The Time has come

[ramtheory]

you have to factor the heat these tanks generate and cooling your house. Halides and the humidity can cause your AC to run more often

[trottman]

Originally posted by ramtheory
Its Ameren, I'm thinking about moving across town to where its Monroe County Electric.

i think that is what we have, and ours is not bad for a large house. quite a bit less than 400. and that is with 3 tanks. of course only one whit halides

[ramtheory]

your right Matt your on the Monroe County Power side of town, now if we could only ditch HTC. What do you use for internet Matt?

[DrBDC]

Is Monroe actually less per kilowatt?

We've been runnning 450 the last 2 months with 2100 sq. ft per floor. The a/c hadn't been keeping up with the temp and when it reached the 90's, it would get up around 85 in the house. I bought 40 bags of insulation and rented the blower and added more. Now today as hot as it is, the temp stayed right at 75. Much nicer in here. I hope to see a better bill next time.

Since we have gas furnace I don't do the budget billing just because it almost equals out in the winter with the exception of some cheaper bills for a month or two in the spring and fall.

On our bill, if I divide the 5325 kw's by the 428.53 I come up with .0804 per kw. Not too bad but Ballwin also hits us for 22.55 for some Annex Muni chg.

[d.french]

getting ready to do same thing, not to be nosy but how much per bag and how much for rental on the blower.

[DrBDC]

About 8 bucks a bale/bag and if you buy 20 or more, blower is free at Lowes. I put about 400 bucks in and I bet I'll break even by years end. For our region, there should be about 14-16 inches and I only had about 4 after 40 years of settling. I'm thinking of putting another 40 bags in since I now have about 8-10 inches now. It was miserable on the main floor when it hit the 90's. Now it's awesome.

[Reggae Fish]

Roy, you have 2,100 sq. ft. per floor? That's 4,200 sq. ft.
That can't be right, is it? I keep my house at 68 in the summer and 72 in the winter. My budget billing is $96 for electric and $68 for gas.

[DrBDC]

It's 4200 minus a 8X8 storage where the electrical box is and whatever size the room is where my fish room is. Just wait until the kids are teenagers and don't listen to that angry old man yelling about living in a barn. I swore I'd never use that phrase. What happened? I've turned into my father!

But when selling I don't think you get to count finished basements even if it's drywall ceilings and walkout. It's bonus to help get the asking price but I don't think it helps much on appraisals. But it's been awhile since I've sold or bought. I looked at one house once when they tried to count the garage!

[stlouisguy]

I havent had the tank up for a year yet, so I cant compare month to month. This month 5840 Kwh, 469.19 charge, so .083 per Kwh, and a 24.69 ballwin charge like Doc. But I noticed this was also for 32 days, so it works out to 14.66 a day. I gotta figure the tank is $3-$4 a day??? Havent gone to each pump and stuff yet.

I just keep thinking one more month, but Doc brings up a good point, I have never been up in the attic, and although its only 6 years old, I bet it could use some more insulation

[Nanook]

5840kwh x .0792 (summer rate) = $462.53 + $7.25 (monthly service charge) = $469.78

Your bill is spot on accurate almost.

[Nanook]

Your rate during the other 8 months would be only $241.80.

[DrBDC]

Be careful up in the attic when adding the insulation. It must have been 150+ degrees up there and it was 90 outside. After about 6 hours that day with a few breaks I was near a heat stroke. My wife kept taking towels and soaking in ice water to hang on my neck and when I'd come back out the towel would be dry as a bone but I was soaking wet from sweat.

[ncox38]

When I added insulation in the past I did it at night and I kicked the attic fan on for a few minutes before i went up there to blow out the hot air and suck up cooled air. It wasn't too much worse than outside, but i did have to open the windows and suck some humidity into the house.

[capncapo]

Originally posted by DrBDC
Be careful up in the attic when adding the insulation. It must have been 150+ degrees up there and it was 90 outside. After about 6 hours that day with a few breaks I was near a heat stroke. My wife kept taking towels and soaking in ice water to hang on my neck and when I'd come back out the towel would be dry as a bone but I was soaking wet from sweat.

You can sweat your butt off in an attic in the dead of winter. Been there and done that.

[stlouisguy]

Originally posted by DrBDC
Be careful up in the attic when adding the insulation. It must have been 150+ degrees up there and it was 90 outside. After about 6 hours that day with a few breaks I was near a heat stroke. My wife kept taking towels and soaking in ice water to hang on my neck and when I'd come back out the towel would be dry as a bone but I was soaking wet from sweat.

I hope you did it at like 4 am

[d.french]

sound like a cake walk for me than, at work when its 95 or better at olin working on overhead cranes 60 foot up in air i had thermometer that read140 while hanging new cables on 30 ton crane that was hot molten metal furnace all around, 2 hours at a time is how we do it.

[capncapo]

Better you than I Darrick!

[DrBDC]

Originally posted by stlouisguy
I hope you did it at like 4 am

Nope! Started about 2 in the afternoon. Had to do it when I could find time. I think I lost about 10 lbs of water.

[d.french]

i'm on vacation now, but just got a call from boss and i got a bid to one of olins other plants were it is much nicer no more casting plant yeahhhhhhh. Got a trouble shooter job in maintenance in the brass mill which is alot better machinist job than my current one.

[d.french]

nothing like drinking 4 gallons of water and never having to go to the restroom once.

[Mykayel]

I can't believe how much some of you pay in electric... but then again, you are keeping your hosues freezing cold, we really are a spoiled society. I have a programmable thermostat and it cools the house down to 78 for when I get home from work. I'll kick it down every once in a while if the humidity is getting up there.

And I couldn't agree more about doing the insulation, blow it in yourself and put in a minimum of 12 inches, 16 would better. No matter what you put in, it will pay for itself in no time in both your heating and cooling bills but I would do much as you can afford as its better to only have to do it once. And if you don't have enough ventilation in your attic, putting some more vents or powered vents will help you a lot in the summer.

[Markk96]

Has any one added a radiant barrier to their attic? I am curious how well that works.

[Mykayel]

That sounds like an interesting concept that should work, but I've never heard fo them. How much do they cost?

[dphins]

Originally posted by Nanook
For those that don't get into reading pdf files:

ILLINOIS:

$7.96 charge per month, then:

Summer:


1st 300 kwh are 8.315 cents per kilowatt hour

For all over 300 kwh, rate is 7.515 cents per kilowatt hour


Winter:

1st 300 kwh are 7.707 cents per kilowatt hour

For all over 300 kwh, rate is 5.947 cents per kilowatt hour




MISSOURI:

$7.25 charge per month, then:

Summer:

7.92 cents per kilowatt hour, no break during the summer

Winter:

1st 750 kwh are 5.62 cents per kilowatt hour

For all over 750 kwh, rate is 3.78 cents per kilowatt hour

I checked my bill and my rate shows 6.73 cents per kilowatt hour? On my last bill I had 1622 kwh.

[Im Lon 2]

My bill was $380, for the first time since Dec it was under $400.

Last month I switched my lights to run in the evening, which allows me to run the house at 78° during the day. I also Only run my MH (1050 watts) 4 hours a day, and my VHO (440 Watts) 1.5 hours before and after the MH.

Hate to hear you are thinking about getting out. But I must say it has crossed my mind a few time too in the past 6 months.