Hot weather has arrived in many states- How are you keeping your tank cool?

[RZGreef]

What is your average electrical costs with A/C running?

It varies by time of year, but here are the numbers for the last year. This is for a 2750 sqft, 2 story home, built in 2009. A/C runs pretty much year round, except for a few days in the winter where it may not come on at all, or heating may run at night. To note, each bill covers the energy cost of the month prior.

06/2023 $306
05/2023 $290 <-- summer heat starting to return in April
04/2023 $285
03/2023 $257
02/2023 $260
01/2023 $312 <-- extra cold days in Dec (heating)
12/2022 $265
11/2022 $257 <-- weather started cooling in October
10/2022 $337
09/2022 $329
08/2022 $338
07/2022 $324
06/2022 $310

 

[vetteguy53081]

It varies by time of year, but here are the numbers for the last year. This is for a 2750 sqft, 2 story home, built in 2009. A/C runs pretty much year round, except for a few days in the winter where it may not come on at all, or heating may run at night. To note, each bill covers the energy cost of the month prior.

06/2023 $306
05/2023 $290 <-- summer heat starting to return in April
04/2023 $285
03/2023 $257
02/2023 $260
01/2023 $312 <-- extra cold days in Dec (heating)
12/2022 $265
11/2022 $257 <-- weather started cooling in October
10/2022 $337
09/2022 $329
08/2022 $338
07/2022 $324
06/2022 $310

Thank you for taking the time to post this- Ouch. Im Florida bound and this is insane. My current average is $112 per month

 

[mijan]

72?? dang....baller with the electric bill. What state are you in?

Florida. My electric bill is a little over $400 a month.

 

[NkSde]

I run my tank at 81 anyway so it just gives my heater a break.

More worrisome for me making sure it still works when temp drops at night.

 

[mijan]

Thank you for taking the time to post this- Ouch. Im Florida bound and this is insane. My current average is $112 per month

Yeah but what are you paying for natural gas? I'm originally from NY and my heating bill would be over $500 in the winter plus my electric bill on top of that. No gas here in FL where I am so the bill is pretty much a wash.

 

[RZGreef]

Thank you for taking the time to post this- Ouch. Im Florida bound and this is insane. My current average is $112 per month

Sure, happy to. For context, we're a family of 5 in this home, and so there's also a fair amount of laundry. We also do the vast majority of our cooking at home, and rarely eat out.

One thing you could do if you're planning on moving here is call the power company that services the address you'll be buying/renting at, and ask them what the power bills were on average for that address. I've done that before here and they readily gave the info. It's going to surely vary based on your family lifestyle and temperature preferences, but it's still helpful. Also, homes at least in the Orlando area, where I am, that were built within the past 5-7 years seem to be far more energy efficient based on anecdotal info. One of my friends with one of these new energy efficient ones from "Meritage Homes" seems to be at only about 50% energy costs compared to mine, with a similar sized home.

Either way, welcome to Florida!

 

[ninjamyst]

Thank you for taking the time to post this- Ouch. Im Florida bound and this is insane. My current average is $112 per month

I don't turn on heat or ac from November to Feb if it makes you feel any better

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yeah but what are you paying for natural gas? I'm originally from NY and my heating bill would be over $500 in the winter plus my electric bill on top of that. No gas here in FL where I am so the bill is pretty much a wash.

Gas yes and average - 78/month

 

[Kellie in CA]

Utilities are very expensive in CA. I keep the thermostat at 80 when we aren't home and bump it down a couple degrees nights/weekends.

 

[btltez]

I'm in SoCal and have solar power my latest electric bill -10 dollars. Gotta love it

 

[Greg D]

Its crazy to see many states . . . . Texas, Florida, Louisiana with Temperatures of 100+ degrees and no immediate end in sight. There are several methods to keep a tank cool. I use a TECO chiller unit and house is air conditioned. I hear of many reefers who do not have A/C or chiller units.

What is your method for keeping your tank temperature in check?

Some methods are use of fan, Ice packs, window a/c, and DIY methods.
For ice packs, obtain zip lock bags. You can buy a 30 pack for under $5. Place them in the sump, and use a size that will fit fine and the idea is to rotate them. fill about 5 of them with water and place in freezer. Place one frozen one in sump, allow to melt and lower temp. When it melts, pull a new frozen one from freezer and place melted one back in freezer

I'm in Louisiana and half in my area had/has no power since last Thursday night, including me still. Over a million in the Dallas area had no power. This storm stretched from Texas/Oklahoma to Florida?

 

[kenchilada]

I'm in Louisiana and half in my area had/has no power since last Thursday night, including me still. Over a million in the Dallas area had no power. This storm stretched from Texas/Oklahoma to Florida?

