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Old 10-03-12, 03:55 PM   #161
Xringer
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Does it go into hybrid mode and use the heating elements?

You might be able to tell how much power it's using in the two modes,
by turning off everything else in the house, and watching your main power meter.
I've used mine and it's an accurate way to measure power use.
(It's what they are going to charge you for anyways)..

I have one of these meters, Reading Itron Centron C1SR Digital Electric Meter - Watt emulator
and it's a snap to read the watt hours.

But, getting a baseline and using your bill should be fine too..

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Old 10-09-12, 11:49 PM   #162
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I was wondering if there was a way to insulate your basement walls to prevent heat loss. My thinking is that the floor would still give heat, and receive heat (flywheel effect)(I do realize that the floor is at 184' and the water table at 185'). Also, can the sump hole be closed off anymore to prevent humidity getting into the basement?

How about one of those down-spout heaters to warm up the basement? (such as on builditsolar...Scott). This could provide warm air in the winter, and the fan should easily run off the PV. And it would be an easier load on the PV versus the heating element.
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Old 10-10-12, 01:34 PM   #163
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I have been thinking about ways to prevent humidity, and adding lids to the sump holes are high on my list if ideas.
I have found that a coroplas lid on one of my new sump holes keeps the radon gas
flow down to normal, instead of spraying of dangerous levels!

I would love to make one of those down-spout heaters for the basement.
The number 1 looks great! Two Solar Air Heating Collectors Using Gutter Downspout Absorbers

My wife is very concerned about anything visible that might look different
than other houses on the street. So, until everyone else puts panels
or solar collectors on their houses, we will not have those "ugly" things on our house..

I have discovered one way to cut humidity, never again test the oil burner when it's really humid outdoors!
This month's test was during a rain shower! I should have looked outside before hitting the switch!
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Old 10-11-12, 09:51 AM   #164
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Default .9375 kWh per day

The first 8 days of the new measurements is 7.5 kWh.
With the basement temp at about 62F right now and the outdoor average temp at 57.6°F for the last seven days.
WOBURN WEATHER CENTER - Weekly Conditions

0.9375 x $00.1633 is about 15.31 cents per day. So far the A7 is doing ok.

That's 1/13 the price of a half gallon oil burn($2).
12.25 kWh costs $2.00.
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Old 10-11-12, 03:12 PM   #165
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Xringer View Post
...That's 1/13 the price of a half gallon oil burn($2).
12.25 kWh costs $2.00.
It would be really useful, since you're taking readings so often, if you made a graph that plotted cost per day or week or better kWh per day (or week), and also outside temperature, and also basement temperature... and used days (or weeks) for the X-axis.

It's good to know what your A7 costs are compared to what your oil costs would have been... perhaps you could include that also in the graph.

-AC
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Old 10-11-12, 06:02 PM   #166
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I was thinking of checking the meter once a month, but this morning when I saw
our power use was about the same as summer (70F in the basement), I decided to note it here.

Knowing what we are saving by not burning oil is pretty easy. $2 a day, (it was on a timer).
Since we will only be running the burner 15 minutes, once a month (not on rainy days), oil prices are becoming kinda irrelevant.

Even if our failed government keeps on failing, and oil goes to $10 or $20 a gallon (it's $4 today), it's unlikely to impact us.

200+ gallons at 1/4 gallon a month (test burns), is a long time.

So, unless it gets really-really cold, our 275 gallon oil tank (abt 7/8 full) could last until around the year 2080..

Unless, in a few years, I can sell it for $50 a gallon..
Of course, milk will likely be the same price..
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Old 10-11-12, 06:24 PM   #167
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Quote:
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That's 1/13 the price of a half gallon oil burn($2).
Wow, that's an amazing difference. Do you think the oil burner is that inefficient or the tank loses that much heat due to poor insulation, both of those or something else? It sounds almost too good to be true.
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Old 10-11-12, 06:48 PM   #168
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Quote:
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Wow, that's an amazing difference. Do you think the oil burner is that inefficient or the tank loses that much heat due to poor insulation, both of those or something else? It sounds almost too good to be true.
We used a timer to control the burns. Each morning, it would run for 1/2 hour. The nozzle is rated for 1 GPH.
So, the guesstimated cost is two bucks.
http://ecorenovator.org/forum/conser...ent-timer.html

We found that by being very conservative with the hot water, we could get
a couple showers or, a couple loads of wash done each day.
More than once we had to turn the burner on for a late evening shower.

But with the A7, we just use hot water when we need it and it's always ready.
There are only two of us, so it works a lot like a regular hot water heater.
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Old 10-22-12, 11:45 PM   #169
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Xringer View Post
Does it go into hybrid mode and use the heating elements?

You might be able to tell how much power it's using in the two modes,
by turning off everything else in the house, and watching your main power meter.
I've used mine and it's an accurate way to measure power use.
(It's what they are going to charge you for anyways)..

I have one of these meters,
and it's a snap to read the watt hours.

But, getting a baseline and using your bill should be fine too..

I've had my geospring for 2 1/2 years now.
When I first installed it I had it set on hybrid mode so it would use the elements if it deemed it necessary. After a little while I decided to turn it to eheat mode so it was heat pump only. During the summer I notice no difference, it runs for about an hour after each shower. During the winter when the garage gets down to the 40's I've heard it on for 3. I believe if my memory serves me at 41deg it automatically reverts to the elements. When I have guests staying with us I just press the high demand setting and it has no problems keeping up. Seems like under eheat mode it was using 430 watts when running and around 8000 during high demand settings.
It has been an incredible investment for us, we had been using 2 propane heaters burning over 1200$ a year. Since I've installed it I havnt had to call the propane company again. The only other use we have for propane is our stove, and at this rate I have enough propane for 25 years.

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Old 10-23-12, 03:05 PM   #170
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at this rate I have enough propane for 25 years.

LOL! That's kinda like our heating oil tank. It could last 25 years too.
Not sure that I'll be around to see it. But, if gasoline goes up to $35 a gallon,
diesel will be about the same. And, this #2 fuel oil works in diesel cars..

I wish Propane was cheaper, it would be good to be able to cook with it, in the kitchen.

My kid really burns up the propane. She cooks on her grill about 5 times a week.

I got her a Weber Q300 a while back and she liked it so much,
I got one for my wife too. Weber 2 Burner Electronic Ignition Portable Gas Grill - Walmart.com

Nothing like cooking on a gas grill..

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