Very High Electric Bill

13 years ago

My mom just had received a very high electric bill, roughly a 165% increase over her normal usage. Now it was a very hot month so one would expect to see an increase but she's talked to friends and neighbors and none of them saw anywhere near that kind of increase. She has electric cooking and hot water but she hasn't opened a soup kitchen or started showering six times per day. She's pretty frugal with the A/C too, keeping the house at 80ÃÂ° or so.

The obvious culprit is the A/C. It's an older, circa 1988, Carrier unit. The condenser doesn't seem dirty and airflow seems normal. I haven't checked the evaporator but she does have her oil fired furnace serviced every year (although I don't know if the includes cleaning the evaporator). That leaves, I guess, a low refrigerant charge.

Short of calling out a technician with gauges, is there anyway I can test things that might indicate a problem before paying for a service call?

Thanks!

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Comments (9)

tigerdunes
13 years ago
mike

this is my suggestion. cut the AC off, take a meter reading, leave off for two hours. take another reading and note your usage for the two hours. my idea is to eliminate an issue with another type appliance as a suspect other than AC. Cut the AC back on and then take another meter reading after two hours. It would be best to perform this test during the hottest point of the day. compare the results.

IMO
Good Luck!
weedmeister
13 years ago
You could also measure the inlet and outlet temperatures across the evaporator.

If the thermostat is set on 80, how long does the unit run during the heat of the day to maintain 80F?

And check the filters.
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energy_rater_la
13 years ago
check that the water heater is working properly also
sometimes one element will go out and the other heating
element is heating all the water.
learned that the hard way before switching to gas w/h.
some utility companies charge a 'fuel adjustment charge'
that can double the utility bill...it happens about
twice a year with the utility companies here (not mine TG)

best of luck.
juliekcmo
13 years ago
Just a thought....is the air handler in an attic where a new roof or insulation was added recently? If so, debris from that could be clogging the system.
Mia_
13 years ago
I agree with energy_rater_la regarding checking to make sure the water heater is working properly. All of a sudden my electric usage went up significantly and I couldn't figure out at first what was causing the huge increase...I wasn't using the AC or doing anything extra. It turned out that the water heater was malfunctioning (probably one of the heating elements). We disconnected the water heater and my electric usage went back to normal.

With AC usage, you'd be surprised at how much running one window AC can add to your electric bill. I have one window AC, and my usage almost doubled over the summer months that the AC was in use...we had a very hot summer this year.
totsuka
13 years ago
When was the last time you had your a/c serviced? You know, in the long run a HVAC service check by a good tech can save you a lot of money. You could do a check to see if you drain on the a/c is clogged. Just turn off your unit, use your wet vac to suck out the drain pipe near your outside unit. Hose off your outside unit to clean it out. Of course, you have been changing your filter right? Are they very dirty?
energy_rater_la
13 years ago
check those elements in the water heater.
cheap to do, and I always start with low
cost items first.

best of luck.
hendricus
13 years ago
A lot of good advice here. Check your electric bill first. We had a bill for $80 one month and the next month was $130. Weather was very similar. They estimated the low month and made it up on the next months bill. We have that happen every now and then and always check the bill now for actual or estimated usage.
brickeyee
13 years ago
Broken electyric water heater elements can leak current to the grounded metal pipes and really run up a bill.

The water heater is often on a 30 amp circuit, and as long as the resistance on the leakage path is high enough the breaker never sees an overcurrent condition.

If all the plumbing is bonded to ground there is not enough stray voltage to even shock anyone under most circumstances.

Very High Electric Bill

Comments (9)

tigerdunes

weedmeister

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