OT: Homeowners, please answer a question for me

"Sheryl Rosen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I just know SOMEONE here will know the answer to this! You guys know
everything!!!

I currently rent my apartment. I live on the second floor of a 3

family

Quoted message said:

house built around the time of the first world war. It's a beautiful
apartment, I love it! Stained glass, very old woodwork...hardwood

floors,

Quoted message said:

it's great!

The apartment has updated electrical wiring--I know this because I

have a

Quoted message said:

breaker box, rather than a fuse box, in the basement. I don't know

just how

Quoted message said:

updated, though.

I have a thermostat in my apartment which controls an oil-burning

furnace in

Quoted message said:

the basement. The thermostat in my apartment controls the heat

(forced air)

Quoted message said:

to my apartment and the one on the third floor.

Now here's the thing: I just got my electric bill and it's $10 more

than it

Quoted message said:

was last month! And I used about 40 more Kwh this month than last

month.

Quoted message said:

There were 3 more days in the billing cycle this month, vs. last.

Here's my question:
That thermostat...obviously, it runs on electricity.
How much electricity does it use? Does it use a small amount,

constantly?

Quoted message said:

Or does it use electricity only when it switches the furnace on and

off?

Quoted message said:

And that oil-fired furnace? Does it run on electricity? I know

that seems

Quoted message said:

like a basic question, but it's not something I've ever thought much

about.

Quoted message said:

I'm thinking it does, and I'm thinking both the thermostat and the

furnace

Quoted message said:

are hooked up to MY electric meter.

Does an oil-burning furnace for heat and hot water use a ton of

electricity?

Quoted message said:

There's nothing I can do about any of this, I'm just looking for an
explanation of why my electric bill is so high. I just pay my

electric

Quoted message said:

bill, I don't really give it much thought. It's been extremely cold

and

Quoted message said:

that furnace has been running almost non-stop just to keep it at a

steady 65

Quoted message said:

degrees. So it would make sense.

A thermostat uses almost no electricity at all. I live in CA where we
use natural gas for heating.but I do have central heating and a forced
air furnace so I think the principle is the same. What is using up the
added electricity is the furnace's blower motor that supplies power to
conduct the heat through the ducts from the basement to your
apartment.

On Tue 25 Jan 2005 06:04:29p, Sheryl Rosen wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

I just know SOMEONE here will know the answer to this! You guys know
everything!!!

I currently rent my apartment. I live on the second floor of a 3 family
house built around the time of the first world war. It's a beautiful
apartment, I love it! Stained glass, very old woodwork...hardwood
floors, it's great!

The apartment has updated electrical wiring--I know this because I have
a breaker box, rather than a fuse box, in the basement. I don't know
just how updated, though.

I have a thermostat in my apartment which controls an oil-burning
furnace in the basement. The thermostat in my apartment controls the
heat (forced air) to my apartment and the one on the third floor.

Now here's the thing: I just got my electric bill and it's $10 more than
it was last month! And I used about 40 more Kwh this month than last
month. There were 3 more days in the billing cycle this month, vs. last.

Here's my question:
That thermostat...obviously, it runs on electricity.
How much electricity does it use? Does it use a small amount,
constantly? Or does it use electricity only when it switches the furnace
on and off? And that oil-fired furnace? Does it run on electricity? I
know that seems like a basic question, but it's not something I've ever
thought much about. I'm thinking it does, and I'm thinking both the
thermostat and the furnace are hooked up to MY electric meter.

A thermostat used only a minuscule amount of electricity. It's unlikely
you would see any rise in cost there.

Quoted message said:

Does an oil-burning furnace for heat and hot water use a ton of
electricity?

I really don't know anything about oil-fired furnaces, but considering the
cold weather you've had in your area, it wouldn't surprise me if you could
attribute the entire increase to your heat. A similar increase, I'm sure,
would be seen in either gas or electric heat.

Quoted message said:

There's nothing I can do about any of this, I'm just looking for an
explanation of why my electric bill is so high. I just pay my electric
bill, I don't really give it much thought. It's been extremely cold and
that furnace has been running almost non-stop just to keep it at a
steady 65 degrees. So it would make sense.

If anyone can answer my questions about electricity use for thermostats
and oil burners, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks
Sheryl

HTH
Wayne

Sam D. said:

"Sheryl Rosen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I just know SOMEONE here will know the answer to this! You guys know
everything!!!

