Can my breaker box affect my electric bill?

In a way, the idea that if something is repaired it is now good, or if
it is replaced with new, it is now good, while a compliment to
repairmen, I think ends up with tremendous and often excessive
dissatisfaction on those, hopefully few occasions when something is
repaired or replaced and it's not good.

There can always be bad parts and repairmen can always make a mistake,
if only in not verifying that every part and every feature is working.

The quality of work is partly determined by whether it works well
after he leaves, but also by whether he fixes it well after the
customer discovers the flaw.

But forgetting about judging the quality of work, it's just not true
that when someone fixes something it is guaranteed to be fixed, or
that when someone does anything it is guaranteed to be done.
Assumintg otherwise slows down debugging.

>You've gotten lots of good advice, but seem immune.

>HTH,

Posted by dpb on August 28, 2006, 4:51 pm

Kravynn wrote:

> Im pretty confident that the AC is not the issue. It was replaced with

> a new unit inside and out (new digital thermostat as well). The house

> stays cold, unusually cold. I dont understand why my electric bill is

> more now with a new AC unit set on 80 and feeling like 50, than it was

> with the old one set on 60 and the house staying at a temp of 80-85.

I can only reemphasize what Edwin and others (and myself) have already
told you--if the house feels this cold, in undoubtedly _IS_ colder than
80F and _SOMETHING_ isn't right. If the actual temperature is
somewhere in the 60's, it's no wonder your power bills are
astronomical. Your first step needs to be to find out independent of
the thermostat what the air temperature is and get the A/C guy out to
find out why you're running so cold. I suppose it's possible the
thermostat is located in a very poor location and is being affected by
something else so it thinks the temperature is 80, but a thermometer
will tell you that, too.

A 12 SEER unit isn't very efficient these days (I don't think it would
qualify for Energy Star rating) but is probably better than what was
there, but if it's running all the time or is actually keeping the
house at 65F, see above.

I also have to agree w/ Edwin and others in that your brother may be an
electrician by trade and capable of performing the mechanical processes
of wiring, etc., but he definitely is way off base on this hypothesis.
It just isn't the way electricity "works". It's certainly not uncommon
that many tradesmen don't know much theoretical behind what they do
routinely.

In summary, given this additional information, the A/C is almost
definitely the problem and the reason is almost certainly that
something isn't right so you need to get the installer out to find out
what the problem actually is and fix it.

Posted by Oren on August 28, 2006, 5:30 pm

>find out why you're running so cold. I suppose it's possible the

>thermostat is located in a very poor location and is being affected by

>something else so it thinks the temperature is 80, but a thermometer

>will tell you that, too.

A larger than necessary wiring hole behind the T-Stat can artificially
affect the stat with heat from the wall cavity. I seal-up around the
wire holes.

>In summary, given this additional information, the A/C is almost

>definitely the problem and the reason is almost certainly that

>something isn't right so you need to get the installer out to find out

>what the problem actually is and fix it.

The OP can cut back now as mentioned.

I think we pay more $$ during peak hours and $ during non peak hours.
I have to look at this again.

We try to avoid big appliances during the day, really so in the
summer.

Oren

Posted by Jeff Wisnia on August 28, 2006, 5:33 pm

Kravynn wrote:

> Im pretty confident that the AC is not the issue. It was replaced with

> a new unit inside and out (new digital thermostat as well). The house

> stays cold, unusually cold. I dont understand why my electric bill is

> more now with a new AC unit set on 80 and feeling like 50, than it was

> with the old one set on 60 and the house staying at a temp of 80-85.

> dpb wrote:

>>Kravynn wrote:

>>>I am renting a house. It is a block house built in the mid-late 50s.

>>...

