How do you cut your utility cost?
Lou
For instance, I have a shut off valve attatched to my shower
head so when it's time to soap up, I don't waste water down the
drain. Any other ideas?
Lou
h
"Lou" <lou...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:6b4cf303-14f6-4130...@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
I keep my house at 58 degrees in the winter and I don't have AC just a fan
in the summer.
AllEmailDeletedImmediately
"Lou" <lou...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:6b4cf303-14f6-4130...@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
you're probably just saving water, but not money. most water companies
charge per 1000 gallons or any part thereof. so, if you usually use 2000 a
month and cut back to 1001 gallons, you're still gonna pay for 2000. to
really see water use drop in this country, there should be a requirement
that you only pay for what you use, but that would probably entail changing
out all the water meters since i think they only compute in 1000 gal
increments.
Bill
electric space heater. Close off rooms you don't use and don't heat them.
Can also use space heater and sweater in living room during day with main
heating turned down.
Electric hot water can be 30% of an electric bill. Take showers every other
day and turn off water when soaping like you do. Also can put water heater
on timer to heat up just in the mornings. Hot water in mornings, then have
residual warm water for rest of day for hand washing/dishes. Get solar water
heater with solar electric water circulation pump.
Electronic things like TV, stereo, microwave, computer equipment, phones,
and garage door opener may always use electricity. Unplug when not in use or
put on easy to reach power strip and turn off. Phones which plug in will
usually work when not plugged in (except cordless). Except the "features" on
the phone will not work.
Get new Energy Star appliances which use much less electricity or hot water
than older appliances. Wash dishes by hand. Wash laundry in cold water.
More energy saving tips...
http://www.energystar.gov
"Lou" wrote in message
clams_casino
While they do charge in increments, the reading is off a continuous
reading meter. If you get charged for 2000 when you only used 1500, you
will not be charged for that extra 500 in the next bill.
rick++
George
flow. So on a continuing basis it works out.
Evelyn C. Leeper
There is also a minimum charge, and we have never paid more than that.
(But we are only two people. Families with children probably pay more.)
--
Evelyn C. Leeper
I believe I found the missing link between animal
and civilized man. It is us. -Konrad Lorenz
Jeff
> Can anyone tell me how they actually cut thier utility bills?
Most of my utility bill is heating and AC. It is the same for most
people.
Number one method to cut heating costs is to seal air leaks and add
insulation where it is lacking. Sealing air leaks has a fast payback,
adding insulation may take a couple years.
Changed all lights to CFL and shut them off all but a couple.
Solar heating. I'm heating a couple rooms with only solar as I type.
I'll be upping that shortly. Payback period for home made collectors is
a few years.
Switched all my AC's to Energy Star with a decent EER rating. My old
ACs had an EER of about 8.5 and the new ones are all 10.7+. That's 20%
or so right there. On the old ones the fan ran all the time and on the
new ones it cycles, saving electrity. That will probably take 3 years to
pay pack, but the house is much more comfortable in the mean time.
I've also consolidated the TV and computer monitor so I don't need a
TV running in the background...
Naked DSL has just been offered here, so I will be ditching the land
line. That will turn out to be my biggest instant saving (~$50 moonth).
Jeff
Seerialmom
wrote:
> "Lou" <loup...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
They do? We're supposed to be getting retrofitted water meters here
in Sacramento soon and I've been panicking about it since I've never
had one anywhere I lived before. Technically I should be fine since I
rarely water the lawns (aka weeds), have a HE2 washer and was
conditioned by earlier "droughts" to flush every 3rd tinkle (but never
wait on the #2 loads). Dishwasher is run about once a week when
full. But if they do a default 1K increment measure and not "actual
gallons used"...I won't be saving much at all.
AllEmailDeletedImmediately
"clams_casino" <PeterG...@DrunkinClam.com> wrote in message
news:vRNej.3665$OC1....@newsfe20.lga...
not where i lived in sc. there was a lawsuit of some sort about the time
we left and i never found out the outcome. i haven't even looked at the
bill here since i KNOW that in this state, nothing will be done.
