Quote:
In my area, we pay 1% of the assessed home value. Ours currently is approx. $1500-2000/year. We have a small 3 bedroom on a 1/2 acre!
What are your monthly living expenses?
- Thread starter Nifty-Chicken
- Start date
Quote:
That is CRAZY! How much of that was due to the water heater and how much was due to the faulty plugs?
It is really hard to get a break down on which one was costing us more because our daily habits havent changed and the drop in our utility was significant when we addressed both the issues at once. Two of the faulty plugs were at the washing and drying machines, apparently there were shorts in the wiring, they were sucking up huge amounts of electricity even when not turned on. There was also another outlet that we had never used in the house that was also live all the time! We also went around the house and unplugged everything that we were not using at the moment.......... We only heat water for 6 hours a day. I have been researching wind and solar power, just the initial investment is huge......... still trying to convince the other half that its the way to go.
That is CRAZY! How much of that was due to the water heater and how much was due to the faulty plugs?
It is really hard to get a break down on which one was costing us more because our daily habits havent changed and the drop in our utility was significant when we addressed both the issues at once. Two of the faulty plugs were at the washing and drying machines, apparently there were shorts in the wiring, they were sucking up huge amounts of electricity even when not turned on. There was also another outlet that we had never used in the house that was also live all the time! We also went around the house and unplugged everything that we were not using at the moment.......... We only heat water for 6 hours a day. I have been researching wind and solar power, just the initial investment is huge......... still trying to convince the other half that its the way to go.
- Thread starter
- #103
That really makes me want to do another full energy audit on our house! In the past I did it by turning off breakers to isolate by area, but that doesn't really help find the slow and constant leaks of electricity!
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We recently had an electrician out here because several outlets went out at once. He found SEVERAL faulty outlets and some wiring that needed repair. I am looking forward to next months electric bill!
We recently had an electrician out here because several outlets went out at once. He found SEVERAL faulty outlets and some wiring that needed repair. I am looking forward to next months electric bill!
Quote:
Do you have an outlet tester? My son got me one from Amazon that works just as good as his professional one for only a few dollars. You just plug the device in and the legend printed on the device will tell you what the lights indicate. It can identify an outlet that is non working, is miswired, or does not have proper ground. He also told me that if any of those were indicated on the tester, it may not be just a faulty outlet but a problem somewhere else in the branch circuit. The outlet tester does not allow you to check the voltage of electicity coming out of the outlet though, he used the multimeter for that, he says its just as easy to read as the outlet tester. Hope this helps.
Do you have an outlet tester? My son got me one from Amazon that works just as good as his professional one for only a few dollars. You just plug the device in and the legend printed on the device will tell you what the lights indicate. It can identify an outlet that is non working, is miswired, or does not have proper ground. He also told me that if any of those were indicated on the tester, it may not be just a faulty outlet but a problem somewhere else in the branch circuit. The outlet tester does not allow you to check the voltage of electicity coming out of the outlet though, he used the multimeter for that, he says its just as easy to read as the outlet tester. Hope this helps.
- Thread starter
- #106
Very interesting! I actually do have one of those testers (just plug in and read the little lights) and could give it a try. I think we have a bazillion outlets that would need to be tested. Maybe I can narrow it down by unplugging everything and then turning circuits back on one at a time to see where there might be some drainage.
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The new house is 1/2 the size of the old one, and it has central forced air heat running on natural gas... The old house was an old propane steam boiler..
Traded down size of house but doubled the amount of property
You sound like me! I went from a 2200 sq ft house to 900 sq ft. But I also went from 5 acres to 36-1/2 acres. I like this a lot better.
The new house is 1/2 the size of the old one, and it has central forced air heat running on natural gas... The old house was an old propane steam boiler..
Traded down size of house but doubled the amount of property
You sound like me! I went from a 2200 sq ft house to 900 sq ft. But I also went from 5 acres to 36-1/2 acres. I like this a lot better.
Quote:
The new house is 1/2 the size of the old one, and it has central forced air heat running on natural gas... The old house was an old propane steam boiler..