>>>landlord to get a new AC unit. I was anxious to see my "new" electric

>>>bill, only to be devastated when it came in at $465! I started turning

>>>off my water heater during the day, desperate to save money. I keep

>>>the AC set at about 80-82, and it stays pretty cold in the house. This

>>>leads me to believe that the thermostat may not be working properly. At

>>>any rate, another month has passed and this bill came in at right

>>>around $400. My brother is an electrician, he said I probably need to

>>>have the breaker box updated, to much power running off a 150 amp main.

>>>I know that there have been 2 rooms and an AC unit added to the house

>>>since it was built. I would appreciate any suggestions, ideas,

>>>input....My electric bill is more than my rent at this point. I'm a

>>>single mom and I'm in a state of panic.

>>All other posts (so far) reasonable suggestions altho ditching the new

>>central A/C for a window unit seems extreme before finding out more...

>>I'll second the thought that the service panel isn't the cause of the

>>high usage (and a high bill implies high consumption).

>>There is one possibility not mentioned so far although I suspect it

>>won't turn out to be the primary culprit but that is it is possible for

>>a meter to go out of calibration. The utility company will check them

>>on request.

>>I suspect Bob nailed the primary culprit--given it's a 50's block house

>>in FL, one would suspect it has very little if any insulation and quite

>>possibly a lot of leaky (as in air flow) windows and doors, air

>>infiltration around electrical outlets, etc. -- iow, the house is

>>probably just not at all energy efficient. Your local utility company

>>may also still have consumer energy-efficiency teams that will do

>>inspections for no or little charge to point out specific areas that

>>can be easily fixed. The "feels warm" test on the ceiling someone else

>>mentioned is a real good clue that you have a problem.

>>Another mentioned that the landlord almost certainly replaced the old

>>unit w/ another as cheaply as possible means the efficiency may not be

>>much, if any, higher than the unit it replaced, only that it has a full

>>charge so will actually cool. Some old wall thermostats are

>>notoriously inaccurate to begin with and only get worse w/ age--if a

>>new thermostat wasn't installed w/ the new AC it's quite possible it is

>>off by several degrees. The old one here has a seemingly variable

>>amount of hysteresis, particularly on the "off" side--it can sometimes

>>seem to be 3 to 4 degrees below the setpoint before it actually shuts

>>off. Checking actual temperatures w/ a good thermometer to see where

>>it really is is a good idea. You also might experiment to see if you

>>leave the fan running that you could set the thermostat several degrees

>>warmer and still be reasonably comfortable, as well.

>>In the end, if you discover (as I suspect) that the above factors are

>>all true in greater or lesser degree and the landlord isn't willing to

>>improve the house (and it's highly unlikely he'll want to put in yet

>>another, more expensive, A/C anytime _real_ soon :) ), your best

>>alternative at that point may be to try to find a more energy-efficient

>>place to live.

Sounds to me like you are just floundering around and not approaching
the problem systematically, lady.

What does an accurate thermometer hung next to the thermostat read, when
the rest of the place is as you say, "pretty cold"?

And what does that same thermometer read when placed in the "pretty
cold" parts of the house?

It's quite possible the thermostat is located in a part of the house
where cold air from the system does not reach it until it's "lost a lot
of its cold" and isn't cold enough to make the thermostat switch off
the AC.

You may just need to properly balance the air flows by adjusting
register dampers (Assuming they ARE adjustable.) until you achieve a
relatively acceptable temperatures where you want them.

HTH,

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
"Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength."

Posted by on August 28, 2006, 4:00 pm

dpb wrote:

> All other posts (so far) reasonable suggestions altho ditching the new

> central A/C for a window unit seems extreme before finding out more...

Actually, it seems extremely pracitical for a couple reasons.
1. The bill is big enough to be big problem for OP, who needs to cut it
_now_.
2. There is possible problem with t-stat and/or a/c sizing.
3. Central air cools way more of house, possibly, than you'd want to
pay to cool.
4. Insulation (toss in sealing) is suspect too, causing a/c to try to
cool the county.
5. Efficience of central a/c is suspect.

I'd ditch the money/energy sucker in a heartbeat.

HTH,
J

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