Our top 10 things you can do to save money on your Utility Bill

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[00:00:27] Eric Goranson: But I tell you what, if. To save money on water. If you wanna save money on warm water and you want to extend the life of your clothes, that is the only way to fly because you can go through and really get them clean and without having that agitator in the middle, that's beating 'em out. When it comes to remodeling and renovating your home, there is a lot to know the We got you coming.

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[00:01:18] Eric Goranson: We love that you're catching the two hour show. And if you're a podcast listener, thank you. And by the way, if you're out on the radio and you missed part of the show, don't worry. You can find around the House show on just about any podcast player, and then make sure you're following us on social media.

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[00:01:51] Eric Goranson: And, uh, you'll be able to catch that online and on the, uh, Fox 12 app that you can find on near your Google [00:02:00] or Apple. You know, app stores and you'll be able to stream the show there as well and you'll be able to catch it on YouTube as we post stuff up. And, uh, if you're in our Portland market and you have home improvement questions, we are asking that you submit those via video and you can head over and find that information on the around the house Facebook page or just type in around the House Northwest and you can find it right there on social media.

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[00:02:49] Eric Goranson: So today we're gonna talk about top 10 things you can do to give you some energy saving. and I wanted to start out with number one, which is an important one right here. And this is not a sponsored [00:03:00] segment, but it's something I have in my house and it's something I believe in. It is a home energy monitoring system.

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[00:03:34] Eric Goranson: So I have, uh, worked with these guys for a number of years. I have been back into their labs at, uh, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and stood there with 'em and watched and logged into my own system, gave them my password. We logged in and I could see exactly what's going on far beyond even what was in my app.

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[00:04:21] Eric Goranson: And I really started to notice what was costing me money. And we're gonna talk about some of these things today on what I noticed that were costing me the most. And if they're costing me money, there's a good chance it's costing you money as well. And these are things that can get pretty crazy and all it takes is a baseboard heater running it full temp that you didn't realize.

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[00:05:16] Eric Goranson: Seriously, I'm not making that up. And then you, I have on mine a flex sensor that tracks up to two circuit. and then I can see what my, my H V A C system is doing by itself because sometimes with multiple speed H V A C systems, it has so many things that can get, get fused because it's making so many different noises.

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[00:06:00] Eric Goranson: I found a new this, I found a new that. Whatever it is. And it's really cool, so you can really go around and test things and it really will help you out, especially if you've got like a heat pump or something where the motor stalls or if you've got issues with a floating neutral. It will really help with that diagnosis cuz it will find those things so when you plug it in, it's really cool.

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[00:06:47] Eric Goranson: It will just keep going and going and going and it's pretty incredible. So take a look at that and uh, I do have a discount code if anybody ever wants to get one of these. That's over on around the house online.com. And those guys are really [00:07:00] cool. They have always treated me well and uh, it has really helped me out in understanding what my power usage is on electric.

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[00:07:36] Eric Goranson: And where that helps you is in a lot of. one, it helps you lower that power. And two, if you ever have to go onto a generator or something like that, you are now freeing up those lighting circuits and not using near as enough as much power. And where that makes a difference is in older homes where you have the lighting and the plugs on the same circuit that can [00:08:00] actually help produce that load and let you actually be able to have less issues when you plug in.

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[00:08:29] Eric Goranson: Grab the right color. Sometimes you walk in and you walk into somebody's house and I'm like, wow, this looks like a hospital daylight. It's just that office blue, white light, and it's just harsh. Not a fan of that. Uh, that's usually in that four, you know, 3,500 to 5,000 Kelvin, closer to five to 7,000 sometimes.

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[00:09:13] Eric Goranson: Brown or yellower as you turn it down. The cool part is, is with, you can get l e d lights now that do that as you dim them. And so instead of just li dimming the light output, it will actually change the color temperature and in dining room lights and things like that where you want to have a little bit more of an intimate feel.

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[00:09:46] Eric Goranson: should I be so hot?

