High electric bill??

[Rockindaddy]

Ok, I have 7 fridges or freezers and we get a monthly audit from our electric company that tells us how we compare to our neighbors usage and we are consistently about 61% higher usage than our neighbors. I also have a bar and we do leave about 4 neon lights on all the time, but it was my understanding that neons don't use that much power. I think it has to be the fridges.

1) Kitchen Fridge
2) Upright Freezer in Garage (Fermentation Chamber)
3) Beer fridge in Garage
4) Food freezer in Garage
5) Kergerator in bar
6) Mini fridge under bar
7) Wife's mini fridge in sitting room (for Bud Light!)

 

[CarbonTom]

Well at least you know where to cut your power consumption *cough*#7*cough

 

[Hamaki]

I've had a few discussions with the Mrs re the electric bill and am tempted to buy a Kill a Watt, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00009MDBU/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20, to help resolve whose stuff really uses the most power.

 

[hopfool]

Might wanna invest in a Kill-A-Watt or a similar product and track just how much each unit consumes (due to frig cycling at irregular rates you'll have to track over a few days and extrapolate). Just watch your amp ratings (appliances are usually run off of 20 amp circuits, so the 15 amp model may not reliably handle the start up draw).

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000RGF29Q/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Clean your condensers. Vacuum out the dust and debris, and maybe stop by a commercial HVAC supply house to get some spray on condenser cleaner. Might look at trying to provide better ventilation for each unit's business end.

Ultimately one remote unit that carries the box heat out of the building space is a lot easier on the piggy bank. Maybe try the Kill-A-Watt on your neon lights as well. Lastly check your door seals and maybe consider replacing older less efficient models with newer more efficient models. Once you know the usage rate of each unit you can do the math to figure whether any of the replacements are worth doing.

Other than that... we're installing more PV panels.

 

[number40fan]

Two years ago, that much of a difference between me and neighbors would have resulted in a knock on the door from the ATF. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms sounds like a great name for a convenience store, but they would be looking for some puff puff pass.

 

[Sailingeric]

Hit up Costco or the Home Depot and replace the incandescent light bulbs with LED bulbs. We did that my house and we saw drop in the bill and it is nice not to roast under the 6 bulb chandelier at the dinner table. We can turn on all the lights and so use than that dang chandelier

 

[hannibalmdq]

The biggest driver of power consumption is heating and cooling. How old is your HVAC and hits your insulation/air infiltration?

The fridges could be a power drain if they are old, I guess. A meter would tell you pretty quick.

 

[acidrain]

I bought a new fridge for my kitchen and cut my power bill by about 1/3. Fridges older than 10 years or so are really inefficient.
The only other big power draw is my beer fridge in the garage and the clothes dryer... everything else is gas.

 

[hopfool]

Adding a blanket to electric water heaters, draining the crud, and replacing crudded up elements helps. Wash clothes as much as possible in cold water and turn off the pre-heat, super heat, and dry cycles on dishwashers. We use ours once a day and just leave the door cracked open over night and everything pretty well air dries by morning.

Also put up a clothes line or an umbrella rack. We hang clothes outside year round and only use our dryer when we get a long stretch of bad weather or just need to finish up something that didn't dry completely out on the line before sun down. The LED lights are great, as are timers, and switches to completely shut off phantom loads if you want to go completely gonzo.

+1 to what hannibal was saying. Somebody gave us an older freezer that was in excellent condition. Because we grow and preserve nearly all of our own food, including meats, and freezing is often a lot easier at the height of the harvest, we didn't hessitate to plug it in and fill'er up. We already had a large side-by-side frig, a medium sized over/under frig, a huge upright freezer, a counter height frig out in my shop, a 30 some bottle wine frig, and a just added 4 or 5 year old Summit Kegerator. The older freezer was a mistake. Runs about $40 a month all by itself to run, and it ain't all that big. We had a 7 person hot tub with a good insulated cover that cost us less than that in the dead of winter to keep at a constant 100 degrees, so acidrain's comments on the old appliances are spot on.

This winter I'm hoping to build a small three zone walk-in to try and consolidate some of our duplication.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

I just run an extension cord from each neighbor. My bill has gone down exponentially.

 

[Darwin18]

Most people don't have 7 fridges or freezers....that's probably why your usage is more than your neighbors.

 

[Rockindaddy]

My fermentation chamber (upright freezer) and beer fridge in the garage are both older models, so I suspect they are the main culprits. Even though my HVAC is about 20 years old, I don't think that would make my bill 61% more than my neighbors because I'm sure theirs are probably the same. I did put new windows in, and my attic insulation could use an upgrade, but I figured it had to be something I'm doing that everyone else around me is not. (brewing beer?)

 

[andrewmaixner]

Get the kill-a-watt and see what each cooling unit is doing over a 3-day period. You will be surprised how fast it adds up.
Do the calculations. You might end up not caring, or you might end up running out to replace the old units at the next appliance sale at sears.

 

[Bensiff]

And I thought I had a lot with a fridge, freezer, kegorator, and fermentation fridge. Even with four I regularly have higher electric bills than my neighbors. Just remember all the brewing fridges make beer so they save money just like how every other part of our breweries get justified .

 

[steveoatley]

Just an example

My parents gave me an OLD Whirlpool fridge , when I moved into a house
Turned it into a 4 tap kegerator.

May 1969 was the date stamped inside the coils

I got behind in my brewing one fall, when my son was born..... too much to do
And ran out of beer, I just un plugged the Big Avocado Green fridge until I could get back to brewing.

Our electric bill dropped by 1/3 - YUP that fridge was 1/3 of our electric bill !!!

I never plugged it back in ! gave it away !
Bought a Sears scratch & dent sale fridge and turned that into a Kegerator.

1969 Avocado Green Whirlpool - still running in 2007, but at what price ?

just my 2 cents

 

[Yooper]

We have the second highest electric rates in the US, and they are going up due to an electric company's mistake betting on a new power plant that has no customers. (That is a whole 'nother topic for discussion- how that happened to the UP of Michigan).

I do have two freezers, and two fridges, but we use natural gas for cooking and hot water and heat, and there are just two of us in this house. We don't use air conditioning, or much in the way of lights, but our last electric bill was $163.

Interestingly, we have a cottage that is served by a different electric company. We aren't there as often, but the bills run from $14 (when we're not there) to $55, when we use electric heat and an electric stove. One fridge, and one small kegerator.

I think we'll try the kill-a-watt here at the house, but even when we are gone to Texas in the winter, the electric bill is always over $100 even with everything off except a freezer and my fish tank.

 

[BrewerE]

Freezers and refrigerators are the biggest energy sinks there are (after hvac), think about it, they are 'constantly' on...

Even more so if they are kept in a hot garage and especially if they are old.

 

[fartinmartin]

Turn off all the heating, tell her to wear an extra layer, and remind all that the more beer you make, the more you save, so drink more, brew more.

 

[rodwha]

If your HVAC unit is ~20 yrs old it's likely a 9 or 10 SEER system. 13 SEER is the minimum these days, and you'd notice a tremendous reduction in energy cost assuming you use yours enough.

Flip the switch on your condenser and use a hose to spray the dirt and grass out of it.

Also remove the filter and look at the indoor coil. If it's dirty it won't be as efficient.

 

[mikescooling]

If one of the 7 compressors your running is going bad, AKA running 24/7, that would jack your bill up

 

[leapingbuddha]

All great ideas. Refrigeration works better with it being full rather than empty. Thro some 1 gal milk jugs full of water in the empty spaces of both freezers and frig to save money on electric.