Does it make SENSE, to monitor your homes energy. - Page 3

Wanna Beco · 01-13-21, 12:02 PM

So for some reason on my power companies website, the comparison page is missing. In dollars though, my bill was $90 Less this month than January of 2020. ($200 vs $112)

Now you may be thinking that we must have a sealed house. That is not true and here is why. We have not turned on our HVAC for a few months. NO HEAT! And that is what is so frustrating about this month's bill. That $112 bucks is all plugins. I can not really control for that with insulation.

My big expense is my hot water heater. I actually bought new insulation for it last month and rewrapped it. I did not have my sense last Dec. so I do not know what it was using. This billing cycle though it used 200KWH!!!! That alone is 24.5 percent of my electricity for this month. Now usually is uses around 3 kWh a day. I keep an eye on that as it is older. Well, yesterday it used 6.5 kWh. It has never used that much in one day.

The unit itself is 9-10 years old. Last January I cleaned it out and changed the elements. I am going to clean it out again, and I think I will switch the elements as I know the bottom one does most of the work (I think) Either way I think switching them during a service is a good idea. My Anode rod seems to be on the outlet line. I have never changed ANY anode rod before, but this one seems tricky. The videos that I watch all have the anode rod that is separate. Also, I know that I will have to cut the old rod with a grinder and the new one will have to be segmented so it can go in because I have very little clearance above the tank. Anyone ever done this before with this type of system?

Anyway that is my update

Elcam84 · 01-13-21, 12:17 PM

Yup electric waterheaters cost far more to operate than the general public realizes. Usually you can assume it costs about $50 a month to operate for a typical household.

We will be going with a heatpump waterheater when I move the waterheater during the remodel. Use less electricity, cool and dehumidify the air yes please...

As for the anode rod. If your water eats it away quickly most likely you won't have much of it left and it will just come right out. If there is any left it'll probably be thin enough to just bend. If it's bigger than that then it probably doesn't need to be replaced yet.

Wanna Beco · 01-13-21, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elcam84

Yup electric water heaters cost far more to operate than the general public realizes. .

YES! I lived in an appartment prior to owning this home. I lived in this apartment for 11 years. It had a gas water heater(HWH). The HWH was the only gas appliance, in fact, the HWH was stored outside, in the laundry room. In the summertime here in PHX, I just turned it completely off. Shower after 8 am and it was a perfect temp... If you showered in the afternoon, it was too hot to "cool" you, but it still got you clean. The point is, I didn't even use the gas in the summer. My highest gas bill ever was 19 bucks. Probably averaged around 4 dollars a month year-round. In 11 years in that apartment, I NEVER once used the heater (which was electric anyway). My cat however would sleep on a small heating pad.

Wanna Beco · 02-10-21, 06:51 PM

Today was a big surprise. This is the first bill we have had under 100 bucks. Quite a savings over the same month last year. Over $40 in saving and my wife still won't give me a cookie.

Wanna Beco · 03-03-21, 12:54 PM

Here is another thing about the sense device. Since it is connected to their servers, you get a comparison between all sense homes. Here's mine.

Wanna Beco · 03-24-21, 01:26 AM

Another good surprise. We have another bill, the lowest in history as far as this house is concerned. It takes a lot of discipline to not use power between 3 and 8 pm. I had to install a wifi-enabled outlet on the washer and I have it turned off between those hours. No more "accidents".Hope your spring is going as well as mine.

Wanna Beco · 03-24-21, 01:37 AM

The water heater was most used. Here is a youtube video showing a breakdown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feYU...nnel=ACoustaDC

Elcam84 · 04-04-21, 01:39 PM

One really good use of those is being able to record usage on a separate panel like a panel for a shop where you have the ability to write off the electrical usage on your business taxes.

I would like to know how much power I use in my shop so I could have an idea of the impact on the overall house bill. here is no way to use it to save electricity as there isn't anything you can cut back on. The air compressor is the biggest user followed by the AC which isn't really as bad as you would think, though it's an undersized 2 ton window unit. Really need another ton of AC in there.

Wanna Beco · 04-25-21, 08:00 PM

Savings of 22 bucks this month... and another month just barely under a hundred. My wife came home and asked me to turn on the Air Conditioning today. I said, "I'm good" and she dropped it. Rare that she asks me, but I just have ice water. Think cool thoughts.

Wanna Beco · 08-07-21, 02:37 PM

So, something interesting. I have the ecobee. With that device, there is no way to set the AC to come on at a specific time. I have looked into this quite a bit and can find no solutions.

With my power company we have a time of use plan, and between 3pm and 8pm are our highest prices on electricity usage. Ideally I would run the AC during those hours for 10 minutes each hour and keep the house at a more even temp. As it is now, I go from a 75F setting at 2pm to an 82F setting at 3 where it remains until 8PM.

The problem is the AC takes a longer time to recover at 8 and we are pretty uncomfortable from 3 to 8. To combat this I tried something a bit different. There is a setting to keep the air circulating with just the fan on. I have the fan running 24/7. Also I changed the temp for that time period from 82 to 80. We have been more comfortable as you can imagine. The hit to the power bill was 6 bucks more this month than the same month last year. I think Six bucks is worth it. OH, and according to Sense, my fan uses 100 watts an hour to use. No perfect but not bad.

