Author Topic: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?  (Read 240141 times)

CG

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #300 on: January 23, 2014, 02:52:21 PM »
Since installing an Efergy Engage power monitoring kit earlier this month, I have been keeping a close eye on watt's (pun intended!) been driving my power bill.

Well done, Ozstache. I had a look at the Efergy Australian website, and boggled at the comparison chart. Which model did you get? I couldn't work out which would be best for me.

happy

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #301 on: January 23, 2014, 03:11:55 PM »
This is an interesting gadget Ozstache.  I might lash out later in the year. We seem to have settled at about 23- 25kwH/day, both summer and winter. Off peak electric hot water = 5-7kwh/day. Winter heat is wood plus gas heater. ( can use ducted aircon, but try not to). 

Whilst not outrageous its still on the high side, and some of the improvement (winter originally 35kwh) was due to shifting from heating and cooktop from electricity to gas.My old fridge circa 1995, is using about 3.5 a day.  I could probably drop that a bit by getting a new fridge. My other sucker appliance is probably the washing machine a big solid Kleenmaid, but I love it.

We've already done most things to reduce, so I am just not sure why we aren't lower. Maybe I'll just have to check room by room with our kilowatt meter.

b4u2

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #302 on: January 23, 2014, 03:50:45 PM »
Well I have been monitoring ours with TED. So far our average is down from 54 to mid 30's. It will take me longer to figure out if this matches the energy company reading. I have a time of day meter and they don't have it so that I can read the meter, even online. I could put everything back and see what the number is for a day but now that I seem to be saving I figure why bother.

I know my electric tank less water heater is a huge cost. I guesstimate 5kwh per person per shower. 5 people and 2 of us shower twice (we work out at home) that comes to about 35kwh just for showers. My math isn't exact and I need to watch the numbers closer.

TGod

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #303 on: January 23, 2014, 04:24:31 PM »
I just got our most recent estimated hydro bill. Since moving in we haven't had real reading, because the smart meter has a fatal error on it that they haven't fixed yet. Since moving to the house in August, our total estimated consumption for 5 months has been 12,438kwh.
I have no idea what it takes to operate this house as the meter has never worked for me to be able to check it. I installed a monitor on it (not a great one, it's a bit of a pain) that my electrician dad had kicking around but it's acting up.
We have a 10,000 Watt Furnace (cut back from 20,000 Watt courtesy of my dad), a dishwasher with a no-heat dry, washer and dryer (no line set up for winter drying), LED lights, 1 tv, couple game systems and a computer. Nothing crazy. We have the furnace set to 62 during the day and 66 in the evenings and morning.
I'm a bit worried about what hydro is going to come back with when they finally get this thing fixed. They have told me a) that they'll just back estimate based on 2 months of actual data and b) that the meter is still probably collecting data but they will have to download it when they swap it out.

So far my hydro is costing me1200$ for 5 months, about 4x as much as our other house (which granted had a wood stove). Yuck.

Ozstache

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #304 on: January 23, 2014, 05:33:12 PM »
Since installing an Efergy Engage power monitoring kit earlier this month, I have been keeping a close eye on watt's (pun intended!) been driving my power bill.

Well done, Ozstache. I had a look at the Efergy Australian website, and boggled at the comparison chart. Which model did you get? I couldn't work out which would be best for me.

I bought the Efergy Engage kit, which comes with the sensor, transmitter and network hub. This setup does not come with a physical display device, which the Elite kit contains, rather you access the information through your phone or on a PC/tablet. I bought mine at the following link: http://www.greentopia.com.au/Efergy-Engage-Hub-Full-Kit/HH-AU-KIT.htm#.UuGyibRxXb1

BTW, I could have achieved the same result with the entertainment system using the kill-a-watt like device I have since it was a set of plugged in equipment, however using the Efergy device allowed me a gods eye view of the entire household electricity use, which made it stand out graphically like the proverbial dogs balls. And the Efergy device did far more to incite observation fear on my family, and hence net the earlier 2 kWh per day reduction, then ever did using the kill-a-watt device for tactical measurements :-)

