Will switching off geysers prevent loadshedding?

[Adeptus Mechanicus]

Nope. Loadshedding is not always about instantaneous demand.

It's partially about current and predicted demand versus current and predicted supply, but has also been instituted to replenish pumped storage/save on running OCGT's, etc.

Not to mention geysers have ripple switch controls and are a drop in ocean compared to large scale industrial demand.

 

[PsyWulf]

1 valid thing you can take from this however is if everyone disabled their heavy loads at startup (hello heaters/geysers) there would be less nuisance trips post-loadshed due to heavy inrushes tripping subs
I have my changeover-notification set to 10minutes post-loadshed

 

[Smokey888]

No, just like your fridge. If you don't use hot water much the power to keep up the heat is very little.

Same applies for your fridge, keep it cold.

Switching off and only on for a certain amount of time does save electricity though...

 

[bwana]

Not to mention geysers have ripple switch controls and are a drop in ocean compared to large scale industrial demand.

Do they get loadshedded where you are? It's only at stage 5 and above here where they do, which makes geyser shedding a bigger deal.

 

[Lupus]

Nope. Loadshedding is not always about instantaneous demand.

It's partially about current and predicted demand versus current and predicted supply, but has also been instituted to replenish pumped storage/save on running OCGT's, etc.

Not to mention geysers have ripple switch controls and are a drop in ocean compared to large scale industrial demand.

Residential is only 20% of all demand, but it takes most of the knock

 

[supersunbird]

I think switching every single street light in SA to LED might be more effective.

 

[RVQ]

In a perfect SA there would be tax incentives and rebates for people that switch to solar geysers.

The UK has several programmes that encourage households to improve energy efficiency such as house insulation, water pumps etc.

That said those that I know who switched to solar geysers are saving thousands on their bills. Geysers use a crazy amount of energy so it's worthwhile for everyone to invest

 

[Lupus]

In a perfect SA there would be tax incentives and rebates for people that switch to solar geysers.

The UK has several programmes that encourage households to improve energy efficiency such as house insulation, water pumps etc.

That said those that I know who switched to solar geysers are saving thousands on their bills. Geysers use a crazy amount of energy so it's worthwhile for everyone to invest

They had that incentive until about 2013 I think

 

[Mystic Twilight]

1 valid thing you can take from this however is if everyone disabled their heavy loads at startup (hello heaters/geysers) there would be less nuisance trips post-loadshed due to heavy inrushes tripping subs
I have my changeover-notification set to 10minutes post-loadshed

This will contribute in saving the headaches regarding local sub-stations and transformers blowing up and catching fire.

 

[TEXTILE GUY]

Best thing is to face eastwards after every third step.
A mason—twist before bedtime might also help, but still unconfirmed at this stage.

Any recipes to get rid of the ANC

 

[NarrowBandFtw]

I'm switching ****all off

I pay for the damn thing so I will use it

amen, on the contrary we should switch as much shyte ON as we can at all times, take this mofo to stage 20 and maybe, just maybe, some ANC cnuts will swing from trees in our lifetime as befits their corrupt souls

 

[neoprema]

All my geysers are now on smart switches. Amongst other things it controls when they heat, and also when power comes back on they won’t just heat up immediately.

 

[Lupus]

1 valid thing you can take from this however is if everyone disabled their heavy loads at startup (hello heaters/geysers) there would be less nuisance trips post-loadshed due to heavy inrushes tripping subs
I have my changeover-notification set to 10minutes post-loadshed

So if you have yours at ten minutes and everyone else does, that's why sometimes it trips again after being on for ten minutes.

 

[maumau]

I think switching every single street light in SA to LED might be more effective.

We need suggestions like this.

 

[maumau]

So if you have yours at ten minutes and everyone else does, that's why sometimes it trips again after being on for ten minutes.

Jeez it's irritating when that happens. Then you know you're in for the long haul.

 

[Nerfherder]

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.

