There is a spectrum of LED light "temperature" that is expressed with numbers.

You can compare the lights side by side and then, using the temperature number of the one you like, apply that to other lights you purchase.

Some ceiling fixtures have a small switch that allows you to choose the temperature you prefer.

That decision is made prior to installation but the switch position can be changed if you are willing to pull the fixture down to do so.

My preference is about 3,000 to 3,500 which might be described as warm white.

Up around 6,000 feels like emergency operating theatre to me. :eek:

Maybe we should rig a stationary bike or treadmill to a generator system.

No lights or a/c without some cardio...

I use LEDs from Dollar Tree 60 watt soft whites uses 8 watts $1.25 each, they also have 40 watt bulbs for the same price.

You would be amazed at how hard it is to power even a 100 watt light bulb that way for any length of time. Never mind an air conditioner.

Your space heater and AC would be more intermittent than some of the other items that are used each and every day.

But for the space heater... you may want to think of an electric blanket/throw/pad.

I think you've over-estimated the power draw of your router by a factor of 10. Unless the router is also serving as a hotplate there is no way it is using 120Watts.

The specs are here: https://us.comtrend.com/ar-5381u/

If I'm reading it right it says 1 amp, which would be 120 watts?

It's 1A at the 12VDC output from the power supply, so 12 watts. And even that is more likely a peak value and not a constant value, realistically the average power consumption of it is likely under 10 watts. Your calculation then was essentially a yearly operating cost, not a monthly one.

I guess I must be in the minority. Yes I am concerned about the rate hikes but am not obsessing about it to the point I am concerned with how much my router draws. :laugh:

We are finishing up a reno and moving to Gilford. Our "new to us" home will have all led lighting and Samsung split systems with LP boiler backup (hot water off the boiler). We also have 2 pellet stoves, 2 fireplaces and are looking at putting in between 50-80 400W solar panels which should offset our entire usage. We have a huge roof system with multiple planes, so covering them in solar will help.

We run our AC hard in the summer. I am a big guy and like to be cool. Our electric bill in our existing, newer home that we are leaving runs between $300-$450 depending on the season. That is with NG heat/hw, 2 mini splits, a hot tub and every light in the place always on. We do a ton of laundry, unless we are at the lake there is laundry running every day with 5 of us in the home.

Thank you very much for clarifying this! I hope there are no similar errors on my list?

I would still like to know how to estimate my new monthly Eversource cost for the top items on my list. If I know the kWh per month of an appliance, how can I calculate the cost?

Multiply your monthly estimated usage by the fully-loaded costs. By fully-loaded, I mean taxes, other fees, etc. Your stated KwH rate for electricity supply is not the full cost of your electric service.

For example, if you estimate 400 KwH of electricity usage in a month, and your fully-loaded KwH supply charge comes out to $0.22 per Kwh then your estimated bill would be 400 * $0.22 = $88.

Conversely, if you eliminate 10 KwH of usage through various reductions, then you can estimate the savings the same way, 10 * $0.22 = $2.20 in savings.

Sounds awesome, codeman! I hope you'll report back in a few months or a year on the minisplits and solar. Congrats on the new house :)

But . . . we don't have the new Eversource rates yet.

I thought that was published as $0.22 for supply, but maybe I'm mistaken.


Some of the fees are not increasing, just the supply rate. It sounds like the net effect will be about a 50% increase in your overall utility bill for an average user.

$.22566 is the current Eversource SUPPLY rate, up from $.11xx.

For someone using 450kwh/mth., the bill would go up ~$52.

If I didn't change to a new supplier, my highest bill last year would have been something like $250 more.

With the new supplier, that will be more like $100 more, which is better than the alternative but still blows.

Sent from my SM-G990U1 using Tapatalk

Thanks for that information and to brk-Int for his explanation. I think I have this figured out, IF the supply charge is the only rate that changes. Here's my last bill, when I used air conditioning 24 hours a day:

Attachment 17703

Does that look about right? That's very helpful. My actual usage on my July bill was 260 kWh less than my chart estimated.

Our electric bill is IDENTICAL to yours—we used 456kwh from 6/16-7/18.

We're in a 2100 ft² split built in the late 1970's.

Central air, dehumidifier, electric stove, electric dryer, etc. AC set at 72° for all but while away, which was 75° and water heater set to 120°.

The three things I'm currently trying (as I type this by the lake): dehumidifier set to 60 instead of ~45, water heater set to vacation mode while away, AC set to 85 while away.

The killer for us is electric baseboard, but we've never changed for a ton of reasons. Though I think we can minimize/negate the price increases, I may look more into heating this next year.

Sent from my SM-G990U1 using Tapatalk

Think, that's interesting, thanks for the comparison. My house is something like 1400 square feet and I'm one person so I should be doing a lot better than you. BUT (confession) I set the AC to 64 so it's basically running all the time. On the other hand, in the winter I set the boiler to 60.

I think 60% could be OK for your humidity. It's not radically over the normal 50%.

If you have time maybe you can PM me about changing your electric supplier.

As mentioned, I think the dehumidifier's sensor may be inaccurate, so 60° could potentially be closer to 50 or even lower. I'll know as soon as I walk in after this short vacation!

In terms of changing suppliers, I signed up with Direct Energy yesterday for $.16/kWh which will cut the increase in half.

I researched a bunch of suppliers and they were the best price—I did see in a place or two that customer service might not be perfect, but I'm not sure what that means in this case as, supposedly, I'll still work directly through Eversource.

I signed for 36 months, but the current offers don't have early cancellation limitations.

Sent from my SM-G990U1 using Tapatalk

64 is a mighty big workload for your AC--it's not a linear relationship. If you could see your way to 68 or even 66, that might be more savings than the rest of the suggestions combined

Add a fan
 

SailinAway, my sister in law lived in FL for several years. She kept the AC at 76-78° but would drop it down to around 70. We went shopping once day and I bought her an oscillating fan on a stand. Used it on low only thermostat back up to 75 or so. Fan moved the air around and the AC took ot most of the humidity.

No AC at my house now. If it's humid, I put my fan in the opening on low at night and usually manage to get a good night's sleep.

Keep the AC set high and just use a fan to move the air.

Dave

PS Wintertime: sweaters/ swearshirts and a lap blanket help with the heat.

If you run it that cold the equipment better be right.

Have your evaporator and condensor coils been cleaned lately?

Is the blower clean?

Dave, you're right about this. I did an experiment last week and slept 3 nights without the AC and just used a tiny fan on the nightstand. I was surprised that I survived the night. A fan really does make a big difference, even a small one.

Now fellas, stop telling me to put on a sweater. I can figure that out!

I'm qualified
 

I'm qualified to tell you to put on a sweater. My wife would wear a sweater in an oven set on broil.

Dave

Exhaust fan
 

Our camp has no AC and no insulation, so on hot days the temperature is the same inside and out. We have a large window fan installed in the living room. At night, I close all the windows except the one in the bedroom and in the bathroom and set the window fan on exhaust. It pulls a nice breeze through the cottage. Even when it was 90+ during the day, I was able to sleep with a light blanket at night. I'm the type who keeps the house at 65 during the day in winter and 60 at night, so I am not a fan of super hot weather. The exhaust fan works! I believe we ordered it from Sears. It fits the lower sash of our front window.

I honestly feel that today's throwaway air conditioners are not worth paying to get them maintained. They last me about 3 years. My original unit lasted 20 years with no maintenance.

My remarks were made assuming you have a central air system.

Portable window and floor units have filters that need periodic cleaning.

Update: after 4 days away, we came back and, set at 60% humidity, the basement smelled a tad musty. I've moved it to 50, so we'll see what happens there. Maybe the sensor isn't so inaccurate after all.

We had turned the AC up to 85, which actually wasn't terrible in the house since the humidity had still been removed. It did take a while to cool down to 75, though, so I'm wondering how long it has to be set at 85 to save money when "catching up" on our return home. I have to think having it set at 85 for the days it was 95+ saved us a few bucks.

I've got the AC set to 74 right now—we tried 75, but that was just a tad warm. 72 was cool enough to need blankets, so I'm thinking 74 will be fine and save us some moolah.

I wish I could have tested the water heater temp when we returned (after putting it on vacation mode). The tank, 50 gallons, is in a well-insulated closet, so I don't think there's much standby loss at all. I did turn on "energy saver" mode, though, which is supposed to tailor itself to our water use habits.

The last thing I've been thinking about is the dryer and cooking. We can easily do more grilling and use smaller burners when cooking, but I don't see much of an alternative to drying clothes—given its location, it would be a pain to hang outside and hanging inside would increase humidity that the dehumidifier would have to pull out...though now that I think about it, my washer has an extra spin mode that might help. It's a Speed Queen, which is so powerful it'll spin those things almost dry on its own. To the basement!

Sent from my SM-G990U1 using Tapatalk

If it's just the humidity while you're away, maybe a dehumidifer would be more effective and cheaper to operate? We have this one pumping into a sink, works incredibly well

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Think, sorry you've fallen on hard times and have to count pennies like this. ;-(

An alternative for the dryer is to dry your clothes outdoors until they're almost dry and finish them in the dryer for 10 minutes. That will soften them and take out the wrinkles. It's definitely labor intensive. In the winter you can do the same but indoors, which will add needed humidity but be labor intensive and not improve your interior decoration.

For the AC, why blankets? Use a sheet and a fan and turn up the AC a few more degrees.

Don't forget to recycle the water from the dehumidifier while you're on this conservation kick. My basement is very humid and I'm finding it does not need to be dehumidified every day. Maybe once or twice a week. Open the basement door on the rare dry day.

Bearing in mind that a dehumidifier used in the living space will add heat. My 6000 BTU AC uses .6 kWh per hour and the dehumidifier uses .4. I don't know if there is an increased risk of overheating and fire with a dehumidifier that runs all the time versus the cycling of an air conditioner. I'm never comfortable leaving things on when I'm traveling. I'd rather be safe than save a few dollars.

Hahahaha! Absolutely not hard times, but definitely my selectively cheap side (as I mentioned in our PMs).

I've got a tight financial plan—the only way to afford camp, toys, etc. on teachers' salaries—so this is just finding ways to mitigate the increase in electric costs.

Talking to a solar guy Tuesday and heating guy soon...

Sent from my SM-G990U1 using Tapatalk

NHEC feature
 

NHEC has this monitoring feature on their Smarthub app. You can monitor your usage daily.

Dave

That's very cool, but I have Eversource at my main home and I think they only read that once a month.

Sent from my SM-G990U1 using Tapatalk

Try the app
 

Thinkxingu, go to your particular app store and download the SmartHub app. The icon is green with a circle of white little squares and a white circle with the word Hub in the center.

It will ask you who your provider is and for your account number. NHEC changed over to hi-tech meters. My meter is "read" monthly, but I can see the usage daily, weekly, current period, even over the last year.

You've got nothing invested but a little bit of your time. Eversource may very well be part of the SmartHub program. If it is, you'll be able to easily monitor the usage. Best part of the whole app is you can select being notified in the event of a power outage by text message.

Hope you will be able to do it.

Dave

I just checked and, unfortunately, Eversource is not included. Thanks for the tip, though!

Sent from my SM-G990U1 using Tapatalk

FREE Hot Water
 

Years ago my father in law had a cabin on a lake in Maine and routinely had free hot water May 15th thru October 15th.

How? He had about 1,000 feet of hose in his attic and used that as his source of hot water every season. Seemed to work very well for him as that attic hose would heat the water very well during those sunny days. Rarely ever ran out of it......

Now if you had a week of cold rainy days then it definitely wouldn't work as well.

Sorry
 

Sorry it won't work for you. Hopefully those with NHEC that are interested in monitoring will give it a try.

Dave

To that 0.4 KWH/hr of electric input turned into heat by the dehumidifier, add about 0.3 KWH for every pint of water ("a pint's a pound, the world around") condensed by the unit.