>
AllEmailDeletedImmediately
"Seerialmom" <seeri...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:7d309bf1-ba79-4122...@i12g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
well, some replies indicated that they don't pay that way, but we did when
we lived in sc. there was a lawsuit about the time we left and i never
found out the outcome. so maybe in ca, it's different, but at that time, we
were definitely being double billed. my dil's father had a well dug to
provide water for him and the neighbor (his inlaws) out of principle and
only paid whatever the minimum charge was. unfortunately, the water has a
high sulfur content. :(
Evelyn C. Leeper
> Lou wrote:
>> Can anyone tell me how they actually cut thier utility bills?
>
> Most of my utility bill is heating and AC. It is the same for most
> people.
>
> Number one method to cut heating costs is to seal air leaks and add
> insulation where it is lacking. Sealing air leaks has a fast payback,
> adding insulation may take a couple years.
>
> Changed all lights to CFL and shut them off all but a couple.
It is especially important in the summer to avoid turning on more lights
and heavy motors, since they will heat up the house and make the A/C
work harder.
Rod Speed
> Jeff wrote:
>> Lou wrote:
>>> Can anyone tell me how they actually cut thier utility bills?
>>
>> Most of my utility bill is heating and AC. It is the same for most
>> people.
>>
>> Number one method to cut heating costs is to seal air leaks and add
>> insulation where it is lacking. Sealing air leaks has a fast payback,
>> adding insulation may take a couple years.
>>
>> Changed all lights to CFL and shut them off all but a couple.
>
> It is especially important in the summer to avoid turning on more
> lights and heavy motors, since they will heat up the house and make
> the A/C work harder.
Nope, those make a trivial difference with A/C.
larry
> news:6b4cf303-14f6-4130...@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>
>>Can anyone tell me how they actually cut thier utility bills?
>>For instance, I have a shut off valve attatched to my shower
>>head so when it's time to soap up, I don't waste water down the
>>drain. Any other ideas?
>
Don't give water back, or at least until it's the second use.
Capture sink (bath & kitchen), bath, and laundry water. Use
it to water plants or flush the toilet.
You feel less guilt and still get a real shower. a 55 gal
plastic drum, small pump, and bucket easily saves several
thousand gallons each month for just two people. Rain is
good too, if you live in such places ;-)
We pay in 100 gal increments. Unfortunately water is only
$4 /mo, all the other water bill fees are $30 /mo.
-- larry / dallas
h
> We pay in 100 gal increments. Unfortunately water is only
> $4 /mo, all the other water bill fees are $30 /mo.
>
> -- larry / dallas
Wow! We pay less than $50/year for water.
clams_casino
How do they adjust the meter each month (or quarter)?
clams_casino
Now that's a gift.
We alternate almost $50/100 per quarter for nearly $300/yr (does not
include sewer) for about 6000 ft3 (about 45k gallons).
AllEmailDeletedImmediately
<h> wrote in message news:477bfda3$0$11044$4c36...@roadrunner.com...
ours is 20/month. just 2 of us. no longer-than-need showers (in fact, i
don't shower every day), no empty dishwasher or clothes washers, no full
size toilets, no watering the lawn, no evidence of leaks.
pay another 37/mon for sewer; it's part of the tax bill.
<RJ>
<der...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>you're probably just saving water, but not money. most water companies
>charge per 1000 gallons or any part thereof. so, if you usually use 2000 a
>month and cut back to 1001 gallons, you're still gonna pay for 2000. to
>really see water use drop in this country, there should be a requirement
>that you only pay for what you use, but that would probably entail changing
>out all the water meters since i think they only compute in 1000 gal
>increments.
>
Close to 1/3 of my water bill is "fixed fee".
ie; service charge, connect charge, overhead charge, etc. etc.
( sort of like a telephone bill )
So, the less water you use, the "more-per-gallon" you pay.
