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.

 

[CurlyDave]

My electric just about doubled last month -- I found and fixed a small hot water leak which I suspect was the cause of the problem.

 

[tallyho8]

Eddie, we live in an older 1200 sq ft home that is not well insulated. Gas water heater, dryer and heating but electric stove and oven, large refrigerator and extra freezer. We are energy hogs in the summer because we like to stay cool. We save energy in the winter because we like the house at 58 degrees. In summer we keep it at 72 degrees in the day and 70 at night.

We just got our bill for the month of July which is usually our highest bill and we used 1978 kw last month. It was quite hot and very humid in south Louisiana last month.

An air conditioner with dirty condensor coils outside can use a lot of electricity but this does not sound like your problem since your bill is so high in spring and fall when you don't use the AC or heating. In an old house with bad wiring you can frequently touch the circuit breakers and feel a hot one to detect a circuit that is overloaded and then find what is on that circuit that is using high amperage.

Hopefully, your power company will just come install a new meter and you can read it daily to see if your kw usage is lower now and if not, start checking all your circuits to see what is using the kw.

I knew someone who wanted their meter changed and the power company wouldn't do it but then someone shot it with a pellet gun and they came out immediately and changed it.

 

[RonMar]

Eddie
If you have a power meter with the rotating disk, you can, with a stopwatch and a little math determine the ammount of power being used at any given time. This combined with turning on or off the breakers in the panel can help you to easilly identify each specific 220V appliance's usage, which is something the Kill-a-watt cannot do.

The amount of energy represented by one revolution of the disc is denoted by the symbol Kh which is given in units of watt-hours per revolution. The value for Kh should be printed on the face of the meter. The value 7.2 is commonly seen. Using the value of Kh, one can determine the power consumption at any given time by timing the disc with a stopwatch. If the time in seconds taken by the disc to complete one revolution is "t", then the power in watts(P)= 3600 X KH Divided by "t".

For example, if Kh = 7.2, and one revolution took place in 14.4 seconds, the power is 1800 watts. This method can be used to determine the power consumption of household devices by switching their breakers on one by one.

I tried this and it seems to work pretty well. 3600 represents the number of seconds in an hour. This is similar to the formula I use for checking a speedometer. 3600 divided by the number of seconds required to cover a measured mile = speed in MPH. The value for Kh should be on the face of The meter somewhere. Mine was 7.2. Just time the wheel thru one complete revolution. and use this number to divide 3600 X Kh...

 

[BobRip]

Eddie, you bill does sound very high. Do you have a heat pump? I think that would be more efficient than running electric heaters. If the electric heaters allow you to not heat many rooms then they might help, otherwise a heat pump is about 3 times more efficient at generating heat than an electric heater. Don't believe the adds about "more efficient electric heaters". They don't exist. Are you using CFL light bulbs? If not convert as many lights as you regularly use to these. About 3 to 4 times more efficient.
Add an insulation blanket to your hot water heater and insulate the outlet pipes as far as you can and the inlet one back several feet. Turn the hot water heater down to 120 degrees F.
Is you house sealed as tight as possible? This is huge.
Set your A/C so you are slightly warm. You don't really need to be cool.
All of these are standard things that you may have already done, just checking.

As large as your bill is it sounds like something major is wrong. The other things that people have suggested are good, but I have found that a lot of the time you have to do lots of little things to save energy.

 

[2manyrocks]

The HVAC guys hooked up my thermostat wrong and had my AC and backup heat going at the same time. I kept complaining that I wasn't getting the cooling I was supposed to be getting. Finally figured it out after the first month's electric bill came.

 

[westcliffe01]

Are you on city sewage ? If so, you may have a 220v pump that pumps from a holding tank to the city system. I'd estimate those pumps at 2-5hp but they normally run intermittently. If there is a serious restriction on the city side that slows things down, the pump can end up runing continuously.

The way the sewer pump is wired, it has no circuit breaker in the main panel, but a seperate breaker in the box outside on the wall.

Take stock of your lighting situation, particularly when running the airconditioning. Incandescent lights add to the heat load that then has to be extracted by the air conditioner. When I moved into my home, I started tallying up light bulbs. If we had all the lights in the house on, it was over 3.5kW before anything else. I have changed nearly everything to compact florescents and it cuts consumption by about 75% and reduced summer air conditioning load. Watch out for exterior spotlights or any other lighting left on all night. The company I work at burns their high mast lighting 24/7, but then gives the employees a 10% pay cut because of the hard financial times...

 

[Bird]

Yep, Eddie, I thought we used a lot, but yours is definitely higher. Our house is 1,295 sq. feet, 8' ceilings, except master bedroom is 10' and living room is peaked at 11' I think. We have a second refrigerator in the shop building, a low wattage compact florescent bulb outside in the front and one in the back, as well as one two tube 40 watt florescent fixture in the garage that are on 24/7. My computer is always on, and the TV in the living room is on, whether we're even at home or not, at least 16 hours a day. The house is total electric with a heat pump, my wife runs the washer & dryer almost every day. And we like it cool; never change the thermostat so it's about 70-71 degrees in the house. Ceiling fan in master bedroom usually on 24/7, the others on and off at times. Our electric bills are dated the 20th of each month and our usage has been:

Aug. = 1,897 KWH
Jul. = 1,969
Jun. = 1,462
May = 1,221
Apr. = 1,066
Mar. = 1,227
Feb. = 1,427
Jan. = 1,753

We do also have an 11k BTU window unit (both heat and cooling) in the shop that's used occasionally.

 

[Scooby074]

You have a Kil A Watt on order.. good. Use it on all your 120v devices.. i think youll be suprised what "off" things continue to draw.

Change your lights to CFL or LED. Less power use and less heat. Led would be even better and the prices have come down alot.

Id definately have the local Hydro come out and check your metre. They can go "bad". I suspect this is your problem.

as was mentioned before, shut everything down and turn on each individual 220v device and see what they're drawing. You could use a clamp on metre, but it involves opening the panel, with the inherent risks

Id also check with your local hydro and see if you can get a house efficiency survey done. Or you could find a independent contractor. Theyll come out and use a pressure door on your house and determine leakage. It could be an insulation issue.

Something that goes along with this would be a IR survey. This will allow you to pinpoint the exact areas of leakage so you know where to fix. It can also show gaps in insulation behind drywall. hot or cold spots. IR surveys are AWESOME.

Even if it costs you some money, the house survey will be a good thing, especially in your climate, with a Air conditioned house.

 

[The Dougster]

Eddie, it's nearly impossible to compare electric bills because of the different locales, different size homes, etc, but you know that already...Yesterday, in the mail, I received my monthly copy of "Texas Co-Op Power" magazine... I am on Pedernales Electric Co-Op.... anyhow, they now off something called "My Use Energy Analyzer"... I haven't tried it yet but apparently, I will be able to go online, pull up my bill/account and get a visual of individual days, average high and low temps and energy usage... it appears to be quite specific... Ya might contact your provider and see if they have something similar... Good luck with it.

 

[LBrown59]

I can confirm that.

How can you confirm that ?