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[Mountain Duck]

Well got my first full month bill with the 10000 running.  Saved $411 over the same time period as last year with very similar weather!  Was very pleased, but still a little perplexed as the bill actually went up $45 from the September-October period. 

I was figuring dropping the water heater would have lowered my bill even more.  I have left the breaker on, and the stove only burned out 3-4 times (I was learning) over the period.  Is it possible that the water heater is still running electric?  What are the typical savings by not running the electric water heater?

Would the air handler fan, and stove water pumps pull that much juice?  Keep in mind it increased $45, plus whatever the typical savings on the water heater would have been?

Very happy, but want o make sure I'm getting all I can get!

Thanks for any help or suggestions! 

[hondaracer2oo4]

My electric bill usually drops about $20-25 when I start mine up which is from the fact that I throw my breaker off for my electric. Are you heating with a side arm? If so a sidearm warms the top of the tank but the bottom never really warms up so the bottom element will still run if the heater still has power. The blower on your FHA pulls some power but im not sure what the amperage it pulls, you would have to look on the motor. My NRF36 pump I believe is 250 watts on speed three. So that is like 2.5 100 watt light bulbs running 24/7 as well as the blower which I think is around 100 watts maybe? I think that your electric water heater is still running and combined with the FHA blower and new pump and stove blower caused it to go up. Sometimes my usage goes up and I can't figure out why.

[CountryBoyJohn]

Mountain, I had the same phenomenon with my electric bill.  I was down $143 from last years cycle, but up $30 from last month.  I don't know about your setup, but I'm running 2 circulation pumps 24/7 and 2 forced air furnace blowers when heat is called for.  It all draws more juice than I was expecting as well.  I do have 2 water heaters turned off at the breaker.  I'm running a 20 plate and have had 0 problems with getting hot water.  There was a thread on here discussing turning off the water heater at the breaker, some for, some opposed.  I sleep better knowing it's off at the breaker.  If the crap hits the fan, you can always flip it on and have hot water again in 30 minutes or so.  It's worth it to me for the peace of mind, especially if you are not sure if it still heats the water.  Are you side arm or plate?

Lovin' my Heatmaster 10,000E for sure!!  Hey KyBaseball and Boydz, can you chime in with your October/November bills?  How much did they change?

[Mountain Duck]

Thanks for the replies.  Countryboy, my setup sounds similar, except I'm just running the one forced air blower.  I did some more figuring..... I actually have two electric meters on the house as the previous owners had a wood shop in the basement.  My water heater and my OWB are on this extra service meter/breaker box, along with some plug ins and some lights.  This bill actually went down $9.  So I guess my circulation pumps and stove fan running ate up most of the saving from the plate exchanger, but in the end it netted me a savings of $9.  I flipped the breaker just to see if it makes a difference.

But.... my service with the forced air blower went up $45 over last month.  I guess I just didn't realize it pulled that much juice.  It runs a lot, as it's hard to keep the thermostat satisfied with the high ceilings.  My plan is to eventually add radiant floor heat to this room, which I believe would work really well to balance the system out. 

I love the stove though!!  This house has never been this comfortable!  Call me crazy, but I am pleasantly surprised at the amount of wood it burns.  I may be singing a different tune when it gets into real winter, but right now I couldn't be happier!

[Scott7m]

Hmm.....   A typical pump like a 15-58 or similar probably in most cases uses 6-8 bucks per month in electric.    Get a watt meter and plug ur pumps into it to see how much there actually using.

No way would I used a pump that drew 250 watts....    That's like 20-25 bucks per month here. 

The pump I'm running draws 9 watts on low and 40 watts on high and constantly variates to compensate for delta t.  So I'm probably around 1 buck a month on the pump

Hot water at my house for a family of 4 is normally around $75/mo

You guys seem to be using more than I figured as the stove itself uses hardly any but the furnace blowers do pull some juice.

[CountryBoyJohn]

Scott, you know what pumps I'm using.  How many watts do you think mine draw?  I have them on high all the time now.  I think my furnace blowers are what's doing it.  They are single speed from 2004.  So, they're getting up there in age.  Might have to think about replacing them soon and getting a mult-speed fan that is much more efficient. 

[Scott7m]

Scott, you know what pumps I'm using.  How many watts do you think mine draw?  I have them on high all the time now.  I think my furnace blowers are what's doing it.  They are single speed from 2004.  So, they're getting up there in age.  Might have to think about replacing them soon and getting a mult-speed fan that is much more efficient.