My electric, and gas bills are structured the same way.
<rj>
AllEmailDeletedImmediately
"clams_casino" <PeterG...@DrunkinClam.com> wrote in message
i don't think they adjusted the meter. it's been 7 yrs.....something like:
the meter tracked all the water you used, but the billing was in 1000 gal
incr OR ANY PART THEREOF :)
so lets's say you just moved in, the meter is was set to 0, and this is your
1st month's water bill:
your meter reads: 1234 gallons
your bill reads:
0-1000 gallons: 10.00
1001-1234 gallons: 10.00 (this is where the OR ANY PART THEREOF COMES
IN)
the next month your meter reads: 3456 gallons
your bill reads:
1001 - 2000 gallons: 10.00
2001 - 3000 gallons: 10.00
3001 - 3456 gallons: 10.00
anything over even 1000 gal increments was just sliced off.
oh, and did i mention that because we were county, we paid double the rate?
:(
AllEmailDeletedImmediately
"<RJ>" <bara...@localnet.com> wrote in message
news:r44on3ps0mn6qj751...@4ax.com...
same here, and with the electric and gas bill, as well. the water bill
here computes in 1000 gal increments, but i don't know about the meter.
clams_casino
>
>oh, and did i mention that because we were county, we paid double the rate?
>:(
>
>
>
>
>
When I lived in TN, we also had that 2x in the water county cost. The
higher cost partially offset the savings of having no city taxes, along
with a charge for the use of city libraries, fee for trash pickup, etc
that quickly offset the city tax - especially since fees are not
deductible against income.
Lou
"AllEmailDeletedImmediately" <der...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:tgNej.2107$Je6.897@trnddc01...
Well, unless you shower using cold water only, using less water means you
heat less water, so you could be saving money on the fuel bill. But as to
saving money on the water bill, even if the bill was accurate to the gallon,
water is so cheap most places that I doubt you'd notice the savings for a
typical shower.
The Real Bev
> AllEmailDeletedImmediately wrote:
>>you're probably just saving water, but not money. most water companies
>>charge per 1000 gallons or any part thereof. so, if you usually use 2000 a
>>month and cut back to 1001 gallons, you're still gonna pay for 2000. to
>>really see water use drop in this country, there should be a requirement
>>that you only pay for what you use, but that would probably entail changing
>>out all the water meters since i think they only compute in 1000 gal
>>increments.
>>
> While they do charge in increments, the reading is off a continuous
> reading meter. If you get charged for 2000 when you only used 1500, you
> will not be charged for that extra 500 in the next bill.
Local option. My son near Raleigh pays $80 for up to 3K gallons and $27
for the next 1K gallons, which is prorated on usage -- some of their
neighbors who take gardening seriously pay $600-$700/month for the
privilege. In SoCal, nearly a desert, water is almost free.
--
Cheers, Bev
----------------------------------------------------------
A spokesperson for 60s band 'the animals' has today made a
public apology saying they were mistaken and there isn't a
house in New Orleans after all.
Leroy
Bullshite. A few hundred watts of heat is quite noticable. I'm in
a 34 foot RV and 400 watts of electric heat is more than enough
to keep the interior 30 degrees F warmer than the exterior.
In the summer, any standby energy consumed results in heat
which must be removed by AC using yet more energy.
Rod Speed
>>>> Lou wrote
>>>>> Can anyone tell me how they actually cut thier utility bills?
>>>> Most of my utility bill is heating and AC. It is the same for most people.
>>>> Number one method to cut heating costs is to seal air leaks and add
>>>> insulation where it is lacking. Sealing air leaks has a fast payback,
>>>> adding insulation may take a couple years.
>> Changed all lights to CFL and shut them off all but a couple.
>>> It is especially important in the summer to avoid turning on more lights and heavy motors, since they will heat up
>>> the house and make the A/C work harder.
>> Nope, those make a trivial difference with A/C.
> Bullshite.
