15% more house, 55% - 118% higher elec. bill

16 years ago

I don't know if it's possible to find an answer to our problem, but I'd appreciate your help in figuring it out.

Last winter, we moved to a house that is about 15% larger than our previous house. It's in the same metro area, so the climate hasn't changed and the power company is the same. The former house was one story on slab except for a bonus room over the garage, which had its own A/C system. Both the larger and smaller units were located in the attic. The current house is a 2-story over an unfinished basement with 3 systems; one serves the main level, one serves three bedrooms & 2 bathrooms up; and the third serves two small rooms above the kitchen plus a larger room over the garage. One unit is in the basement and the other two are in attics. The houses are about the same age, full brick with similar roof color, and double pane windows. Both houses have gas water heaters and furnaces. (Let me know if I left out anything pertinent.)

Previously, our college age children visited frequently. This summer, they've only been home for about a week, so we keep the system that cools their bedrooms set about 4 or 5 degrees higher than downstairs.

As summer progressed, I noticed that the small bonus rooms got pretty hot by midday. Dh installed some reflective barrier (looks sort of like XL heavy duty foil) in the south and west sides of the attics. We haven't noticed much difference.

The thermostat for the third system sits in a long narrow room with a sloped ceiling and no windows that connects the other two bonus rooms. It will often read the room temp as 85+ when a small thermometer a few feet away will read 78. As a result, the A/C will run almost constantly during the day. I've gotten in the habit of setting that thermostat above 80 during the day and turning it down to 77 if we use the room at night or early in the morning. (This is compared to 74 - 75 on the main floor.) I'd set it higher but I'm concerned about controlling humidity.

Our former house had very efficient, high SEER two-stage systems for both the main floor and the bonus room. This house has the typical single-stage builder's basic 13 SEER equipment. I never would have guessed it could make such a difference. Folks told us that our former house would be an energy hog because it was essentially one big level with lots of roof area. But our electric bills here this spring and summer have been at least half again as much and in one month it was 118% higher.

We could find ourselves moving again as soon as next summer (got that news just after we bought this house), or we could be here as long as four years. Since April, we've paid an additional $600 for electricity, most of which must be the A/C. By the end of the cooling season, we'll probably have paid at least $1K more compared to the previous two years. Let's gamble that we'll be here four more years and will pay that extra $1K per year if we don't change anything. Is there anything we could do for less than $4K that would reduce our cooling costs and make the house more comfortable? In reality, my dh may only want to spring for half that, on the assumption that we're just as likely to move early as to stay.

Thanks for your advice!

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Comments (9)

tigerdunes
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
badin

First of all, you are making assumption that the increase in your electric utility bill is directly attributed to your HVAC equipment. It may or may not be. My suggestion is to call your electric utility. Most large electric utilities have residential energy specialists on their staff. Explain your problem. Ask if they perform energy audits. If not, ask if they can recommend a company. You want an independent, objective company to perform the audit not someone just interested in selling you something.

I would make a list of all energy consuming appliances in your home including your HVAC equipment. List size, model, brand, age of both inside and outside units. As a process of elimination, you might consider cutting off all HVAC equipment for about 12 hours and get an idea of what your home is normally consuming in wattage without the HVAC being on.

This would be my starting point.

Good LucK!
don21
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
You were living on a slab and now you're living over an unheated basement - Is the floor over the basement insulated?

Don
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badin
Original Author
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks for your replies.

Last ? first: Don, there is no insulation beneath the first floor. The one side of the basement that is above grade has batt insulation; there are a couple of windows and one door on that wall. The remaining walls are poured concrete. The basement has felt warm this summer, but not hot. I asked dh if he thought it might help to DIY foam insulation under the floor. Not too surprisingly, he's not keen on doing that job but might have to add it to his list.

Don, another question - one of the bonus rooms is long and narrow. I think that only the 4' side walls are insulated and not the steeply sloped ceiling, which is pretty close to the roof. Dh installed foil in its south side, as far as he could reach. There are soffit and ridge vents, plus above the adjoining bonus room there's a fan that's triggered by a thermostat. Might it help to have someone spray insulation under the roof assuming they can even reach?

tigerdunes, yes we're guessing that the A/C is the culprit and we might be wrong. We run fewer electric appliances at this house. For example, we previously had a large refrig/freezer in the garage that was purchased by the buyers of that house. Here we bought energy star rated Whirlpool W/D to replace the old units, and the d/w is an Asko & is also supposedly more efficient. We've never left the HVAC fan "on" (as opposed to the "auto" setting) because we don't have the 5" media filters on these systems.

I'd prefer not to cut off the A/C for 12 hrs. because we're in the south and it would get miserable inside quickly. However, if we can't find some solutions, we might have to do that. It will take me a while to get the model # and other info on the three systems, as I have some mobility problems.

Our power company does not offer energy audits, even for a fee, and it also does not refer to anyone for that service. I've been checking the BBB and yellow pages, but so far no luck.

The builder has since told me that some insulation is missing in the attic adjoining the bonus rooms, and he's supposed to get his sub out here to take care of that soon. Last winter, our home inspector noted some other insulation missing and we were told that it had all been replaced before closing. The areas that I could see were indeed fixed, but clearly some was skipped.

Thanks again -
dallasbill
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Unless RB is on all attic roof surfaces, it won't do a bit of good. Radiant heat is radiant heat. It comes from everywhere, not just the south and west. It's the same air temp outside heating all surfaces on all sides of the house at 5pm.
don21
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
The biggest killer in A/C energy bills is the temperature of the attic - Anything you can do to lower that will help. Ridge vents, turbines, attic ventilation fans and so forth. If you can lower the temperature in the attic by 30 degrees, your attic insulation will do a much better job of keeping the inside of your house cool. Consider metal roofing next time your roof needs replacing as that will cool your attic considerably over built up asphalt shingles - The metal reflects heat while the shingles absorb it

Adding more attic insulation cetainly helps too - Think they recommend 18 inches in the south (I live there too)

Don
badin
Original Author
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Just to follow up: the builder found that there was some missing/fallen insulation in the attic. That has been corrected. I was told that it's R30 and no more can be done over the narrow bonus room. So far we haven't noticed much difference. Dh will install the remainder of the Reflectix foil as soon as a problem the insulation installers created has been fixed.

I asked the insulation co. rep. who came out to assess the situation about insulating the basement ceiling, and he said it would not be worth the cost. However, he also said that the reason this house is hotter and costs more to cool than our prior house is because it's a two story and therefore "closer to the sun." Hmmm...
garyg
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
2 story house = 5 to 7 degree difference in temperature between the first and second floors.
udarrell_2007
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Those AC systems may NOT be operating efficiently due to problems throughout various areas of their entire systems, including the ductwork & blower CFM.

Do a lot of reading & research so you know what to have the (sometimes so-called) techs look for. There could be a lot of things wrong that have nothing to do with builders grade equipment. Follow the links, it could help you save on your energy costs.
udarrell - 2007

Here is a link that might be useful: udarrell.com
Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Are the houses exteriors the same material and similar color?

Just thinking out loud here.

sue

15% more house, 55% - 118% higher elec. bill

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tigerdunes

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15% more house, 55% - 118% higher elec. bill

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tigerdunes

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