Are your appliances set up wrong? 

When a new appliance arrives, most people plug it in and get going. What almost nobody does is check whether the factory settings actually make sense for their home. They don't — and it can cost you a surprising amount of money every year.

Here's a rundown of the main appliances in a Victorian home, what they're typically set to by default, and what they should actually be set to.

Your fridge and freezer are probably too cold

Fridges often ship from the factory set colder than necessary. The Australian Standard for all fridges states the fresh food compartment should be at an average of 3°C; cold enough to stay below the food safety threshold of 4°C, but not so cold that you're freezing your vegetables. Your freezer should sit at -18°C. Any colder and the appliance uses more energy than it needs to; any warmer and the compressor works harder to try to compensate, also using more energy.

Check where yours is set right now. Most people have never touched it. A cheap fridge thermometer (around $10) will tell you what's actually happening inside, since the dial markings on many fridges  (labelled 1 through 5, or Min/Max) don't directly correspond to degrees.

A few other things that make a big difference: position your fridge away from direct sunlight, ovens, heaters, and dishwashers, and allow at least 5cm of clearance on each side and 10cm at the top and back for ventilation. A fridge crammed into a hot corner works harder than it should, regardless of its temperature setting.

Your reverse-cycle air conditioner is fighting itself

Most Victorians either set their heating too high in winter or their cooling too low in summer, often because they assume a more extreme setting will get results faster. It won't. Reverse cycle air conditioners cool at the same rate regardless of the set temperature. Setting it to 18°C on a hot day doesn't cool the room any faster than setting it to 24°C. It just makes the system run longer and work harder.

The practical targets for Victoria: 24 to 26°C for cooling in summer and 18 to 20°C for heating in winter. Each degree beyond this range increases energy costs by around 10%. That's a meaningful penalty if you're habitually setting 16°C in summer or 23°C in winter.

Each degree cooler in summer adds roughly 10% to running costs, so if you're going from 26°C to 22°C, you've already added 40% to what you're paying.

On top of this: dirty filters make your system work harder and reduce efficiency. Most filters should be checked monthly and cleaned or replaced according to manufacturer guidelines, a simple step that extends the life of the unit and cuts energy use. Most people never do this.

If you have a ducted system, check whether you're conditioning rooms that are empty. Zoning off unused rooms and focusing the system on active areas keeps temperatures consistent where it matters most and stops you paying to heat or cool a spare bedroom nobody's in.

Your hot water system thermostat is probably set too high

It's estimated that around 21% of the energy used in the average Australian home goes to heating water. If your system is running hotter than it needs to, that's a significant ongoing waste.

For electric and heat pump storage systems, the right target is 60°C in the tank (hot enough to prevent legionella bacteria from growing) but a tempering valve then mixes that with cold water to deliver it at around 50°C at the tap. The most energy-intensive part of the heating cycle is going from 55°C to 60°C, like a kettle going from 95°C to boiling, the last few degrees cost the most. Heating well beyond 60°C gains you nothing and costs more.

If you have a heat pump hot water system (increasingly common in Victoria thanks to rebates) the timing of when it runs matters too. The optimal window to run a heat pump hot water system is between 10am and 3pm, avoiding peak tariff periods in the evening and taking advantage of midday warmth (or solar generation if you have panels). Most units ship with a default timer that doesn't match this. Check yours.

A poorly insulated system located outdoors can lose up to 3 kilowatt-hours per day, adding up to nearly $200 in wasted energy each year. Insulating the first two metres of piping from the system is one of the most cost-effective fixes, particularly in colder climates like Melbourne.

Your dishwasher and washing machine default settings waste energy

CHOICE testing has found that households can make energy savings of around 30% by using their dishwashers on eco mode instead of the default cycle. Yet most dishwashers ship with the standard or intensive cycle as the default, and most people never change it.

The reason eco mode works is simple: 90% of the energy a washing machine uses goes to heating the water. Eco cycles use lower temperatures and compensate with a longer soak time. The cycle takes longer, sometimes significantly, but uses much less power.

For washing machines, CHOICE recommends washing with cold water as the default for everyday loads. Testing has found the difference in cleaning results between hot and cold water on an average load is minimal. Paying more for the hot wash just isn't worth it. Save the warm or hot cycle for heavily soiled items or specific stains.

Running full loads makes a real difference too. Machines generally use the same amount of energy and water whether they're full or half-empty, unless the machine has a load sensor or half-load setting.

Your devices are using power when you think they're off

Standby power (the electricity drawn by appliances that are plugged in but switched off or idle) can account for anywhere from 3% to 10% of a typical Australian household's electricity consumption. This is sometimes called "phantom load" or "vampire power," and it adds up across every room.

A residential survey of Australian homes found standby power accounts for around 11.6% of electricity used in residential settings. Common offenders include televisions, gaming consoles, set-top boxes, computers, and small kitchen appliances with digital displays or clocks.

The fix is straightforward: switch appliances off at the wall when not in use, or use a power board with a switch to cut power to a cluster of devices at once. Smart power strips that detect when your TV has turned off and automatically cut power to everything else connected to it are now widely available and inexpensive.

Where to start

You don't need to tackle everything at once. A useful order:

Check your fridge temperature first. It takes two minutes and a $10 thermometer, and it's running 24 hours a day. Then look at your air conditioner settings and make sure eco or timer modes are enabled. Check your hot water system's thermostat and, if you have a heat pump unit, set a timer for the middle of the day. Switch your dishwasher and washing machine to eco and cold respectively as your new defaults. Finally, walk around and identify which devices are drawing standby power and put them on switched power boards.

None of these changes require spending money on new equipment. They just require spending ten minutes with the appliances you already own.

Prefer to work out your most cost-effective next steps to take action? Chat with a NatHERS accredited home energy assessor and professional project manager. 

Book a free, no-obligation 15 minute call with Jay.

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