Your sig is supposed to have a -- in front of it.
> A few hundred watts of heat is quite noticable.
Utterly bogus numbers when talking about CFLs.
> I'm in a 34 foot RV
And the OP aint.
> and 400 watts of electric heat is more than enough to keep the interior 30 degrees F warmer than the exterior.
And even someone as stupid as you should be able to grasp that no one
in a 34 foot RV would be likely to have 400W of CFLs on very often at all.
> In the summer, any standby energy consumed results in heat which must be removed by AC using yet more energy.
Duh. Pity that with a normal A/C house, the power used for
the A/C is gunna be a hell of a lot more than a few extra CFLs.
Evelyn C. Leeper
To back up Leroy (who was backing me up), in the summertime I notice a
definite difference in temperature in our family room when I have the
six ceiling lights turned on for any significant time. (In the winter,
one doesn't mind as much, but I'm sure the effect is still there.)
Evelyn C. Leeper
Let me clarify--the lights I was referring to were incandescent lights.
(The fixtures won't take CFLs.)
Joe
> "Lou" <loup...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:6b4cf303-14f6-4130...@e6g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>
> > Can anyone tell me how they actually cut thier utility bills?
> > head so when it's time to soap up, I don't waste water down the
> > drain. Any other ideas?
>
> I keep my house at 58 degrees in the winter and I don't have AC just a fan
> in the summer.
how much can one expect to save by cutting their thermostat setting by
10 degrees?
Jeff
> Leroy wrote:
>> Rod Speed wrote:
>>> Evelyn C. Leeper <ele...@optonline.net> wrote:
>>>> It is especially important in the summer to avoid turning on more
>>>> lights and heavy motors, since they will heat up the house and make
>>>> the A/C work harder.
>>>
>>> Nope, those make a trivial difference with A/C.
>>
>> Bullshite. A few hundred watts of heat is quite noticable. I'm in
>> a 34 foot RV and 400 watts of electric heat is more than enough
>> to keep the interior 30 degrees F warmer than the exterior.
>>
>> In the summer, any standby energy consumed results in heat
>> which must be removed by AC using yet more energy.
>
> To back up Leroy (who was backing me up), in the summertime I notice a
> definite difference in temperature in our family room when I have the
> six ceiling lights turned on for any significant time. (In the winter,
> one doesn't mind as much, but I'm sure the effect is still there.)
Let's take 100 watts of extra power. That could be just one incandescent
bulb. Run that all day and you have over 8000 BTU's That would be a
small to mid size room AC running for one hour. Obviously that's a good
reason to decrease heating load by using bulbs that consume less power,
like CFLs.
But even CFLs use power. Leave on a 14W CFL and you'll use almost
11kWhrs a month. THats over a dollar at 10 cents/kWhr and just for one
bulb. So turning off even small electrical appliances adds up. And it
would take a small AC five hours to remove the thirty six thousand BTUs.
We'll leave phantom watts for another discussion. But many seldom
used appliances consume much more power off and idling than on. When you
attack energy consumption you target the biggest users first, then move
down the ladder.
None of this means you should be anal about consumption, but
everything has some cost that adds up over time. Just like turning off a
light in a room you aren't in makes sense, sometimes it's worth leaving
a light on, but it still has a cost.
Jeff
>
Rod Speed
Varys with how well the house is insulated.
If the insulation is perfect, it wont have any effect.
Rod Speed
Then your original proclaimation doesnt apply to everyone else, and
you still wont see a lot of effect unless you happen to 'live' in a trailer etc.
Rod Speed
> Leroy wrote:
>> Rod Speed wrote:
>>> Evelyn C. Leeper <ele...@optonline.net> wrote:
>>>> It is especially important in the summer to avoid turning on more
>>>> lights and heavy motors, since they will heat up the house and make
>>>> the A/C work harder.
>>>
>>> Nope, those make a trivial difference with A/C.
