Thermostat = increased electric bill?

[briggsy13]

Hello everyone. I haven't been around much lately but still a happy pellet stove owner. It has make our winters comfortable and affordable, a huge improvement from our oil heat.

So my question is about thermostats and electricity usage. My husband installed a thermostat this year. I've loved having it at a constant temperature and not waking up to an 80 degree house cause the stove kept running even though the temp outside rose.

Anyway I just got our latest electric bill and our usage is up again. usually this time of year our usage is down since we aren't running AC and the pellet stove doesn't use much electric. Is it the shutting down and starting up that's causing the increase?

Thanks everyone in advance for your replies.

 

[Enigma869]

I can't imagine ANY thermostat on the market would increase any significant electricity usage for anyone. I'm no electrician, but I suspect that all thermostats draw VERY little electricity to operate. I would imagine it's on par with a nightlight, if not even less.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I can't imagine ANY thermostat on the market would increase any significant electricity usage for anyone. I'm no electrician, but I suspect that all thermostats draw VERY little electricity to operate. I would imagine it's on par with a nightlight, if not even less.

However starting up from off requires that igniter fire up which is a high use device (relatively) you might want to rethink your run mode.

 

[briansol]

Yeah, try hi/lo instead of on/off to save ignitor cycles. That's a heavy draw (400+ watts) for 10+ min everytime it kicks on

 

[briggsy13]

Thank! you confirmed my thoughts. Time to switch to hi/lo. Thanks again

And yes Enigma869 I don't think its the thermostat, but the starting up and shutting down of the actual unit that uses all the electricity.

 

[moey]

Assuming worse case 10 minutes draw of 600w at 15c kw/hr. Worse case I doubt your igniter is staying on 10 minutes.

10/60 * .15 * 600/1000 = . 015c each cycle. Yes one penny and half each on/off cycle.

10 cycles a day is .15c. For a month that would be $4.50

In my opinion you have a problem elsewhere.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Assuming worse case 10 minutes draw of 600w at 15c kw/hr. Worse case I doubt your igniter is staying on 10 minutes.

10/60 * .15 * 600/1000 = . 015c each cycle. Yes one penny and half each on/off cycle.

10 cycles a day is .15c. For a month that would be $4.50

In my opinion you have a problem elsewhere.

The fan operation is also different during both start up and shut down.

 

[john193]

I stuck my kill a watt on my stove and at startup it was consuming 380 and about 27 watts when running. Over a 24 hour span with temps in the 20s and 35 for the high, I consumed about 1.044 kW in 24 hours. My stove cycles at least 5/6 times a day. At about 14.5 cents per kW/hr, running the stove costs me about $4.5 a month. A negligible amount.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Increases are relative to the users normal bill and on my bill I'd notice a $4.50 monthly increase as it would be over 8% higher than last month's bill.

ETA: And I'm always looking for ways to shave it.

 

[briggsy13]

Well $4.50 I probably wouldn't notice, but there are plenty of days its cycling on and off way more than 10 times. Our house is not well insulated so it doesn't maintain its temperature very well. Which I would blame on all the cycling. Our electric costs .13 per kWh, is that high?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

What swing setting are you running with?

 

[briggsy13]

What swing setting are you running with?

Not sure? My husband did all that. I don't think it was a nice enough thermostat to have swing settings? Is that possible?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Yes but even the ones that don't have swing settings you can change still usually have a dead zone around the set point.

 

[briggsy13]

Yes but even the ones that don't have swing settings you can change still usually have a dead zone around the set point.

I'm not sure what that is, sorry. I'll have to ask him about it and see if it can be adjusted so it isn't coming on and off as much.

 

[Jack Morrissey]

Hello everyone. I haven't been around much lately but still a happy pellet stove owner. It has make our winters comfortable and affordable, a huge improvement from our oil heat.

So my question is about thermostats and electricity usage. My husband installed a thermostat this year. I've loved having it at a constant temperature and not waking up to an 80 degree house cause the stove kept running even though the temp outside rose.

Anyway I just got our latest electric bill and our usage is up again. usually this time of year our usage is down since we aren't running AC and the pellet stove doesn't use much electric. Is it the shutting down and starting up that's causing the increase?

Thanks everyone in advance for your replies.

I doubt your increase is because you have added a thermostat. !!

 

[john193]

Well sure, to each their own. The idea of a thermostat is to save fuel, and at 5 bucks a bag, assuming the thermostat decreases fuel consumption by 15%, you are still netting a savings (75 cents saved/day).

 

[moey]

Out of curiosity how many kw/hr do you think your bill went up by?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Out of curiosity how many kw/hr do you think your bill went up by?

Shouldn't have to think if she has both bills.

ETA:

john193, thats a good one, I always thought that a thermostat's function was to have the hvac maintain a set temperature. Large setbacks with a lot of pellet stove results in less than ideal temperatures at times. Recovery becomes problematical due to lack of heating power.

 

[briggsy13]

Ok so the last months was 36 days and the prior was 25 billing period (we do our own meter reading so the days vary depending on when I enter it) so after averaging out the daily usage and then multiplying by 30 I got only a difference of 65 kWh. Guess its not as considerable as I thought.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Which is about 32 light ups per day.

 

[moey]

Your water probably is colder too causing more electric usage for whatever you use to make hot water ( specially if you have a electric tank) . Your stove is now running a lot more then it did last month. And of course cycling on off. Probably have the lights on in the evening more then last month as its darker at night.

Our electric bill was 1600kw last month Id hardly notice 65kw. But we have geothermal heat which contributed to about 800kw last month.

 

[john193]

Ok so the last months was 36 days and the prior was 25 billing period (we do our own meter reading so the days vary depending on when I enter it) so after averaging out the daily usage and then multiplying by 30 I got only a difference of 65 kWh. Guess its not as considerable as I thought.

Was it the Xmas light? I'm sure mine will be going up because the mrs likes the house lit up.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Your water probably is colder too causing more electric usage for whatever you use to make hot water ( specially if you have a electric tank) . Your stove is now running a lot more then it did last month. And of course cycling on off. Probably have the lights on in the evening more then last month as its darker at night.

Our electric bill was 1600kw last month Id hardly notice 65kw. But we have geothermal heat which contributed to about 800kw last month.

Usually water supply temperatures don't vary all that much between winter and summer.

briggsy13,

How is your stove setup to run on the t-stat?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Was it the Xmas light? I'm sure mine will be going up because the mrs likes the house lit up.

Led lights.

ETA: The highest usage here was for December of 2009 at 749 or so KWh, had just a few miniature outdoor lights up, plenty of light.

 

[briggsy13]

We just put up the tree this week so its not that yet. The stove is set to 5 9? I believe and it is just set to run at the set thermostat setting, currently at 74 to keep the back of the house comfortable too. Is that what you mean?