Posted on 09/22/2022 6:47:45 AM PDT by rktman
Another thing I did was replace my natural gas water tank with a hybrid water tank. It has a built-in heat pump on it. When it runs it draws the heat from the air -- puts that heat into the water tank -- and outputs cold air. My original plan was to let the cold air drift through our living quarters (the water heater is upstairs near the living room and master bedroom) so that my A/C wouldn't have to work as hard. But that created a really cold spot. So I duct the cold air back up into the attic. The air intake ducts from the attic -- really hot air from the attic is the heat source for my water heater keeping my water heater from having to work as hard to draw heat out of the air. It runs at only 300W for about 2 hours after my wife and I take our showers. 0.6 to 0.8kWh per day to run the water heater. LOL
2,300 sq ft of living quarters (read: heat and cool), much more cooling than heating since it's Alabama, no natural gas bill, the past 12 months my power bill averaged $119 (including the fixed service fees and tax). That was in part from my solar system producing 58.5% of all the power I needed. With last month's additions I made to the solar I'm currently producing 94% of all the power I need, though admittedly that's with just one month's worth of data. However that also includes charging an EV that I've had only 3 months. I believe after I've looked at the data for a year it'll show my throughput to be 86% to 95% of all power needed to be generated on site (free), including driving the EV about 250 miles per week. My power bills will range $25 to $90 per month (including monthly service fees, and assuming Alabama Power charges the 14.3¢/kWh after riders and tax like they did on my last bill), with the highest bills being a couple of winter months, and the average across the year being $50/month. That's with no natural gas bill and almost no gasoline cost (I still occasionally drive an ICE truck) and the charging EV costs will be only if we take it on trips (plus however much the EV home charging adds to the 10% of my home power I'm buying from the grid).
One of the tricks for saving on EV charging is I charge my EV with nothing but excess power if my EV is already charged enough to get 100 miles anyway. I have two 240V outlets I plug it into: one is constantly powered (like most outlets) and one is powered by my solar system only if my home solar batteries are charged to a certain percent (currently it's set to 75% SOC). The idea being that if my home solar batteries are charged that much it means I have more power than I need to power the home through the night -- might as well use the excess power to charge the EV even if the EV isn't in dire need of a charge. Since our normal daily use of the EV means it can go 3 or 4 days before we have to charge it (within our range anxiety tolerance) -- as long as I get at least one sunny day within those few days it costs nothing to charge the EV. But if I come home with less than 100 miles left, or if I plan to use it for a lot of driving the next day, I'll plug the EV into the constantly powered outlet (which may result in me having to pull some of that power from the grid).
Set your t-stat at your desired temp. If you are happy there leave it alone. If not happy, adjust as necessary REGARDLESS of what it reads. Then when happy leave it alone PERIOD!
With a set back t-stat, your heat is off or set low.
You want it to warm up by 6pm when you get home, so you set it to come on at 5:30 (or whatever).
So your heat comes on in your COLD house just as the sun is setting and outside temps are plummeting, and you expect your system to be able to meet that demand?
If it can, it is WAY oversized for your house.
Smart t-stats are STUPID! I should say, having/using them is STUPID and a WASTE of energy.
I use the on/off method for my heat and air conditioning.
When/if I’m hot/cold I turn the heat/AC on/off. It then heats up or cools down to the already set temperature.
Obviously in very hot or cold temperatures, I just leave them on, set at their predetermined settings.
LOL! We adjust to what makes us comfy. I must say the HVAC hasnt been getting a lot of use lately. House seems to stay fairly stable. Which is fine with us.
Not likely.
What is more annoying than Jar Jar Binks?
1. Manufacturer…. Manufacturer presets are probably at temperatures that the majority of persons would find flat uncomfortable. Let’s see…. If the A/C was set at 78F and the heat at 65F I would be cranky. Manufactures are pushing the out of the box temperature presets to uncomfortable extremes to jack up the $savings number for marketing purposes and not being realistic.
2. Human nature…. (Getting deep into opinions now!). A person needs to resist the urge to make radical thermostat settings to immediately cool down or heat up. Find your sweet spot of comfort then leave the thermostat alone.
My sister drives me nuts on this at her house. 100F outside, wearing a sweat shirt from when she was cold an hour earlier because the thermostat was 65F so she changed the setting to 74 then got hot, puts on t-shirt then cranks the thermostat down to 65 again. It’s a yo-yo on house temperature, drives me nuts.
My electric bill for August was $46 for kWh + $30 service fee and my sister’s was $350. It’s not a perfect comparison to my sister’s because of different climate and amount of in-out with open doors, etc. but there you go…. BTW, if my sister were to visit for any extended period, I’d probably activate the security code on the controls.
Keeping with thermostats…. I am not a fan of consumer grade smart thermostats. If they would give me a variable electric rate though I would be very interested.
The Smart label means that not only is the thermostat programable but also is an ET Call Home device via your WiFi and internet. Where is ET located, what is being done with my information and who the hell is ET. Nope, not for me.
I am a big fan of programmable, non-smart thermostats. If a person is smart in their use, these can have a very short return on investment time. Be sure to lock your sister out of the controls though.
Down below in this threed, I have a post regarding the state of the art HVAC at my cabin. If I had a conventional HVAC system, I would have an electric cost several times greater. My climate, comfort zones and dwelling detail are probably different than yours though so certainly cannot guarantee similar results for anyone.
All you IoT stooges, enjoy! Your life is now under the microscope! The government loves you
As far as the electric strips for backup, I'd be surprised if they get any more use than as emergency backup for a mechanical breakdown of the heat pump. Another trigger could be something like you've gone out of town for a few days so set the thermostat to something real low to save a few $$$. Say you come home and the house is 60F and you punch the thermostat to 70F. Thermostats typically activate the electric backup if the temperature is 5F below the 70F set point you just set so the electric comes on to blast hot air for a few minutes.
You're probably well acquainted with this but heat pumps during the cold weather days and nights put out warm air for a long run time versus a short duration hot blast from conventional gas and electric heat. The heat pumps I've had since the early 90s including the current mini split have functioned fine down into the low single digit degF.
That is your opinion, I’d be sweating sitting still and no I am not obese, not even overweight. Mine is set at 69 right now, in the winter it will be at 65. People’s bodies regulate differently and unless they are asking you to pay their bill, they can set their temperature at whatever degree they like.
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