Power Use/Meter Reading Issue

[zorro]

I know there are similar posts to this, but could not find any posts for a completely empty property which appears to be consuming more power than my current property, where 4 adults reside!!


I just purchased a new property (new to me - 55 years old) - currently it is empty/unfurnished

The only item I can see that is currently plugged in and running is the Refrigerator - the house is totally empty

I have oil heating (forced air), which is on just now to prevent any freezing

I have a well in the yard

There are no outside lights/secruity lights, etc running

I am not sure if hot water is oil or electric and am trying to find that out

I have no gas in the property - only oil/electric

At present, I appear to be using 21kwh per day (my use for 26 days was 546kwh)

In my current house, there are 4 adults with all the usual appliances - wahser, dryer, 3 x TV's, 4 x laptops, forced air, etc, etc, my use for the month was 525kwh - so for the house that is totally empty, I appear to be using more power each month than my currently home

Over the weekend, I am going to try flipping the circuit breakers, etc one by one to try and idenify what is causing the use, but anyone have anything else I should try to see why this is being used?

I spoke with the power company and they have suggested the following;

I'll summarize below what our next steps can be.

- take a photo of the meter when you arrive this weekend and send to me
- note how fast the disc is spinning (if spinning pretty fast, time how many seconds it takes from the black mark to make a complete revolution), write it down
- if possible, and your home inspection found nothing unsafe w/the breakers, locate the well pump breaker and leave that ON. Turn off all others and look at the meter. The disc in the meter should be stopped (unless you just ran water). If it's moving slowly, wait a few minutes. The disc should come to a complete stop in less than 4 minutes. If the disc continues to creep along, there could be an issue w/the well pump
- if no issue w/the well pump, go ahead and turn one breaker on at a time and observe the meter after each single breaker is turned on to see which circuit causes the disc to turn
- find out if the water heater is electric or oil

At anytime you notice the disc spinning fast, time how many seconds it takes for one revolution. Below is the formula to determine how many kilowatts are running.
# of revolutions per minute x 7.2 x .06 = kilowatts
Lets say you time the meter at 10 seconds for one revolution. We would then say it take 6 revolutions per minute. Using the formula above that would be a load of 2.6 kW or a total of 2600 watts running on the meter at that given time.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks

Paul

 

[Reach4]

If this is a single month, check the bill to see if it was an estimated bill.

Turn off the breaker to the well. Maybe there is a leak. Turning off breakers other than for the oil heater and an outlet for an inside light and a radio could minimize potential loads.

If the meter is spinning a lot, checking the disk after you turn off each breaker would be good. If doing it on your own, turn off half. Check disk. Keep dividing load by 2 until you find the big load.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[LLigetfa]

I would not be surprised if it turns out to be the pump in the well.

 

[zorro]

Thanks for the replies guys - appreciated

This was for 1 month and was an exact reading - i actually took a picture of the meter and submitted it to the electric company

Regardign this;

Turning off breakers other than for the oil heater

Is there a reason NOT to turn of the breaker for the oil heater - i would turn it back on again, or would this need more work to fire it back up again??

The electric company is also guessing it is the well -saying it may simply be going 24/7 due to a leak or a problem with it

 

[LLigetfa]

The oil furnace is not a suspect so no need to tempt fate. You should probably turn off the water heater if you turn off the well pump. If the water heater is electric and you have a hot water leak with the pipe going under a slab, it could go undetected.

 

[Jadnashua]

A leaking toilet or faucet somewhere could force the pump to run a lot. Typical pump is 1-2Hp, and if running a lot, can easily run up the electric bill. SOme old refrigerators are major energy hogs, especially if something like the defrost heating elements thermostat is broken and that is running all of the time. It really is best to retire old frigs, newer ones really are much more efficient. If the furnace's fan is running constantly, again, those can have a 0.5-1Hp motor on them, and that can add up over time. A Hp=746W.

 

[Cacher_Chick]

It would take 5 minutes with an clamp-on ammeter at the breaker panel to figure out how much power each circuit in the house is using.

 

[Runs with Bison]

Back in college I rented a house out of town that had problem with the pump pressure switch. It was running 24/7 and we didn't know it--actually, I suspected it because it sounded faintly like the pump was always on...but since it was never off I wasn't sure. The very first electric bill was a doozy! Replaced the switch the next day. Lesson learned.

 

[Bob C]

We bought our first house back in the 70's. It was an old farmhouse on 5 acres. We encountered the same problem. The power companies were friendlier back then and they sent our someone to investigate. He turned off all of the individual circuit breakers and the meter still turned. Discovered that there was power going to a couple of outbuildings which did not have disconnects in the house. There were ground faults in these buildings electrical systems. We disconnected the wires to those buildings and problem was solved

 

[LLigetfa]

I had a former boss that was seeing his bill go up gradually every month. He was discussing the issue with his neighbor who said his was also going up every month until they replaced his meter. My boss called and asked for a new meter but the next month his bill was even higher. He called them back to complain that the new meter was worse than the old meter so they put a second meter out on the pole to verify it. Meanwhile as the months went by, his bill kept increasing.

It was only when the water pressure got really bad that he figured out it was his well pump. Turned out he had an elbow underground rust out and what started out as just a pinhole, over time enlarged to the point the pump ran non-stop. It then kept enlarging until the pump could no longer pump fast enough to keep up.

 

[Midimagic]

There are several things I noticed that you might need to heed:

1. A well pump usually has a water tank with an air cushion in the top of it. I used to have a well, and occasionally the air cushion in the tank disappeared, causing the pump to run more often, and to start any time someone used a small amount of water. It turned out that the pipe plug in the top of the tank was leaking a little.

To restore the air cushion, turn off the pump and drain the water tank, letting air into it at the bottom. Then connect it back up. The pump will fill the tank with water, compressing the air in the top to form the pressure cushion. If there is no leak, the pump should then operate normally.

2. Look for heat tapes on the pipes. These usually draw about 40 watts.

3. My electric bill went way up when my furnace fan was replaced. The 7-amp fan I had was discontinued, and they put in a 10-amp fan, the smallest that was still made for that furnace. When I turned on the fan switch to circulate air in the house, I was drawing 1.2 KWhr every hour, or about 900 KWhr per month - more than the air conditioners. To fix this, I made a device to automatically switch the fan on and off every few minutes for air circulation, rather than leaving it on. It does not affect the furnace's automatic use of the fan.

 

[hj]

Turn off EVERYTHING, and observe the meter. It should be stationary. Then turn on each breaker sequentially and watch the meter. Turn each breaker OFF before you turn the next one on.