I currently rent my apartment. I live on the second floor of a 3

family

Quoted message said:

house built around the time of the first world war. It's a beautiful
apartment, I love it! Stained glass, very old woodwork...hardwood

floors,

Quoted message said:

it's great!

The apartment has updated electrical wiring--I know this because I

have a

Quoted message said:

breaker box, rather than a fuse box, in the basement. I don't know

just how

Quoted message said:

updated, though.

I have a thermostat in my apartment which controls an oil-burning

furnace in

Quoted message said:

the basement. The thermostat in my apartment controls the heat

(forced air)

Quoted message said:

to my apartment and the one on the third floor.

Now here's the thing: I just got my electric bill and it's $10 more

than it

Quoted message said:

was last month! And I used about 40 more Kwh this month than last

month.

Quoted message said:

There were 3 more days in the billing cycle this month, vs. last.

Here's my question:
That thermostat...obviously, it runs on electricity.
How much electricity does it use? Does it use a small amount,

constantly?

Quoted message said:

Or does it use electricity only when it switches the furnace on and

off?

Quoted message said:

And that oil-fired furnace? Does it run on electricity? I know

that seems

Quoted message said:

like a basic question, but it's not something I've ever thought much

about.

Quoted message said:

I'm thinking it does, and I'm thinking both the thermostat and the

furnace

Quoted message said:

are hooked up to MY electric meter.

Does an oil-burning furnace for heat and hot water use a ton of

electricity?

Quoted message said:

There's nothing I can do about any of this, I'm just looking for an
explanation of why my electric bill is so high. I just pay my

electric

Quoted message said:

bill, I don't really give it much thought. It's been extremely cold

and

Quoted message said:

that furnace has been running almost non-stop just to keep it at a

steady 65

Quoted message said:

degrees. So it would make sense.

A thermostat uses almost no electricity at all. I live in CA where we
use natural gas for heating.but I do have central heating and a forced
air furnace so I think the principle is the same. What is using up the
added electricity is the furnace's blower motor that supplies power to
conduct the heat through the ducts from the basement to your
apartment.

I'm with Sam. We also have forced air heat (natural gas, but that's
unimportant for this discussion). The thermostat and furnace use
minimal electricity for starting the furnace. But the fan can be a large
draw. Have you checked or had someone check and change the filters?
Clogged filters can cause the system to have to work harder to get the
temperature up to the setting which will use more power.

--
Steve

Ever wonder about those people who spend $2.00 apiece on those little
bottles of Evian water? Try spelling Evian backwards...

Sheryl Rosen said:

Does an oil-burning furnace for heat and hot water use a ton of
electricity?

There's nothing I can do about any of this, I'm just looking for an
explanation of why my electric bill is so high. I just pay my electric
bill, I don't really give it much thought. It's been extremely cold and
that furnace has been running almost non-stop just to keep it at a steady
65
degrees. So it would make sense.

Like another poster said, the pump to move the hot water through the system
will take electricity to run. And on an oil burner itself, there is another
motor to spray the oil into the boiler to get it to burn. I know in my gas
hot air heat house, the electric bill goes up a bit in the winter.

But you might have other things, like fuel costs or some other adjustment
going on in your bill. We haven't had that, as the rates were frozen for
five years. But that's ending next month and we are to expect 18% higher
bills starting then.

Also, I have a big jump in my electric bill every December. See, I have
those big old fashioned outdoor Christmas lights on every night from 5:30 PM
until 12:00 midnight for a month. 50 bulbs times 7 watts a bulb times 6.5
hours times 31 days = 70 kilowatt hours. And that doesn't include my indoor
tree, which had the big old fashioned indoor Christmas lights on it. 122
bulbs times 5 watts... luckily I didn't have those lights on many hours...
just when I was in the room.

In Steve Calvin said:

I'm with Sam. We also have forced air heat (natural gas, but that's
unimportant for this discussion). The thermostat and furnace use
minimal electricity for starting the furnace. But the fan can be a
large draw. Have you checked or had someone check and change the
filters? Clogged filters can cause the system to have to work harder
to get the temperature up to the setting which will use more power.

Good advise. The other thing to add with the filters being cleaned is
to have the duct work checked as well. If that is dirty it can cause
drag on the fan as well. We get ours cleaned every five years and that
seems to be enough. The furnace filter replaced every year...