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[00:10:09] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to The Round The House Show. This is where we help you get the most outta your home through information and education all while having a little bit of fun. Thanks for joining us today. If you're just joining us on the radio, make sure to track us on social media around the House Show you can find us on.

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[00:10:43] Eric Goranson: So join around the House Nation and uh, we're gonna have some fun over there in the upcoming. Man, we've got so much going on, uh, with social media and everything else. It's gonna be an exciting year in 2023. Coming up here after my show airs on television, you're gonna see on YouTube [00:11:00] brand new videos daily up there.

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[00:11:19] Eric Goranson: Well, we've been talking about how to save energy around your home and we talked about the sense monitor and of course the, uh, l e D lights. Another big one is controlling those l e D lights. and those are gonna be, you know, those smart lighting controls. And where this makes a difference is I really like it because sometimes I'm bad about this.

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[00:12:01] Eric Goranson: It makes sure that the front backside, all the doors are locked and gets the house completely ready for me to go get some sleep and turns off my outside lights, my string lights, everything else. It gets it ready to go. So those smart lighting controls can be huge and making sure that everything is dialed in and that's saving you.

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[00:12:44] Eric Goranson: There are a ton of different brands, depending on what you want it to do. You can get in there and do some of the Lutron ones, which are pretty simple. Uh, I have got, uh, a lot of different switches around my house. I think I have four or five in here. Let's see, I've got Lutron. I have, [00:13:00] uh, most of the Cassada series.

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[00:13:30] Eric Goranson: We don't get politics here on this page and this show and anything that we're doing on here, but we're gonna get down to that, uh, so-called inflation reduction. , and I'm gonna say so-called because I don't think it's gonna do anything to help inflation. But the good news for homeowners is they put in some serious rebates on heating and cooling, and that's gonna save you some money as a homeowner for energy efficient [00:14:00] stuff.

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[00:14:24] Eric Goranson: It's saving me hundreds and hundreds of dollars a year, and in the summertime, in my hot months, it's probably saving me $200 a. In my instance. And so that is huge. And I went from, you know, window or portable air conditioners to a variable speed, multi-zone AC system. And I have gas heat, and I have, you know, the, the electric of course for the cooling.

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[00:15:18] Eric Goranson: And one thing, as we talked about with heating and cooling, you can find the best brand of H V A C system and you are putting in the Cadillac, you're putting in the Bentley. Any of those. If you've got a horrible installer, guess what, that's not gonna work well. So my advice is, is no matter what brand you did, and I put in a carrier system in mine, uh, I really like it.

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[00:15:58] Eric Goranson: And yes, that installer [00:16:00] is just as important as the material you're putting in there cuz you can have the best system in the world and the worst installer and it's still gonna be a bad deal that's gonna cost you money. So my, my secret to that is jump onto the manufacturer's webpage. If you're looking at carrier train, American Standard Goodman, whoever else you're looking at, I don.

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[00:16:43] Eric Goranson: All those problems end up going back to corporate and they have to work with it. And so that can be troublesome for. So that's another one of the ones right there. Take a look at those money. We all want to use free money when we can get it and it's not gonna pay for your entire system. [00:17:00] But I tell you what, it could get close depending on what you're doing.

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[00:17:26] Eric Goranson: However, that would've been well above $20,000 for my system back then, and I didn't use any rebates at the time. So if you can get a bunch of rebates that can save you money. And, uh, we like that. And you'll have a system that'll probably get you 20 years if you maintain it. And that's a key right there.

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[00:18:03] Eric Goranson: Many of us 24 7 and it will sit there and just eat pennies and pennies and pennies a day or dollars a day depending on the system you have. And uh, the next question will be, when was the last time you maintained it either? Cuz it's one of those that always gets forgotten. All right, if you want more information, head over to around the house online.com and you can find us there or on social media.

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[00:19:08] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to The Round the House Show. This is where we get you the most outta your home through information and education, and we are talking about saving you some money today. What are my top 10? For saving you some serious energy, money around your house. Well, we've been talking about a lot of different stuff, and the one that I was teasing from this last segment is an important one.

