This may be a silly question???

[Baldfrog]

This may be a silly question, I am killing myself trying to decrease my utilities. Our Electric just went up 17% last month. Will I save anything by cutting the breakers to the washers and dryers at night? Will it harm the machines if I do this? Do these machines draw a lot of energy when not in use? Has anyone tried this and found success or did this and found no savings.

Thanks,
Tammy

[bo]

The circuit breakers in your store are designed as emergency interrupters and were not designed as on/off switches. I don.t think you will see much savings either. A washer price increase would be much more effective. Most electric companies have an employee who does energy audits at no charge and they come up with good ideas at energy savings. Sorry for your plight but you are not alone. Good luck.

[Howard]

Why do you think your washers are drawing "any" energy when not in use? Sure there may be some led lights on, but the useage is probably less than 10 cents a night for the entire store. You would be shocked at how much power a soda machine is drawing - much more than you think.

[SonomaJoe]

Baldfrog,
Utilities are important, but it sounds like you will need to address the revenue side also

[Ned]

Howard is right. If you have a soda machine, put a timer on it and shut it off automatically for the 7 to 8 hours your store is closed... Also, have you converted from T-12 to T-8 fluorescent lights?

Ned

[SEFlaundry]

Does the conversion from T12 to T8 save that much?

[Howard]

I found it had a 10 month payback when I did it. Check local utility info - there many times are good rebates for this.

[Duane]

Lighting is probably your largest consumer of electricity in your store. It is always on during your open hours.

When I swapped out my T12 for T8 fixtures it saved me about $100 per month in electric costs.

Duane.