thanks for all the great input. The reading where actual readings, but you are right i should go check to make sure the numbers match.
electricity bill help
- Thread starter Charney
- Start date
Hello; It may be time to do some checking of the insulation and "tightness" of the house. I bought my first home a little over two years ago and have been chasing down problems since.
The first issue surfaced when I removed some paneling. I discovered that at each juncture where an inside wall joined an outside peremiter wall there was a gap with no insulation at all. I removed all the paneling from rooms that had it and sealed up those voids and added insulation. i replaced the old wall insulation with new.
I wrapped the hot water heater with an insulation blanket. I wrapped all the waterlines with foam insulation.
I turned the thermostats on the water heater tank down to about 120 degrees F or just warm enough to take a shower with only the hot turned on most of the time. I do have to blend in a bit of cold on these hot summer days.
My windows are drafty and I plan to deal with that at some point, but for now have been using a semipermanent system hat allows plastic sheeting to be simply added or removed for the winter months.
I just finished pulling the old insulation off the heat/AC ducting. I found many problems with the way the ducting was assembeled. In some cases with large gaps that were allowing the heat and cold to be blown into the crawl space and basement. I replaced or re-routed ductwork where needed and sealed all the seams with duct tape or mastic. I did the last section of new insulation wrap this afternoon. This was a job of many months spread out well over a year. I learned some new skills. I also will not consider a house with a crawl space if I need to move again. I was lucky enough to have a 2/3 full basement, but the last bit in the crawl space was a real chore.
I do not do a lot of oven cooking during warm weather.
I replaced all lights with CFL's.
Perhaps the biggest saver is that I do not run the AC except on the very hot days. I have window fans that will cool the house down most evenings. During the several 100+ days we had a short while back it was necessary to run ths AC. On most days I like to be out doing stuff and am able to get by without running the AC. Now that the duct work is back together the AC and heat should run with more effeciency.
I also had to work on the insulation in the attic as I found several problems there.
Check for the "chimney" effect, where there are oppenings in the walls, floor or ceiling which allow air to flow up or down. Light fixtures and places where plumbing and wires run are are common.
There are insulation foam packs that can be placed under the covers of electric outlets and switches on outsidw walls.
Good luck.
The first issue surfaced when I removed some paneling. I discovered that at each juncture where an inside wall joined an outside peremiter wall there was a gap with no insulation at all. I removed all the paneling from rooms that had it and sealed up those voids and added insulation. i replaced the old wall insulation with new.
I wrapped the hot water heater with an insulation blanket. I wrapped all the waterlines with foam insulation.
I turned the thermostats on the water heater tank down to about 120 degrees F or just warm enough to take a shower with only the hot turned on most of the time. I do have to blend in a bit of cold on these hot summer days.
My windows are drafty and I plan to deal with that at some point, but for now have been using a semipermanent system hat allows plastic sheeting to be simply added or removed for the winter months.
I just finished pulling the old insulation off the heat/AC ducting. I found many problems with the way the ducting was assembeled. In some cases with large gaps that were allowing the heat and cold to be blown into the crawl space and basement. I replaced or re-routed ductwork where needed and sealed all the seams with duct tape or mastic. I did the last section of new insulation wrap this afternoon. This was a job of many months spread out well over a year. I learned some new skills. I also will not consider a house with a crawl space if I need to move again. I was lucky enough to have a 2/3 full basement, but the last bit in the crawl space was a real chore.
I do not do a lot of oven cooking during warm weather.
I replaced all lights with CFL's.
Perhaps the biggest saver is that I do not run the AC except on the very hot days. I have window fans that will cool the house down most evenings. During the several 100+ days we had a short while back it was necessary to run ths AC. On most days I like to be out doing stuff and am able to get by without running the AC. Now that the duct work is back together the AC and heat should run with more effeciency.
I also had to work on the insulation in the attic as I found several problems there.
Check for the "chimney" effect, where there are oppenings in the walls, floor or ceiling which allow air to flow up or down. Light fixtures and places where plumbing and wires run are are common.
There are insulation foam packs that can be placed under the covers of electric outlets and switches on outsidw walls.
Good luck.
The fish part of my energy bill is approx, $150 per month, add another $40 per month for water.
I unplug the heaters in summer, and run all lights on timers so there is no more than a 10 hour light period.
I use old fish water to water the garden, and flush the toilet, then add new temp matched water to the tanks. I try to change 50 to 100 gallons per day.
I unplug the heaters in summer, and run all lights on timers so there is no more than a 10 hour light period.
I use old fish water to water the garden, and flush the toilet, then add new temp matched water to the tanks. I try to change 50 to 100 gallons per day.
Keep the lights off longer or change out to LED lighting. The initial cost is hard but worth the reduction in $$ every month. Also, consider propeller style power heads over conventional impeller style ones. The "old school" power heads use way more power than the prop type(like Hydor Koralia). Same goes with HOBs, if you can swing one big canister vs two big HOBs, you will save money by virtue of eliminating a pump. I realize all these things dont use much electricity on their own, but combining them and running them for 24/7, and having these same equipment repeated over several set-ups, it can add up quick.
Curious, why do you have two 200w heaters for a 90g? 1 would be more than enough. Just curious.
Those 48" T5 and T8 HO bulbs are really going to be the biggest users though.
Curious, why do you have two 200w heaters for a 90g? 1 would be more than enough. Just curious.
Those 48" T5 and T8 HO bulbs are really going to be the biggest users though.
LED's can be pricey but there are brands like beamworks that are very affordable for anyone
THE GOAT
THE GOAT
I couldn't believe it either. I'm still a little shell shocked from the whole thing. I hardly ever use my lights for more than a few minutes at a time but I have probably have close to 20 lights and most of them are vho or metal halides but I don't think it should have been that high either...I'm hoping it was something else but as of right now the only thing I can come up with is the lights. I don't like to think that they left a door open or something and sent the ac into overdrive but I'll probably never know. Even if my case was a fluke, the lights still cost money to run and the fish could care less most of the time.
heaters are the number 1 for energy consumption cause there actualy pulling serious amps continuously. the next is lighting. only use lights when your watching your fish. youl notice a huge difference. also state i notice is a biggie. california...... million dollars once you start climbing tiers. everywhere else... 2 bucks lol
How big of a place is this? And how much is your bill? I have a 4 level split, with central air, that is set at 72 degrees. I have 11 tanks running. This has been a very hot summer to say the least. My bill averages $220 in the summer, and around $130 the rest of the year when the AC is not on 24/7. It's me, my wife, and my daughter living here. We have 2 refrigerators, and a dehumidifier running in the lowest basement because of all the water from tanks down there. I am really curious as to how much your bill is, and how big of place you have. Since you are using widow A/C, the worst kind, I'm sure this is why your having a shock from your recent bill. Although the monthly electric for aquariums isn't free by any means, from what you say you have, there is no way it should be costing you more than $15 or $20 a month to run them.
My parents pay $1100 a month on electricity. Cuz we have a mansion...
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