I’m looking for ways to monitor the electrical usage for each circuit in my house (preferably in instant amperage draw, and in total KwH per circuit).
I already own a Kill-A-Watt, which is a niftly little device, but can only measure one outlet at a time. I highly recommend this.
I’m basically wanting something that is “whole house” that does the same thing the Kill-A-Watt does— give me a real-time energy consumption measurement.
The electrical consumption in my house is killing me. My gas/electric bill is $300 even on mild-temp months, and it’s 1500sf with three adults, three kids. Maybe that’s not all that bad, but I think we should be able to knock quite a bit off of it. I’d like to see the lower bills down to around $150.
This last $300 bill would have been largely gas heater usage, not electric HVAC. No electrical heat strips.
Our HVAC is literally brand new, a 16 SEER unit (which didn’t run much at all this first month). Gas is an 80% efficiency unit, which was my only option in a combo pack.
Suggestions for a whole house electric consumption monitoring system?
A circuit by circuit monitor is expensive, very expensive. My knee jerk would be to look into the insulation of the house. Mine, built in the early 60’s is terrible. I have plugged holes and stopped air gaps for 10 years now.
A simple clamp on amp meter will give you a reading but few offer a means of recording the data. With the number of people I am not sure you are going to see a 150 power bill.
Go to your gas company and see if they will give you a monthly rate that stays the same all year long. I did this with Piedmont natural gas in Charlotte and got a monthly rate of $80 for a 3100sf house with gas hot water and 2 gas furnaces
It lets me know if something has gone whackadoodle on me in terms of energy use (like a refrigerator running constantly, or if it’s costing me more than I expected).
Also gives me a real-world understanding of what each device costs me per month. My old fridge is running me $20-30 a month if I remember my math correctly.
Also you can use the Kill-A-Watt to measure your power tools to see how much current they are actually drawing. I measured my 1500 watt electric heater (which we nearly never use except in emergencies) and it actually pulls only 1200 watts.
quote:Originally posted by dirty white boy
Go to your gas company and see if they will give you a monthly rate that stays the same all year long. I did this with Piedmont natural gas in Charlotte and got a monthly rate of $80 for a 3100sf house with gas hot water and 2 gas furnaces
The gas, so far, has been pretty reasonable.
quote:Originally posted by Striker
Square D makes an electronic panel that will show you the power usage and trend of any circuit. It’s about 7,000 for the panel.
Yeah it would take a REALLY long time to recoup the costs of that! Thanks for the info.
We have a gas pack unit, and have steadily watched our fuel cost rise over the past 5 years. I think the only solution is to start sealing up your house. If you are on a crawl space, you might want to add my plans to your to do list. I plan to completely seal up the crawl space with insulation board and spray foam. You need to create a truly sealed house to keep all that heat in. High ceilings will make this feat next to impossible though as all that heat rises, that or learn to live with cold feet.
We have a 2500 s/f house with a gas heat system, and last month with the extreme cold temps our bill was $385. I plan to seal the crawl, and go gas water heater and stove in the near future if I plan to stay in this house.
This in Cola though, I have no doubt their is a premium on energy cost down there in Charleston.
I agree with the sealing up the house. I have a 2 story 2200sf home, 2 elec ac units. My bill is never higher than $135 in the coldest of months, and as low as $37 in the spring (have hade duke out to verify my meter isnt screwed up). I added extra insulation in the attic, upwards of R40, we had new windows installed a few years ago, and I’ve replaced all the weather striping around the doors. our biggest usage is water hearer and cooking. Duke does a great break down for us. Make sure you service your water heater every 6 months, draining it to get the sediment our which will make the elements work harder or not last. monitor hot water usage. How old are your appliances? I have all new appliances within the past 2 years, that deff helps. We wash at least 2 loads of laundry (2 kids make a mess) and at least one load in dishwasher. Just a few things to look into.
Woo Hoo - energy expert here. I’ve done a few hundred audits and have seen some crazy stuff, and people wonder why there bills are high. Well you can’t leave the kitchen door cracked open in the winter to warm the garage to keep the dogs warm - for free, and other interesting stuff.
Go online to your account at www.sceg.com sign up for an energy audit. They will give you a written report and some free stuff.
The basic concepts haven’t changed in decades. HVAC, water heating, insulation, ventilation and infiltration. Control these and your bill will be low. I’m in a 2800 sq ft house, 2-story and my monthly average is $130. I’ve written expensively on this topic here before.
The method I like to use to conquer this problem is to review the bills and determine the baseline costs then the HVAC costs. That divides the problem and helps find the solution. Then audit the house looking for things that will cause what we found from the bills. Then fix it.
Unfortunately one of the biggest issues we continue to see is with HVAC. Oversized, incorrectly installed and poor duct work. These can be very expensive to fix. Some of the dealers should be taken on a fishing trip and get thrown overboard. You can have a quality 16 SEER unit but if it’s oversized or poorly installed you still have a problem.
Hopefully that isn’t your issue.
If you want some help, send me a PM and let’s talk. Give me permission to look at your bill online and I can give you some quick/valuable info. I’ll need your address. There is no reason your bill shouldn’t be less than $200 a month.
… The Cross of Christ is the anvil upon which the hammer of evil wore itself out.
This is what I was going to recommend for what you are looking for. Some guys I worked with invented this thing right here in Charleston. I have no clue how much they cost!
Trying to get our electric bill down too. Anyone know of someone that does attic insulation? We have an older house, built in 1974 and the attic insulation is in bad shape. We have had the AC looked at and new duct work throughout the house. Thinking next is attic insulation.
Trying to get our electric bill down too. Anyone know of someone that does attic insulation? We have an older house, built in 1974 and the attic insulation is in bad shape. We have had the AC looked at and new duct work throughout the house. Thinking next is attic insulation.
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I did mine myself last year. Bought the insulation from Lowes, got to use their blower for free. Took me about half a day and cost $600. Put about 12 inches of insulation in. Had a pretty good decrease in the energy bill.
Dolph Rodenberg in the person with the electricity monitor for the whole house. I used Carolina Green Energy to tighten up my house -843) 766-6070 - Bennie and H.B. did a great job. Cut my energy usage by 10%.