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ApplianceGuru.com: The Samurai Appliance Repair Forums > Do-It-Yourself Appliance Repair Help > Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) > 10 year old furnace seems to be using twice as much power as it used to |
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| 10 year old furnace seems to be using twice as much power as it used to | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Sat Dec 22nd, 2007 02:12 am |
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1st Post |
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knix Senior Apprentice Appliantologist 
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We have lived in our good sense house for 4 winters, average electric bill in winter is 220-250 (hot water/heat/lights/TV computers/no heat pump or ac) There has been no change in our routine, or change in things we have plugged into the house. WE opened our bill for 530.00. Yes we did manage to use 5444 kw hours, the power company rep helped me take a 10 day meter read over the phone and in 10 days since our bill we have managed to use about 2000kw. We have completely turned off the power to the house and the meter stops. We have turned each breaker on by itself to see if there is some wierd short or if the water heaters instantly came back on to see if there was a leak in the hot water and we were making hot water all the time. The meter moves at a reasonable rate for all breakers, and the water heaters didnt immediatly come on. When we turned on the breaker for the furnace and it clicked on the meter started spinning like a 45 record. We have changed the air filter on the unit. MY QUESTION. 1. Would the water heater come on instantly to start heating water if there was a leak- (when we flipped breakers)? 2. How fast should the meter spin when the heat system turns on. How much power should it be pulling, relative to like the clothes dryer? I would appreciate your help with this, I hate to call the repair people out and they tell me I need a new heating unit, when I need something silly that I can do myself. OH, the heating unit seems to be cycling as normal. Thanks again Knix
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| Posted: Sat Dec 22nd, 2007 08:59 am |
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2nd Post |
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That Guy Sublime Master of Appliantology 
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Did you say if it was gas or electric? I might have missed that. I'm assuming its electric heat. If it is, you may have elements shorted to the shell, you may have heat relays that are stuck on. I used to work on these years ago and saw plenty of elements that had shorted. Some can be re-strung, others need replaced. You might want to call a professional on this.
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| Posted: Sat Dec 22nd, 2007 09:48 am |
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3rd Post |
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Samurai Appliance Repair Man Fermented Grand Master of Appliantology 
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Old refrigerator compressors with a current path developing from a motor winding to ground will also start sucking it up. You may want to get a Kill-a-watt meter and measure the power consumption of each major appliance. A clamp-on amp meter will let you measure current draw of hardwires appliances such as the electric baseboard heater, electric water heater, and dishwasher. Compare these measurements with the nameplate ratings.
____________________  If I've helped you with your repair, please consider supporting my flavorite charity: http://beer.fixitnow.com |
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| Posted: Sat Dec 22nd, 2007 03:18 pm |
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4th Post |
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knix Senior Apprentice Appliantologist
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Update, we turned the fan on only and no huge pull on power Thankyou for your repsonses, we are trying to find a hvac repairman in our area, thankyou ????????But, I do have one more question?????? How fast should the meter spin when the heat system turns on. How much power should it be pulling, relative to like the clothes dryer?  thankyou Knix Last edited on Sat Dec 22nd, 2007 03:43 pm by knix |
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| Posted: Sun Dec 23rd, 2007 07:16 am |
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5th Post |
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Budget Appliance Repair Fellow, Academy of Sublime Masters of Appliantology
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Just for reference and discussion since I really don't know the real answer to what your asking for..... Most electric dryers have elements rated in the 5000watt range/ compared to gas dryers - burners usually rated in the 18,000 to 20,000 btu range, NOTE: I have no idea of how watts relate to btu rating. Now contrast this to forced air whole house heating system using gas, (I have no experience at all with electric forced air systems such as you are using), they are generally from a low of 45,000btu for a small system up to 100,000-120,000btu for a large system with most average size system probably in the 75,000-100,00btu range. So I would say a gas furnace may take 4-5 times more gas usage then a dryer while the flame is on, so I imagine that you would see the same type range of increase on meter rotation with electric heat.
____________________ William Burk (Willie) Willie's Budget Appliance Repair Eureka, CA 95501 |
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| Posted: Mon Dec 24th, 2007 11:13 am |
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6th Post |
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dkpd1581 Sublime Master of Appliantology 
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BTU's and Watts are related in a 3.413/1 ratio. One Watt is 3.413 BTU's so if you know the total BTU output on a heat strip (purely resistive circuit - not inductive or reactive) then you can calculate the Watt input. This does not take into account the wattage consumed by the blower motor. One way to get very close to the total wattage the unit is consuming on a electric furnace is to use an ammeter and get the amp draw on one of the two legs of applied power. Next, using the same meter, measure the applied voltage between the two power lines. Multiply your amps by your volts and you will get a wattage value. You can do the exact same for your electric drier and then compare the results from your furncace and drier. If your drier is gas fired, measure the amp draw one of the two lines of power, get the voltage on both lines (just like above) and figure the wattage. Write this number down - this is the actual electrical power consumed. Look on the name plate and see the BTU output of the gas burners. Divide this number by the 3.413 and you now have the wattage equivalent of the gas section. Add the electrical wattage to the gas wattage equivalent and you will have the total wattage. Gas/heat doesnt obviously consume electrical power; however, it can be converted to electrical power equivalent. Therefore, you can then compare apples to apples and get an idea.
____________________ Take a minute to visit me at: https://sites.google.com/site/dkpd1581/ |
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| Posted: Mon Dec 24th, 2007 03:43 pm |
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7th Post |
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Keinokuorma Fellow, Academy of Sublime Masters of Appliantology 
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1 BTU is therefore approximately 0,293 Watts, and the 18k BTU burner would produce approximately 5274 Watts, roughly equal to the dryer element. 45k BTU = 13,2 kW and 100k BTU would be rouhly 29 kW respectively. We reserve approximately 6 kW power for 70 square metres living space, and the average oil burner for a single home building is 20 kW (68k BTU). An average 10 cubic metre electric sauna is given a 4 to 6 kW heater alone.
____________________ "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." - Ken Olson, Digital Equipment Corporation (1977) |
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| Posted: Tue Jan 15th, 2008 11:34 am |
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8th Post |
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torbanac Senior Apprentice Appliantologist
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We had the same problem with a heat pump, all of a sudden huge electric bills only ours started in the fall, same symptoms with the meter. A relay had become stuck and everytime the compressor would run the assisted electric heat would come on. Even if it was on AC the electric heat would kick on. Once fixed the eletric bills returned to normal.
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| Posted: Tue Jan 15th, 2008 04:08 pm |
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9th Post |
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knix Senior Apprentice Appliantologist
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 I forgot to mention in my post that we have a MH. Very important, because on the website for MH repair alot of folks posted that they had HVAC people come out and not have supply for MH parts, our furnace is made by Coleman - our house is 2006 sq ft, on a foundation but since it was put together somewhere and hauled out, all the mechanics are different -go figure. When I was tinkering with the furnace to figure out what the problem was, without using a tester, it has two elements, the top one was glowing red,and the bottom element was not coming on at all. At first we thought we need a new element, but then my Husband said switchem around, we did that and the previously glowing element was dark now, so bottom position was the problem, not the element. problem=bad sequencer. Ordered the 50.oo part, my Loving husband did a wonderful job installing it for us, and Boom we have WARM-hot air not luke warm coming out of the vents, and power use is down, since we not trying to heat the house with one element. /doh Thankyou for all your help, and advise.~~ I really love this website, I do searches thru the forums before asking questions, Lots of GREAT info here, thanks again.~~ Knix
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