Estimate Energy COST$ per Hour running?

[dan5-o]

Hi,
Does anyone have information as to energy usage of American Standard AC systems? (I'm trying to calculate how much electricity my 85kbtu-2stage and 3ton 14seer use up per hour while running continuously at max.) Does American Standard have a page with the info?
(and then i guess i need to look through my electricity bill to see how much $ i'm charged per kWh) thanks...

[paul42]

A very approximate 3Kwh per hour.

It is not a constant number. It will go up and down with the exterior temperature.

The SEER rating is the Btu of cooling output during a typical cooling-season divided by the total electric energy input in watt-hours during the same period. Or so the Air Conditioning And Refrigeration Institute claims.

[udarrell]

A very approximate 3Kwh per hour.

It is not a constant number. It will go up and down with the exterior temperature.

The SEER rating is the Btu of cooling output during a typical cooling-season divided by the total electric energy input in watt-hours during the same period. Or so the Air Conditioning And Refrigeration Institute claims.

Paul, I really like your knowledgeable posts.

Buy a cheap watt meter & let it tell you the amount of juice it's using.
I just checked on a Goodman 3-Ton 14-SEER at rated conditions, 14.1 amps or 3,360 watts. As Paul says, that figure will vary considerably depending on the actual variable operating load.

I.E., if a 14 SEER runs enough longer to reduce the latent & sensible loads, the 14 SEER could use as much or more electricity than a 10 or 12 SEER. From an engineering stand-point it is generally accepted, that under heavy load conditions, the 10 & 12 SEER units tended to bring the latent-load down faster & therefore the sensible temperature down faster.

Though the 14 to 23 SEER levels do tend to help the Power company's Peak-Load situation. I heard there is a push on to eliminate the lower SEERS' perhaps to the 16-SEER level. What is the latest on that conundrum?

[speedymonk]

On the approximate 3KWH... I took a meter reading for one hour without my HP running, then took another reading for one hour with it running. I made sure any appliances, tv's, etc. were running (or not running) in both cases to keep the test apples-to-apples as much as possible. Subtract one from the other and you should get your KWH useage with that temperature. I think my Trane used 5.0 KWH from what I can remember.

[dan5-o]

Many thanks for the helpful responses, 3-5kwh type estimate is what I was looking for, I may try and do more accurate test myself also sometime. tx