>>
>> Bullshite. A few hundred watts of heat is quite noticable. I'm in
>> a 34 foot RV and 400 watts of electric heat is more than enough
>> to keep the interior 30 degrees F warmer than the exterior.
>>
>> In the summer, any standby energy consumed results in heat
>> which must be removed by AC using yet more energy.
>
> To back up Leroy (who was backing me up), in the summertime I notice a
> definite difference in temperature in our family room when I have the
> six ceiling lights turned on for any significant time. (In the
> winter, one doesn't mind as much, but I'm sure the effect is still
> there.)
It just feels different. Its not necessarily affecting the power used for the A/C that much,
particularly when you have the temp set on the high side to minimise your A/C costs.
Rod Speed
The point is that a 14W CFL is a trivial extra load on whole
house A/C and the effect on your utility bill will be trivial.
> We'll leave phantom watts for another discussion. But many seldom
> used appliances consume much more power off and idling than on.
Only if you count total power used when off and on.
> When you attack energy consumption you target the biggest users first, then move down the ladder.
And when you have A/C, its that thats using a hell of alot more power than the CFLs.
> None of this means you should be anal about consumption, but everything has some cost that adds up over time.
But if its only say 1% of what the A/C is taking, you are indeed anally
obsessing about irrelevancys and you would be better off running the
A/C at a higher temp instead of running around turning everything off.
> Just like turning off a light in a room you aren't in makes sense, sometimes it's worth leaving a light on, but it
> still has a cost.
And when that cost is swamped why what its costing you to run the A/C,
it make a hell of a lot more sense to set the A/C a little higher temp wise instead.
Bob F
"Joe" <joe...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:a15307d1-fbbf-40dd...@i3g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
100% if the outside temp is 58.
Coffee's For Closers
says...
>
> "Lou" <lou...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> > Can anyone tell me how they actually cut thier utility bills?
> > For instance, I have a shut off valve attatched to my shower
> > head so when it's time to soap up, I don't waste water down the
> > drain. Any other ideas?
> you're probably just saving water, but not money.
The water being saved will be hot. Thus reducing the electric or
gas cost for heating the water.
--
Get Credit Where Credit Is Due
http://www.cardreport.com/
Credit Tools, Reference, and Forum
Lou
> 10 degrees?
As asked, the question is meaningless. If the outside temperature is 20 and
you heat the house to 70, you're maintaining a temperature difference of 50
degrees. Turn the thermostat down to 60 and the temperature difference is
only 40 degrees, reducing the differential by 20%, and you'd expect savings
to more or less match.
On the other hand, if the outside temperature is 60 degrees, turning the
thermostat down by 10 degrees reduces the differential to 0, and you'd have
no heating bill at all - you'd save 100% (of a much smaller starting bill).
PaPaPeng
<der...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>you're probably just saving water, but not money. most water companies
>charge per 1000 gallons or any part thereof. so, if you usually use 2000 a
>month and cut back to 1001 gallons, you're still gonna pay for 2000. to
>really see water use drop in this country, there should be a requirement
>that you only pay for what you use, but that would probably entail changing
>out all the water meters since i think they only compute in 1000 gal
>increments.
I always wondered about that. I try to save water by (4 gal) flushing
it every third pee and it didn't make any diffrerence as when I
flushed more often. I suppose the billing will even out over each
billing cycle as the meter clocks up the next 1000 gallons. The same
method would be used for electricty as I way away for 6 weeks and
there was no difference in the bills.
h
"Jeff" <jeff@spam_me_not.com> wrote in message
news:13nq1hv...@corp.supernews.com...
I changed all my light bulbs to CFLs a few years ago. It wasn't so much the
energy savings as the savings on the bulbs themselves, plus reducing the
heat the old bulbs produced. Since we don't use AC, we noticed a huge
difference in comfort level immediately in the kitchen and my workroom. We
did this in the summer (Upstate NY), and the last day of incandescents the
kitchen was 90 at 3pm and the next day it was 80 (same highs both days). My
work room dropped 20 degrees from 102 to 82. MUCH more pleasant.
