Mt vernon electricity usage

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greasesleddin

New Member
Sep 14, 2008
22
bangor maine
I have noticed quite an increase in my light bill since i have installed my stove.Its running about 50 to 60 dollars more than before.About the same time i put in the stove my daughters boyfriend moved in so maybe he is the problem.Im just curious if anyone else has noticed a dramatic increase in their electical usage
 
greasesleddin said:
I have noticed quite an increase in my light bill since i have installed my stove.Its running about 50 to 60 dollars more than before.About the same time i put in the stove my daughters boyfriend moved in so maybe he is the problem.Im just curious if anyone else has noticed a dramatic increase in their electical usage

I'm burning a USSC 6039 HF for the first season. I thought my electric bill would go down because I was using a 1,500 watt electric fireplace to heat a large family room last year. The electric fireplace is no l,onger used and my last son moved out. Can't figure out why the light bill is the same. How much power do these stoves consume?

Thanks
 
about 20 dollars more but thats about it.

But thats also running lights longer (shorter days) and hot water heater working a little harder. And furnace running during the day while I am at work. So I would the increase is also do to having another body running around.
 
Mine has been installed since September and no significant change in kilowatts comparing the last few months to the same months the previous year.
You mention dollars, but with all the rate increases lately, best to probably compare actual usage.

A month or so back there was a post where they were watching the stove electricity usage with a Kill-A-Watt meter and the Mt Vernon AE is a relatively low consumer of electricity.
 
Mine went down about 400KW a month or about 25%, I think my oil boiler uses a lot of electricity and I only use it for hot water now and it would run constantly to keep the house at 67. I have two space heaters I use in the bedrooms and last month my bill went up about 25%. Found that my Daughter and wife were setting them in the mid 70's so they would never shut off. They are now set to 62 and get shut off in the morning, I just switched jobs and work the night shift now and I would check them before going to bed. Showed my wife the electric bill for last month around $50 higher and she agreed that they should not be set so high.

I have been averaging around 1200KW a month until last month which was a little over 1600KW, house is a little over 2400SF single floor Ranch and I am heating all but 1 room which is about 200SF.
 
The Kill-A-Watt EZ right now says that after about 4 straight weeks, I'm using $9.44 of electricity per month to run my Castile.

Steve
 
swalz said:
Mine went down about 400KW a month or about 25%, I think my oil boiler uses a lot of electricity and I only use it for hot water now and it would run constantly to keep the house at 67. I have two space heaters I use in the bedrooms and last month my bill went up about 25%. Found that my Daughter and wife were setting them in the mid 70's so they would never shut off. They are now set to 62 and get shut off in the morning, I just switched jobs and work the night shift now and I would check them before going to bed. Showed my wife the electric bill for last month around $50 higher and she agreed that they should not be set so high.

I have been averaging around 1200KW a month until last month which was a little over 1600KW, house is a little over 2400SF single floor Ranch and I am heating all but 1 room which is about 200SF.

I'm in a similar situation as you are. I am using my MT Vernon to heat 2500 sqft out of my 3300sq ft (the basement (800sqft) heat is only turned on mainly on the weekend for a couple of hours when the kids are in the play room). I use 2 space heaters in the upstairs part of my house where the bedrooms are located. I also use electric blankets in my room and the rooms of my three children. We just use the heaters and blankets at night. But my electrical usage was 1500kw last month. The months prior to that I averaged 1100kw (except this summer which was @ 1800kw with the central air and the pool pump running). I'm in the process of getting solar panels for the house (awaiting approal from NY State). I'm hoping to offset my electric by 50%. Last year my electric bill was about the same as this time of year but the house was kept at 68 degrees 8 hours a day and on the weekend and at 58 degrees all other times. Now we keep the house at 74 degrees most of the time (except when we are not home when we drop it down to 65 degrees). I'm curious to see what my electric bill will be in January and February. Last year it was so cold that I used close to 1800kw each month. The boiler was constantly during those months.
 
Here in PA electric is regulated and I pay a flat rate of about 9 cents when you add in all the taxes and so on per KW.

When we first moved in, before any work was done on our 1970's house (and we are LHV North East PA so it's cold), used about 8000 KW per month, with electric baseboard heat, we installed the pellets stove in Jan 2004, and we cut that down to about 3000 KW within the first month. Now that the house has been updated some with insulation, air flow is better, we are down to 1600 KW for Dec 2008 bill. This will reduce more as I will have more things in place, and soon new windows. However, once our second pellet stove goes in the basement, which still has 3 1/2 rooms using electric baseboard, I expect to see our usage cut even more.

To me, the pellet stove has been sent by God(s), now if the power was not regulated, and if prices do go up, then, I will be very happy I am way ahead of the game.
 
zendiagrams said:
Here in PA electric is regulated and I pay a flat rate of about 9 cents when you add in all the taxes and so on per KW.

When we first moved in, before any work was done on our 1970's house (and we are LHV North East PA so it's cold), used about 8000 KW per month, with electric baseboard heat, we installed the pellets stove in Jan 2004, and we cut that down to about 3000 KW within the first month. Now that the house has been updated some with insulation, air flow is better, we are down to 1600 KW for Dec 2008 bill. This will reduce more as I will have more things in place, and soon new windows. However, once our second pellet stove goes in the basement, which still has 3 1/2 rooms using electric baseboard, I expect to see our usage cut even more.

