If you use electricity to heat your DHW, what does it cost you/month?

[muncybob]

I guess I never realized how much it costs us for domestic hot water. Now that I have the boiler shut down my electric bill is up about $28/month. We don't run a.c. and in the last 30 days there have only been a few days when we ran any fans, so the increase is solely due to the electric water heater. Of course there are a lot of variables such as number showers/baths per day...size of household, actual local market cost for power, etc.

When I created a spreadsheet to determine the time period for break even point on the cost of converting to burning wood I missed this cost savings. So it runs us about $154(5.5 months) for hot water when the boiler is off. I wish we had solar.

 

[mmudd]

I switched to solar/wood for my hot water a while bank and my bill went down around $25 to $30/month

 

[firebroad]

I heat my water with the oil boiler, so I feel your pain. I pay probably an average of $30 per month, and most of that is from standby. However, before you blame your water heater, check to make sure your electric supplier hasn't raised the price per Kwh. They will do that in the warmer months sometimes.

 

[woodsmaster]

It cost me around $75.00 / month. Family of five, three girls that take long full baths. It saves me almost $10.00
on electric for hot water each time I fire the boiler and charge storage.

 

[Fred61]

About a gallon of oil per day with my Peerless boiler and 40 gallon Superstore tank. Plus I can hear it run from upstairs!! . I keep picturing in my mind "dollar bills" sprouting wings and flying up the chimney every time I hear that thing running.

 

[Hansson]

http://www.e-logger.se/pub?hansson&p=6
The yellow in the diagram are the electricty. My electric water heater is after my storage. So when I heating with wood the water that runs to the electric water heater is hot.
No electric is used.When the storage is cold the water is heated in the electric water heater to 65 degress.

 

[maple1]

About a gallon of oil per day with my Peerless boiler and 40 gallon Superstore tank. Plus I can hear it run from upstairs!! . I keep picturing in my mind "dollar bills" sprouting wings and flying up the chimney every time I hear that thing running.

That sounds exactly the same as me with my coil-in-boiler setup. Dollars going up the chimney just to keep the boiler at temp even if no hot water is being used.

 

[Jack Straw]

I am a National Grid customer here in upstate NY. Our rate has really dropped lately, <.10 per kwh. It's just the 2 of us, our stove, water heater and dryer are all electric and our total monthly bill has been averaging $85, not bad compared to other bills we have.

I am an Energy Specialist for 2 school districts, 1 has National Grid as their supplier and is paying .037 per kwh and the other locked into a long term agreement and is paying .087 per kwh. These are very small districts and the second 1 is paying on average $1600 a month more because they locked into the long term rate. These are just the supply charges not the delivery. National Grid also dropped their Peak Demand charge from $16 to $11, which is huge!

 

[rkusek]

Even with the cheap rates here I bet that dhw still makes up at least $30-40 of bill especially with the higher summer rates. Good opportunity for a solar setup, just need to find one that will work for me.

 

[BoilerMan]

I usually quote people here in Maine (.16 per KWh delivered) at 80 cents per day per person showering. Which usually holds pretty true with our high electric rate. Most water heaters are in a cold basement in the summer, BAD, and no one ever turns them off when they leave for vacation. However it is cheaper to use electric in the summer vs. an indirect with an oil boiler which I'd guess is around 40% efficient in the summer which is better than a domestic coil in the same oil boiler which I'd say is in the 20% range.

A bit off topic, but,
If I had an oil boiler with a domestic coil...... I'd use a 50gal electric water heater with the water circulated through the coil via bronze pump in the winter with the electric elements turned off, and in the summer close ball valves to the boiler and use the electric elements to heat the water. Best of both worlds oil in the winter and electric in the summer with the least investment in equiptment.

 

[jebatty]

Average dhw electric is about $4.50/month (separate meter) for wife and I plus frequent family guests. Total electric is about $65.00/month. Except for wood stove heat, house is all electric: stove top, oven, clothes dryer, etc. Our two sequenced electric hot water heaters are super insulated with 6"+ of fiberglass, including top and bottom. All dhw pipes also are insulated.

 

[muncybob]

I guess I have nothing to complain about based on some prices stated. Our electric heater is barely 3 years old, we installed it just before taking out the old oil boiler w/coil to have hot water while the wood boiler was being installed. At that time I realized just how expensive it was to use the oil boiler for DHW...glad to not hear that monster run in the summer! We are also all electric with all hot water lines insulated and I thought about insulating the water heater but all surfaces are cool to the touch so I'm not sure I would gain anything?

 

[ozzie88]

Hello, here in maine something might interest you guys? Only 2 of us only thing ele. is dryer, Been running gasser for DHW. Anyways my ele. bill was $115-$135 a month. When barefoot in basement I get small shock when touch copper drain or water pipe? Made lots calls had ele. company check out there end was no ground on transformer on pole and transformer was damage by lighting they said. Put new one on and grounded it my bill now is $75-$85 alot difference. Had to replace all copper drain pipes also. filled with corrosion, this from electric also,[plumber said] Said I was getting some kind of back feed to house from out by street? If your bill seems high may want to do some checking?