Ozstache

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #305 on: January 23, 2014, 06:25:04 PM »
Just to add, here is a graph of my last 28 days power usage to illustrate my post above. I installed the Efergy device on the afternoon of 02 Jan 14, hence the smaller bar that day. We ran for just over a week at a sub-10 kWh day average, then spiked up when we had a run of hot weather for over a week (4 days of around 40C at the end of it) and the evaporative cooler came into play. The peak day of 14 kWh on 18 Jan was a 39C day and we had the cooler running on about a mid-setting (400W) late in the afternoon, two big screen TV's running for most of the day plus some baking in our electric oven. The last two days show about 8 kWh day average since reconfiguring the entertainment system and still using it as much, if not more.

I have crossed checked these daily readings with manual readings I take from the power meter every day to verify the accuracy of the Efergy device, and there is < 5% difference in the readings. As I am now confident with what it is measuring, I will stop taking power meter readings at the end of the month.


« Last Edit: January 23, 2014, 06:53:25 PM by Ozstache »

lithy

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #306 on: February 07, 2014, 12:19:52 PM »
8 kWh per day for February, down from 12 kWh per day from February 2013.

b4u2

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #307 on: February 07, 2014, 12:38:57 PM »
Well i think my Tank less electric water heater for family of 5 has got to go. I am thinking about installing a gas tank heater. Any suggestions, brands, models?

The house already has gas ran to it. I can T off of it for the water heater (1/2 line). Never had a gas heater in house so I would need to vent it. Not sure where or how high to vent, it's a 2 story house with heater in basement.

Greg

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #308 on: February 07, 2014, 10:49:14 PM »
A.O. Smith is a good brand.  You can vent a gas water heater out the basement wall as long as you use the correct vent flue cap designed for a wall exit.  There are rules about how close to an opening window etc.

dsiee

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #309 on: February 10, 2014, 05:41:24 PM »
I think my family wins this competition-
70Kw PER DAY!!!

Are you blown away by the waste and inefficency? I am, but my parents don't want to do anything about it (im 20 and live with them whilst i go to uni).

Why so high?
Two ducted reverse cycle airconditions that they run both at once for 8-10 month of the year (winter + summer)

An 110 000L pool which has a pump for solar heating that runs about 6 hours a day and a cleaning pump that runs about 8-12 hours a day, 365 days a year.

A drinking water pump.

Two! dam water pumps that run alot.

3 Fridges, two of which are exposed to temps up to the low 40's (Celsius)

A massive house with halogen lights because compact flouros and leds make 'bad light' according to my mother, my farther wants led everything (he is an electrician)

10 hot showers a day from an electric hot water heater that only runs on off peak half the time!


So i think we win (or loose more appropriately)!

Mustache Fatty

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #310 on: February 10, 2014, 08:01:25 PM »
It wasn't long ago that I got excited when I saw that we only used 70 kwh in a given day.  We have a house like you are describing and that's really not terrible.  If your parents ever get serious about this issue, I believe they could cut that number in half (at least) and still feel like they are living their same lives.  My wife and I were far more wasteful than your parents years ago.  Our power bill averaged $540 a month if I recall correctly (11.8 cents per kwh).  We still live in the same house and enjoy the same stuff, but our bill is $174 per month today, and I am expecting that to go even lower shortly.  Seriously, we have just as much fun in our house as we always have.  We just cut out the waste--mostly on heating and cooling and usage of all the various "pumps" around our place (pool, pool cleaner, sprinkler and waterfall).  Still, we are trying to sell our house so we can move to something more reasonable.

Ozstache

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #311 on: February 10, 2014, 08:18:12 PM »
My figures are in for January and we are now using a shade under 10 kwh per day, down from 13 kwh per day before I started monitoring my house's usage. That's just over $1 a day savings at the electricity rate I pay, which is a pleasing result long term.

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #312 on: February 10, 2014, 08:43:50 PM »
My lowest month was 400kwh in july last year.  (Family of 4)   I instituted a no air conditioning policy with a forced location of everyone's sleeping quarters to the basement.   I don't know why we didn't do that years ago, totally comfortable and we live in a bi-level so it's not even cave like.

Still, we were at 720kwh last month even with line drying and I really want to get it down.   I know a big part of this is the furnace fan and my wife's space heater in her office.   I keep the house between 52 and 62f so without it she wouldn't even be able to type.   Still, that number really sticks in my craw.

CG

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #313 on: February 11, 2014, 03:01:49 AM »
3.28kwh a day across Nov.-Dec. 1 person household, I bedroom flat. Includes water heating but not cooking.

happy

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #314 on: February 12, 2014, 02:15:07 AM »
Last bill went from 23kwh/day to 22! :(
I still haven't solved it. I found some old bills from our last house @16kwh/day and at that point I wasn't trying too hard re usage. We are using less on hot water in this house (2-3kwh/day), our appliances are the same (except the dishwasher but its not the problem). Frequently used lights are leds/cfcs. I'm currently methodically working my way round the house with  my killa watt meter plugging things in and measuring for a few days. Haven't found anything to account for > 8kwh/day difference.  Starting to wonder whether the meter on either house might have been incorrect. Or the teenagers are secretly running a whole heap of stuff all night.

Ozstache

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #315 on: February 12, 2014, 04:34:11 AM »
Last bill went from 23kwh/day to 22! :(
I still haven't solved it. I found some old bills from our last house @16kwh/day and at that point I wasn't trying too hard re usage. We are using less on hot water in this house (2-3kwh/day), our appliances are the same (except the dishwasher but its not the problem). Frequently used lights are leds/cfcs. I'm currently methodically working my way round the house with  my killa watt meter plugging things in and measuring for a few days. Haven't found anything to account for > 8kwh/day difference.  Starting to wonder whether the meter on either house might have been incorrect. Or the teenagers are secretly running a whole heap of stuff all night.

I found that kids' computers/xboxes left on for hours can chew 500W per hour, which can add up to 8KW in a day if left on long enough. Even in standby, these devices can use up to 40W per hour which is 1KW a day. They now turn them off at the switch when finished. If they don't, I shame them with the graph from my power monitor the next morning :-)

b4u2

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #316 on: February 12, 2014, 07:19:29 AM »
Smart power strips can help solve the problem of electronics that are "off" but not really. I bought 2 of them and so far they are really helping cut down my usage.

happy

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #317 on: February 12, 2014, 04:58:12 PM »
Quote
I found that kids' computers/xboxes left on for hours can chew 500W per hour, which can add up to 8KW in a day if left on long enough. Even in standby, these devices can use up to 40W per hour which is 1KW a day.

Ok, I have to confess I've been avoiding too much confrontation with the teenagers over power usage. My reminders are usually met with Eyeroll, followed by the chorus of "Yes we know mum". Usually the xbox type stuff is turned off when I check.  I definitely need to investigate this a bit area more thoroughly.

I did find I was using 1kwh/day with the electric kettle, due to my bad tea making habits. It was pulling a fair bit of power, and I would go to make a cup of tea, get distracted: it would boil and turn off, then a bit later I'd reheat it again. Rinse repeat too many times a day.  I got a whistling kettle for the gas stove (using flybuy points), so some will be passed onto the gas bill, but its slower, and I have to turn it off when it whistles i.e. I have to really want the tea and have time/pay attention to follow through.  Slow living.

Ozstache

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #318 on: February 12, 2014, 11:47:24 PM »
Smart power strips can help solve the problem of electronics that are "off" but not really. I bought 2 of them and so far they are really helping cut down my usage.

As convenient as these devices are, the ones I had (Clever Watts) consumed 6W in the off position, which meant the three I used on the various components on my home entertainment system consuming 18W continuously, or $54 per year, over not using them. As Australian power points have switches on them and those near my entertainment system were easily accessible, I stopped using the power strips and just turn components on/off at the wall.

happy

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #319 on: February 13, 2014, 06:02:55 AM »
I have TV with attendant black boxes on a smart strip, and it seems to work well,  I measured next to nothing  when turned off over a few days. We don't watch TV much so I decided to just turn it off at the wall also.

b4u2

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #320 on: February 13, 2014, 07:37:48 AM »
Smart power strips can help solve the problem of electronics that are "off" but not really. I bought 2 of them and so far they are really helping cut down my usage.

As convenient as these devices are, the ones I had (Clever Watts) consumed 6W in the off position, which meant the three I used on the various components on my home entertainment system consuming 18W continuously, or $54 per year, over not using them. As Australian power points have switches on them and those near my entertainment system were easily accessible, I stopped using the power strips and just turn components on/off at the wall.

When I get done with my Kill A watt on my freezer I will plug it in and check my smart strips. In the smart strip my tv is the "turn on" device so I am still using electricity but my sub,wii,dvd,home theater rcvr, should all be completely shut off. I do have a Directv rcvr and a modem that is plugged into wall still.

Once I get my tax refund I will be looking into getting a gas tank water heater.

windawake

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #321 on: February 14, 2014, 08:31:33 AM »
Looks like the average over the past year has been about 150 kWh/month, so about 5kWh per day. I live in a condo, though, and we have a gas stove and radiator heat.

b4u2

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #322 on: February 15, 2014, 07:32:12 AM »
Hmm I ask my electric company about my bill and explain I am trying to cut cost. Got excited to finally get my bill so I could analyze the savings......and it's an estimated bill!!! WTF it's a TOD meter and they had to estimate it? Am I paranoid now or what?

CommonCents

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #323 on: February 20, 2014, 07:48:28 AM »
We just moved and went from a $35-40 bill on average to $90, with no change in the number of lights on.  Wowzers.  (Heat is gas.)  We think we know two problems - one, there's a set of lights in the basement where we spend a bit of time that likely consume a lot (flood lights DH says).  The other?  Checked the fridge and discovered it's either manufactured in Jan 1987 or Oct 1991.  Either way...not so energy efficient!  I feel better about hating it and wanting to replace it.  We're looking this weekend.

jhartt3

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #324 on: February 20, 2014, 10:50:51 AM »
wow you guys are all really low i'm at 25kwh per day ... maybe i need to evaluate.  i thought we were pretty efficient. 

daverobev

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #325 on: February 20, 2014, 07:22:01 PM »
wow you guys are all really low i'm at 25kwh per day ... maybe i need to evaluate.  i thought we were pretty efficient.

Depends mostly on how you

heat/cool
heat water
heat food

We're averaging 13 or so a day at the moment; gas heat but everything else electric. We have a new baby so we're home, and cooking, a lot more (during peak time too, ugh).

jhartt3

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #326 on: February 21, 2014, 05:43:00 AM »
wow you guys are all really low i'm at 25kwh per day ... maybe i need to evaluate.  i thought we were pretty efficient.

Depends mostly on how you

heat/cool
heat water
heat food

We're averaging 13 or so a day at the moment; gas heat but everything else electric. We have a new baby so we're home, and cooking, a lot more (during peak time too, ugh).

We have an air source heat pump that is electric and a Nest set to max energy conservation so it will run that more often than not against the gas furnace. 

But looking over my last year of KWH usage i'm at around 17-19 kWH at the lowest.  our water heaters are gas our range is electric and our dryer is electric.  something is sucking massive amounts of power and its not the heating/cooling

Last night i unplugged my PC which i use rarely its mostly a media server.  and i unplugged a bunch of other electronics on the entertainment center.  we'll see what that does to the next bill compared to last year at the same time. 

Scandium

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #327 on: February 21, 2014, 11:23:02 AM »
Quote
I found that kids' computers/xboxes left on for hours can chew 500W per hour, which can add up to 8KW in a day if left on long enough. Even in standby, these devices can use up to 40W per hour which is 1KW a day.

Ok, I have to confess I've been avoiding too much confrontation with the teenagers over power usage. My reminders are usually met with Eyeroll, followed by the chorus of "Yes we know mum". Usually the xbox type stuff is turned off when I check.  I definitely need to investigate this a bit area more thoroughly.

