I am a night custodian in a new york school district . I was turning off the lights in the large gang bathrooms at night after cleaning them .The head custodian then told me not to turn off the lights , to leave them on- they don't use that much electricity . He told me in the morning 6AM he had to turn on the lights and it took too much time .There are three 3 bulb (T8) fixtures with ballasts I believe 220 volts,and two 2 bulb fixtures in each bathroom. When turned off , only one 2 bulb fixture stays on . There are 8 bathrooms left on at night for a total of approx 12 hours weekdays (mon-fri) and 24 hours saturday and sunday . I was trying to fiqure out , is it better to leave lights on even thought no one is using them . To go on I see classrooms (15 3bulb fixtures) left with lights on when I leave at midnight , nobody in the school building til 6 AM . I live in this school district and pay school taxes to this school district. Does anyone know how to fiqure out how much electricity is used ?

Does anyone know how to fiqure out how much electricity is used ? I'm not sure of the figures but comon sense tells me those lights should be turned off. With all the power problems around the world,you would think people would care a little more.He should be doing a walk through the school every morning anyways. He will pass the lights on his way. Whats the big deal.

You should definitely be turning the lights off as you are done working in the room everytime you leave the room and nobody else is in it. Anybody that then needs to use the room should have no problem turning them on. My guess is this guy is lazy and is not completing his entire walkthrough and is asking you to keep them on so nobody knows which rooms he has or hasn't been through in the morning. Energy costs are going to skyrocket and this is the type of enregy overuse that is affecting everybody, plus even though flourescents last longer you will be spending money to replace them more often then they should.

You should definitly be turning off the lighting. Most of todays schools are going green. If the administration found out that someone was leaving the lights on all night because they were to lazy to walk around and turn them on, I'm sure some heads would roll.

My geuss is that they would put the blame on you, because you were the last one in the area at the end of the night. So for energy savings sake and doing what is right, you should turn them off.

If your day custodian has a problem with it, simply talk with a supervisor to make sure your not going to take any blame.

Heavy topic!!!!!
Turn the light s off!!!!

:thecrew: I agree with everyone else turn all light off when you are done.Sounds to me the other custodian is trying to get you in trouble.I would go to his supervisor and ask about the lights. In the mean time , TURN THEM OFF.

This is what I do at my school,if no one is in the room,turn off lights.Even if you go to lunch break or bathroom break and you'll be coming back to that room shortly.

http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_h...m/mytopic=12280

dontknow Sooooooooo,Davel123 how did your problem work out ? Did we help at all?

Yes, of course you should turn lights off! Some people have to much book learning and no common sense! What's the latest on this?
Enquiring minds want to know!

:biggrin: Thank You All for your input . I am still working on a plan of presenting this . I don't like going past my head custodian, but I will to get the results I want . The lighting probelm is bigger than I first wrote , I worked overtime last weekend and found 175 bulbs on which should be turned off. Storage rooms , mech rooms , offices, and not counting the gang bathrooms . Also computers are left on all over the school . I feel like I am really opening up a can of worms here , but something has got to be done about this .

Thank you "Dirts" for your site http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_h...m/mytopic=12280
Based on calculations from that site ,this is what I fiqured.
8 Gang bathroom with 12 bulbs (T8) on 8PM to 6AM (10 hours) based on national average of $ 0.10 per kwh 34 watt bulb using $0.0034 per hour

one gang bathroom
12 bulbs X .0034 = .0408 cents per hour
.408 cents every 10 hours
$ 148.92 yearly (365 days)
8 gang bathrooms $ 3.264 every 10 hours and $1191.36 yearly

THAT IS A LOT OF WASTE which as a taxpayer in this school district justs bugs me . Everytime when I leave to go home at midnight , I look back at the school to see if any lights are . If a classroom is left on with 45 bulbs on , I fiqure about $1.224 that nite ($446.76 yearly)
If someone would confirm my calculations , I would pass my findings and recommendations to somebody who cares in my school district maybe to the board Thanks again
DaveL

I am pretty sure "Myth Busters" did a segment on this, and they found, of course, it is better to turn the lights off. See, you can learn somting from the TV. :tv:

In the school district I am in all the rooms have motion detectors that will turn off the lights after a time. You might make a suggestion that they look into it. It may save money in the long run and it will save on the energy you all use. :wink:

:biggrin: Hi again I emailed MythBusters the discussion on lights being off
Their response was

Senior Member

Posted 02-06-08 01:19 PM I did a real quick calculation, and it looks like each bulb uses about 700 watts per 24 hour day. You would have to total up the number of bulbs being left on, and multiply it times 0.7 to find kilowatthours used for lighting.

(I assumed 34 watts per tube. Adjust your figures up or down if this is not correct)

I for one can appreciate your concern for wasted energy, which results in additional CO2 output, higher costs to the school district, and shorter tube life. Replacing them also results in additional labor costs and disposal costs.

I'd love to see you present to the school district how much can be saved by simply shutting them off when not in use, but I suspect that no one cares, because the money is not coming out of their own pockets. That's the way government jobs are. Get used to it.
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Senior Member


Posted 02-07-08 01:33 PM Shut them off. Particularly, modern T8 fixtures not only use less electricity than the old T12 style, they also take almost no appreciable energy to start up. Every minute they're off is money in the bank.

New office buildings have installed motion sensors that turn lights off after a few minutes if nothing in the room or hallway moves. These sensors have gotten quite cheap, and are easy to retrofit; this would turn the lights off even during the day if the rooms weren't in use
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My school does have sensors in all classrooms , some don't work.
4 gang bathrooms have sensors ( they work) The 8 gang bathrooms which I am talking about do not have sensors. All electric , mech and storage rooms do not have sensors . Perhaps after 8 years since this building was built .I should suggest they install sensors. Thanks for the good idea . :cool: