topend
Member
- Location
- Parma, Ohio
I've been asked to investigate a near tripling of a customer's electric bill. Any suggestions as to what could cause this?
thanks.
thanks.
I've been asked to investigate a near tripling of a customer's electric bill. Any suggestions as to what could cause this?
thanks.
sump pump on nonstop?
I'd try to narrow it down.
turn off the main and see if the meter is still spinning.
shut off breaker by breaker to see if 1 circuit is drawing a lot more than it "should"
...
And when you see that something is still drawing power when everything is supposed to be off, look for that buried extension cord going into the neighbor's garage to grow HIS pot plants...
has anyone checked the neutral that sounds a lot like a bad neutral causing the load to bridge the lines to complete the circuit and also using more power which is simply being wasted as heat in the 120V loads
One local POCO says that in years of investigating such claims, less than 1% were defective meters.
The most common culprits they have found , excluding the human factor, were water heaters and space heating problems.
I've seen heat pump trying to cool the space and the resistance heat was running at same time all because the guy that connected it either didn't know what he was doing or made a mistake.It is kind of counter productive.Back up electric heat on instead of ht pump. Cold air return open to unheated crawl space...AHU blower door was off.
And as far as mechanical meters go, if they are out of calibration, it is usually in the customers favor - meaning it records less than actual consumption.
One local POCO says that in years of investigating such claims, less than 1% were defective meters.
The most common culprits they have found , excluding the human factor, were water heaters and space heating problems.
Yes and no, depends on other factors. As long as there is still air in the tank the system still has expansion capacity, the less air there is the more frequently it will cycle the pump as there is less expansion capacity. If you are using water at a high enough volume you have nearly constant run time anyway. Short cycling is likely going to be noticed more by pump problems than by the energy bill. Where I have seen the well run up the energy bill is when it doesn't shut off at all for some reason, like a malfunctioning pressure switch, they usually fail open but sometimes fail closed.As mentioned earlier, I've seen a well pump cause this problem. If there is a pressure tank with a ruptured bladder, the pump will cycle on pretty much every time there is a call for water, and will run continously while the water is running.