Work curiosities episode #2
When you’re analyzing user data, you begin to pick up on odd across-the-board habits. Energy use data is no different. And when you’re curious, you want to make conjectures and find answers. During our pilot programs, we noticed an interesting trend.
Washing and drying systems typically receive their own breakers in a circuit panel. But, we can monitor their activity alongside each other, just for the fun of capturing correlation.
On average, when residents ran their washing machines, we could see the dryer activity spike just a few hours later. And then both machines would go silent for the day. Except, in several cases, the dryer would then spike again later in that same day, without corresponding washer activity.
What was going on? Why were we seeing the washer run once, while the dryer ran twice in the same day?
It didn’t take us long to come to a conclusion. Residents had to be washing their clothes, drying them, forgetting them in the dryer, and then coming back to find them wrinkled. Then, they set the dryer again to de-wrinkle their clothes. It’s a case of costly forgetfulness. Or procrastination.
Let’s say it costs $0.45 to run a load of laundry, a good average. And let’s say you would run the dryer and washer 20 times a month together. That’s $9 a month, or $108 a year. Now, because these residents run their dryer twice each time they wash, the cost is doubled, for $216 spent a year.
Here’s an easy savings opportunity. It’s not the end of the world to run a dryer twice for each load. But, taking the clothes out the first time is an easy $100 savings or more a year. And, arguably, your dryer will last longer.
So, do yourself a favor. Next time you’re washing the laundry, remember to unload the dryer the first time. Or, better yet, let us do the reminding. Away or at home, we can let you know what’s going on with your electricity.