01-13-21, 12:02 PM	#21
Wanna Beco Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Phoenix Posts: 69 Thanks: 10 Thanked 12 Times in 9 Posts	So for some reason on my power companies website, the comparison page is missing. In dollars though, my bill was $90 Less this month than January of 2020. ($200 vs $112) Now you may be thinking that we must have a sealed house. That is not true and here is why. We have not turned on our HVAC for a few months. NO HEAT! And that is what is so frustrating about this month's bill. That $112 bucks is all plugins. I can not really control for that with insulation. My big expense is my hot water heater. I actually bought new insulation for it last month and rewrapped it. I did not have my sense last Dec. so I do not know what it was using. This billing cycle though it used 200KWH!!!! That alone is 24.5 percent of my electricity for this month. Now usually is uses around 3 kWh a day. I keep an eye on that as it is older. Well, yesterday it used 6.5 kWh. It has never used that much in one day. The unit itself is 9-10 years old. Last January I cleaned it out and changed the elements. I am going to clean it out again, and I think I will switch the elements as I know the bottom one does most of the work (I think) Either way I think switching them during a service is a good idea. My Anode rod seems to be on the outlet line. I have never changed ANY anode rod before, but this one seems tricky. The videos that I watch all have the anode rod that is separate. Also, I know that I will have to cut the old rod with a grinder and the new one will have to be segmented so it can go in because I have very little clearance above the tank. Anyone ever done this before with this type of system? Anyway that is my update Attached Thumbnails

02-10-21, 06:51 PM	#24
Wanna Beco Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Phoenix Posts: 69 Thanks: 10 Thanked 12 Times in 9 Posts	Today was a big surprise. This is the first bill we have had under 100 bucks. Quite a savings over the same month last year. Over $40 in saving and my wife still won't give me a cookie. Attached Thumbnails

03-03-21, 12:54 PM	#25
Wanna Beco Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Phoenix Posts: 69 Thanks: 10 Thanked 12 Times in 9 Posts	Here is another thing about the sense device. Since it is connected to their servers, you get a comparison between all sense homes. Here's mine. Attached Thumbnails

03-24-21, 01:26 AM	#26
Wanna Beco Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Phoenix Posts: 69 Thanks: 10 Thanked 12 Times in 9 Posts	Another good surprise. We have another bill, the lowest in history as far as this house is concerned. It takes a lot of discipline to not use power between 3 and 8 pm. I had to install a wifi-enabled outlet on the washer and I have it turned off between those hours. No more "accidents".Hope your spring is going as well as mine. Attached Thumbnails

04-25-21, 08:00 PM	#29
Wanna Beco Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Phoenix Posts: 69 Thanks: 10 Thanked 12 Times in 9 Posts	Savings of 22 bucks this month... and another month just barely under a hundred. My wife came home and asked me to turn on the Air Conditioning today. I said, "I'm good" and she dropped it. Rare that she asks me, but I just have ice water. Think cool thoughts. Attached Thumbnails

01-13-21, 12:17 PM	#22
Elcam84 Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: TX Posts: 275 Thanks: 2 Thanked 31 Times in 24 Posts	Yup electric waterheaters cost far more to operate than the general public realizes. Usually you can assume it costs about $50 a month to operate for a typical household. We will be going with a heatpump waterheater when I move the waterheater during the remodel. Use less electricity, cool and dehumidify the air yes please... As for the anode rod. If your water eats it away quickly most likely you won't have much of it left and it will just come right out. If there is any left it'll probably be thin enough to just bend. If it's bigger than that then it probably doesn't need to be replaced yet.

04-04-21, 01:39 PM	#28
Elcam84 Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: TX Posts: 275 Thanks: 2 Thanked 31 Times in 24 Posts	One really good use of those is being able to record usage on a separate panel like a panel for a shop where you have the ability to write off the electrical usage on your business taxes. I would like to know how much power I use in my shop so I could have an idea of the impact on the overall house bill. here is no way to use it to save electricity as there isn't anything you can cut back on. The air compressor is the biggest user followed by the AC which isn't really as bad as you would think, though it's an undersized 2 ton window unit. Really need another ton of AC in there.

08-07-21, 02:37 PM	#30
Wanna Beco Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Phoenix Posts: 69 Thanks: 10 Thanked 12 Times in 9 Posts	So, something interesting. I have the ecobee. With that device, there is no way to set the AC to come on at a specific time. I have looked into this quite a bit and can find no solutions. With my power company we have a time of use plan, and between 3pm and 8pm are our highest prices on electricity usage. Ideally I would run the AC during those hours for 10 minutes each hour and keep the house at a more even temp. As it is now, I go from a 75F setting at 2pm to an 82F setting at 3 where it remains until 8PM. The problem is the AC takes a longer time to recover at 8 and we are pretty uncomfortable from 3 to 8. To combat this I tried something a bit different. There is a setting to keep the air circulating with just the fan on. I have the fan running 24/7. Also I changed the temp for that time period from 82 to 80. We have been more comfortable as you can imagine. The hit to the power bill was 6 bucks more this month than the same month last year. I think Six bucks is worth it. OH, and according to Sense, my fan uses 100 watts an hour to use. No perfect but not bad.