JimRB
Veteran Member
I would suspect most power companies will do an energy audit for free. This site suggests about 3 times more insulation than you have. Insulation Fact Sheet
Heat pumps
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joemd11
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buckeyefarmer
Epic Contributor
My power company does the same thing, wish they would stop wasting my money doing it. Course they don't list the sf of the comparison houses, or if they are all electric, etc.... They are trying to sell you new energy efficient items.
My highest month was 3740, however they estimate every other month, and the month before was estimated low. I've averaged 1233kwh/month since I built the house in 1997, and 1577 kwh/month over the last year. I use more electric now with all geothermal, but I lost that huge oil bill I used to have.
$/month numbers are meaningless without more info. I've averaged anywhere from $58 to $198 per month, a lot depends on the weather.
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buckeyefarmer
Epic Contributor
It's not Free, I suspect the OP has the same power company I have. We pay for this "free service" every month in our bill, as an energy program. This is the program that gives us the "free" cfl bulbs (mine came broken). I think last year it cost me over $100 for this "free stuff" that I don't want.
crackerjack222
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Prior to last April I had an open loop geothermal, installed in 1994. It claimed an SEER of 15. Last April I had a Trane variable 19 SEER 5 ton conventional heat pump unit installed in my all electric home in south central Tex. My electric usage dropped significantly with the Trane unit. The avg KWH for June, July Aug and Sept of last year was 1699 per month. The highest monthly usage since then was 1514 kwh in December.
Disclosure: our house is two story and 4000 sq ft with only two of us living here. I have a six zone system using motorized ducts. The house is reasonable tight with good insulation and has ridge vents.
The Trane system has kept a much more even temp throughout the house, both in summer and winter. I was concerned at first since I noticed the compressor running a lot. The thermostat shows at what % speed it is running (it is variable from about 30% to 100%) and I see it much of the time at 31%. The electric backup strips have kicked on from time to time, usually when I adjust a thermostat to warm up a zone.
I am very happy with the system.
Disclosure: our house is two story and 4000 sq ft with only two of us living here. I have a six zone system using motorized ducts. The house is reasonable tight with good insulation and has ridge vents.
The Trane system has kept a much more even temp throughout the house, both in summer and winter. I was concerned at first since I noticed the compressor running a lot. The thermostat shows at what % speed it is running (it is variable from about 30% to 100%) and I see it much of the time at 31%. The electric backup strips have kicked on from time to time, usually when I adjust a thermostat to warm up a zone.
I am very happy with the system.
LD1
Epic Contributor
I am surprised they do that. My elec company has phased in over the last two years their smart meters. Where they dot even need a meter reader anymore. They can access usage from the office. And can also look at a glance if you are out of power.
Then all of this info I can access online and look at a nice chart showing daily, monthly, yearly, or whatever usage. And make yearly or monthly comparisons.
What is the winters like there in central TX?
In milder climates where winter temps never get really cold, Geothermal isnt worth the money IMO. Geothermals are really beneficial though in colder climates (like mine) where there is little to no heat to extract from the air. But there is plenty to be had from 40 degree earth.
Both systems operate on the same principal of heat exchange. Geo exchanges with earth (usually constant 40 degree in my area). Air units exchange with air. If you have mild winters with mostly 40 degree + days, you dont gain much with geo. And actually with a 50-60 degree day where you just need a little bit of heat, a air HP can be even more efficient than a GEO system making an exchange with 40* water.
That in combination with your new Variable speed unit, is most likely why your bills are less. I would venture a guess that if your climate is milder like I suspect, A new high end Air unit vs a new Geo there would be no appreciable difference. In which you made the right call going with a less expensive air unit.
crackerjack222
Silver Member
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[
What is the winters like there in central TX?
That in combination with your new Variable speed unit, is most likely why your bills are less. I would venture a guess that if your climate is milder like I suspect, A new high end Air unit vs a new Geo there would be no appreciable difference. In which you made the right call going with a less expensive air unit.[/QUOTE]
Our winters are very mild in cen-TX. This winter we have only seen a few nights less than freezing and no days where the temp did not get above freezing. As I write this our temp is 41* and overcast. Forecast is for 35-36 tonight and them warming up into the 60s-70s later in the week. It will be spring here in a week or two.