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[00:19:53] Eric Goranson: And that is the new heat pump water heaters, or they're called hybrid water [00:20:00] heaters. This saved me hundreds of dollars a year. In my house, I went from a 40 gallon gas water heater to an 80 gallon heat pump water heater, and that saved me so much time, and even though it recovers slower than the gas one, because I went to an 80 gallon.

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[00:20:53] Eric Goranson: And it's like the heat pump in your house. It's that simple. Really. It just sits there and goes through, and as it [00:21:00] runs through, it's taking the heat outta the air around it and putting it inside the unit. Now mine, I run on heat pump mode 24 7. Now you do get a little bit of compressor noise about what you hear outta refrigerator running.

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[00:21:49] Eric Goranson: If it's concerned about not keeping up, it does have elements that can go into that and you can change that on mine. Mine's made by Bradford White. I've got their Ather and what it [00:22:00] does. Asit sits there and I, I run it on heat pump only mode. I will turn it off when I'm in my studio recording, cuz it's literally 10 feet away from me here in my garage studio.

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[00:22:26] Eric Goranson: My water is super clean here cuz of the city water. It's soft. It's really, they do a great job with this mountain water, but I just have to make sure that the air filter on the top of it is clean and it will give me warnings saying it needs to be happening, but it is a great way to go. Now, the reason that I went with the ather, From Bradford White is, it is the only one out there that I'm aware of that is repairable because think about it, it's got a heating, it's got that system like a heat pump on it, and so if a compressor ever goes bad, they can actually send the [00:23:00] parts out and a heating cooling can, tech can come out and replace that.

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[00:23:27] Eric Goranson: That was where I was going. I was sold, I was going on a gas tankless cause I've always wanted one and my buddy. Gregory over there at, uh, Bradford White went, are you sure about that? And he was not wrong. This worked out well. And when I'm on generator backup power, I'm not using all that power so I can heat my water using that 500 watts and do better job of, of, you know, using other things on my house.

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[00:24:17] Eric Goranson: Now here's the next one I want to talk about here, and this is a big one. Front load washing machine and yes, I know there's 20% of you out there that are rolling your eyes that, that are saying you'll take my top load washing machine out of my cold dead hands. I get it. I have used front load washing machines for 20 plus years and it's the only way you really go in Europe.

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[00:25:13] Eric Goranson: It's not close. And the other thing is, is by the way, I know that you're gonna see top load machines. Those are gonna go away before the gas ranges due. So if you're worried about the gas ranges and that controversy, those top load machines will go first because that's a huge energy use thing right there.

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[00:25:55] Eric Goranson: They don't like the musty, moldy smell. They don't like all that. To be [00:26:00] honest, I would almost guarantee that my front load machine. Is cleaner than your top load machine because mine and mine's just an lg. It's a nice LG unit, but it's nothing crazy. That unit there can steam clean itself on the inside, and when I do the tub wash, it cleans on the inside of the drum.

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[00:26:51] Eric Goranson: Right. And that's the problem with top load machines is you can't get them as clean. Cuz that stuff is just sitting there and as gross as [00:27:00] it is, your clothes are sitting there bathing in that skunk and nobody likes that. Does the, does the, if you put the cleaner through it, yeah, maybe it might help it, but it doesn't get it all around because you have that water level in there that it comes up to.

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[00:27:34] Eric Goranson: Mine will remind me when I need to run a clean cycle on it, and that saves me a ton of money. And it also makes it where I save money because it gets the clothes dryer, cuz the spin cycle is heavier With that. What's great is that I use less energy in my dryer because it's actually getting you a really good way to go with that.

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[00:28:24] Eric Goranson: What I thought was handy was costing me twice as much what it should. We'll talk about that just as soon as around the house returns.[00:29:00]

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[00:29:16] Eric Goranson: Well, I appreciate you listening in as well because you are such a great listening audience and I just want to thank everybody for listening and tuning in. You are part of the success of this show, and what I mean by that is all of us in the United States. But we've been in the top 50 and top 25 in Israel, South Korea, New Zealand.