Jeff
CFLs are wonderful things. And if you buy a brand name they last much
longer. That's more a caution not to buy any from the offbrand discount
stores. Those tend to be just as bad as the others are good. I've had
good results here with lifespan, I think I've replaced one in the last 5
years.
Nice to hear you've made a big boost to your comfort level just by
switching. Kitchens and workrooms need to be well lit and it's great
that you no longer have to withstand the heat and can stay in the kitchen!
Jeff
>
Brian Elfert
>> how much can one expect to save by cutting their thermostat setting by
>> 10 degrees?
>Varys with how well the house is insulated.
>If the insulation is perfect, it wont have any effect.
Insulation slows heat loss. It cannot stop heat loss.
If you heat a house to 65 degrees and the temperature outside is lower
than 65 degrees you will lose heat. It is just a matter of how long it
takes for the heat to be lost. This of course assumes nothing in the
house is generating any heat at all.
Brian Elfert
Rod Speed
> Rod Speed <rod.sp...@gmail.com> wrote
>>> how much can one expect to save by cutting their thermostat setting by 10 degrees?
>> Varys with how well the house is insulated.
>> If the insulation is perfect, it wont have any effect.
> Insulation slows heat loss. It cannot stop heat loss.
Wrong, as always.
> If you heat a house to 65 degrees and the temperature
> outside is lower than 65 degrees you will lose heat. It
> is just a matter of how long it takes for the heat to be lost.
And if the insulation is perfect, that will be a very long time, stupid.
> This of course assumes nothing in the house is generating any heat at all.
Which is a stupid assumption. In practice its prefectly possible to
have the insulation so good that the heat generated by the individuals
and stuff like lights sees the temperature rise due to that heat.
Jeff
> "Rod Speed" <rod.sp...@gmail.com> writes:
>
>>> how much can one expect to save by cutting their thermostat setting by
>>> 10 degrees?
>
>> Varys with how well the house is insulated.
>
>> If the insulation is perfect, it wont have any effect.
>
> Insulation slows heat loss. It cannot stop heat loss.
Absolutely. The formula is simple:
Heat loss in BTU's/hr = (Area in ft^2/R value) * Temperature difference
There is no infinite R insulation. Heat is lost through all surfaces
where there is a temperature difference.
Even in well insulated homes, one third of the heat loss is through
air infiltration. If you could completely seal the house, you would be
asphyxiated. That does not mean that Air exchange heat losses can't be
mitigated, it does mean they do exist and are sizeable for most homes.
>
> If you heat a house to 65 degrees and the temperature outside is lower
> than 65 degrees you will lose heat. It is just a matter of how long it
> takes for the heat to be lost. This of course assumes nothing in the
> house is generating any heat at all.
Absolutely again. Every person is contributing some 300+ BTUs/hr of
heat. Every appliance and light is contributing heat. 8 people is
equivalent to an electric space heater running full time on half power.
Every BTU adds up.
Jeff
>
> Brian Elfert
nicks...@ece.villanova.edu
>Brian Elfert wrote:
>> "Rod Speed" <rod.sp...@gmail.com> writes:
>>
>>>> how much can one expect to save by cutting their thermostat setting by
>>>> 10 degrees?
>>
>>> Varys with how well the house is insulated.
>>
>>> If the insulation is perfect, it wont have any effect.
>>
>> Insulation slows heat loss. It cannot stop heat loss.
>
> Absolutely. The formula is simple:
>
>Heat loss in BTU's/hr = (Area in ft^2/R value) * Temperature difference
>
> There is no infinite R insulation. Heat is lost through all surfaces
>where there is a temperature difference.
>
> Even in well insulated homes, one third of the heat loss is through
>air infiltration.
A 2400 ft^2 Canadian house might only lose 2.5 Btu/h-F to natural air leaks.
Nick
val189
> Can anyone tell me how they actually cut thier utility bills?