Our challenge is ac in the summer. Our summer can last six months and for two-three months we can see temps in the high 90's to about 105.
The geo system I had, pumped water from the 400 acre lake behind my house and back into the lake. I have monitored the lake water temp from time to time and saw highs of around 84 in late Aug. and lows of around 56 in late Feb. I chose not to do that again since I am getting too old to maintain the system. I have had to clean or replace the pump check valve several times, de-scale the heat exchanger about every 3 years and clean the pump motor twice after flood events. I knew how and when to do these things and it was not a great chore but, I could see the next owner of this house having to hire those things done and not liking it at all. The air heat exchanger seemed like the best choice now. In researching the options I saw systems that claimed up to about 24 SEER but they were geo.
I attribute much of the low operating cost to the six-zone system. We only condition those areas of the house we are using.
The Trane system I have now works better and for less operating costs than the geo system I had. It was not cheap but if it lasts 20 years it will outlast me.
What is the winters like there in central TX?
That in combination with your new Variable speed unit, is most likely why your bills are less. I would venture a guess that if your climate is milder like I suspect, A new high end Air unit vs a new Geo there would be no appreciable difference. In which you made the right call going with a less expensive air unit.[/QUOTE]
Our winters are very mild in cen-TX. This winter we have only seen a few nights less than freezing and no days where the temp did not get above freezing. As I write this our temp is 41* and overcast. Forecast is for 35-36 tonight and them warming up into the 60s-70s later in the week. It will be spring here in a week or two.
Our challenge is ac in the summer. Our summer can last six months and for two-three months we can see temps in the high 90's to about 105.
The geo system I had, pumped water from the 400 acre lake behind my house and back into the lake. I have monitored the lake water temp from time to time and saw highs of around 84 in late Aug. and lows of around 56 in late Feb. I chose not to do that again since I am getting too old to maintain the system. I have had to clean or replace the pump check valve several times, de-scale the heat exchanger about every 3 years and clean the pump motor twice after flood events. I knew how and when to do these things and it was not a great chore but, I could see the next owner of this house having to hire those things done and not liking it at all. The air heat exchanger seemed like the best choice now. In researching the options I saw systems that claimed up to about 24 SEER but they were geo.
I attribute much of the low operating cost to the six-zone system. We only condition those areas of the house we are using.
The Trane system I have now works better and for less operating costs than the geo system I had. It was not cheap but if it lasts 20 years it will outlast me.
paulharvey
Veteran Member
Not to hijack the thread, but I live in North central Florida in 1996 Double wide, ~2000 sf. We run AC at 77 or 78 in summer, heat at 69-70 in winter, and pay between $250-325/month. I have an energy audit scheduled for 2/24/15. Has anyone had one of these? Do they offer any real concrete advice or mostly just tell you to upgrade to a newer AC and such? My power company does it for free, but I'm not really expecting thermal imagining or frankly any "actionable" information.
LD1
Epic Contributor
Never had one done, so I cannot help there.
Those 250-325 bills, what is the usage? Electric rates vary ALOT across the country. Usage tells me alot more than cost.
kcflhrc
Veteran Member
We bought our 1970 built 2500 sq ft 2 story 4 bedroom home in September 2013. We put a new Heat Pump in with propane backup when we moved in. Our Honeywell thermostat has a lockout setting for the heat pump which is programmable. I have it set for 30 degrees I believe and I have an outdoor temp sensor wired directly to the thermostat. It is a Heil brand. I'm not overly impressed with the system. Seems to do weird things. Like the heat pump comes on, then shuts off, then the propane comes on for a while, then turns off only after about a minute and the blower continues to run. It only does this when it's around the lockout setting. When it's colder than the lockout then the propane works fine. Just acts real weird right around the lockout temperature. If I had to do it all over again, I would probably just go all electric.