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[00:29:58] Eric Goranson: The things are different [00:30:00] in your area than here in the States, and it probably could be better, but, uh, I really like to see what you guys are doing. So, uh, you are, uh, you are heard, you are seen, and we appreciate you. Well, we've got four things to jump through here in my top 10, so we're gonna have to keep going and not talk about that.

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[00:30:45] Eric Goranson: So it was costing me a ton of money. So dump that old fridge or freezer and make sure that's updated. Take a look at the energy using on it, usage on it. It can be shocking how they have come a long ways with saving you money there. [00:31:00] Now here's another one that you're gonna go, okay, this is obvious. I get it.

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[00:31:31] Eric Goranson: Now, in full disclosure, read the fine print and understand what you're getting into, cuz there are times that they will say, we're gonna give you. , but under extreme load conditions, we could control that unit. So be careful of that. If you are cool with that and say, Hey, I'm a part of the community, and uh, if they need to control my unit to help keep the system going, that's awesome.

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[00:32:21] Eric Goranson: It's still saving you money instead of going out and buying it. Spending hundred bucks, hundreds of bucks on a smart thermostat, they're pretty easy. But here's the secret to do before you. , every one of these have their own little installation things on it where you can take a look at it. So you can pop the cover off your existing one.

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[00:33:05] Eric Goranson: So that's one to keep, you know, keeping track of. Now here's one here in most areas that you should be really paying attention to and saving money. And here's the rule on this. If you can grow grass in your area, like in your yard, then this is for you. And that is controlling humidity. We've had Nikki Krueger on here from time to time.

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[00:33:55] Eric Goranson: When it feels cool, it's drier, and when it feels [00:34:00] hot, it's more humid. So you could save money by using a commercials full-size dehumidifier when you do this. And that's what's cool is keeping that humidity controlled. With a dehumidifier or even in some areas a humidifier. Controlling that humidity is a very inexpensive way comparing to letting your system do it.

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[00:34:49] Eric Goranson: So making your house more comfortable and it's using so much less power that can really save you some money. My system, I can run it and, and kind of [00:35:00] cycle it. So if I look at my house and go, oh my gosh, it is humid in here, it is 63% humidity. That is way too humid for my house. I am gonna be growing mold, I'm gonna have problems.

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[00:35:40] Eric Goranson: That is much more expensive to do that than just run a regular dehumidifier. So I know fully in my house that's costing me money, and one of these days I'm gonna fix that. The last one here is obvious weatherization insulation, making sure that everything's caulked. [00:36:00] Making sure that door doors are sealed up.

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[00:36:31] Eric Goranson: And I had a dog door so they could go outside anytime they wanted to go to the bathroom. But even with that dual magnetic flap that I had, it still let a lot of air in. It was like having that open window. So I put in, and you'll see it in an upcoming segment, I put in a electronic dog door that has a little piece that goes on my dog's collar.

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[00:37:18] Eric Goranson: Sealed up. I got this from High Tech pet. Those guys are awesome. I tell you what, that made a massive difference in the draftiness of that room because I didn't have, like I was saying, like a window open to do that. So my heating and cooling is gonna be a big difference, especially in that room with that.

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[00:37:58] Eric Goranson: But I need to make sure that my makeup [00:38:00] air is good. That's gonna be one of my next projects is installing the correct size of makeup air in a future. TV version of Around the House because I wanna make sure that I get that makeup air taken care of. That is going to be the next issue because now that I've sealed up that big hole, I don't have the makeup.

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[00:38:34] Eric Goranson: Well, those are my top 10 there. If you want to comment, I'd love to hear reviews. By the way, if you're listening on the podcast, it's been a couple years since I've asked for it, but, uh, if you have a chance, we'd love to have a great. On any of the podcast players and especially the Apple ones, cuz those help us out a little bit.

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[00:39:11] Eric Goranson: I'd love to see those projects because we have so many people like you out there that are talented, that are doing some great stuff. All right, everybody. This is the wrap of our energy show for the day. Stay tuned for the next one. Thanks for listening to Around the House.