Electrical usage for your house???

[buckeyefarmer]

You are a cooling dominant climate, I'm in a heating dominant climate, so hard to compare just on a sf basis.

1400 KWH per month for 2400 sf, 46 kwh /day

Winter is my low period, because I use oil and pellet stove, hopefully soon geothermal.

I put a Kill A watt meter on my pellet stove to see how much electric it will use next winter.

someday I will finish connecting my WEL, so it will measure complete electric usage, AH usage, etc..... So far I just measure indoor and outdoor temps, pretty lame..... I put the WEL in to eventually monitor my geothermal system when I get it in.

Web Energy Logger:

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks for the suggestions and replies.

I ordered a Kill A Watt from Amazon.com

I'm on city water. No well.

My freezer is about ten years old. I had it in California where I didn't have an unusual electric bill and in three houses here in Texas, where I also didn't have an unusual electric bill or usage. From what I understand from my wife, who used to pay this and handle it, it's been like this since day one, and she just thought it was normal for us. The freezer is giving me some issues with ice buildup inside of it and is in need of a defrosting, but it's so full of stuff that we've been holding off on that. When the Kill A Watt thing gets here, that's going to be my first thing to test. Even though it's never been a problem, it's my oldest applience and the one that's got issues.

I don't think it's the problem, but we'll see.

The thing that I really wonder about is my HVAC system. I don't know of a setting for the heater, but it does make me wonder. Compared to everyones usage, I'm burning allot of electricity somewhere. That heater might be it. It's really the main thing that I can think of.

If I kill all the breakers and then turn it on, with the AC turned off, should it be drawing any electricty?

I think that doing the circut breaker test will help allot is figuring out where the problem is. How long does it take to get a good idea of usage for each circuit? With everything off, I'll turn on the main breaker and see what happens. With all the other breakers off, it shouldn't be drawing anything. Then I'll turn one breaker on, see what the meter does, write it down and then turn it off. How long should I leave the breaker on to measure usage?

Thank you
Eddie

 

[CinderSchnauzer]

We are substantially north of Texas. I checked bills going back to May 2003 and from then to May 2009 we range from low of around 600 KWh per month to 950 Kwh per month, depending on season, based on 3450 Sq ft. Furnace / HVAC is DC induction type motor. In previous home switching from standard fan motor to DC induction type reduced consumption by about 800 Kwh per month, if I recall correctly.

Do you have any yard lights burning? A few of those 500w lights can really spike a bill, especially if they don't auto shut off during the day.

 

[kenstrac]

Thanks for the suggestions and replies.

I ordered a Kill A Watt from Amazon.com

I'm on city water. No well.

My freezer is about ten years old. I had it in California where I didn't have an unusual electric bill and in three houses here in Texas, where I also didn't have an unusual electric bill or usage. From what I understand from my wife, who used to pay this and handle it, it's been like this since day one, and she just thought it was normal for us. The freezer is giving me some issues with ice buildup inside of it and is in need of a defrosting, but it's so full of stuff that we've been holding off on that. When the Kill A Watt thing gets here, that's going to be my first thing to test. Even though it's never been a problem, it's my oldest applience and the one that's got issues.

I don't think it's the problem, but we'll see.

The thing that I really wonder about is my HVAC system. I don't know of a setting for the heater, but it does make me wonder. Compared to everyones usage, I'm burning allot of electricity somewhere. That heater might be it. It's really the main thing that I can think of.

If I kill all the breakers and then turn it on, with the AC turned off, should it be drawing any electricty?

I think that doing the circut breaker test will help allot is figuring out where the problem is. How long does it take to get a good idea of usage for each circuit? With everything off, I'll turn on the main breaker and see what happens. With all the other breakers off, it shouldn't be drawing anything. Then I'll turn one breaker on, see what the meter does, write it down and then turn it off. How long should I leave the breaker on to measure usage?

