help finding electrical leak/problem

[quazimoto]

Here's the deal our electrical bill is SKY HIGH and we really can't figure out why. Brand new, 4 month old home, 1800 SQ FT bungalow, high efficiency furnace with a high efficiency electrical water heater. Other homes built by the same builder with the exact same specs are consuming between 600-750 KWH of electricity a month. We are pinging the 1700-1800 KWH hours each month. A huge discrepency to say the least. We have verified that it's not the electrical meter based upon shutting all the breakers off for a full day and noticing it takes virtually no electricity.

We have attempted testing the breakers one by one to no avail. The builder has basically told us they can send someone in but if they find no problems we get stuck with the bill. Same issue with have the meter swapped and I'm sure it's not the meter.

Either way I'm about fed up with our builder now. It seems now a days there isn't a single builder that can give you an honest site super. We just got lied to regarding the delays on our driveway which well is just fine and dandy. Apparently they say our land hasn't sunk enough for the driveway to be poured and they think it'll sink a lot more in the next two weeks. Just an FYI our lot has sunk basically two feet with all the rain we had but has budged in a while.

[Cos]

Do you have servers?
Computers that you leave on all day?
Does someone stay home all day?
Do you have an electric water heater?
Do you wash clothes every day?
Do you leave the fridge open all the time?
Do you have a hot tub?
Wash dished 90 times a day?
Are you growing weed?

If you turn off the breaker NOTHING should be used on the meter unless you have two panels but even then you should have a disconnect.



I have a home server, two PC's that stay on 50% of the time but most of the time the house is off and we use about 253kWh

[danno]

where do you live?? i can swing by with a meter and test

[quazimoto]

After switching off the hot water heater breaker all night last night the consumption went down to basically zero. We used 2 KWH in a 10 hour period of time were as normally it was drawing at least 1 KWH when we were sleeping so hopefully that's the fix.

Also from my understanding the electrical draw from a computer is VERY minimal. In order for a computer to draw that much energy something crazy would have to be going on as it would flip the breaker if it began consuming a certain amount is my understanding at least.

[Cos]

Originally posted by quazimoto
After switching off the hot water heater breaker all night last night the consumption went down to basically zero. We used 2 KWH in a 10 hour period of time were as normally it was drawing at least 1 KWH when we were sleeping so hopefully that's the fix.

Also from my understanding the electrical draw from a computer is VERY minimal. In order for a computer to draw that much energy something crazy would have to be going on as it would flip the breaker if it began consuming a certain amount is my understanding at least.

If you have a proper server with AC it can really do it up. If you just have some normal PC's sleep mode is something like 20kW.

Electric water heaters can be very heavy on power, is it a flash heater? I assume not because it is running all day. One thing you can do it is turn down the temp a degree or two.

You will save money on gas though because you are not using any to heat your water. Unless I am reading this wrong

[quazimoto]

I dont think these specific heaters actually have a temperature guage however other identical homes with the same heater are only taking 700kwh a month apparently. So obviously it's consuming boat loads more for some reason. I can understand it costing more and not having gas, etc. HOWEVER our bills are over $100 more than others with the same home.

That $100 adds up very fast lol.

[Cos]

^^ yeah I dont blame you. Do you use an abnormal amount of water? Only other thing is to get the company in to inspect it under warranty. There could be something wrong with the unit itself

[benyl]

A PC on 24/7 costs about $15 / month to run.

Electric waters heaters are power pigs.

[quazimoto]

Depends on the unit really. The one we have is an energy star and if you look at the consumption rates posted in the guide you can clearly see something it is out of whack. It doesn't even have anything to do with using water. It'll consume 12-14 KWH of energy while we are not at home and at work. That's the puzzling part. We aren't even using it and energy is being racked up. Our neighbours have electrical bills in the $70-$80 range and we are in the $160-$190 range.

I'm really not confident in the builder fixing the problem though as they've been constantly lying to us regarding every little issue we've brought up.

[Darell_n]

You really need somebody to meter out your panel. Why did you buy an electric water heater in Alberta? This is the first I've heard of. Power rates in this province are too high for most people to consider one.

[quazimoto]

It's becoming more common and we weren't really given the option. I'd personally rather have an on demand water system over an all electric system.

