Trying to get a measure on electricity usage. My home is about 1800 sqft. All electric except for propane heat (wood stove installed 2 weeks ago). The average temp for the last 30 days was 32. I'm using about 82 kw a day. There are 3 people in the house and the wife is home all day. I have sent around and put a kill-o-watt meter on everything that is 120v and nothing seems out of the ordinary. The only things left are a dryer, hot water heater and a 120v halide light that is wired direct on my shop (dusk to dawn). Does 82 KW a day seem high? Everything in my previous home was NG. Last month when the average temp was 51 I was using 63 kw.
Average daily electricity useage
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All I know is my 2200sq.ft house with electric only uses more power a year the most small european towns
Jokes aside I'll check my bill for you shortly.
I use ~42 kW.h during august. Where its warm and three to four times that in winter. Thus me buying a wood stove.
We have two 60 gallon water heaters. One in a barely heated space. Those are the bigger power wasters during summer. We don't use AC much. And usually hang clothes to dry outside in summer.
Jokes aside I'll check my bill for you shortly.
I use ~42 kW.h during august. Where its warm and three to four times that in winter. Thus me buying a wood stove.
We have two 60 gallon water heaters. One in a barely heated space. Those are the bigger power wasters during summer. We don't use AC much. And usually hang clothes to dry outside in summer.
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Thanks ! Not sure how accurate the use scales are on appliances but the HWH states 14kw day.
my house total with basement is around 4500 sqft, 2 electric heat pumps, only gas is used for hot water and cook top. last bill we averaged 71.9kw a day. One heat pump is kept at 64 and the other 65 My wife loves to have lights on in rooms we aren't in (go figure). This reading is up from the previous month which we averaged 35.8 per day, I believe this jump may be from when we got the stove installed, of heat escaping from the open ceiling pipe (even covered) which forced the heat on more. We have transitioned most of the bulbs to LED, but the big thing is that electronics plunged in even when not on, will still use electricity.
Granted I am in VA so it is not as cold here
Granted I am in VA so it is not as cold here
So maybe I'm not to out of line. All lights are led except for fluorescent tubes in shop and garage. There is one 150w halide bulb which probably runs 16 hours a day this time of year. So here are my daily estimates of usage:
HWH- 22KW
Stove- 5.6
Heater- 9.6
Well-8
2 fridges & freezer- 6
Garage light-2
Dryer-4
Total 59.9
So I thought that I estimated pretty high on the big usage items. So I have 22kw/day unaccounted for. Think that much could be consumed by lights, electronics etc?
My HWH is in the garage and the temps out there are maybe high 30s. It's 18 outside now. I'm going to get some roxul today and insulate the heck out of that. It has a wrap on it but I think it's only r-4.
HWH- 22KW
Stove- 5.6
Heater- 9.6
Well-8
2 fridges & freezer- 6
Garage light-2
Dryer-4
Total 59.9
So I thought that I estimated pretty high on the big usage items. So I have 22kw/day unaccounted for. Think that much could be consumed by lights, electronics etc?
My HWH is in the garage and the temps out there are maybe high 30s. It's 18 outside now. I'm going to get some roxul today and insulate the heck out of that. It has a wrap on it but I think it's only r-4.
vinny11950
Minister of Fire
734 kw last month, I think. I will find the bill to verify.
1250 sq, 2 people, on demand electric water heater, electric stove, and electric dryer. Everything else is LED light bulbs. I guess we don't take long showers.
1250 sq, 2 people, on demand electric water heater, electric stove, and electric dryer. Everything else is LED light bulbs. I guess we don't take long showers.
I've got 1 fridge and 1 freezer in the garage. I imagine they don't use much this time of year. Luckily the furnace has been off for the last 2 weeks since the BK was installed. I'm thinking my HWH may be the biggest draw at this point. I have a bathroom in the shop that has a 120v baseboard in it. I have it plugged into a 38-50 degree thermostat to keep the pipes from freezing. I'm figured running it 24 hours would be about 288kw month. I doubt it runs 1/2 that as the bathroom is small and fairly well insulated. The previous owner said 2 incandescent bulbs would keep it warm enough. But since I can't get those I figured the baseboard was better than a heat lamp. Thank God electricity is only .08/kw
I've only been in the house 4 months so I'm slowly getting things lined out. The PO only stayed here in the summer months so he didn't worry much about heat and hot water as it was only him. So when I got the place 1 fill on the propane tank was enough to convince me to get a stove.
velvetfoot
Minister of Fire
I averaged 340kwh/mo over the last 22 months.
