my last bill was higher that i was expecting.....$56 for the month of October, my previous 3 bills were around $16 .........but i have a solar system on the roof....
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Anyone else have a ridiculous electric bill?
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My electric bill always goes up this time of year averages $50-$60 in the summer to $100-$110 in the winter. I found that most of the increase came from using the lights more in the house. The extra 4-5 hrs of lighting required this time of year has a big impact on our bill. The pellet stove has a very small impact. Those damn DVRs use a crap-load of power. We have 3 of them!!
we have 12 solar panels at the lake on the cottage, they still manage to charge the Batteries even under a foot of snow.Although this year a 600 Watt Windmill was purchased for $400, its blade span is only about 3ft, theres 3 or 4 along the lake now and everybody swears by them. Hardly a day passes with no wind at the Lake, lol..
I have a Kill A Watt and according to it, my Breckwell P22 uses 365 Watts to start up but after that it levels off at 95 watts using the Medium fan setting. Thats is the equivalent of one light bulb. Something else is eating up electricity. check your Microwave and you toaster oven.
Firenutz said:
When I started burning last year, I kept an eye on the electric bill, mine here shows monthly usage for the last year, month to month, and I was using about 1 kwh / day more with the pellet furnace than with oil furnace. Only meaningful comparison is this month this year to this month last year, and kwh.
Teddy1971 said:
Teddy, definitely make a post in the Green Room later in the winter season. I'm very curious how it works out for you.
All of my other electric usage is the same as always. The only change made was from summer cooling (2 window A/Cs running 24/7), to fall cooling (PS mostly running only at night). I know I have some energy hogs. I have a DVR and a refrigerator/freezer for meat and beer in the garage but those 2 things are awesome so they stay! I'm gradually replacing all of my incandescent bulbs with CFLs as they burn out. I did turn up my electric hot water heater a couple degrees now that I think about it. I know those are a big drain on electric but our water was just not hot enough.
Firenutz said:
I'll bet $1 the hot water change is most of the difference.
The Mt Vernon AE is only supposed to use about 125W running, and about 450W starting.
Something that I did to save on electricity is switch provdiers. I was with Connecticut Light and Power and switched to Public Power and Utility.
The website is: http://www.ppandu.com/default.aspx
There are numerous providers that you can switch to. You still have to pay CL+P for the distribution but you can save a penny or two per kilowatt on the generation.
Over time, that adds up.
Shane
The website is: http://www.ppandu.com/default.aspx
There are numerous providers that you can switch to. You still have to pay CL+P for the distribution but you can save a penny or two per kilowatt on the generation.
Over time, that adds up.
Shane
I didn't notice any difference in my electric bill, even though I expected to. $80-$100 in the summer with air conditioner and $50-$70 in the winter (with or without pellet stove running).
Firenutz said:
What is it set at now? 120 degrees should be plenty....I've had mine set at that since i bought my house...plenty of hot water.
I don't know what it was set at as ours doesn't have temp numbers on the dial. After I turned it up we are getting about 130* at the tap. We couldn't even fill a hot bath with it before and we would run out of hot water. I've been looking into getting a tankless hot water heater.
Firenutz said:
That isn't a product of too low a temp, that's just a water heater that just doesn't have enough heating capacity(rise I think it's called?) to keep up....how old is it, what size? How many people in the house using hot water, etc?
It's a fairly small tank since we only have a doublewide. I don't know how old it is but it looks like new. I don't know much about them. I had to learn online where the stupid temp control knob was. There are 2 of them and they are under metal covers on most electric tanks. It's just the wife and I using it. We have a problem with public water ruining our clothes because of the chlorine content. The guy from the water authority told me if the water isn't hot enough in the tank then it doesn't off gas the chlorine as much. Our clothes are getting bleached and we haven't used bleach in 2 years!macman said:
Firenutz said:
.... in a normal 40 gal Electric Hot Water Tank, there are 2 elements.. one in the upper part of the tank and one in the bottom part of the tank.
From a cold start, the upper element (& thermostat under the upper cover) has control of the heating of the upper part of the tank first (this is the fast recovery feature). After the upper 1/3 of the tank comes up to 140F (the normal factory setting), the upper thermostat toggles the electrictiy to the bottom element (shutting off the upper element at the same time). The bottom element (and it's thermostat) bring the rest of the 2/3 of the tank up to it's setting of 140F.
........ If...... you don't seem to have very much hot water, then it is possible that either the lower element is open or the lower thermostat is stuck open (by corrosion from moisture).