Thank you
Eddie

The AC will only pull a few watts for your transformer I think you would be better off checking with clamp on amp meter then you can check the mfg. nameplate for comparison.
If the freezer is a frost free and it is frosted up your defrost circuit is not working( defrost timer ,defrost heater,temp sens.) that could make the compressor run forever

I meant to say use the amp meter for the 220 and permanently wired and use the 1 your buying for the plug in stuff

 

[buckeyefarmer]

The Kill a Watt meter is a plug in, 1 phase, 120V meter that plugs into an outlet (it blocks the other outlet) and then you plug into it whatever you want to measure. You don't have to turn off anything, other than to unplug what you want to measure and then plug it back in. They are pretty neat to have for the cost, I bought a couple.

You could also just use a clamp on amp probe, and measure each circuit in your panel. Then you don't have to turn anything off. Just be careful because you have to take the panel cover off for this one and play with hot wires in the panel, the safety police will get on me for this one.

My freezer is probably 60 yrs old or older, it still works great so I keep it.

I keep at least 2 computers running 24/7, I have at least 2 light I leave on 24/7 (with CFLs), electric hot water, well pump, 2 ac units, and 2 kids with their vast collection of electronics. I don't go out of my way to conserve, but don't want to waste either. My house was built in 1997 with R30 ceiling and R13? walls. Basement walls are also insulated inside the concrete walls.

When you check things like your fridge, the compressor isn't always running, so the instantaneous load will change at times.
check and make sure an electric heater in an Air hander isn't on accidently.

 

[George2615]

My house is also about 1000 sq. ft. I'm not in Texas though and don't need as much A/C as you probably use. Basement is also 1000 sq.ft. but only use lights there, no heating or A/C. basically use electric for fridge, chest freezer, HW heater, lighting, garage lights, twin post lift, air compressor, 2 window A/C's and well pump.

Oil furnace for heat, propane stove.

July and August are my two big usage months due to the 2 window A/C's and average around 1100KWh each month. September through June averages between 650-850 KWh a month so your usage seems high for a similar sized house.

When you get your meter I'd start with the heat pump, HW heater, Fridge etc. (things with compressors). Also check with power co. to see if they can do an electric usage audit survey.

As someone else mentioned it could also be the electric meter. I had one go bad, somehow it got out of calibration and almost doubled my usage about 9 or 10 years ago. Electric company refused to come and replace it. Said there was nothing wrong with it. Strangely though, that winter a large chuck of ice came off my roof and hit the meter which busted the case and damaged the internals. They came right away then and replaced it and my usage went back to normal. Now we have the new style digital meter they can scan from the street as they drive by. It too has been working fine.

 

[MarkV]

Eddie I still think you should call the electric company first and have them check the meter if nothing else. Start at the source and work your way backwards. If they are like ours, they have techs with all the proper testing equipment to help you find your big electric users. I think you are using too many kwh's for it to be an old freezer.

MarkV

 

[EddieWalker]

Mark,

I agree. I'm on their website trying to figure out who to call. I'm hoping that I can find the right number and avoid the answering service games of choosing a number and waiting for an hour to get a person. Might end up having to do that anyway, but regardless, something is wrong and the more you guys post about your own usage, the more obvious it becomes.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[rus_geek]

If I did my napkin-math correctly, 2632kwh works out to a sustained load of 32A for the entire month of July. Even something that only draws 3A would be contributing to 10% of your electric bill.

Food for thought.

 

[jinman]

Eddie, our house is about 1,800 sq ft of living space. At night we turn the AC down to 76 to keep our 3rd floor bedroom cool, but the rest of the time the thermostat is at 78. We have two refrigerators and a deep freezer in the garage. Our washer and dryer are electric and we have an electric water heater. Our kitchen appliances are also all electric. In our cabin/guest house, we have a window AC unit that is 18,000 btu and an electric water heater. I mention those because they were on about a week during early July. My total usage for mid-June to mid-July was 2175 kwh. Like you, we have loft ceilings, but I'm not sure you have foam insulation above yours or not. Your usage certainly seems high and I'd sure get a checkup by the power company to make sure your meter is correct.