Traded down size of house but doubled the amount of property
You sound like me! I went from a 2200 sq ft house to 900 sq ft. But I also went from 5 acres to 36-1/2 acres. I like this a lot better.
I must say, I love cleaning this house much better than the old one
And this one is almost 70 years older than my old house
The new house is 1/2 the size of the old one, and it has central forced air heat running on natural gas... The old house was an old propane steam boiler..
Traded down size of house but doubled the amount of property
You sound like me! I went from a 2200 sq ft house to 900 sq ft. But I also went from 5 acres to 36-1/2 acres. I like this a lot better.
I must say, I love cleaning this house much better than the old one
Has anyone noticed that the poll stats exhibit an almost perfect bell curve?
Just to give all of you who think your electric/gas bills are high a little something to smile about this morning......
Our winter electric/gas bill can easily run over $2,000 per month ($900+ electric for the two electric units and $300 per week for the one that uses propane) and parts of the house will still be 45 degrees. The $300 per week propane is stretching it by turning the unit off at night. It's for the kitchen, den and sun porch and can easily burn through $100 per day if left on.
We bought a 100 year old plantation home and our lowest electric bill, if we leave everything off and sweat through the summer months and freeze through the winter is $500+ but since it's really not possible to always leave everything off - we have lots of company/guests - our monthly electric bill, alone is always over $900 per month.
We did just buy a woodstove but haven't installed it yet. It should help with the sunporch area (which is where we "live"). We put in a pellet stove/fireplace insert two years ago in our den after freezing through our first winter here but it can only heat the room it's located in and even then it's a stretch.
I know, old house, no insulation, raised 4 feet off the ground, cold air comes through the floors, the walls, the windows - but no, we have no intention of trying to modernize the home and insulate everything. Wouldn't dream of taking out these old lead glass windows and replacing them - but we are working to install more "off the grid" things like solar panels, wells, wind turbines, pellet stoves and wood burning stove.
So, while you all are sitting in your nice cool homes in summer and warm homes in winter and think about your $200 or less utility bill - think of me here sweating in August and freezing in December and still paying over $2,000.
And....don't even get me started on property taxes - this home is at several thousand per year and our home in Covington is also at several thousand per year - so property taxes alone are over $1,000 per month.
Did anyone mention homeowners insurance? Well...I won't go there either.
And, self-employed health and life insurance?
Oh well....you get the idea. Count your blessings.
Our winter electric/gas bill can easily run over $2,000 per month ($900+ electric for the two electric units and $300 per week for the one that uses propane) and parts of the house will still be 45 degrees. The $300 per week propane is stretching it by turning the unit off at night. It's for the kitchen, den and sun porch and can easily burn through $100 per day if left on.
We bought a 100 year old plantation home and our lowest electric bill, if we leave everything off and sweat through the summer months and freeze through the winter is $500+ but since it's really not possible to always leave everything off - we have lots of company/guests - our monthly electric bill, alone is always over $900 per month.
We did just buy a woodstove but haven't installed it yet. It should help with the sunporch area (which is where we "live"). We put in a pellet stove/fireplace insert two years ago in our den after freezing through our first winter here but it can only heat the room it's located in and even then it's a stretch.
I know, old house, no insulation, raised 4 feet off the ground, cold air comes through the floors, the walls, the windows - but no, we have no intention of trying to modernize the home and insulate everything. Wouldn't dream of taking out these old lead glass windows and replacing them - but we are working to install more "off the grid" things like solar panels, wells, wind turbines, pellet stoves and wood burning stove.
So, while you all are sitting in your nice cool homes in summer and warm homes in winter and think about your $200 or less utility bill - think of me here sweating in August and freezing in December and still paying over $2,000.
And....don't even get me started on property taxes - this home is at several thousand per year and our home in Covington is also at several thousand per year - so property taxes alone are over $1,000 per month.
Did anyone mention homeowners insurance? Well...I won't go there either.
And, self-employed health and life insurance?
Oh well....you get the idea. Count your blessings.
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