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[Scott7m]

One way might be to turn your thermostat up like 8-10 degrees and see if the aux or emergency heat light come on.....

If that light don't come on, to out and turn the pumps off on the stove and turn the thermostat up to see if you still get heat

[creeker]

^ Okay I turned the Heat Pump thermostat up to like 80 and it kicks the fan on and blows out air, but the emergency heat light never comes on.  I then went out and turned off the pumps and came back in and turned it on Emergency Heat and it again kicks the fan on and blows out air, but it doesn't appear to be warm air in the least. 

[Scott7m]

^ Okay I turned the Heat Pump thermostat up to like 80 and it kicks the fan on and blows out air, but the emergency heat light never comes on.  I then went out and turned off the pumps and came back in and turned it on Emergency Heat and it again kicks the fan on and blows out air, but it doesn't appear to be warm air in the least.

Well..  I think we can eliminate your heat strips being on. 

When comparing your situation to mine, you see it should be impossible for you to have electric bills that high when heating with the stove. 

Your buddy for example, I'm sure if he turned off his heat and hot water his electric bill would be down in the range I suspected mine would be in your area

[creeker]

^ I was over at the local hardware store today and they sell Heat Master (I believe) stoves.  He (as do I) believe 100% of my problem is the side arm exchanger for the hot water heater.  He and I both are in agreement that it is basically doing nothing at all in the way of heating my water.  If that is indeed the case that would explain the electric bill not being down closer to the $100 range.  Without the $15 yard light and all the fees my fee for electric usage is probably around $150.  He gave me some suggestions on reworking the side arm or just buying a plate exchanger and redoing it for next winter.  So, with that said, I will be trying his suggestions come summer.

Thanks again Scott for being so helpful!

[Scott7m]

^ I was over at the local hardware store today and they sell Heat Master (I believe) stoves.  He (as do I) believe 100% of my problem is the side arm exchanger for the hot water heater.  He and I both are in agreement that it is basically doing nothing at all in the way of heating my water.  If that is indeed the case that would explain the electric bill not being down closer to the $100 range.  Without the $15 yard light and all the fees my fee for electric usage is probably around $150.  He gave me some suggestions on reworking the side arm or just buying a plate exchanger and redoing it for next winter.  So, with that said, I will be trying his suggestions come summer.

Thanks again Scott for being so helpful!

How is our side arm rigged that it won't work? 

[Scott7m]

Hey, instead of guessing it could be the sidearm, turn the breaker off to the hot water tank and find out for sure!  Process of elimination 

[RSI]

Sidearms can easily get airlocked and do nothing. If you have the relief at the top, you can use that to get the air out.

[Scott7m]

Sidearms can easily get airlocked and do nothing. If you have the relief at the top, you can use that to get the air out.

I thought that but was also thinking why not just turn breaker off to see if its working or not

[RSI]

Yeah, I was assuming he was going to do that. If it cools down then that is the place to look for the fix first.

If the water is really hard, the sidearm might be plugged.

[creeker]

It's funny you suggest that... That is exactly what I did on Sunday around 2pm.  By Monday evening there was no hot water after taking showers... Tuesday morning it was nothing but cold water.  So, it is obviously doing nothing at all.  I will try the air lock thing now.

[RSI]

If it got cold without using any water then it definitely isn't doing anything. If it just happens after a lot of use then it may just not be able to keep up.

[creeker]

^ I would say it was more after a lot of use, but am not 100% sure on that.  I tried the air lock thing and it just shot water out the relief valve, so obviously it isn't air locked.

[RSI]

It just takes a tiny bit of air to cause problems.

What type of sidearm do you have? If just a single pipe it probably has about 3 or 4 time the recovery time of the electric heater.

[jam]

after I got my first full bill (Jan of 2011)  I asked my neighbor what his electric bill was he answered about $450.00   and asked what mine was?  I felt bad to answer because mine was $170.00
the houses are about the same size 4000 sq ft  But I am heating my 3 car garage as well. So I would say something is wrong with that small of a savings.

[Crow]

jam, could you explain further. Are you both heating with electricity ( home, dhw and garages)? By my calculations your bill is 37% of your neighbors. You will still have the regular requirements ( lights, fridge, laundry, etc,etc) and also the pumps for the owb. I just find it hard to compare my bill to anybody elses, they may be similar size homes but everybody has there own way to run them. I do not have an owb yet but if i get one I don't really expect my electricity usage to change as I heat with oil, house and dhw. In fact it may increase slightly to run pumps.

  P.S welcome to the forum.