No, it wont.

The issue is that it uses the same amount of power to make a geyser hot as it does to keep it warm. So there is no net gain by turning it off.
The only thing that would be worth while is to turn geysers off during peak times to shift that load to an off peak time. That would be pointless though because there is no off peak time currently for us to use to heat the geysers, load shedding is happening 24hours a day now.

When we lived in JHB they had a system to do this kind of thing, called a ripple relay and it would shut your geyser off remotely twice a day, possibly it was actually off all day I'm not 100% sure.
It totally wrecked our geysers though and even though they were less than 5 years old they would regularly need new thermostats and valves, then eventually rupture.
I have heard of electricians who have suggested this kind of thing but a) they do the repairs b) would you trust someone who should know mathematically why this would not work to do electrical work on your house ?

*In the first world where the problem is dealing with a massive spike at peak times then yes it could work*

I think its also been shown that if every single household converted to either a gas or solar geyser it still wouldn't fix loadshedding.
Residential power is not actually the biggest power sucker, its industrial. I remember way back in 2008/9 someone proved that if we shut down a few of those smelting plants we would be mostly ok.
He was fired for his statement as it didn't go down well with Rio Tinto. Also shutting down those big industries would shut down those jobs we like so much.

have a read here :

Electricity consumption South Africa by sector 2023| Statista

As of 2023, the industry sector was the leading electricity consumer in South Africa, with up to **** percent of the total consumption.

www.statista.com

 

[Lupus]

Jeez it's irritating when that happens. Then you know you're in for the long haul.

Worst is when it goes off 40 minutes late, than you're like hopefully it's back at the right time.

 

[Lupus]

No, it wont.

The issue is that it uses the same amount of power to make a geyser hot as it does to keep it warm. So there is no net gain by turning it off.
The only thing that would be worth while is to turn geysers off during peak times to shift that load to an off peak time. That would be pointless though because there is no off peak time currently for us to use to heat the geysers, load shedding is happening 24hours a day now.

When we lived in JHB they had a system to do this kind of thing, called a ripple relay and it would shut your geyser off remotely twice a day, possibly it was actually off all day I'm not 100% sure.
It totally wrecked our geysers though and even though they were less than 5 years old they would regularly need new thermostats and valves, then eventually rupture.
I have heard of electricians who have suggested this kind of thing but a) they do the repairs b) would you trust someone who should know mathematically why this would not work to do electrical work on your house ?

*In the first world where the problem is dealing with a massive spike at peak times then yes it could work*

I think its also been shown that if every single household converted to either a gas or solar geyser it still wouldn't fix loadshedding.
Residential power is not actually the biggest power sucker, its industrial. I remember way back in 2008/9 someone proved that if we shut down a few of those smelting plants we would be mostly ok.
He was fired for his statement as it didn't go down well with Rio Tinto. Also shutting down those big industries would shut down those jobs we like so much.

have a read here :

Electricity consumption South Africa by sector 2023| Statista

As of 2023, the industry sector was the leading electricity consumer in South Africa, with up to **** percent of the total consumption.

www.statista.com

View attachment 1339792

We have massive spikes at peak times, 5am to 8am and 5pm to 9pm.

 

[Nerfherder]

No we already have that. If my power comes back on after a while there's a few clicks as the geysers are also switched on I presume. Airfreyrs will be more useful during peak hours but with the current sabotage nothing will work.

IRRC its actually a problem to have load shedding and a ripple relay as they need power to do the switch. When loadshedding was first implemented way back when we were often stuck with a cold geyser when they loadshed during the time when they would turn it back on.
I assume they have have figured this out though now, glad I don't have the dreaded RR anymore.

 

[Nerfherder]

We have massive spikes at peak times, 5am to 8am and 5pm to 9pm.

Yes, like every country in the world. Its just not our biggest problem though. Like I said - with 24h loadshedding there just isn't a good time to have geysers on.