--
Cheers

Dennis

Remove 'Elle-Kabong' to reply

Sheryl Rosen writes:

I just know SOMEONE here will know the answer to this! You guys know
everything!!!

I currently rent my apartment. I live on the second floor of a 3 family
house built around the time of the first world war. It's a beautiful
apartment, I love it! Stained glass, very old woodwork...hardwood
floors,
it's great!

The apartment has updated electrical wiring--I know this because I have
a
breaker box, rather than a fuse box, in the basement. I don't know just
how
updated, though.

I have a thermostat in my apartment which controls an oil-burning
furnace in
the basement. The thermostat in my apartment controls the heat (forced
air)
to my apartment and the one on the third floor.

Now here's the thing: I just got my electric bill and it's $10 more
than it
was last month! And I used about 40 more Kwh this month than last
month.
There were 3 more days in the billing cycle this month, vs. last.

Here's my question:
That thermostat...obviously, it runs on electricity.
How much electricity does it use? Does it use a small amount,
constantly?
Or does it use electricity only when it switches the furnace on and
off?
And that oil-fired furnace? Does it run on electricity? I know that
seems
like a basic question, but it's not something I've ever thought much
about.
I'm thinking it does, and I'm thinking both the thermostat and the
furnace
are hooked up to MY electric meter.

Does an oil-burning furnace for heat and hot water use a ton of
electricity?

There's nothing I can do about any of this, I'm just looking for an
explanation of why my electric bill is so high. I just pay my electric
bill, I don't really give it much thought. It's been extremely cold and
that furnace has been running almost non-stop just to keep it at a
steady 65
degrees. So it would make sense.

If anyone can answer my questions about electricity use for thermostats
and
oil burners, I'd appreciate it.

The thermostat consumes miliwatts... probably less than 10¢ worth for
the year.

The ignition for oil burners consumes much more power.. can easily
consume $5-$10 worth of electricity per month especially during periods
of very cold temperature.

The blower fan for the forced hot air heat will definitely use
electricity at a rate of at least $1 per day during the last bout of
cold weather... new filters will be a big help in lowering that useage
(of course will also substantially lower the oil usage).

As to the hot water... that would have to be a separate unit... forced
hot air furnaces contain no water and unless it's some weird rube
goldberg contraption would typically not have any way to heat hot
water.

That all said, without engaging an electrition to survey the premises
there is no way to know which circuits are on your meter... somehow I
doubt any of the heating system circuitry is on your meter, but there
is a good likelyhood that the top floor apartment has some circuits on
your meter.

If you notice any wild swings in your electric bill over the next few
billing cycles you may want to have a serious talk with your landlord,
but for a one time $10 increase during a cold snap I'd not make
waves... could easily be your own usage... perhaps you've been
vacuuming more than usual, or your fridge coil needs vacuuming.... hair
dryers and toasters can very easily be attributed to the $10 increase.
Perhaps the light in your fridge is not going off, that really
happens... you can check at night by prying the door gasket open a bit
with a butter knife.

Sheldon

"Sheryl Rosen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
?

Quoted message said:

There's nothing I can do about any of this, I'm just looking for an
explanation of why my electric bill is so high. I just pay my electric
bill, I don't really give it much thought. It's been extremely cold and
that furnace has been running almost non-stop just to keep it at a steady

65

Quoted message said:

degrees. So it would make sense.

If anyone can answer my questions about electricity use for thermostats

and

Quoted message said:

oil burners, I'd appreciate it.

My electric company prints a graph on the bill that shows two year's worth
of usage. The electric bill tends to spike in the January billing period
for me which runs from 12/15 to 1/15. That period has the highest use of
any non-air-conditioning month. This is due to the fact that the days are
shorter in this periods than any other. More electric is used for lighting.
Most people have some holiday lights that they don't have during the rest of
the year. The temperature is colder so there is more heat. Even boilers
and gas or oil forced air furnaces use electric for blowers and pumps. I
tend to cook and bake more in the winter and that means more electric used
for the oven. Also, sometimes electric companies estimate bills, especially
if your billing date falls on a holiday or there is bad weather. If your
bill was estimated, they may have overestimated the amount of electric that
you used.

Ruddell said:

In Steve Calvin said:

I'm with Sam. We also have forced air heat (natural gas, but that's
unimportant for this discussion). The thermostat and furnace use
minimal electricity for starting the furnace. But the fan can be a
large draw. Have you checked or had someone check and change the
filters? Clogged filters can cause the system to have to work harder
to get the temperature up to the setting which will use more power.

