$900 Electric Bill?!

[adt2]

Water heaters are gas; went with electric heat because of the gas water heaters. House was going to draw so many BTUs with gas heat that I would've had to upgrade to larger gas service, which was going to be $6-7k (and this was two years ago). I figured, "Hey, I've got all this fancy insulation, how often am I really going to run the heater? But I use hot water every day..."

So much for that theory.

[beenthere]

On demand only run as long as water is being drawn.

[adt2]

I understand that; it was the same argument I used. Plumber got with local inspector, who verified that we had to use the rated BTU usage of each appliance in order to do the calculations. I explained that I would never, ever have both water heaters, both furnaces, the dryer and all eight burners on the cooktop running at one time. No dice.

[coolwhip]

Quit running them grow lights 24/7.....

[beenthere]

I was posting to the post that said not sure how long a on deman water heater runs.

[adt2]

Sorry - for some reason, these posts are not in the same order each time I click through. Sometimes they're most-recent-on-top, other times they're oldest-on-top. I frequently miss posts as I'm going through them.

[mark beiser]

What the hell, 10 tons of AC in a super tight 4200 sq ft home in Houston?
That AC contractor needs to be driven out of business!

That would even be 2-3 tons over sized for the typical leaky stick built house of that size in my area, and our design conditions are for a higher outdoor temperature than Houston...

[beenthere]

What the hell, 10 tons of AC in a super tight 4200 sq ft home in Houston?
That AC contractor needs to be driven out of business!

That would even be 2-3 tons over sized for the typical leaky stick built house of that size in my area, and our design conditions are for a higher outdoor temperature than Houston...

You mean 400 sq ft per ton in wrong.

[kevinmac]

If you are complaining about the bill size, chack to see if your fuel surcharge has increased. Power companies are passing their fuel increase rates to the consumer.

You may want to control both units better, during the day you may be able to increase the setpoint of one much higher then the other.

[geshields]

Who did the energy audit? I am i nHouston and yet have to find someone that does it?

Greg

[scottsacavsfan]

I think I would have someone verify that the heat strips are not on when the a/c is on or just on period.

Agree!
Hes hitting the gas and the brake at the same time

I think we are all over thinking this problem lets go back to basics
What does your duct work look like?
Is it undersized?
What are you using for filters?
Are they clean?
Did anyone check your air flow and balance after the install?

Even with oversized equipment I think you are missing something

Call in a pro from a different company and have them do a work up on your system then report back so we can actually point you into the right direction

[fat bob]

Running two big dehumidifiers all the time uses a lot of electricity. I have a small portable Sears model that uses 500 watts. Are the dehumidifiers drawing in fresh air? If yes you may be spending a lot of money cooling and dehumidifying outside air. Is is feasible to turn down the blower speed on the AC units? That would increase the run time and remove more humidity, so you could turn off the dehumidifiers. If you do replace the condensers, you might benefit from a two-stage compressor. Same idea, longer run times, so you could shut off the dehumidifiers or use them less. I'm in Austin and don't need the dehumidifier in the summer.

[hangfirew8]

I understand that; it was the same argument I used. Plumber got with local inspector, who verified that we had to use the rated BTU usage of each appliance in order to do the calculations. I explained that I would never, ever have both water heaters, both furnaces, the dryer and all eight burners on the cooktop running at one time. No dice.

Did you get this story from the inspector... or the plumber?

Next time, lie to the plumber.

-HF