Power Consumption thread

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The bill is for the previous month's usage, so 306kwh in October, 372kwh in November. AC is killing me: 894kwh in August. Heating bill is going to be insane... I need better insulation.
 

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I have no gas here, it's all electric. (my hot water is on the oil boiler ).

It seems like my bulb swaps have been a complete waste of time. And at $14 a pop for the led's, a complete waste of money.

I had incandescent bulbs in 2010-11. cfl's in late 2011-1early 13 and led's in most fixtures by this summer.
Your consumption is still rising because your major components are from 1997 and are becoming less and less efficient as time goes on. Lines gather sediment which increases friction, and therefore power required, and compressors wear, which increases friction, and therefore power required. 1997 probably wasn't a good year for consumers either, because all the energy star stuff was only started in 1992, and the 80's and 90's were a big time for making products last "long enough."
 
I keep the CFLs mainly because they run cooler and don't heat up my rooms as much- that's worth more to me than the energy savings directly from running them and not standard filament bulbs- and probably causes more savings from less AC running than from direct energy savings purely for light production.
 
Your consumption is still rising because your major components are from 1997 and are becoming less and less efficient as time goes on. Lines gather sediment which increases friction, and therefore power required, and compressors wear, which increases friction, and therefore power required. 1997 probably wasn't a good year for consumers either, because all the energy star stuff was only started in 1992, and the 80's and 90's were a big time for making products last "long enough."
Yeah, perhaps. They don't really show any signs of dying though. No weird noises... no noticeable running more than they used to (ive been here 6 years now)

i'm hoping to not have to replace anything anytime soon.
 
Buy a power strip with a switch, and shut off your entertainment center when it is not in use. The idea being the standby power over a long enough timeline will increase your bill. The microcontroller in each component (receiver, television, xbox, dvd, vcr (ha!), dvr) is still running even after you hit the power button.
 
478 KWh in November.
1030 WHh peak in August cooling a 1600 sq. ft ranch with a full basement.

The biggest sap of power is the electric water heater. A few years ago I switched from a desk top to a laptop and usage dropped significantly. I've been replacing burn out bulbs with CFL's.

Pretty sure my 20 year old refrigerator isn't helping things.
 
The whole upstairs of the new house has big 70 watt floods... I want to replace them all with LEDs but nice warm-colored ones that that don't make the house look like an alien movie set are like $35-40 each. It'll take 4-5 years at least to see any returns.
 
Buy a power strip with a switch, and shut off your entertainment center when it is not in use. The idea being the standby power over a long enough timeline will increase your bill. The microcontroller in each component (receiver, television, xbox, dvd, vcr (ha!), dvr) is still running even after you hit the power button.

I'm no expert, but I imagine the total power used by those components in standby mode amounts to no more than a few pennies a month.

And your dvr needs to be in standby in order to record stuff while you're not home if you have timers set and such.
 
747 KWH in Dec ---- 1483KWH in July. our highest bill has been $220 and our lowest has been $84

2500sq Contemporary with oil heat,hot water. 3 TV's, 2 computers, W/D, Stove, 2 Fridges, Microwave. No LED bulbs, my wife hates them. phones always charging etc...
 
get a pellet stove dude.
I spent like $5000 my first winter in the house (oil was also 4.75 or something back then), bought the stove the next year.
now, I spend about $1000 on pellets and about $500 on oil for a whole heating season. sometimes a little more on oil if its REALLY cold. and it's looking to be that way this year. The stove has a hard time keeping the house over 64 when it's in the teens alone. If I was planning to stay here for a while, I'd look into getting a 2nd stove for my lower level, as that's where a lot of the cold air comes in from.
 
get a pellet stove dude.
I spent like $5000 my first winter in the house (oil was also 4.75 or something back then), bought the stove the next year.
now, I spend about $1000 on pellets and about $500 on oil for a whole heating season. sometimes a little more on oil if its REALLY cold. and it's looking to be that way this year. The stove has a hard time keeping the house over 64 when it's in the teens alone. If I was planning to stay here for a while, I'd look into getting a 2nd stove for my lower level, as that's where a lot of the cold air comes in from.

i may just do that.....iIm wondering if i get a pellet insert for the fireplace or a pellet stove...i'm going to call CT Appliance in Southington and have someone come out and look at my house and give me an evaluation
 
I got an insert. if i had to do it again, i'd get a free-standing unit.
easier to clean, maintain, still have use of the fireplace in a power outage, piping is cheaper, plus the generally through more heat.
 
64 inside the house wtf!!! Reminds me of the time we went to PA for xmas to visit the wifes family, it was miserable, everyone keeps their houses antarctic cold, had to wear socks and jackets 24 hours a day. Down here we dont need heat, but its looking like the AC will be on for christmas this year!
 
I remember when chet (remember him?) would come home from school in the summer and we would all be in shorts and tee's and he had a hoodie on. lol

When i burned oil only, i kept the place around 62, with the stove, i like it around 66-68 as the heat needs to travel and cools before it gets to the rooms upstairs a bit.

People are adaptable.
 
Anyone hear from Chet? I bought my crx from his mom

I have natural gas for the first time and it is cheap. Heating for my apt is a lot less than when I had my condo. My apt is 100 sq feet bigger than my condo was and it has more windows that are old and drafty. My condo had newer windows and electric heat. For a comparable month temperature wise I would have had about a 250-270 electric bill and now gas and electric bill are $130 combined.
 
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