...... I have been told that the factory temp of 140F was chosen because it takes longer to scald than say 160F. Also, 140F is sufficient temp to kill any growth of bacteria that might proliferate in 120F temp in the tank.
In any event, be very careful when sticking fingers under these covers (upper or lower) as 240V lurks there and can make you look like this..... :ahhh:
CanadaClinker said:
Interesting Clinker....I'd never heard that before. Every place i read about water heaters say that normally nothing more than 120 degrees is needed. Reduces chances of scalding, and saves a lot of $$.
As I mentioned above, I've had mine set at 120 forever, and it is PLENTY hot.
Also, sounds like you may be onto something with his heater problems....one element may not even be working. My guess is that the tanks just too small.
macman said:
......hey Mac.....if you are on city chlorinated water, the chances of growing stuff in the tank are minimized... if you are on rural well water then the risk is probably more...... some day I can tell you how I was trained to get rotton egg sulfur smell out of a tank... :-S
Most tanks are insulated very well these days to keep your $$ in the tank rather than escaping and heating your house. (electric heat). A quick test to how much its leaking heat is to put your hand on the outside of the tank.........if its cold then your are keeping your heat and $$ in the tank...if its warm, your heating your house. They used to sell tank blankets which were basically an insulated cover for the tank but I haven't seen them in years.
They say the best thing you can do is insulate the first 10 feet of pipe coming from your tank with that slip on foam pipe insulation....I did all my hot water pipes right to the taps.... cc ;-)
CanadaClinker said:
Clinker, you don't have to tell me about the sulfer removal....I have the system in my basement!! Big tank w/ bleach & water, pump, injector, carbon block, etc.....been there, done that! LOL (not anymore, though...switched to town water).
Yep, outside of tank should be cold. But I think they still sell those blankets.
Another method to keep hot water from "disappearing" is to put "heat traps" in your water lines into and out of the water heater. You can buy ready made ones that work on temp, or re-do your pipes so they resemble the trap under your sink....it keeps the hot water from rising.
macman said:
Re....."Clinker, you don't have to tell me about the sulfer removal....I have the system in my basement!! Big tank w/ bleach & water, pump, injector, carbon block, etc.....been there, done that! LOL (not anymore, though...switched to town water)."
......the sulfur bacteria I refer to is breeding inside the hot water tank..... just the hot water stinks horribly of rotten eggs and black specks in the hot water.. :-S ... one or 2 back-flush treatments with hydrogen peroxide usually kill it.... have done it several times for customers and it cleaned it right up.... just suck the peroxide in a hot water tap back into the tank (there's a procedure to doing this easily).
......yes heat traps are also a great idea too to keep the hot water from migrating up the hot water pipe out of the tank....
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When we bought this place our hot water ran out pretty fast....couldn't fill a bath-tub.... I talked to a plumber buddy of mine and he told me to check the aerators on all the taps.... sure enough there was bits of plastic in them. It could be that your dip tube is broke off...older hot water tanks had a problem with the plastic breaking down and the tube breaking so when the tank refilled the water wouldnt go to the bottom, but to the top cooling all the water off.
My tank was a gas one though, maybe the innards of an electric heater are different?
My tank was a gas one though, maybe the innards of an electric heater are different?
chrisasst said:Teddy1971 said:
Wow...can you loan me some money...
I wish I could. I just put my money into solar panels.
Here in the land of WEMCO my average bill is 125.00. Gas stove, Gas dryer, DHW on oil. So it cost me that much to run my well pump and lights. We are around .19 per KWH
CanadaClinker said:macman said:
Re....."Clinker, you don't have to tell me about the sulfer removal....I have the system in my basement!! Big tank w/ bleach & water, pump, injector, carbon block, etc.....been there, done that! LOL (not anymore, though...switched to town water)."
......the sulfur bacteria I refer to is breeding inside the hot water tank..... just the hot water stinks horribly of rotten eggs and black specks in the hot water.. :-S ... one or 2 back-flush treatments with hydrogen peroxide usually kill it.... have done it several times for customers and it cleaned it right up.... just suck the peroxide in a hot water tap back into the tank (there's a procedure to doing this easily).
......yes heat traps are also a great idea too to keep the hot water from migrating up the hot water pipe out of the tank....
I have this problem with my hot water tank at the cottage. Could yoou send me the procedure for cleaning up the sulphur smell in the tank.--- [email protected]
thanks
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