Has your electric bill gone down if you have a lot of LED bulbs?

[300UGUY]

When I bought my house I called the power company and had the lady rattle off the last two years of usage, there was a single old man that lived in the house before me. I was told the dude was so cheap he would flip the breaker off to the hot water tank when he didn't use it thinking it would save him on electric.

When I moved in, I swapped all the incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs, in the house, garage, barn and even in appliances. The can lights got LED due to the long neck flood light, couldn't find a CFL in that style.

I replaced the heating elements in the hot water tank to the high efficient ones, installed a 8000 series Honeywell Tstat and set it to a schedule dropping 2 degrees at times when people aren't home. I closed off all basement registers and dampened back the registers in rooms that don't get used, outside of that just live normally.

With all that I'm around $15-$25 a month cheaper in electric than the old man that lived here before me did. My bill in the summer is $75-$125 usually and I'm the winter $150-$220. House is 74 in the summer and 68 in the winter.

LED are a tad more efficient than compact fluorescents but they are much more expensive, I was paying I believe .88 no more than a few bucks for a pack of 6 with the AEP (electric company) discount at the local Walmart, it was an incentive for people to change over to them. Total I think I was over 150 bulbs. I have been in my house since october of 14 and have had to change out 3 bulbs.

Besides the lower energy consumption, like others have said, LEDs don't get hot, another energy value to throw in the mix.

I don't understand how a resistance element can be more efficient? They convert virtually the current into heat? Basically 100%. .?

 

[sixdogs]

The best thing we have ever done regarding energy is to put extra insulation in the attic. Our propane--heat, water heater-- use dropped by a third and we had the heat noticeably higher because of MIL staying with us. For electric, I've been switching to LED but haven't noticed a price difference.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

I don't understand how a resistance element can be more efficient? They convert virtually the current into heat? Basically 100%. .?

That's what a normal element looks like.



That's what a more efficient element looks like. The idea is the element has more surface area and the heat will be better absorbed by the water.

Honestly idk if it is any more efficient, it was a good enough idea for me to buy two and replace mine with it vs the regular elements, the cost diff in the two was I think $5 more each maybe.

My old elements were so covered in limescale that you couldn't even see the gap in the elements anymore. The water plant up the road had issues for the better part of a year and the hardness of the water was 25, after they fixed there issue it went to 15. The whole reason I installed a twin tank water softener. Ah well, at least my water is perfect now and I never run out of soft water lol.

 

[jk96]

Depending on the type of lights and how many there can be significant savings. Our great room has 27' vaulted ceiling. We have a total of 24 track lights lighting up the ceiling along with 4 wall sconces using two lights per fixture. The first year we moved in our usage just for the great room was roughly as follows

Before LED
24 halogen tracks @ 60 watts = 1,440 watts
8 lights for wall fixtures @ 125 watts = 1000
Total 2,440 watts =2.44 Kwh
2.44 kwh x 4 hours per day x 365 days = 3,562 Kwh per year x .13/Kwh = $463 per year

After LED install
24 led @ 15 watts = 360 watts
8 led @ 25 watts = 200 watts
Total 560 watts = 0.56 Kwh
0.56 Kwh x 4 hours per day x 365 days = 817 Kwh per year x .13/Kwh = $106 per year

Our entire home is on LED's now. We probably save over $400-$450 per year.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I've switched the most used lights to LED, but no noticeable difference in my usage or bill. Heat/AC, dryer, water heater, stove/oven are my large electric usage, lights very little.

 

[orezok]

Rheostats were probably last used in the 50s. They are large and made a lot of heat. They are just a variable resistor.

I heat house and water electrically. I would probably never see a difference in usage with different bulbs. I have a couple of Mogel base 500 watt Edison bulbs in my shop. I rarely use them though.

Lutron still makes and sells them.

 

[Zerk]

How big a part of your bill is lighting?

 

[oosik]

To start off - lighting represents a small portion of my overall electric bill. I heat the house, dry my clothes, cook, run the refrigerator, pump my water, pump my sewage with electricity. Many years ago I did a basic calculation and lighting was around 6% of my total electric consumption.

Soo.... even though most of my lighting is now fluorescent, I doubt I will ever see a change due to lighting. Changing to a more efficient electric water heater and a more modern refrigerator has had a noticeable difference. The most dramatic impact, overall, on my electric bill has been the weather.

 

[Rocky J]

I live in Northern Indiana and our rate is .123 per 1000 watt hour and they have a billing fee $8 ?? a month. The led at 9 watt and the compact florescent at 13 watt , I believe that equals Led bulb 111.11 hours for 13 cents or Compact Florescent 76.92 hours at 13 cents of electricity . I always hated the way the compact florescent on my outside porch light took for ever to get bright enough to see who was at the door, at 0 F to 30 F degrees out side it was just a orange glow for some time, with the led it is a nano second and it is a blinding white light. Also I have 9 can track lights that ate 2 to 3 of the compact florescent bulbs a month because of the heat around the base, then I saw on the box of bulbs they were not to be used in that fashion but the LED bulbs say they are intended for can lights and have not lost one of the LED yet. I have a water well,Fridge, two 5 cubic foot freezers,front load washer, electric clothes dryer ,dish washer ,GE Hybrid 50 gallon electric water heater and Led lights and last months bill was total of $69.10 , it will go up $1.00 a day when the air conditioning starts .

 

[Zerk]

The best thing we have ever done regarding energy is to put extra insulation in the attic..

Agree. I insulated my attic, house was built in 70s, without alot of insulation. My air conditioning bills and heat dropped.

I've switched the most used lights to LED, but no noticeable difference in my usage or bill. Heat/AC, dryer, water heater, stove/oven are my large electric usage, lights very little.

Lighting is a small amount of your bill.

We have gone crazy with un plugging stuff. I saw one where they wanted you to unplug your cell phone once it was charged. Sad this people have a voice.

. I was told the dude was so cheap he would flip the breaker off to the hot water tank when he didn't use it thinking it would save him on electric.
ix.

It did save him money. Some people will put them on a timer. Timers cost money too. But they may actually have a valid payback. Never did the math. How much is heating, when not using water is the question, just maintaining.

The guy was correct. Most of us do not have the discipline to turn thermostats down, so we buy programmable.