I did find I was using 1kwh/day with the electric kettle, due to my bad tea making habits. It was pulling a fair bit of power, and I would go to make a cup of tea, get distracted: it would boil and turn off, then a bit later I'd reheat it again. Rinse repeat too many times a day.  I got a whistling kettle for the gas stove (using flybuy points), so some will be passed onto the gas bill, but its slower, and I have to turn it off when it whistles i.e. I have to really want the tea and have time/pay attention to follow through.  Slow living.

I plugged out PS3 (Slim model) into the Kill-a-watt yesterday and found that it's actually not so bad. It used about 80W when on, in the menu. We only use it for netflix, but don't think that will take that much more power. When I turned the PS3 off it showed zero watts. So unless my meter is wrong, it's not really drawing any "vampire power". Some for the plasma TV. The DVR on the other hand draw 22W when off, but that's less than $30 per year

From this I concluded that those "switch off" power savings strips are not worth it unless I turn the DVR off. But then it wouldn't record, and it takes 2 min+ to refresh every time then.
« Last Edit: February 24, 2014, 10:37:59 AM by Scandium »

Half-Borg

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #328 on: February 26, 2014, 01:06:56 AM »
22W seems a lot to me, my entertainment systems draws 5W when in standby, that includes:
AV-Receiver
Smart TV
XBox 360 + Kinect
Bluray Player
Network Switch (which is not actually turned off and draws about 2W)


lithy

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #329 on: February 26, 2014, 05:34:58 AM »
Just a goal for everyone here, according this the article below per capita annual energy use for North Korea is 739 kWh.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/space-north-korea-nation-dark-n37976

Spork

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #330 on: February 26, 2014, 07:24:55 AM »
22W seems a lot to me, my entertainment systems draws 5W when in standby, that includes:
AV-Receiver
Smart TV
XBox 360 + Kinect
Bluray Player
Network Switch (which is not actually turned off and draws about 2W)

...but a DVR is never off, even in standby.  It's a computer.  It is constantly getting feeds and updates of program schedules and constantly deciding whether or not to record something.  "Standby" for a DVR means (at best) that the video output hardware is not running.

mxer54

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #331 on: February 26, 2014, 12:49:40 PM »
I just saw a coworkers bill...last month his household used over 4700kwh.  Holy crap.

b4u2

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #332 on: February 26, 2014, 01:31:56 PM »
I'm still working to lower mine. Granted we have an electric dryer and a household of 5. I mentioned to my wife how we might hang the clothes to dry....if looks could kill lol.  "looks around make sure wife not around"

I am still interested in getting a gas tank water heater. I already have gas ran into the house (1/2 inch I believe) for heat. I should be able to tap into that for a gas water heater. I can do the install myself. I might have to get some help with the vent but I have a friend that does heating and cooling so he will help me. I am sure there must be a decent water heater out there that will not cost me over $500 and help reduce my energy costs. Any suggestions?


Half-Borg

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #333 on: February 27, 2014, 09:03:07 AM »
I just saw a coworkers bill...last month his household used over 4700kwh.  Holy crap.
What's he doing? Running an illegal aluminium melter in his cellar?

Spork

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #334 on: February 27, 2014, 09:48:18 AM »
I just saw a coworkers bill...last month his household used over 4700kwh.  Holy crap.
What's he doing? Running an illegal aluminium melter in his cellar?

Grow house?

mxer54

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #335 on: February 27, 2014, 10:39:53 AM »
I just saw a coworkers bill...last month his household used over 4700kwh.  Holy crap.
What's he doing? Running an illegal aluminium melter in his cellar?

Grow house?
\

They say that they dont know...(roommates).  Two guys.  One bought a new 80" tv a few months back...maybe they are using it as a heat source for the house?! lol...They keep saying something is wrong and it's a mistake.  Their bill was over 2000 kwh last month.  I dont know...But they always poke at my mustachian ways...so I don't feel bad. I asked if they were blasting their heat, then leaving the fridge open to counter when it gets too hot, then in turn cranking up the electric oven to counter the fridge...all while opening all the windows and doors to provide a nice air flow. Their water is up too so I assume they are running all the taps constantly to add humidity to the air from all the heat. haha.

