How to do washing using off-peak?

[ericmark]

The washing machine has a delay start timer, as does the tumble drier and dishwasher, the tumble drier and washing machine, both tumble the clothes every so often while waiting for the start time, this is not a problem with the tumble drier, but with the washing machine, it means the soap in the ball is tipped onto clothes before the wash cycle starts. Put the liquid soap in the draw, and it runs through again before the cycle starts, only option seems to be use washing power, which is not really what we want.

Result is rarely use washing machine on delay start, but this time of year not much solar, so don't want to run during the day, ideas please.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Result is rarely use washing machine on delay start, but this time of year not much solar, so don't want to run during the day, ideas please.

Nowt like that here, we just do a wash as and when needed, but check the price for the day, to see if it might be better to delay a day of two (Tracker tariff). Same price, for the full 24 hours.

Today, for instance, Av asked me to check whether it was a cheap day, or an expensive one - today it is 22.62, tomorrow 20.60p per unit, so the wash gets delayed until tomorrow. If we more urgently need to use it, we generally do ignore the cost, unless the cost, as it rarely does, rises above the SVT.

 

[ericmark]

In summer, hardly matters, costs 8.5p/kWh at night, and we lose export payment of 15p/kWh in the day, but winter 30.51p/kWh in the day is quite a bit more than the 8.5p/kWh at night.

November my bill was £61 and a bit, summer the bill is in the minus, not a massive bill, but don't want to spend when not required.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

November my bill was £61 and a bit, summer the bill is in the minus, not a massive bill, but don't want to spend when not required.

Electric, £55, and gas £78, inc standing charges for the entire month of November. That's heating on constantly at 14C, and 18C during the day, no solar, no storage, no EV.

It's not much cheaper, the electric use in summer it was £53 in June, but gas use was down to £22.

 

[ericmark]

My oil is lasting a lot better after I stopped using it to heat DHW in the summer, can't stop it heating DHW in the winter, I use around 12 kWh per day, so working with this £130.73 actually last month, for electric, down to £83.61 if I take the solar off, so the off-peak is saving me money, bringing it down to £61 for the month, I did look carefully at the tariffs, as easy to end up paying more, if not using enough overnight. A bit up last month to 14.5 kWh per day, normally around 12 kWh per day. Unless running the AC which clearly not needed this time of year.

But having a shower at 1 am is not something I intend to do, there are not many things one can move to off-peak, as to doing an Angela Rippon and doing gardening at night, think my neighbours may complain. So in real life only really the washing which can be done at night.

 

[foxhole]

Pour liquid soap ( diluted) into drum before adding clothes.

 

[Rodders53]

What brand / model washer does that? Seems a pretty daft idea to move dirty (dry) clothes in a drum during the wait to start. You could replace it with a new Miele TwinDos washer that dispenses the liquid(s) from containers held inside the machine at the correct time in the cycle? Not that I've ever set a delay start on my washers over the years, ever so can't be sure what would happens on them if delayed. Mine does have an anti-crease feature at the end of some wash cycles... but that stops after a time and it switches off.

Does the liquid soap in drawer actually reach the clothes in drum, and not just go to the bottom of drum to be diluted when the water enters later?

Or just stop being so mean and run the machine during the day. Life's too short to be such a Scrooge.

(Surely the uber-expensive battery you have is intended for this very purpose of delivering off peak energy to appliances during peak periods. Increase the capacity if inadequate for this purpose.)