What the heck? Where at? We’re fine here in SELA.

 

[LaloJ]

The heat wave in my area here in Mexico is out of control, fortunately the room where my tanks are is fresh and stays that way despite the 42°C and the thermal sensation of 50°C, the sun burns, but my tanks are fine since they have the air conditioning on for quite some time, the cool air is locked in and keeps the room cool despite the ridiculous temperatures.

 

[timry2]

I just keep the house at 78 and use a chiller as a backup. Summertime temperatures goes up to 79 degrees winter it stays at 77 to 78.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

I've got an old water chiller (150W) which would need a pump and a heat exchanger of some sort in order to use it to chill a tank, since I doubt I could run saltwater though it... Anyone rig up a diy solution like that before?

Shoot back in the days I'd use an office water chiller minus the big water bottle and coil up a bunch of air line tubing and set it into the top where the water would stay chilled. Just stick the line into the tank and have a constant siphon going into the sump. That actually worked quite well for keeping temperatures in check.

 

[ErikVR]

We are running a geothermal heat pump on our home that keeps it at 20c (68f) year round, no matter the temperature outside. We have days of -10c in winter up to 40c in summer but the temperature inside is always the same. The energy bill for the entire home is €0.00 per year

 

[TaylorPilot]

Thank you for taking the time to post this- Ouch. Im Florida bound and this is insane. My current average is $112 per month

Those prices seem pretty reasonable. Plan on $350-500 a month in the peak season. For about 100 days in a row in the summer season, your AC will run at about a 85% duty cycle. We live in the Houston area and it is pretty similar weather to Orlando. Anything above 73 in the house and it is just miserable. I don't see how people can keep their houses at 76+. We run ours at 73 and have ceiling fans in all the bedrooms. The AC just takes up the extra load from a tank and the tank doesn't know the difference between summer and winter. As I type this it is 2am and it is 83 degrees outside at 95% humidity and "feels like" 96 degrees...at 2am in the morning...LOL

 

[ErikVR]

Those prices seem pretty reasonable. Plan on $350-500 a month in the peak season. For about 100 days in a row in the summer season, your AC will run at about a 85% duty cycle. We live in the Houston area and it is pretty similar weather to Orlando. Anything above 73 in the house and it is just miserable. I don't see how people can keep their houses at 76+. We run ours at 73 and have ceiling fans in all the bedrooms. The AC just takes up the extra load from a tank and the tank doesn't know the difference between summer and winter. As I type this it is 2am and it is 83 degrees outside at 95% humidity and "feels like" 96 degrees...at 2am in the morning...LOL

That must be and insane number of kwh's you're using then! At the cheap electricity prices you have over there. I assume you're using old compression style ACs and not modern heat pump systems?

 

[TaylorPilot]

That must be and insane number of kwh's you're using then! At the cheap electricity prices you have over there. I assume you're using old compression style ACs and not modern heat pump systems?

A heat pump is just a evaporative compressor that will operate in both directions. Just being a heat pump doesn't increase efficiency when operating in AC mode. I have a 3 ton unit and it pulls about 13-15 amps if I remember correctly. I have a natural gas furnace. From December to Feb our AC drops below $100 and our gas bill goes from $30 to maybe $60 (we have a gas stove, water heater and furnace). Most people don't get heat pumps down here because we typically run our heaters less than 100 hours a year, and you never really make it to break even over a traditional natural gas furnace. I asked the guy who serviced our at the beginning of the season how much less amperage a new inverter style system with a high seer rating would pull...he said it was around 1.5 to 2 amps less than my current 15 year old unit...basically he said our electricity is so cheap down here it is cheaper to run the current unit till it goes out...and he sales ACs for a living. We do have older single pane windows, so that increases our heat load some.

 

[ErikVR]

A heat pump is just a evaporative compressor that will operate in both directions. Just being a heat pump doesn't increase efficiency when operating in AC mode. I have a 3 ton unit and it pulls about 13-15 amps if I remember correctly.

15? That's a lot. 3600W!
Edit: you're running at 120V... so half that.

Our (geothermal) heat pump uses about 3 kWh per day to cool the house (300m2/3200 sq feet) on a 30c (86f) day. And 10 kWh to heat it during a winters day around freezing. Of course you can't directly compare any of this. In our case we're heating/cooling a newly constructed, heavily insulated, brick/concrete house with in floor heating/cooling.

When it comes to heating, a regular air/air heat pump is not very efficient when the temperature outside is below 5c. But above that they absolutely are. In cooling as well. A simple portable room AC unit draws more power than the system for the entire house.