I'm going to guess around 125.....  I can't be for certain though as its been a while since I checked.

Look for a belkin watt meter, there handy as a pocket on a shirt, usually 15-20 bucks on eBay

Will allow u to enter your electric rate and it will show you exactly what it's costing per day week, month year whatever

[hondaracer2oo4]

Scott, not sure what you guys are paying for electricity per Kilowatt hour. Up here I pay .07130 kWH. For my pump that is 250 watts on speed three that means that 250watts x 24hours =6000 watts hours. That is 6.0 kwh x 30 days = 180 KWH per month x .0713 = $12.83 per month.

[Scott7m]

Scott, not sure what you guys are paying for electricity per Kilowatt hour. Up here I pay .07130 kWH. For my pump that is 250 watts on speed three that means that 250watts x 24hours =6000 watts hours. That is 6.0 kwh x 30 days = 180 KWH per month x .0713 = $12.83 per month.

Our electric rate is 13.8 cents per kwh

Enjoy those cheap rates while u can...

Is 7 cents calculating in all the fees or is that just what they say ur rate is

[hondaracer2oo4]

Scott,
 
   That is straight supply charge. We also pay a multitude of other small charges such as delivery charge, standard cost charge, customer charge blah blah blah. We get hammered pretty hard but not as hard as you guys. In the past year the state has allowed independent suppliers to sell to the grid which has increased competition and lowered our rates. I am actually going to be switching over to North American Power for my energy supply. My current rate is going to go from .0713 kwh to .095kwh!

[kybaseball]

I have the 10000E hooked up to 2 variable speed air handlers and a 20 plate water heater. My house is not insulated well at all. It is 6500 Sq feet give or take a few. House was heated with 3 heat pumps on 68 degrees (COLD). My bills was so high I had to go on budget payment which was 575.00-680.00 all year round. I am off the budget payment and haven't had a bill over 250.00 and that is during the summer. I can say that the savings that I have gotten are crazy dollar amounts. If I was off the budget and had to pay my bills each month during the cold months it would have been 1000.00-1300.00 dollars. We was using on a cold month 9000-11000 watts a month. On a less cold month 6000-9000. That is just an average of 334 watts a day. I am now only using 25-40 watts a day. That is a difference of 298 watts a day for a savings of 730.00 dollars a month!!! So say 5 months of cold weather 730 x 5 = $3650.00 times that by 2 (how many years i have had the stove) $7300.00 Savings. I paid $10,500.00 for everything so 3 years and it has paid for itself. If I ever move my BABY will go with me!!

[CountryBoyJohn]

Thanks KyBaseball!  Your story makes me feel more comfortable with my bill.  I don't have the variable speed blowers, so I use a little more wattage than you.  My October/November average was 36 per day.  I imagine when it really starts to get cold I may end up in the 50 range.  But, still will be nowhere NEAR last year!  Same cycle last year was 86 per day.  I was hoping to get my monthly bill under $100, but that's just not feasible with my blowers. 

One thing I want to calculate into my "payoff" is what it would've cost us to keep our homes on 73 with our old setups!  I think Scott told me it's like a 3% increase in cost per degree of temp.  So, add 15%-20% of those peak bills to go from 67 to 73 and your payoff time drops quickly! 

[kybaseball]

I would have to taken out a 2nd mortgage to keep the temp at 73 without the stove. I had emergency back up heat that came on when heat pump didn't keep up. I thought they were off but had to get a avac guy to come out and unhook them as they was still running some. I ask my several people about just having plugs in outlets and they all say the draw a little bit. So we unplug everything unless it is being used. I also have an old deep freeze and I put a timer on it that lets it run for 12 hours and off for 12 hours. These little things is what we have seen that makes the difference.

[Scott7m]

Scott,
 
   That is straight supply charge. We also pay a multitude of other small charges such as delivery charge, standard cost charge, customer charge blah blah blah. We get hammered pretty hard but not as hard as you guys. In the past year the state has allowed independent suppliers to sell to the grid which has increased competition and lowered our rates. I am actually going to be switching over to North American Power for my energy supply. My current rate is going to go from .0713 kwh to .095kwh!

Take ur total bill and divide it by kwh used, fees or not, it's still cost..  That's how I come up with 13.8 when they claim 12.5

[kybaseball]

Our rate is .0817 per watt and the tack on fees. We have some environment cost the flex in cost. I signed up for a daily read out. So at 10:00 am everyday I know what we used the past 24 hours. I know when it goes up what is running to make it go up.