> For instance, I have a shut off valve attatched to my shower
> head so when it's time to soap up, I don't waste water down the
> drain. Any other ideas?
Things I did:
installed metal roof, well insulated
low flow toilets
new windows
Yes, these items were expensive in and of themselves, but they were
installed for other reasons. The electricity and water savings was a
side benefit.
My water, btw, is billed in 1000 gal increments, but it's a continuous
type billing. Some times I luck out and am billed for one unit less
than the previous month.
My sewer rate is $1.80 for ev. dollar of water billed.
Logan Shaw
> "Rod Speed" <rod.sp...@gmail.com> writes:
>
>>> how much can one expect to save by cutting their thermostat setting by
>>> 10 degrees?
>
>> Varys with how well the house is insulated.
>
>> If the insulation is perfect, it wont have any effect.
>
> Insulation slows heat loss. It cannot stop heat loss.
Of course, there is no such thing as perfect insulation. But obviously
the point was to understand the limit that insulation can asymptotically
approach as it gets better and better.
This is just like when you study Newtonian mechanics and you assume an
ideal, frictionless surface. Or when you assume a pulley with zero mass.
Incidentally, a perfect vacuum (which is also impossible!) is a pretty
darned good insulator. It is not a perfect insulator, but it's remarkably
close.
- Logan
Jeff
Well, those Canadians got it going on! How do they do that? Do they
need to add air?
Jeff
>
> Nick
>
Coffee's For Closers
PaPa...@yahoo.com says...
The electric bills may alternate between a physical reading and
an estimate.
For example, my electric provider takes a physical meter reading
every two months, and sends a bill up to that exact amount. The
other, non-read months, are based on my average monthly usage
over time (at least a year, and maybe weighted to season.)
Theoretically, I could use zero power during that period, and
still be billed according to my real usage, say, last January.
A discrepancy like that would be compensated with the next
physical meter reading.
So, your bill that covered the absent period, might be an
estimated amount. I seem to recall reading of situations where
the bill was estimated each month for a long time, sometimes
getting further and further away from actual usage.
nicks...@ece.villanova.edu
>> A 2400 ft^2 Canadian house might only lose 2.5 Btu/h-F to natural air leaks.
>
> Well, those Canadians got it going on! How do they do that? Do they
>need to add air?
Yes, in the form of a "mechanical ventilation system," eg a bathroom or
kitchen exhaust fan that turns on automatically when the indoor RH rises to
50% in wintertime. (A perfectly airtight house with humidity sources like
people would approach 100%, with condensation on indoor window surfaces.)
Nick
h
> Nice to hear you've made a big boost to your comfort level just by
> switching. Kitchens and workrooms need to be well lit and it's great that
> you no longer have to withstand the heat and can stay in the kitchen!
>
> Jeff
Plus, when I accidentally touch one of the lightbulbs (cramped quarters in
the workspace) I don't get a second degree burn!
Bob F
<nicks...@ece.villanova.edu> wrote in message
news:flnnq8$6...@acadia.ece.villanova.edu...
Wouldn't they need an air inlet somewhere also?
nicks...@ece.villanova.edu
>>>>A 2400 ft^2 Canadian house might only have 2.5 cfm of natural air leaks.
>>>
>>> Well, those Canadians got it going on! How do they do that? Do they
>>>need to add air?
>>
>> Yes, in the form of a "mechanical ventilation system," eg a bathroom or
>> kitchen exhaust fan that turns on automatically when the indoor RH rises to
>> 50% in wintertime. (A perfectly airtight house with humidity sources like
>> people would approach 100%, with condensation on indoor window surfaces.)
>
>Wouldn't they need an air inlet somewhere also?
Maybe not, altho that isn't a big deal. It might be a backwards dryer vent
above the fan, which only needs to move about 60 cfm, which might come in
through cracks and crevices in the walls.
As an alternative, a periodically-reversing fan in an interior partition
wall might turn all the cracks and crevices into efficient bidirectional
heat exchangers.
Nick