maybe I should try that again now that I'm single.

I'm single and 1 hour I still need to mix cold water and I like my showers hot. I can skip days even and it's still hot after 1 hour. I don't have any fancy switches, just just flip the breaker up on the DB for 1 hour then off then shower. My showers are short though, less than 5 minutes.

 

[Nerfherder]

Insulation actually works well.

Donno if it's just me but if I put my geyser off and only on 2 hours before showering my electrical bill ramps up. The only time it's efficient to switch off is when I leave for a couple of days.

yes it will.

 

[ShaunSA]

If everybody does it could help.

Some public executions would also help

 

[Neuk_]

Our geyser will make absolutely zero difference since it runs on gas

 

[wingnut771]

yes it will.

I have mine set to 55 degrees.

 

[ShaunSA]

It's cute how everyone is looking for silly stop-gap solutions instead of focusing on the causes

 

[My_King]

Switch off all geysers. In the hours you're supposed to have power cuts, switch on the geysers.

Ok I have power so I turn off my geyser now.

Then at 11 AM I get my power cut, I then turn on my geyser.

After load shedding I turn my geyser off.

Yes it can work, however I will never have warm water

 

[Nerfherder]

I have mine set to 55 degrees.

Please don't.

Basically makes it an incubator for disease.

 

[RudderVator]

Switch off all geysers. In the hours you're supposed to have power cuts, switch on the geysers.

Would that work?

Mentioned by an electrician friend.

In the 80s they had ripple control relays to switch geysers off in a town.

Think it makes a difference. The problem is we have a shortage of electricity 24/7 now. In the olden days, the reason ripple controls were installed was to protect the local grids, especially in remote towns that had a small electrical infrastructure.

Simply switch geysers off for an hour at 18:00 because everyone was using stoves at that time to reduce the total amount of current load on the local substation etc.

 

[My_King]

It's cute how everyone is looking for silly stop-gap solutions instead of focusing on the causes

The problem with the solution is the people don't like it.

I'm more inclined to believe the solution left the shores years ago and retired. We don't have the knowledge to fix it now.

The replacements we have now party 24/7 and piss on other people's property and call it a degree.

Its like this these days:

 

[TheJman]

Switch off all geysers. In the hours you're supposed to have power cuts, switch on the geysers.

Would that work?

Mentioned by an electrician friend.

So the thing I've been told is that if we were to all switch off our geysers during load shedding and then not switch them on for 'a bit' after they switch the power back on, it would help with stopping the power tripping because too much power being drawn.

Personally (and I'm not an electrician, so could be talking absolute rubbish... it's just my feeling) - I don't think this makes sense - I feel like the power grid wasn't designed to be turned on and off and the reason it's tripping is beyond just everyone's geysers. Also, the problem is that everyone runs to cook food and do washing, charge phones etc when the power comes back on.... and with loadshedding hitting us at least 3 times a day, you have to rush to do all this because of the short time span between...

I think sadly, we're going to have to start supplementing our power with solar, with out trying to justify the 'pay-back' from it, simply because we want to have power at home / business. There does not seem to be any plan in place to resolve load shedding and it seems like the years and years of doing nothing have finally caught up with us.

That's my feeling, what do you guys think?

 

[chuckles_the_cnt]

Maybe try 1 hour.

to get this clear; you're suggesting to turn off the geyser element, let the water cool down, then switch it back on an hour before taking a shower.

i'm no electrician, but your 2/3/4 kw element will have to run full tilt for an hour to get your 100/150/200 litre cylinder up to temp (or close to it) instead of spurting power at it to maintain the set temp of your geyser?

how's that saving anything? likely only shortening the lifespan of your thermostat and element and probably does wonders to your power bill?

 

[wingnut771]

Please don't.

Basically makes it an incubator for disease.

Okay 60 then.

 

[wingnut771]

to get this clear; you're suggesting to turn off the geyser element, let the water cool down, then switch it back on an hour before taking a shower.

i'm no electrician, but your 2/3/4 kw element will have to run full tilt for an hour to get your 100/150/200 litre cylinder up to temp (or close to it) instead of spurting power at it to maintain the set temp of your geyser?

how's that saving anything? likely only shortening the lifespan of your thermostat and element and probably does wonders to your power bill?

Your element runs at full tilt every time it switches on - I don’t get what you are trying to say. 1 hour a day vs on 24/7 and who knows how many times it turns on in that period to maintain temperature.

 

[chuckles_the_cnt]

Your element runs at full tilt every time it switches on - I don’t get what you are trying to say. 1 hour a day vs on 24/7 and who knows how many times it turns on in that period to maintain temperature.

so, my 4kw element runs 100% to maintain a set water temperature? when it reaches the temperature, it continues to run at 100% ? it never turns off and the thermostat used to set the temp does what?

like i said, i'm no electrician, but logically it cant maintain a 100 % output or the water in the cylinder will boil, triggering the pressure release valve

the duration of runtime is the thing that you need to look at, if it takes 1 minute to push the temp up one degree vs 60 minutes to reach desired temp each day

 

[wingnut771]

so, my 4kw element runs 100% to maintain a set water temperature? when it reaches the temperature, it continues to run at 100% ? it never turns off and the thermostat used to set the temp does what?

like i said, i'm no electrician, but logically it cant maintain a 100 % output or the water in the cylinder will boil, triggering the pressure release valve

the duration of runtime is the thing that you need to look at, if it takes 1 minute to push the temp up one degree vs 60 minutes to reach desired temp each day

No that not what I said.

All I’m saying is if it uses 2kWh for that one hour vs 4kWh for the whole day, surely that is a saving? I have not measured mine so this is speculation on my side.