To me, the pellet stove has been sent by God(s), now if the power was not regulated, and if prices do go up, then, I will be very happy I am way ahead of the game.

You're fortunate. I paid .18/KwHr last month and paid as much as .30/KwHr last summer. That is the reason I'm looking into solar panels. I guess change is a good think even if it's forced on you. I know that I probably would not be looking into going green if I was paying the amount I paid 5 years ago (.10/KwHr). Plus with the rebates that NY and the Fed offers the ROI for solar panels are about 6 to 7 Years.
 
Teddy1971 said:
You're fortunate. I paid .18/KwHr last month and paid as much as .30/KwHr last summer. That is the reason I'm looking into solar panels. I guess change is a good think even if it's forced on you. I know that I probably would not be looking into going green if I was paying the amount I paid 5 years ago (.10/KwHr). Plus with the rebates that NY and the Fed offers the ROI for solar panels are about 6 to 7 Years.

I want to add wind, geo, and solar if we plan to stay where we are, however, the investment is not worth it, and I am not a a green nutter that has a obligation to spend the money :). I currently drive from PA to the GWB, so the pleasure of 3 hours in NJ for my commute is sucking my life away. If I eventually find work closer, then I will move forward with larger investments, but if we relocate, hopefully we will either build new, or gut a house and make the investment upfront in everything, assuming we are staying long enough. But, even the length staying, the investment would be a bit less in that case, then where we are now and changing everything up.

Before I even was aware of the deregulation price changes I was looking into solar/wood stove combo, then I discovered pellet stoves, and determined that with wood/pellets it;s the best option up front for cutting costs. I did not consider major efforts to reduce our warm weather usage, that has changed now, my initial concern was the winter usage, and for once, I lucked out with my efforts and timing :)
 
zendiagrams said:
Teddy1971 said:
You're fortunate. I paid .18/KwHr last month and paid as much as .30/KwHr last summer. That is the reason I'm looking into solar panels. I guess change is a good think even if it's forced on you. I know that I probably would not be looking into going green if I was paying the amount I paid 5 years ago (.10/KwHr). Plus with the rebates that NY and the Fed offers the ROI for solar panels are about 6 to 7 Years.

I want to add wind, geo, and solar if we plan to stay where we are, however, the investment is not worth it, and I am not a a green nutter that has a obligation to spend the money :). I currently drive from PA to the GWB, so the pleasure of 3 hours in NJ for my commute is sucking my life away. If I eventually find work closer, then I will move forward with larger investments, but if we relocate, hopefully we will either build new, or gut a house and make the investment upfront in everything, assuming we are staying long enough. But, even the length staying, the investment would be a bit less in that case, then where we are now and changing everything up.

Before I even was aware of the deregulation price changes I was looking into solar/wood stove combo, then I discovered pellet stoves, and determined that with wood/pellets it;s the best option up front for cutting costs. I did not consider major efforts to reduce our warm weather usage, that has changed now, my initial concern was the winter usage, and for once, I lucked out with my efforts and timing :)

Your lucky you live in PA. The utility company in our are (Orange and Rockland) stated that they had to increase the cost of the utilty due to the cost of coal and natural gas. But those resources have come down drastically and I'm still paying .18/KwH. They definatley know how to screw the little guy. I'm all for making a profit but not at the expense of having to site in thje dark. I have alot of toys that use electricity. But I've gotten in he habit of unplugging devices when I'm using them. This had a difference of @ 400 Kw of usage. I look forward to getting my solar panels (if NY doesn't go bankrupt) so I can generate my own power.
 
My daily usage last month was 1 kwh higher than the same month last year. (24/23). House is 10 degrees warmer. I'll take it.
 
My electricity usage went up by about ...not sure why yet. Can't be all stove...I didn't run it non-stop, especially since HHO dropped so much.

Jim
 
Electric has dropped 125 kw this month this is do to my heater blower not running. I have heated the house with my castile since Oct. this year. I also am saving on cost of propane.
Happy so far.
 
My bill actually went down a little when we got the stove.
Not sure why, but guessing that my furnace blower/fan takes more
juice than the pellet stove does.
 
Our December electric bill just arrived. It was $59 here in New York State.

An electric range, with 2 year old Energy Star kitchen appliances. DHW triggers the W-M oil burner.

Encore NC almost heats the house 24/7.
 
Nothing beats a Kill-A-Watt meter for actual facts, but ballpark numbers can be had by applying math against their published specs (this is for the insert http://tinyurl.com/18r):

115 VAC, 60 Hz, Start 5 Amps, Run 1.25 Amps

24 hours of continuous operation, not counting startup energy because I don't know how long it draws 5 Amps to start:

115 V * 1.5 A * 24 hr / 1000 = 4.14 kWh per day

Monthly cost assuming my electric rate of 0.14549 per kWh and 30 days in a month:

4.14 kWh * 0.14549 $/kWh * 30 = $18.07

Check my math, but I think it's accurate.

EDIT: Check out this thread for some actual measurements.

Victor
 
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