Thursday, March 5, 2009

Conservation and the laundry

My kids gave me a "kill a watt" for Christmas. This is a neat little gadget that you plug into an outlet and then plug into it an appliance to see how much power it consumes.
I used it on my washer and gas dryer. The washer used .26 kwh to wash a load and the gad dryer used .33 kwh.
My Homeowners association does not permit the drying of laundry outside so I am now drying it in the unused guest room. The space is limited so I occasionally have to wash an extra load, doing slightly smaller loads and using the water saver feature so as not to waste water.
Air drying saves not only gas but a surprising amount of electricity. It all so gives me a little extra exercise.

1 comment:

Diane AZ said...

I have fond memories of hanging cloth diapers and other laundry out on the line to dry in West Hills. And, we used the gray water for the lawn. Now because of HOA, I drape some large or heavy items indoors around the house dry. We still use dryer but not if we have heated or cooled air inside house, because it goes out with exhaust. To cut down on amount of laundry, I let things get good and dirty before washing. Clothes and towels last longer that way too.