Confused – chart of the electrical usage.
Dave Kilowatt Usage, Green = old house
Why am I using so much more electricity in the winter months than I do in the summer?
I am not sure. I did replace my entire AC system last summer with a 14 SEER unit that has saved a lot money for me, but I would think AC would use more than gas furnace blower.
I have my thermostat set at 80 in the summer and 65 in the winter.
Any ideas?
Update: I just had my furnace cleaned for the season and I had the tech measure the current draw on the furnace blower and it was 6.5 amps.
I could be that the blower on your furnace is using lots of juice. Also – do you have a gas water heater or electric?
Might be helpful to watch the meter when the furnace blower kicks in.
I have a gas water heater.
I installed a new 90% efficient, 95,000 BTU furnace to replace a 25 year old 125,000 BTU model. My gas use went down about 40 therm per month (25% as suggested by the reduction in furnace BTU). My electric use went up about 150 KW per month over previous years. Apparently the special combustion blower and slightly larger circulation fan are real electricity hogs.
I am trying to figure out myself where I am using up 300 KW/H a month even in the winter. I am figuring that 6.5 amps * 120 volts=780 watts. figure the blower is running at least 5 hours a day? If that is roughly correct, there is 150 KW/h right there. My blower motor is probably also about 6.5 amps. Not sure what to do about this….
So if you think a bit about it, if it’s only the fan to that consumes too much energy, it’s really not much of an issue. It’s additional electrical heating element to the furnace. Slightly less cost efficient, but not horrible? I’ve always tried to think like that.
Do you have a programmable thermostat? If not I’d try one as this will save you gas/electric in the overnight hours. Do you know at what temperature your furnace runs at during the day in the winter? One degree can be the difference between the furnace running all day and running occasionally. The new efficient furnaces may run more frequently for shorter periods as there is a smaller temperature variance when using these. How many speeds does your furnace fan motor have? Most new efficient furnaces can have anywhere from 4 to as many as 14 speeds usually run on low voltage. Does your furnace have a one stage or 2 stage gas valve? The new high efficiency furnaces have 2 stages. I just replaced my hvac system last year and used about the same amount of electricity during this winters heating season even though the avg daily temp was 3-4 degrees colder than last year.