2000 ft2, 2 people, electric heat pump water heater in summer, oil/pellet hot water heat, electric appliances, propane cook top
2000 ft2, 2 people, electric heat pump water heater in summer, oil/pellet hot water heat, electric appliances, propane cook top
Holy crap! Do you walk around with head lamps on? What I'm seeing is the differing factors are often hot water and cooking.
velvetfoot
Minister of Fire
I did a quick search and came up with this. It's not clear if keeping a freezer in the garage saves energy. Plus the water heater in the garage. The previous guy was set up for summer use, it seems.
oops, link:
http://www.green-energy-efficient-homes.com/freezer-in-garage.html
oops, link:
http://www.green-energy-efficient-homes.com/freezer-in-garage.html
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velvetfoot
Minister of Fire
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
Whoa. That's way way too high. I live in 1700sf, heat all with wood, average temp last month was 30, all electric, two tween daughters, one wife, one extra freezer, one keg refrigerator, 20 kWh per day without hot tub, 45 kWh per day with it. Oh I have no well and gravity septic. We bake our own bread. I monitor with an efergy power monitor. We have higher days but the 45 is normal.
I would be looking for your leak. I suspect a well pump problem. I really like being able to monitor power use in real time.
velvetfoot
Minister of Fire
I second a whole house energy monitor. I have an older Energy Detective, and the other day I noticed an electric heater in the bathroom was on just before we left the house. I have the display in the kitchen next to the outside thermometer and on the way out the door. I wish it had the ability to acquire data and chart it.
So short of buying a $300 tool. How would one test for "leaks"? I plugged a kill-a-watt in every 120v circuit and didn't get anything out of the ordinary. So how would I rest my 220 circuits?
I've got my well pump set to kick on at 38lbs and off at 57lbs. When I set it several months ago it would pump to 57 then shut off and settle in around 54/55. I haven't noticed any intermittent cycling but I'll keep an eye on that in case it's a bad foot valve. No water leaks that I know of?
tlc1976
Minister of Fire
My old 1050 sq ft no-frills house was all electric appliances, except the LP furnace that I didn't use because I burned wood. No well pump, no garage, so no extra fridges/freezers or shop/yard lights. All CFLs in the house. When I was married the wife was home all day, and it was 4-5 of us. Use was roughly 55 kwh/day. So to me your use seems reasonable. When they left my bill suddenly dropped by 75%.
Central Maine Power claims that their average residential customer account uses 550 KWH per month. Assuming that average usage in your area is similar to that number, and that your 3 person household is about average, except for the shop usage (roughly 350 KWH per month), then you have every right to be concerned when your own usage is exceeding 900-1000 KWH per month.
It sure seems like there is a problem somewhere. Do the security light and bathroom heater account for all of your shop usage? Are you running heavy industrial equipment out there? Assuming there is an electrical subpanel in the shop, can you shut off the main breaker there, then check at the house end to see if there is still any draw on the supply line?
Was your electric meter changed when you bought the house a few months ago? If not, you might call your local utility and have them test and/or replace the meter, since there is always a possibility that your meter is simply inaccurate.
In my small, 1 person house, electrical usage has never exceeded 8 KWH average per day, and more commonly runs about 6 KWH per day. So, your shop nightlight and bathroom heater are using almost twice as much electricity as it takes to run my whole house.
It sure seems like there is a problem somewhere. Do the security light and bathroom heater account for all of your shop usage? Are you running heavy industrial equipment out there? Assuming there is an electrical subpanel in the shop, can you shut off the main breaker there, then check at the house end to see if there is still any draw on the supply line?
Was your electric meter changed when you bought the house a few months ago? If not, you might call your local utility and have them test and/or replace the meter, since there is always a possibility that your meter is simply inaccurate.
In my small, 1 person house, electrical usage has never exceeded 8 KWH average per day, and more commonly runs about 6 KWH per day. So, your shop nightlight and bathroom heater are using almost twice as much electricity as it takes to run my whole house.
I have to find out what's going on. I used a kwh calculator and plugged in all my appliances. I should be around 1500 kWh month. So I'm double that basically.
The shop is shut down for the most part. I don't leave my welders or compressor plugged in if I'm not using them so the only thing running is 2 led lights, a 150w halide light, 24" baseboard. The HWH out there is a small 2 gallon point of use. I have it wired into the bathroom light and that light is off 99% of the time. If I go out to work in the shop I'll flip it on so it may run 6 hours a month.
The shop is shut down for the most part. I don't leave my welders or compressor plugged in if I'm not using them so the only thing running is 2 led lights, a 150w halide light, 24" baseboard. The HWH out there is a small 2 gallon point of use. I have it wired into the bathroom light and that light is off 99% of the time. If I go out to work in the shop I'll flip it on so it may run 6 hours a month.
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WES999
Minister of Fire
I'd be happy at 1/2 my use! We are far from the light police but I have basically all leds so I could probably leave every light in the place on 24 hours and not account for a 1/6 of my total usage.
velvetfoot
Minister of Fire
I just looked at the energy detective ones. I'm gonna run some well tests today and make sure I'm not getting any leak down anywhere. I put an entire batt of roxul around the HWH and wrapped that with visqueen last night. All the PO had on the tank was some ducting insulation that pretty much covered 2/3 and nothing on top. It is sitting on 2" foam though.
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