Main > Everything Else
Household Electricity Consumption
Kevin Mullins:
Have any of you ever done an analysis on individual appliance electricity consumption in your homes and whatnot?
My bill fluctuates so drastically it's not funny anymore, well, ...... never was.
But over the last three years I have seen dramatic increases in usage in relationship to previous.
So we figure we're gonna sit down and try to figure up what each large appliance and even some smaller stuff (like PC's) are using per hour.
We have a digital electric meter, so the big stuff is easy to figure out like the heater, AC, water well, water heater, dryer, etc.
But I may also pick up one of those gizmos you can plug in the wall and then plug something into to check what it draws.
I know some of the increases is also due to bad habits being developed by members of the household. (teenagers)
Overloading the washer, twice the drying time, leaving tv's and stereos on when they leave, doing extra laundry because they want to wear something specific the next day, that sort of thing.
I also know a lot of my larger appliances are getting quite old now, so this could be scary...........
I know my last bill was. :laugh2:
richms:
The killer I found was a fridge - as it lost its gas it was just running almost all the time - you never notice it because its still cold enough, until it finally dies and only gets cold - all while running constantly.
Apparently some of the new ones will alert you if they have excessive run times, but I only have ever had old ones.
Blanka:
Found this
Kevin Mullins:
--- Quote from: richms on February 05, 2009, 05:06:37 am ---The killer I found was a fridge -
--- End quote ---
Yes, that is one thing I definitely want to check as mine is getting old too.
"Works" fine, but it's been around awhile now.
--- Quote from: Blanka on February 05, 2009, 08:53:33 am ---Found this
--- End quote ---
I did some quick browsing around for stuff like that, but it seemed hard to find some "averages" of major appliances that actually agreed with eachother. (or even remotely close to eachother)
For instance.... What is that "average" draw of a household electric furnace?
I know this can vary greatly due to age, brands, etc. But you would think there would be some middle ground statistics available for an average.
Like one site I came across said something like between 1-5 kwh........
Uh, I just checked mine and it was pulling 14.4 kwh !!
And there seemed to be another 6 kwh being pulled at that time by who knows what.
Hoopz:
Your local electric/power company may have a program where they come out, for free, and review your home for various items to help you find problems. They can test your windows/doors for leaks that would indicate your heat or a/c would be running too much and test your vents to see if enough pressure is coming out (for forced air that is) which can indicate problems with your air handler or problems with duct work.
May be worth a shot to find out about. Or, shoot the teenagers! ;D
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version