Good advise. The other thing to add with the filters being cleaned is
to have the duct work checked as well. If that is dirty it can cause
drag on the fan as well. We get ours cleaned every five years and that
seems to be enough. The furnace filter replaced every year...

I replace my filter around every 2 months, but we have central a/c as
well. I'd still do it at 2 months tops during heating season with just
heat though.

--
Steve

Ever wonder about those people who spend $2.00 apiece on those little
bottles of Evian water? Try spelling Evian backwards...

Sheryl Rosen said:

There's nothing I can do about any of this, I'm just looking for an
explanation of why my electric bill is so high. I just pay my electric
bill, I don't really give it much thought. It's been extremely cold and
that furnace has been running almost non-stop just to keep it at a steady 65
degrees. So it would make sense.

If anyone can answer my questions about electricity use for thermostats and
oil burners, I'd appreciate it.

The thermostat uses almost no electricity. It's one of those magic gizmos. The
furnace does use some electricity to get the oil burning, but the culprit is
probably the fan motor for the forced air. That's a hefty little electric motor
moving a lot of air. The more the furnace is running the longer the fan motor is
running. You might want to check your furnace fan too. If it gets clogged up it
takes a lot more work to suck the air through and send the warm air up to you. I
had my two speed furnace fan replaced with a single speed and had it running
only with the furnace rather than constant flow (since my electric air filter no
longer works). I noticed a drop in the electric bill. When I turned the fan on
constant run the bill went back up.

It may also be fluctuating rates. In some places the cost of electricity rises
with demand. When people's electric furnaces, space heaters and Christmas
lights go on the price of power goes up.

Ruddell said:

Good advise. The other thing to add with the filters being cleaned is
to have the duct work checked as well. If that is dirty it can cause
drag on the fan as well. We get ours cleaned every five years and that
seems to be enough. The furnace filter replaced every year...

Once a year??
I change mine at least every two months. I live in an older home and have
two large dogs. That filter gets clogged pretty quickly.

Steve Calvin at [email hidden] wrote on 1/25/05 8:23 PM:

Quoted message said:

I'm with Sam. We also have forced air heat (natural gas, but that's
unimportant for this discussion). The thermostat and furnace use
minimal electricity for starting the furnace. But the fan can be a large
draw. Have you checked or had someone check and change the filters?
Clogged filters can cause the system to have to work harder to get the
temperature up to the setting which will use more power.

Would clogged filters cause it to burn extra oil, too?
Because I don't have access to the furnace. It's in the basement and the
landlady is the only one who has access to the basement.

But if I can tell her getting it cleaned would lower her oil bill, she's
much more likely to arrange for a service visit. That way, we'd both win.
Thanks for the advice.

I knew someone here would know!!!! :-)
Sheryl

Sheryl Rosen said:

Would clogged filters cause it to burn extra oil, too?
Because I don't have access to the furnace. It's in the basement and the
landlady is the only one who has access to the basement.

Clogged filters make the heating system inefficient. Modern oil furnaces are
pretty sophisticated and can compensate a little for lower volume of air.
There are two main problems with clogged filters. First of all, a clogged air
filter makes your electric fan motor work hard to get the air moving.
Secondly, there is going to be reduced air movement. Your thermostat has
settings to turn the burner on and off. When the air flow is reduced it takes
longer to get enough warm air up there to raise the temperature enough to
cause it to shut off the burner, so you are going to be burning more oil to
hit that shut off temperature. It may be only a minute or two, but
considering the amount of time the burner is activated each time, and the
number of times it goes on and, it adds up.

Quoted message said:

But if I can tell her getting it cleaned would lower her oil bill, she's
much more likely to arrange for a service visit. That way, we'd both win.

There is more to cleaning a furnace than just changing the filter. The furnace
should be serviced at least once a year to keep it operating efficiently.

Sheryl Rosen said:

Steve Calvin at [email hidden] wrote on 1/25/05 8:23 PM:

Quoted message said:

I'm with Sam. We also have forced air heat (natural gas, but that's
unimportant for this discussion). The thermostat and furnace use
minimal electricity for starting the furnace. But the fan can be a large
draw. Have you checked or had someone check and change the filters?
Clogged filters can cause the system to have to work harder to get the
temperature up to the setting which will use more power.