We have it 100% narrowed down to the two breakers that control the water heater though. We turn them off for the day and electrical consumption will hover around 4 KWH per 12 hour period of time which is rather normal. The second you turn it back on it will use upwards of 30 KWH in less than 2 hours. I mean you expect it to chew some electricity but the amount its going through is absurd and even according to the manual it's way higher than they suggest.

[Cos]

Call the manufacturer and get them to inspect the unit. Or call the builder to inspect their connection.

[quazimoto]

Oh we are the builder isn't sending a proper tech in my opinion just their "warrantee person" or whatever. We are trying to force them to pay the electrical bills for us since this has taken 6 weeks already. We've paid more than $600 in 3 months since moving into a new home which is just insane.

[Cos]

They should have an electrician on staff. Another option would be to hire your own electrician and then try and make the builder pay for that too when they find a mistake

[quazimoto]

Honestly trying to make any builder pay for anything seems increasingly impossible. You realize they wouldn't send an electrician in since we couldn't verify the problem was with anything they did at first. They just insisted it must be the meter since it couldn't be the home. I believe at first they just assumed it was the meter until I tested breaker by breaker day by day to figure it out.

The next problem is then is it the electrical wiring that runs to the water heater or something else with the water heater itself. I'm really hoping its just the heater and we can force them to install an on demand tankless heater at their own cost.

It's what I wanted from he beginning but they were so against it.

[sillysod]

1. builder won't do anything unless you really push them.

2. electric hot water heaters use A LOT of electricity, seriously consider switching out for gas.

3. your electric hot water heater won't pull more current then the breaker it's connected to will allow it to draw. So I highly doubt it is operating out of spec's. If it were drawing too much current it would be tripping the breaker. Normally electrical devices don't fail and use MORE electricity, should be using less and you should have no hot water if it's acting up.

A 40 gallon, (3000 watt) electric heater will use $70.00 a month in a normal house on calgary's rates. A 50 gallon, (4500 watt) will use just over $100.00 a month.

[thepyrofish]

Originally posted by sillysod
A 40 gallon, (3000 watt) electric heater will use $70.00 a month in a normal house on calgary's rates. A 50 gallon, (4500 watt) will use just over $100.00 a month.

Holy shit! The house I just bought has an electric water heater... I should've looked into that. Wow. :banghead:

[DENZILDON]

Here's an article from BCHYDRO about electric water heaters...
http://www.bchydro.com/powersmart/technology_tips/buying_guides/water_heating/electric_water_heaters.html

But honestly your monthly KWH average 1000kwh more. If you don't have airconditioning then there is really something wrong.

[D. Dub]

Correct me if I'm wrong --- but I thought electric water heaters are not advantageous here in Alberta where gas is so cheap?

[DENZILDON]

Originally posted by thepyrofish


Holy shit! The house I just bought has an electric water heater... I should've looked into that. Wow. :banghead:

You should be fine if your monthly KWH hour is less than 1000kwh a month and 1000kwh is really maxing it out for summer.

I have an electric water heater as well and I have been averaging about 700kwh every month and that's with room airconditioning every night since March.

Like I said, there is definitely something wrong on the OP's house.

[thepyrofish]

Originally posted by DENZILDON


You should be fine if your monthly KWH hour is less than 1000kwh a month and 1000kwh is really maxing it out for summer.

I have an electric water heater as well and I have been averaging about 700kwh every month and that's with room airconditioning every night since March.

Like I said, there is definitely something wrong on the OP's house.
I'm not terribly concerned, but it would be nice to keep the utilities as low as possible. This is the first place I've lived (that I pay for) with central air so I'm thinking I'll have to adjust to using a little more electricity than before.

I don't have the water heater set too high though, and it's just 2 of us plus a baby so we don't use a crazy amount of hot water... we'll see I guess.

[DENZILDON]

you have central air! Lucky bastard! :D I was tempted to get one installed since my dad (hvac and electrician) was here on vacation.

Youre KWH will really be higher than average bec of central air. Roughly about 1000kwh or more monthly average depending if its on all the time, size of the house, weather, etc.

That's roughly about $120 to $150 just for elec every month.

[sillysod]

We have central air in our home (2100sq ft) and it only raises our electricity maybe $80.00 a month if it's crazy hot.