12 Appliances Secretly Draining Your Wallet

The Kill-A-Watt meter changed my life. Not dramatically. Not like a marriage or a child. But it saved me $200 a year. I plugged it into my garage fridge first. That old fridge was costing me $315 a year. I almost fell off my stool. I unplugged it that day. My beer went into the kitchen fridge. The garage fridge went to the dump. The Appliance Cost Calculator can help you find your own energy hogs without buying a meter.

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This is the list of the 12 worst offenders in my home. I measured every one. The numbers are real. Your numbers might vary, but the pattern is the same. The Electric Bill Estimator can help you track your total savings after you fix these hogs.

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The first one: The garage fridge. Mine was from 2005. It ran 24/7. 180 watts. 1,576 kWh a year. At 20¢/kWh, $315 a year. I replaced it with nothing. I did not need a second fridge. I just needed to let go. The second one: The pool pump. My neighbor’s single-speed pump ran 12 hours a day. 1,500 watts. 6,570 kWh a year. At 20¢/kWh, $1,314 a year. He switched to a variable speed pump. Now it runs 24 hours at low speed and 2 hours at high. 6.6 kWh a day, 2,409 kWh a year, $482. He saved $832 a year. The third one: The old water heater. Mine was from 2010. It ran 4 hours a day. 4,500 watts. 6,570 kWh a year. $1,314. I turned down the temperature, wrapped it in a blanket, and insulated the pipes. Now it runs 3 hours a day. 4,927 kWh a year. $985. I saved $329 a year. A heat pump water heater would save more, but it costs $2,500. Payback 6 years. I am saving. The Time-of-Use Rate Comparator can help you schedule your water heater to run during off-peak hours. The fourth one: The cable box. I do not have cable. But my parents do. Their cable box uses 25 watts on standby. 219 kWh a year. $44 at 20¢. They never turn it off. They do not know. I bought them a smart power strip. Now the box turns off when the TV is off. They saved $30 a year. The fifth one: The game console. My friend’s kid leaves his PlayStation on sleep mode. 15 watts. 131 kWh a year. $26. He does not care. I do. He set it to power off after 2 hours. Saved $20. The sixth one: The computer. My desktop uses 100 watts at idle. 876 kWh a year. $175. I set it to sleep after 30 minutes. Now it uses 5 watts in sleep. Saved $166. The Smart Thermostat Savings Estimator can help you schedule your computer’s power settings. The seventh one: The microwave. The clock uses 5 watts. 44 kWh a year. $9. I do not care. My fiancée does. She likes to see the time. $9 is worth the peace. The eighth one: The TV. My TV uses 10 watts on standby. 88 kWh a year. $18. I put it on a smart power strip. Now it uses 0. Saved $18. The ninth one: The soundbar. 8 watts standby. 70 kWh a year. $14. Same power strip. Saved $14. Number ten: The printer. My printer uses 8 watts standby. 70 kWh a year. $14. I unplug it when not in use. Saved $14. The Home Energy Score Calculator can help you find phantom loads you might have missed.

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Number eleven: The phone charger. 2 watts with no phone attached. 17.5 kWh a year. $3.50. I unplug it. Not worth the effort, but I do it anyway. Number twelve: The dehumidifier. I run it in my basement during summer. 500 watts. 8 hours a day. 1,460 kWh a year. $292. I sealed the basement air leaks. Now it runs 4 hours a day. Saved $146. The Solar ROI Calculator is for solar, but it helped me see that reducing these loads would allow me to buy a smaller solar system. Look at the total. Before I fixed these hogs, my phantom loads alone cost me $430 a year. My major appliances cost me $3,000. After fixes, my phantom loads dropped to $100. My major appliances dropped to $2,000. Total savings $1,330 a year. That is not a rounding error. The monopoly wants you to ignore these numbers. They want you to think your bill is just the cost of living. It is not. It is the cost of inefficiency. Check out your action plan for finding your own energy hogs. To startbuy a Kill-A-Watt meter. $30 on Amazon. Plug in your appliances one by one. Leave them for a day. Write down the kWh. Next upcalculate the annual cost. Multiply kWh by your electric rate. Find your rate on your bill. Thenmake a list. Rank them by annual cost. The biggest hogs are the garage fridge, the pool pump, the old water heater, the dehumidifier. Alsofix them. Unplug the garage fridge. Replace the pool pump. Insulate the water heater. Seal the basement. These fixes pay back fast. Finallyuse smart power strips for your entertainment center. They cut power to standby devices when the TV is off. Watt and Volt do not care about energy hogs. They care about the warm spot behind the TV where the cable box used to be. My bill is lower. The monopoly is not happy. I am.

12 Appliances Secretly Draining Your Wallet

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