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i think i may have figured out my HUGE electric bill

Z

zixxer

Diamond Member
I live in a townhouse.. past couple months have been $200 electric bills


Instead of leaving our A/C on auto, I leave it to ON (so that the a/c unit itself kicks on and off, but the fan is always circulating air) because otherwise the upstairs gets REALLY hot...

can a 'furnace' fan or whatever thats running 24/7 enough to really screw the electric bill?
 
Yes. My electric bill actually goes up in the cold months, even though I use oil heat, because the fan on my furnace has to go on all the time.
 
I live in a new home and the fan kicks in by itself randomly to circulate air even when the system is off.
 
That happened to me in the apt that I'm living. Heat rises therefore my upstairs is steaming hot. My electric bill was close to $200 unitl I turned to auto, but still expensive.
 
Stay downstairs. At my parents old house, they made the basement with this issue in mind and we rarely went on the main floor for anything except food. Computers, TV, couch and washroom were all in the basement.
 
Originally posted by: Jassi
Stay downstairs. At my parents old house, they made the basement with this issue in mind and we rarely went on the main floor for anything except food. Computers, TV, couch and washroom were all in the basement.
Click to expand...

ok my bedroom is upstairs. my roomate's bedroom is upstairs too... so that ain't happening
 
We had that problem in our townhouse as well. It may or may not work for you, but what we did was close all the vents on the lower floor. By forcing the air to go through the upper floor to the lower it kept everything pretty evenly cooled.
 
Originally posted by: GimpyOne
We had that problem in our townhouse as well. It may or may not work for you, but what we did was close all the vents on the lower floor. By forcing the air to go through the upper floor to the lower it kept everything pretty evenly cooled.
Click to expand...

that is exactly how i have it now... my and my roommates vents are open in our rooms, and the living room vent is cracked open.... but still the fan has to be set to ON or else the air just sits there and the upstairs gets really hot while the downstairs doesnt know it

 
Originally posted by: armatron
Originally posted by: GimpyOne
We had that problem in our townhouse as well. It may or may not work for you, but what we did was close all the vents on the lower floor. By forcing the air to go through the upper floor to the lower it kept everything pretty evenly cooled.
Click to expand...

that is exactly how i have it now... my and my roommates vents are open in our rooms, and the living room vent is cracked open.... but still the fan has to be set to ON or else the air just sits there and the upstairs gets really hot while the downstairs doesnt know it
Click to expand...

get a window a/c unit for your rooms, leave the doors shut at night, set it to auto or low, and only use it when you are in the room.
 
Originally posted by: Xafgoat
dont lie, you been growing the ganja havent you.
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Hah! I was just having a discussion about this with a ... friend. His electric bill is through the roof. The amount of climate control and ventilation required to, grow flowers, is insane apparently. I do believe the profit margins from selling these said flowers makes up the difference and then some.

Thank god I stopped buying flowers years ago.
 
The furnace fan doesn't use much electricity... $10 - $20 / month, but it is money well spent. The house will stay at a more even temperature and you will be comfortable at a higher temperature, thus the AC will run less (which uses a lot more power than the fan). Also close registers in basement and part-closed on main floor, with upstairs vents open all the way.
 
I have my furnace fan set to ON also, just to keep the air circulating through the house. It's not a huge power hog in comparison to the A/C.
 
Originally posted by: Safeway
Originally posted by: Xafgoat
dont lie, you been growing the ganja havent you.
Click to expand...


Hah! I was just having a discussion about this with a ... friend. His electric bill is through the roof. The amount of climate control and ventilation required to, grow flowers, is insane apparently. I do believe the profit margins from selling these said flowers makes up the difference and then some.

Thank god I stopped buying flowers years ago.
Click to expand...

It's a lot of effort. It's possible to buy variants of... flowers... that grow naturally outside-depending where you live. You can stick them in the middle of nowhere and let them sort it out. Problem is you risk rabbits/wahtever eating them, or people walking by noticing your flowers and picking them for themselves.

Yuo can get three harvests a year of.. flowers... by growing them in a strictly controlled environment, but it uses loads of power. A friend of mine did it at university where electricity wasn't charged for. He earned well from his flower stall.
 
All the blower fans i've taken out were 1/3 to 1/2hp. 750 watt per hp. So a 1/2 hp motor would use $21.60/month @ .08c/kwh. 1/3hp = $14.25/month
 
I run my furnace fan all the time.. no major power suckage that I can tell. Worth it, to keep the air circulating.
There is little you can do for upstairs rooms, especially when they have windows facing the afternoon sun.
 
Originally posted by: armatron
this sucks. upstairs is really hot as it is.. I dunno WTF else to do...
Click to expand...

Change the way air circulates. I'm assuming your thermostat is downstairs, so even though it stays cool longer downstairs, the upstairs has time to get hot before the AC kicks on again.

So close all of the vents downstairs, so all of the AC is blown upstairs. While hot air downstairs is pushing upstairs, the colder air will fall downstairs. The AC won't kick on again until the downtrairs reaches whatever temp you set.
 
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