PennyMinder

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #336 on: February 27, 2014, 01:43:22 PM »
Shoot!  I pulled out my bill when I saw this topic.  We used 25 kWh last month.  On top of that, we pay $32.21 per month for the monthly charge to have electricity to the house...unfortunately the barn is on a separate account with it's own $32.21 charge.  Rural living, I suppose.

rocksinmyhead

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #337 on: March 03, 2014, 07:53:50 AM »
Shoot!  I pulled out my bill when I saw this topic.  We used 25 kWh last month.  On top of that, we pay $32.21 per month for the monthly charge to have electricity to the house...unfortunately the barn is on a separate account with it's own $32.21 charge.  Rural living, I suppose.

you use <1 KWH per day?!? HOW are all of you doing this?!? you use less in a month than we use in a day :(

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #338 on: March 03, 2014, 10:32:38 AM »
I just checked ours.  For mid-Dec through mid-Jan, we averaged 32kWh/day for a 3400sqft house (not mustachian, I know).  A bunch of that, I'm sure, is the furnace blower (we're in the Chicago area, winter's been tough), although we have gas for the stove, furnace, dryer, and water heater.  My computer stays on 24/7, which reminds me that I need to adjust its power settings (two attached computer monitors, too).  Most of our frequently-used lights are CFLs, although sometime last month I replaced a bunch of incandescents with CFLs.  Over the course of the year we average about 25kWh/day.  We've added timers to some bathroom lights that were habitually left on, and lowered the thermostat.  I'll be interesting to see how our usage changes over the next couple months as these power-saving measures start hitting our electric bill, and the weather warms up.  Come on, Spring!

Rural

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #339 on: March 03, 2014, 10:46:36 AM »
...Made me look. Our last several months' bills show an average Kwh per day that looks like this:

Oct 18
Nov 20
Dec 43
Jan 93
Feb 107

Usage from roughly the middle of the previous month to the middle of the listed month. It's easy to see when things got cold here! And then when temps dropped to the point that the heat pumps went to emergency mode (a resistance heat stip). It doesn't help that things got cloudy and snowy at roughly the same time, which puts a real crimp in our passive solar heating.

We're all electric, heat, cool, water, cooking, everything. I'm most interested in figuring out what caused us to average 18-20 kwh per day in October and November, when we don't need either heating or cooling. The water heater is one culprit, as are our poor computer habits (two laptops on most of the time).

Perhaps I should buy a kill-a-watt? There's no free source here, unfortunately - I have checked.

Fortunately for us, we have some of the lowest electric rates in the county, much of it from "green" sources.

Spork

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #340 on: March 03, 2014, 11:26:51 AM »

My average daily usage (30day, 90day and 1 year floating averages) from my less-than-perfect home made monitor...

adam

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #341 on: March 04, 2014, 10:56:07 AM »
Month--------Avg Usage(kwh/d)--Total Usage-------Avg Temp---#d>90---#d>80
July ----------33.83kwh/day---------1016----------------83----------22--------29
August-------33.00------------------990-----------------82----------13--------30
September---32.52------------------1008----------------78-----------3--------30
October------25.17------------------755-----------------69-----------0--------17
November----21.00------------------588-----------------51-----------0---------3  -under 50* = 19
December----19.07------------------572-----------------56-----------0---------0 - under 50 = 21
January------23.68------------------805-----------------54-----------0---------1 - under 50 = 25
February-----19.38------------------562-----------------51-----------0---------0 - under 50 = 26, under 40 = 18
March--------22.79------------------638-----------------54-----------0---------1 - under 50 = 23, under 40 = 11
April---------18.55------------------612-----------------61-----------0---------7 - under 50 = 16,  under 40 = 5
May----------19.80------------------594-----------------71-----------0--------15 - under 50 = 2
June---------33.45------------------1037----------------78-----------3--------30
July----------31.81------------------986-----------------82-----------7--------31
August------40.28------------------1289----------------82-----------12-------30 - 32 billing days
September---29.97-------------------869----------------80----------12--------29 - 29 billing days
October------22.43------------------673-----------------71-----------0--------15 - under 50 = 0, 30 billing days
November----17.36------------------486-----------------60-----------0--------2  -  under 50 = 16
December----22.12------------------708-----------------56-----------0--------3 -   under 50 = 24, 32 billing days
January------22.25------------------712-----------------49-----------0--------1 -   under 50 = 28
February-----21.03------------------652-----------------50-----------0--------2 -   under 50 = 27