I usually quote people here in Maine (.16 per KWh delivered) at 80 cents per day per person showering. Which usually holds pretty true with our high electric rate. Most water heaters are in a cold basement in the summer, BAD, and no one ever turns them off when they leave for vacation. However it is cheaper to use electric in the summer vs. an indirect with an oil boiler which I'd guess is around 40% efficient in the summer which is better than a domestic coil in the same oil boiler which I'd say is in the 20% range.

A bit off topic, but,
If I had an oil boiler with a domestic coil...... I'd use a 50gal electric water heater with the water circulated through the coil via bronze pump in the winter with the electric elements turned off, and in the summer close ball valves to the boiler and use the electric elements to heat the water. Best of both worlds oil in the winter and electric in the summer with the least investment in equiptment.

 

[lampmfg]

Our electric bill is actually cheaper in the winter when he use the H2O coil on our Kuuma Vapor-Fire 100 for heating domestic water then in the summer when we aren't burning wood.

 

[muncybob]

Our electric bill is actually cheaper in the winter when he use the H2O coil on our Kuuma Vapor-Fire 100 for heating domestic water then in the summer when we aren't burning wood.

Yep. Same with us. Good thing too as I tend to take hotter & longer showers in the winter!

 

[BoilerMan]

Hello, here in maine something might interest you guys? Only 2 of us only thing ele. is dryer, Been running gasser for DHW. Anyways my ele. bill was $115-$135 a month. When barefoot in basement I get small shock when touch copper drain or water pipe? Made lots calls had ele. company check out there end was no ground on transformer on pole and transformer was damage by lighting they said. Put new one on and grounded it my bill now is $75-$85 alot difference. Had to replace all copper drain pipes also. filled with corrosion, this from electric also,[plumber said] Said I was getting some kind of back feed to house from out by street? If your bill seems high may want to do some checking?

My electric bill has never been above $40, and is usually in the $25-30 range. It is just my wife and I in our 3,200 square foot house. We dry our clothes, and cook with gas. 2-100# cylinders last us over a year. We have one of the highest electric rates in the country here, mostly due to the fact that our population dencity is very low and spread out over a large area.

Never heared of what your describing about drain pipes, there are 4 grounding electrodes that should be in place on all residential services: A ground rod at any utility pole with a transformer, TWO ground rods at the meter socket, and a water pipe if it's metallic. Also, your neuteral/gound is connected to the neuteral on the pole which is grounded the same way at your neighbor's house and every 5th pole one all transmission lines. There are alot of failsafes in the system, and the meter reads only KWh on the two 120v legs. However, if you have copper drains your house is at least 40 years old, and the same meter may have been in place that long as well, they do loose their calibration, and you can legally ask your electric company to exchange your meter with a freshly calibratred one every year, but every ten years is what I recomend. You may have been able to tell I am an electrician.

Taylor

 

[woodsmaster]

My electric bill has never been above $40, and is usually in the $25-30 range. It is just my wife and I in our 3,200 square foot house.
Taylor

My electric bill would be over $25 just for the privilage of being hooked up and having a meter with no elec. use.
Why such a big house for 2 people ? Im calling BS on the under $40.00 bill

 

[muncybob]

I dunno, we cook with electric and use electric clothes dryer(wife is a clean freak so this gets a lot of use!) and in the winter our bills average under $60. Without those 2 appliances I think we would be in the $40 range.

 

[maple1]

Kids in house = 4x consumption multiplier.

 

[firebroad]

I use the coil in the oil boiler furnace for hot water, and electric is for everything else. Have a clothes dryer, but only use it to fluff out the wrinkles in some things, then they are hung up to dry. It is only me in a 1090 sqft rancher. My bill is average $65 per mo.

 

[maple1]

I use the coil in the oil boiler furnace for hot water, and electric is for everything else. Have a clothes dryer, but only use it to fluff out the wrinkles in some things, then they are hung up to dry. It is only me in a 1090 sqft rancher. My bill is average $65 per mo.

How much do you think you're at for oil/month?

 

[firebroad]

As I stated before, probably about $30 per month. Not a bargain. I cut it back and mess with the Diff for summer, so it is lower then.

 

[BoilerMan]

My electric bill would be over $25 just for the privilage of being hooked up and having a meter with no elec. use.
Why such a big house for 2 people ? Im calling BS on the under $40.00 bill

Wow, I love to be told I'm not being honest by someone who has no idea...............

FYI the big house is for our future family which my wife is due with in October.

If you look at the history you'll see that there is no BS thank you.

 

[woodsmaster]

My appolagies. I missed the gas dryer and cooking part. That is a very cheap bill. my last bill I used 920 KWH for a total of $91.12 ,but then they add a $29 distrubution fee, a $15.53 wholesale power cost adj and 4.28 tax for a $137.00 bill not to bad I guess since we use an elec clothes dryer, range, and often have the tv and dish on 24hr. a day. If I turned on the elec water it would be over $200.00 We get charged the $29 dist. fee weather we use any power or not.

 

[maple1]

Man, I can't get over the cheap electricity rates out there in places.