Too much power consumption (3700kwh), heating issue?

[K-Dubb]

Also, Right now i have my heat on 68, with the 1st stage diff set to 2*, and 2nd stage diff set to 2.5*, as well as the 2nd stage delay set to 40 (max setting) which the way i understands it means that if the 1st stage cannot raise the temp in 40 minutes, the 2nd stage will kick in.

I just witnessed the 1st stage kick on at 66*, and it climbed to 66.5. <time in between> Then the 2nd stage kicked on and it climbed to 67.5 in about 5 minutes, then the 2nd stage kicked back off.

http://www.air-n-water.com/manuals/rs9420manual.pdf


I do not have any other appliances that are running, besides the fridge and it is a new energy star fridge.

[ZZZRSC]

I have seen several all electric homes with a bill around this amount. That doesn't mean you shouldn't investigate for causes. One new home in a gated community that I checked had 3" of insulation in the attic.
According to your numbers you are paying 9.7 cents per kwh, that seems very high for your area. Spfld Mo is paying about 6.2 cents per kwh you are 33% higher.
Isothermal had good advice. I have found the stats wired wrong, the strip heat coming on at the wrong time, and leaking duct work in the attic or crawl space. The methods for checking meters now are very accurate, and electric resistance heat is 100% efficient. That leaves several possibilities: improperly operating heat pump when not on resistance heat, resistance heating coming on at the wrong time (faulty stat operation), loss of heat in unconditioned space through ducts, and loss of heat from conditioned spaces at a high rate due to lack of insulation. There might be a few more but these are where I would start.

[bryn]

I would use a Stat that would let you control ramping of your Aux heat.

[chaard]

Where at around So. MO are you?

[Frostie]

Try shutting your thermostat off for 15 minutes, then with the unit off, go over to it and touch the supply side ducting to see if it is warm or cold. Depending on what type of unit you have the elements may sequence on and off, and more than a few times I have found the sequencer stuck on so that the elements run constantly without a call for heat and no fan running.

[hivacer]

Do you have a heat pump? You may be just electric strip heat if your outside unit isnt running, and if this is the case, you should add a heat pump.

[york_hvac]

Like others have said, I think your bill would be lower if you had a thermostat with a smart recovery or similar feature. With your stat now, it is probobly commanding the Aux heat strips to come on when recovering from the 62 degree setback temp. The heat pump alone can't reheat the house and the aux heat must come on to finish the job.
A stat that has smart recovery (Honeywell VisionPRO maybe?) would allow the heat pump to come on earlier and reheat the house gradually over a period of time, so the strips won't have to come on. I have this on my Carrier Infinity system, and is very nice, especially when paired with 3 stages of aux heat.

[ISOTHERMAL]

You might have your tech. set your t-stat low so that the unit does't come on. wait several minutes at the furnace to see if your heat strips are cycling with the t-stat not calling for heat.

Another thing have him amp every circuit in the breaker box. If something is using electricity it will be drawing amps.

iso

[K-Dubb]

Ok guys, i ran this test as someone earlier in the thread suggested.

I had the heater off for an hour and checked the kwh at the box, i had used 0..or less than 1 as it did not change.

I then turned on the heat, and it ran it used 3-4 kwh for that hour.


Does this sound normal?

[beenthere]

Sounds low.

[hvacrmedic]

If you were running on straight resistance heat that would be a high bill. You've got other problems. It isn't necessarily related to the heating system though. I had a bill like that once and it turned out to be a leak in the hot water pipe under the slab causing the water heater elements to run continuously. If it is due to the heating system, then it sounds like you're heating with resistance heat all or most of the time, and not only that, but the HP is running even less efficiently than resistance heat due to some problem such as a loss of freon, or maybe even stuck in cooling mode. You should definitely have it checked out. If I wasn't on call this weekend I'd come look at it myself, you aren't that far away, I'm in northern AR. Are you in the east, west, or middle of southern MO?

Ok, I missed the post where you said it checked out ok. Of course that still doesn't mean it's ok. I'm not far away, pretty much the same weather, same size house, and I'm on 100&#37; resistance heat and I'm all electric, and my bill isn't running anywhere close to that. (The wife refuses to let me install a HP despite my best efforts. Said she had one once, and hated it. I gave up the argument.)

[catmanacman]

if it is a heatpump have a outdoor stat installed to lock out the heat strips

[pstu]

That house is burning more than 5,000 watts AVERAGE every hour of the month. Almost certainly that usage is a malfunction. It's a damn shame any consumer should have to wait for the electric bill to learn of this. Not for me to know what it is, but urgently I would get an electrician out there to find out what is drawing those high amps. Not to be surprised if it is heat strips running at the wrong times. You have got to tell us whether you have a heat pump, or if electric resistance is your normal method of heating (not normally economical to run).

There is a device called "The Energy Detective" which would be of some use in a case like this. I don't have one myself, actually shopping for something more sophisticated. However if a pro or two can find and fix your problem, you might not need to monitor in any such detail:
http://www.theenergydetective.com/index.html

I am a homeowner in S.Texas, who worked for the light company until deregulation hit. In my opinion a house your size would need a good reason to get over 1500-2000 kwh/mo.

I would call some kind of pro TODAY! See his face daily until the problem is resolved.

Best of luck -- Pstu