January and February added.  Seems like business as usual, the Nest doesn't appear to be paying for itself yet, but it is winter time and my heat is gas powered, so I didn't expect to see any savings on the electricity side yet.  I really wish we could get that daily average to stay under 20kwh/d.  I don't feel like I'm being 'wasteful' by any means.  I have a feeling my wife running the washer/dryer almost every day is really killing this.

crumbcatcher

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #342 on: March 04, 2014, 02:24:00 PM »
Electricity usage has been a blind spot for me until really getting caught up on this thread.  I didn't realize that I could check my daily usage on the power company's website until someone mentioned it here.  Now that I know, I can correlate how changes I made yesterday affected my usage (not to mention what my usage was to begin with).

I have electric everything, gas-powered nothing.  The house has high ceilings and is hard to heat, so it always feels cold even when the thermostat says it's a comfortable temperature.  I've been dressing warmer since moving back in, but it has taken awhile to really get used to being cold all the time (I'm getting better).  I've started turning lights off when I leave the room, turning my computer off at night and basic things like that.

My power usage always spikes when my son is with me, because I turn the heat up higher and I tend to use the appliances more.  Last night the weather was a bit warmer so I didn't turn on the heater when we got home, and the power company website says I used fully half as much power as usual yesterday, just by doing that.

The damage:

Mondays and Tuesdays when DS is with me, I'm averaging 65 kwh
Wednesdays and Thursdays when he isn't with me, I'm averaging 35 kwh
Weekends when he's with me, back up to 65 kwh or more, since we're home most of the day

<self-facepunch>

Knowing is half the battle, as they say.  Now that I'm armed with more information I can go about making improvements.  I know we can do better!


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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #343 on: March 04, 2014, 02:52:43 PM »
We're averaging about 30 kWh per day. Using the electric company's website, I'm starting to figure out what's eating up electricity...the laundry! I've switched to cold water, and that's helped. I tried hanging the laundry to dry, but I didn't like the stiffness of the clothes, so now I'm hanging it until it's mostly dry and running the dryer on low for 20 minutes instead of 60, and wow, what a difference!

Our house is 100% electric (no gas anywhere in this city), so I know when the heater or AC has to be used, it's going to be painful. Luckily for us, we've had temperatures in the 70s all winter while the rest of the country has been freezing half to death. My next step is to climb up into the attic and repair the ducting before summer sets in!

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #344 on: March 04, 2014, 03:17:34 PM »
I have electric everything, gas-powered nothing.  The house has high ceilings and is hard to heat, so it always feels cold even when the thermostat says it's a comfortable temperature.

Part of this is electric heat.  It's really not a bad heating method, but it doesn't FEEL as warm.  Fired heat sends out pretty darn hot air (for a shorter period of time) and feels toasty warm.  Electric heat (or at least a heat pump) sends out air that is just a few degrees warmer than the room itself, so it feels drafty.

I have the same problem using a wood stove and using the HVAC fan to circulate.  The low temperature differential feels drafty.  I solve it by wearing more clothes. ;)

rocksinmyhead

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #345 on: March 04, 2014, 03:55:51 PM »
I have electric everything, gas-powered nothing.  The house has high ceilings and is hard to heat, so it always feels cold even when the thermostat says it's a comfortable temperature.