Would clogged filters cause it to burn extra oil, too?
Because I don't have access to the furnace. It's in the basement and the
landlady is the only one who has access to the basement.

But if I can tell her getting it cleaned would lower her oil bill, she's
much more likely to arrange for a service visit. That way, we'd both win.
Thanks for the advice.

I knew someone here would know!!!! :-)
Sheryl

Absolutely Sheryl. Look at it this way. The unit works by burning oil to
heat the air and then using a fan to force the air through a filter,
through the vents and into the rooms. If the filter is clogged, then air
won't pass through it as easily causing the burner and fan to run much
longer periods of time to hold the living area to the specified
temperature as the warm air can't get through the filter as easily.
Burning longer, running fan longer = higher bills. Again, I change my
filters every month if I remember, two months at the max.

--
Steve

Ever wonder about those people who spend $2.00 apiece on those little
bottles of Evian water? Try spelling Evian backwards...

Steve Calvin at [email hidden] wrote on 1/25/05 10:11 PM:

Quoted message said:

Sheryl Rosen said:

Steve Calvin at [email hidden] wrote on 1/25/05 8:23 PM:

Quoted message said:

I'm with Sam. We also have forced air heat (natural gas, but that's
unimportant for this discussion). The thermostat and furnace use
minimal electricity for starting the furnace. But the fan can be a large
draw. Have you checked or had someone check and change the filters?
Clogged filters can cause the system to have to work harder to get the
temperature up to the setting which will use more power.

Would clogged filters cause it to burn extra oil, too?
Because I don't have access to the furnace. It's in the basement and the
landlady is the only one who has access to the basement.

But if I can tell her getting it cleaned would lower her oil bill, she's
much more likely to arrange for a service visit. That way, we'd both win.
Thanks for the advice.

I knew someone here would know!!!! :-)
Sheryl

Absolutely Sheryl. Look at it this way. The unit works by burning oil to
heat the air and then using a fan to force the air through a filter,
through the vents and into the rooms. If the filter is clogged, then air
won't pass through it as easily causing the burner and fan to run much
longer periods of time to hold the living area to the specified
temperature as the warm air can't get through the filter as easily.
Burning longer, running fan longer = higher bills. Again, I change my
filters every month if I remember, two months at the max.

Yeah, I'll mention changing the filters to her.
It will save us both money.

The one thing that kind of sticks in my craw is that I'm subsidizing the
heat for the unit upstairs too. Oh well.

Thanks!

Sheryl Rosen said:

The one thing that kind of sticks in my craw is that I'm subsidizing the
heat for the unit upstairs too. Oh well.

If it's any consolation, the people upstairs are probably aggravated
that they have no control over the thermostat!

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

On Tue 25 Jan 2005 08:33:24p, Curly Sue wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

Sheryl Rosen said:

The one thing that kind of sticks in my craw is that I'm subsidizing the
heat for the unit upstairs too. Oh well.

If it's any consolation, the people upstairs are probably aggravated
that they have no control over the thermostat!

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

Sheryl, does your kitty like the temp at 65 in the house? Ours are freeze-
babies. Anything less than 70, they curl up into balls and act like they're
freezing to death. :-)

Wayne

Sheldon at [email hidden] wrote on 1/25/05 9:18 PM:

Quoted message said:

The blower fan for the forced hot air heat will definitely use
electricity at a rate of at least $1 per day during the last bout of
cold weather... new filters will be a big help in lowering that useage
(of course will also substantially lower the oil usage).

I will suggest we get the filters changed and fans cleaned. It will save us
both $$$.

Quoted message said:

As to the hot water... that would have to be a separate unit... forced
hot air furnaces contain no water and unless it's some weird rube
goldberg contraption would typically not have any way to heat hot
water.

There IS a separate hot water heater. I pay for the electricity to run that.

Quoted message said:

That all said, without engaging an electrition to survey the premises
there is no way to know which circuits are on your meter... somehow I
doubt any of the heating system circuitry is on your meter, but there
is a good likelyhood that the top floor apartment has some circuits on
your meter.

See, that would tick me off. I know there are two oil tanks and two
furnaces in the house, one for the landlady's apartment downstairs, and one
for mine and the apt. upstairs. I have the thermostat and it's INSIDE my
apartment, so it's a safe bet that it's on my meter. If the furnace is
too...that explains a LOT.

