@toodles A daily court feast for luncheon would be enough to explain it. I’m jealous, sat here looking at a curly cheese sandwich,  a very civilised way of living.

@papahuhu I used to use the Neff combination microwave/cooker for a lot of my cooking (along with a gas hob) I later checked the Neff and on the 700 Watt microwave setting, it draws summat over 2 kW! The gas has gone and replaced with an induction hob which I much prefer. We added an air fryer nearly three years back so between the hob, the fryer and the two combi microwave cookers I can still manage to push up the energy consumption!😉 Regards, Toodles.

Posted by: @toodles

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@papahuhu I used to use the Neff combination microwave/cooker for a lot of my cooking (along with a gas hob) I later checked the Neff and on the 700 Watt microwave setting, it draws summat over 2 kW! The gas has gone and replaced with an induction hob which I much prefer. We added an air fryer nearly three years back so between the hob, the fryer and the two combi microwave cookers I can still manage to push up the energy consumption!😉 Regards, Toodles.

Microwaves are not very efficient at around 50-65%, but they are still better than an electric oven which can be as low as 40% if the seals are not great and they have poor insulation.

ChatGPT advises me:

Microwaves are best for reheating

Air fryers are best for small portions (1-2 people)

Electric ovens are best for larger meals where you can fully utilise the larger volume of the oven.

Posted by: @toodles

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@papahuhu I used to use the Neff combination microwave/cooker for a lot of my cooking (along with a gas hob) I later checked the Neff and on the 700 Watt microwave setting, it draws summat over 2 kW! The gas has gone and replaced with an induction hob which I much prefer. We added an air fryer nearly three years back so between the hob, the fryer and the two combi microwave cookers I can still manage to push up the energy consumption!😉 Regards, Toodles.

Sorry, @toodles, but I still don't see it. The microwave might draw 2 kW but it's still a microwave and so will only draw 2 kW in short periods (you don't nuke a salmon fillet for half an hour; more like 2 minutes followed by 30 second bursts). My kettle draws 3 kW but it still doesn't feature heavily in my daily usage (total of 1.34 kWh on Monday when there were 3 people in the house all drinking plenty of tea - yes, I have an energy monitor for just the kettle...).

As for the air fryer, that's markedly less energy-intensive than your oven so should have your consumption looking better than mine in that regard. As for your induction hob, I looked into that since I do the majority of my cooking on the hobtop. Even so, currently on gas, I'm only using about 1.8 kWh per day and about 60% of that is wasted whilst an induction, being about 90% efficient would mean me using around 800 Wh per day.

In essence, everything about your kitchen screams better efficiency than usual and so should have you using less leccy than the average 2 person household. You don't have a walk-in fridge that you're leaving open to cool the house down, do you?

Seriously, though, the possibility of those powerwalls drawing 5 kWh to give you access to 26 kWh storage does seem like rather a lot of generation needed just to stand still. I hasten to add that diving down this rabbit hole into your energy consumption was not meant to be putting you on the spot; I just can't help but feel there may be a quick win somewhere if only you were able to isolate which items are consuming how much.

@majordennisbloodnok My comment about the Neff microwave oven was meant more as an observation of how low the efficiency of such devices really is. I realise the bursts of energy are not required for extended periods and didn’t mean to infer that that was my consumption problem at all.

Yes, with our current cooking equipment, I feel we have done a lot to improve matters energy wise.

I blame myself and not SWMBO as over the years, as I have changed tariff and issued new guidelines to the boss as when are the best times to run the washing equipment etc. - only then to rescind and update those details when a change of tariff has happened! Sometimes, it is better to just accept that compromises happen!😉 Regards, Toodles. (Still looking for that ‘rabbit’ though)

@majordennisbloodnok Further to comment upthread about Powerwall running consumption, Google AI informs me thus:

So two powerwalls is more in the region of 2 kWh than 5 leaving 18 kWh per day to account for. Curiouser and curiouser.

2.5 - 3 kWh for your hot water leaves 15 kWh. Yup, I'm convinced you carrying out a bit of an audit of your electrical items' consumption could offer up some surprises that could be turned into savings. That rabbit hole looks even more tempting to go down, with the added bonus that if you catch the rabbit I've several good recipes I can give you.

@majordennisbloodnok Taking last month’s daily average of 14.6 kWh minus the hungry Powerwall kit wanting to keep cool thus consuming ~2 kWh and minus 2.5 kWh for the DHW, we are using some 10 kWh for the house per day. That rabbit isn’t going to make so many servings now.

I have observed that before the warmer weather appeared this year, the Powerwall units were almost silent and it wasn’t until they warmed up due to weather conditions that I could hear the cooling system running. When discharging at 10 kW for an extended period, the cooling system nearly takes off and is very noisy!

Regards, Toodles.

Those figures look far more in line with expectations, @toodles. Sad about the rabbit but happy for your bank balance.

@majordennisbloodnok Many years ago now, we bought a frozen rabbit in a well known frozen food supplier; the source of the rabbit was China. When I thawed and cooked the rabbit, it turned out to be almost all bone!

My Growatt battery is reporting its humming at 31C and todays operating efficiency is 97%
most of today’s 8.5kWh energy used has been the AC unit, Frodge/Frozzo and DoshWisher

Posted by: @toodles

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@majordennisbloodnok Further to comment upthread about Powerwall running consumption, Google AI informs me thus:

“A Tesla Powerwall 2 uses about 0.3 kWh to 1 kWh per day in idle or standby energy just to keep its internal computer, gateway, and thermal management running. If it is actively cycling energy, it holds a total usable capacity of 13.5 kWh, meaning it can discharge up to 13.5 kWh of stored electricity to your home daily. [1, 2, 3, 4]

 

Standby and Idle Consumption

• Base idle draw: Roughly 0.27 kWh to 0.5 kWh per day for the unit and Tesla Gateway under normal conditions. [1, 2]

• Climate impact: Extreme hot or cold weather can increase this baseline if the internal battery management system actively heats or cools the cells. [1, 2]

• Self-consumption percentage: Roughly 2% of the battery's total capacity is lost per day just staying powered on standby mode when not being actively charged or drained. [1]

 

Active Usage and Round-Trip Efficiency

• Total capacity: A fully charged Powerwall 2 delivers up to 13.5 kWh of usable energy. [1]

• Efficiency losses: The system has about a 90% round-trip efficiency, meaning for every 10 kWh of electricity you put into it, you get about 9 kWh back out; the remaining 10% is lost as heat during conversion. [1, 2]

• Total daily throughput: If you fully charge and discharge the battery once a day, it consumes around 15 kWh from your solar panels or grid to deliver 13.5 kWh to your home loads.”

I hope I haven transgressed any laws or rules in quoting that but I have attributed Google AI for it. This warm weather may explain some portion of that ‘rabbit’😉 Regards, Toodles.

 

As it says, in idle or standby.

Mine also draws a lot more when it's working (not idle or standby), either charging or discharging. Maybe this is just the recording of those conversion losses, I don't know. But I do know that our daily usage increased by a noticeable 2-3kWh per day when we first got our PW3.