Part of this is electric heat.  It's really not a bad heating method, but it doesn't FEEL as warm.  Fired heat sends out pretty darn hot air (for a shorter period of time) and feels toasty warm.  Electric heat (or at least a heat pump) sends out air that is just a few degrees warmer than the room itself, so it feels drafty.

I have the same problem using a wood stove and using the HVAC fan to circulate.  The low temperature differential feels drafty.  I solve it by wearing more clothes. ;)

interesting! I never thought about this but now that you mention it, I do notice it in our house (air source heat pump) compared to other places I've lived. I think for us another issue is that the vents are in the ceilings... it works well when it's 110 out and we have the AC running, but not so much in the winter :(

Rural

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #346 on: March 04, 2014, 04:51:41 PM »
I have electric everything, gas-powered nothing.  The house has high ceilings and is hard to heat, so it always feels cold even when the thermostat says it's a comfortable temperature.

Part of this is electric heat.  It's really not a bad heating method, but it doesn't FEEL as warm.  Fired heat sends out pretty darn hot air (for a shorter period of time) and feels toasty warm.  Electric heat (or at least a heat pump) sends out air that is just a few degrees warmer than the room itself, so it feels drafty.

I have the same problem using a wood stove and using the HVAC fan to circulate.  The low temperature differential feels drafty.  I solve it by wearing more clothes. ;)

interesting! I never thought about this but now that you mention it, I do notice it in our house (air source heat pump) compared to other places I've lived. I think for us another issue is that the vents are in the ceilings... it works well when it's 110 out and we have the AC running, but not so much in the winter :(

Ceiling fan, on low, reverse mode. We have the same issue with our 10’ ceilings and wall-mounted heat pumps above the 6' windows. Ceiling fans are really easy to install yourself, though a lifter/helper is good if you're not very strong.

zolotiyeruki

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #347 on: March 05, 2014, 06:06:23 AM »

My average daily usage (30day, 90day and 1 year floating averages) from my less-than-perfect home made monitor...
I look at graphs from RRDTool every day :).  What's your homemade monitor?

Spork

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #348 on: March 05, 2014, 09:09:47 AM »

My average daily usage (30day, 90day and 1 year floating averages) from my less-than-perfect home made monitor...
I look at graphs from RRDTool every day :).  What's your homemade monitor?

LOL... I use it for everything.  I graph financial data with it and the status of my tivo and my netflix queue and ... 

I actually wrote up my electricity hack a while back: 
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/home-made-power-monitor/

It does have some glitches.  The monitor box gives some very incorrect reads every now and then... though I am not sure how to fix it.  It's a little startling to see a spike that says yesterday's usage was 5million kwh.

rocksinmyhead

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Re: Why do you use so much electricity?!?!?
« Reply #349 on: March 05, 2014, 10:01:44 AM »
I have electric everything, gas-powered nothing.  The house has high ceilings and is hard to heat, so it always feels cold even when the thermostat says it's a comfortable temperature.

Part of this is electric heat.  It's really not a bad heating method, but it doesn't FEEL as warm.  Fired heat sends out pretty darn hot air (for a shorter period of time) and feels toasty warm.  Electric heat (or at least a heat pump) sends out air that is just a few degrees warmer than the room itself, so it feels drafty.

I have the same problem using a wood stove and using the HVAC fan to circulate.  The low temperature differential feels drafty.  I solve it by wearing more clothes. ;)

interesting! I never thought about this but now that you mention it, I do notice it in our house (air source heat pump) compared to other places I've lived. I think for us another issue is that the vents are in the ceilings... it works well when it's 110 out and we have the AC running, but not so much in the winter :(

Ceiling fan, on low, reverse mode. We have the same issue with our 10’ ceilings and wall-mounted heat pumps above the 6' windows. Ceiling fans are really easy to install yourself, though a lifter/helper is good if you're not very strong.

yes! we actually do this sometimes because although we rent we are fortunate to have ceiling fans in almost every room. the only downside is that depending where you are sitting in the room it can feel a little drafty, but it does seem to distribute the heat better!

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!