Quoted message said:

If you notice any wild swings in your electric bill over the next few
billing cycles you may want to have a serious talk with your landlord,
but for a one time $10 increase during a cold snap I'd not make
waves... could easily be your own usage... perhaps you've been
vacuuming more than usual, or your fridge coil needs vacuuming.... hair
dryers and toasters can very easily be attributed to the $10 increase.
Perhaps the light in your fridge is not going off, that really
happens... you can check at night by prying the door gasket open a bit
with a butter knife.

I may have been less careful about leaving lights on and may have used the
oven more. I really think it's heat related, because January has been pretty
consistently FRIGID and I noticed last week, maybe a little bit longer ago,
that when it's bitter cold like this, the apartment actually feels a bit
warmer than when it's in the high 20's-30's, even though the thermostat is
set the same, 65 degrees. I wondered about that and then I realized, every
time I passed by a heat vent, hot air was flowing through it and it occurred
to me, when it's a bit warmer out, there are longer periods of time when no
hot air is blowing in, and that's when there's a bit of a chill in the air.
I noticed with this deep freeze we've been in, the hot air is blowing all
the time, so it doesn't feel as chilly, even though it's the same 65
degrees. So I do think it's heat related. But you've all given me great
ideas for trying to use electricity more efficiently.

I have no intention of making waves with the landlady over this. I've got a
good deal here and I do not want to jeopardize it in any way.

However, if I can lower my bill by consuming less power, everyone wins. And
if I can get her to change the filters in the furnace, it will burn less
oil, too, which she pays for.

Quoted message said:

Sheldon

Sheldon, thanks for your advice. I knew you would have an answer for me!!!

Sheryl

Wayne Boatwright at [email hidden] wrote on 1/25/05 10:36 PM:

Quoted message said:

On Tue 25 Jan 2005 08:33:24p, Curly Sue wrote in rec.food.cooking:

Quoted message said:

Sheryl Rosen said:

The one thing that kind of sticks in my craw is that I'm subsidizing the
heat for the unit upstairs too. Oh well.

If it's any consolation, the people upstairs are probably aggravated
that they have no control over the thermostat!

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

Sheryl, does your kitty like the temp at 65 in the house? Ours are freeze-
babies. Anything less than 70, they curl up into balls and act like they're
freezing to death. :-)

Wayne

She parks her furry butt in front of the heat vent!
Both of her beds, one in the dining room, one in the "computer room", are in
front of a heat vent. And there is a down comforter on my bed, with a
crocheted afghan that my mom made me 15 years ago, the last thing she
crocheted in her life...

So Mandy has a choice of her two beds in front of the heat, or she can curl
up on my bed and she's figured out how to burrow between the "fold down" of
the comforter, or she will also burrow under the afghan. There's also
snugglling with me on the couch. I'm never without a blanket or an afghan.
When it comes to keeping warm, she's no dummy!

The one thing I've had to do with this extreme cold is put a throw rug near
her bowls in the kitchen and a towel near the litter box in the
pantry/laundry room. The linoleum floors in those rooms are too cold for me
to walk on barefoot, and I realized she woudl sit on the rug near the sink
and wait for me to fill her bowl. Then she would nibble....go back to the
rug, then come back and nibble some more. It finally occurred to me that the
floor was too cold for her. So I put the throw rug from the bathroom near
her bowl and she's eating much better now.

It's funny how they figure out ways to tell us what they want or need, isn't
it?

On Tue, 25 Jan 2005 20:04:29 -0500, Sheryl Rosen
<[email hidden]> wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

If anyone can answer my questions about electricity use for thermostats and
oil burners, I'd appreciate it.

The oil burning furnace just needs the electricity for the ignition
spark. Unless it is cycling on and off rapidly, it shouldn't use all
that much.

I'd look for other things.

Fridge: if the thermostat is starting to go wonky or the defrost cycle
isn't working properly, it's power consumption will go up. (BTDT, had
to replace the fridge)

Computer: Were you leaving the CPU on more than usual or not turning
off monitors?

Is the hot water heater electric? And is it on your meter? If so, were
you doing more cleaning/laundry or taking more hot baths/showers?

Lights: If you ran Christmas lights, especially non-LED ones, I can
guarantee a rise. The years I strung them, where I was living, a 200
light string lit up every night during the season was good for $30.00
Cdn increase on December's bill.

Shirley Hicks
Toronto, Ontario