Diggin It
Super Star Member
Wow. I use about 14 a day or less on average for the whole house .... everything.
DIY Digging trenches for Geothermal
- Thread starter Gofast
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Wow. I use about 14 a day or less on average for the whole house .... everything.
LD1
Epic Contributor
What is your HVAC system?
How big is your house?
Where are you located?
Water heater, Stove, dryer? all electric?
How many people live in the house?
Comparing electric usage is really pointless without knowing a single detail other than usage. I use 80-100 per day in the winter. about 40/day in the spring and fall, and about 60-65 in the middle of summer. But all electric, 2 kids (so lots of baths/showers/laundry) lots of cooking, etc.
Heck, my shop thats on a separate meter....about 7 a day even if I am NEVER down there. Just a fridge, 175w dusk to dawn, and a few battery chargers.
deezler
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100 kWh per day..... thats kind of insane. My house is all electric also, minus a wood stove for primary heat. We use 15-20 kWh on a normal day, and up to 30 kWh if we run the electric clothes dryer multiple times. You should find out whats causing a 7 kWh phantom load in your shop, and put a switch on it. A fridge should only use a couple kWh, max. They don't run continuously....
Things you could look into: Get LED light bulbs, as they do add up. Get energy star appliances. And a heat-pump water heater is WAYyyyy more efficient than a standard electric unit. I wish someone made an affordable heat pump clothes dryer, too.
Diggin It
Super Star Member
Windows, fans, one window A/C in Summer, wood stove and LP Forced air in Winter
1200 SqFt or so.
Moderate climate
Electric, Gas, none --- outdoor line.
1
That's a big part of it. All of my outdoor lighting combined, all four sides of the house and yard consumes only about 50 watts total. It's not exactly daylight, but it's enough that I can see clearly and most everything is visible on the cameras.
OP
Gofast
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We are in South Carolina and it is dominantly cooling climate. My Geo is running now using 1.6 KW.
I could not be happier. The AC system that was installed when my house was built used 4.3 KW and it was a single speed system.
That is more than double the power usage and did not control the humidity very well.
Most homes here have higher cooling bills than heating. I have higher heating than cooling and use the extra solar power we make bank it for winter usage.
We keep our house pretty much 75 degrees year around.
We have solar power and the last seven years we have production daily average 47.8kWh 53.8kWh
This also covers my EV car for 17k-20k miles a year.
I could not be happier. The AC system that was installed when my house was built used 4.3 KW and it was a single speed system.
That is more than double the power usage and did not control the humidity very well.
Most homes here have higher cooling bills than heating. I have higher heating than cooling and use the extra solar power we make bank it for winter usage.
We keep our house pretty much 75 degrees year around.
We have solar power and the last seven years we have production daily average 47.8kWh 53.8kWh
This also covers my EV car for 17k-20k miles a year.
Last edited:
LD1
Epic Contributor
You guys are mistaking me stating my usage as complaining.
Our rates are modest. And my usage is normal for what I do.
At the shop, the 175w light accounts for about 3kwh a day, so the fridge and the few 18v chargers, and DC wall charger things must account for the remaining 4 kwh. Usage goes up to 30-40/day if im down there all day with lights on, welding, running the phase converter so I can run the mill or lathe, 10hp compressor. furnace blower in winter or two window units in summer.
House usage....all justifiable. Two adults and two kids. Usually 3 showers and 1 bath a day, sometimes 2/2, so thats alot of hot water. (and no I dont use them water saving heads that barley trickle). Lots of Laundry. Usually two outfits a day for the kids. (school clothes and home clothes) Oven running ~1hr a night + stovetop. A few hours every evening consists of probably 3 TV's and a computer all going, not to mention the ~4000gph pond pump that runs 24/7. Two porch lights are always on, bedroom ceiling fan,.....etc etc. It all adds up.
My rolling 12-month average for my bill is $210. My average monthly usage for last 12 months is 1663kwh.
The only variable that changed in the last 4 years for the house is switching from baseboard heat to geothermal. Baseboard heat was ~$450/month and 4000-5000kwh/month usage.
Again, not complaining. Just stating that all of us arent uptight about electricity usage
Again, Im not complaining, and Im not looking for suggestions to lessen my usage. House is all LED's, thats the extent of my caring.
Our rates are modest. And my usage is normal for what I do.
At the shop, the 175w light accounts for about 3kwh a day, so the fridge and the few 18v chargers, and DC wall charger things must account for the remaining 4 kwh. Usage goes up to 30-40/day if im down there all day with lights on, welding, running the phase converter so I can run the mill or lathe, 10hp compressor. furnace blower in winter or two window units in summer.
House usage....all justifiable. Two adults and two kids. Usually 3 showers and 1 bath a day, sometimes 2/2, so thats alot of hot water. (and no I dont use them water saving heads that barley trickle). Lots of Laundry. Usually two outfits a day for the kids. (school clothes and home clothes) Oven running ~1hr a night + stovetop. A few hours every evening consists of probably 3 TV's and a computer all going, not to mention the ~4000gph pond pump that runs 24/7. Two porch lights are always on, bedroom ceiling fan,.....etc etc. It all adds up.
My rolling 12-month average for my bill is $210. My average monthly usage for last 12 months is 1663kwh.
The only variable that changed in the last 4 years for the house is switching from baseboard heat to geothermal. Baseboard heat was ~$450/month and 4000-5000kwh/month usage.
Again, not complaining. Just stating that all of us arent uptight about electricity usage
Again, Im not complaining, and Im not looking for suggestions to lessen my usage. House is all LED's, thats the extent of my caring.
OP
Gofast
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@LD1
We are not that far off our usage. You have a shop like me. I do welding projects run my plasma cutter.
Have Aquaponics system that has a pump 1200 GPH runs for my system year around. I also heat the water in the winter.
I also have two kids. All similar. My car probably is what puts my usage higher than yours.
Here is my solar production and only two last years we did not zero out for the year.
We are not that far off our usage. You have a shop like me. I do welding projects run my plasma cutter.
Have Aquaponics system that has a pump 1200 GPH runs for my system year around. I also heat the water in the winter.
I also have two kids. All similar. My car probably is what puts my usage higher than yours.
Here is my solar production and only two last years we did not zero out for the year.
Diggin It
Super Star Member
Are you using more or are the panels losing efficiency?
OP
Gofast
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- MF GC 1725, 2016 MF GC 1710, Belarus 300
We had so much rain last year (about 25 year high). Dropped us from 18 – 19 Mw to 17.4 Mw.
We also had the boys come into driving ages and used/charged our car more.
This year we have geothermal and sold our pool even know I had a variable speed pump it will be better not running it.
April, we banked 363 KWH and this month we are at about 400Kwh more to bank.
I like to go into winter with about 3,000 Kwh banked to help for heating.
We also had the boys come into driving ages and used/charged our car more.
This year we have geothermal and sold our pool even know I had a variable speed pump it will be better not running it.
April, we banked 363 KWH and this month we are at about 400Kwh more to bank.
I like to go into winter with about 3,000 Kwh banked to help for heating.
Diggin It
Super Star Member
So, a little of both. That's where wind turbines can come into play. They generate power on those cloudy, stormy days when Solar panels can't. For some reason, I don't see too much discussion of hybrid wind/solar systems for homes though.