Seemingly excessive power draw in an old house

[stoned2thebone]

My buddy is using 2 1000 hps bulbs in 2 different closets that flip flop their on/off lighting. So when ones on the others off and vice versa. He lives in a small house that was built in the 50's and the electric or anything for that matter has never been updated. He still has fuses and not breakers. 4 fuses operate his whole house. Other than the lighting he doesn't use much power. No washer or dryer, no dish washer. He's home alot and usually has one lamp and an older plasma TV on and an older fridge.His bill is coming in around 1800 kw. He's been getting a letter every now and then from the power company telling him how he could be more efficient and comparing him to his neighbors usage which is supposedly around 800 to 900 kw's. And for at least 3 months 1 of the lights was off. So the questions are
1. Could the lack of updated electric be causing larger kw numbers?
2. If he had an electrician come out to up date his box is there a way that he could have the electrician make his power usage more efficient?.. Like Deadicated circuits for where his lights are?
3. Being that he's a guy that barely uses any power to begin with do the lights really rack up that many kilowatt hours?
I helped him compare with another friend of mine that has a reef tank, runs a welder, a compressor and has every appliance you can think of and his is only around 1000 kwh's?!...
What can be done to lower the kwh's being used?

 

[jahrastafareye]

is there ac or heating being used ? the majority of a homes electric bill is due to heating and cooling. energy efficient windows could help lower the bill imo.

 

[stoned2thebone]

Probably the most efficient part of the house is the heat and ac.. The ac unit is only a couple of years old and off now and the furnace is gas and around 8 years old.

 

[stoned2thebone]

Oh yeah and his windows are pretty new too.

 

[nukklehead]

Wow interesting, .. I kind of in the same boat but my electric company doesnt ask questions. I have never looked at how many kw hrs I use. I only run 1 k and my electric is all updated. Might want to import this to the grow room wiring and electricity forum and maybe rives or some other sparky on here could chime in BTW probably should get electricity updated if you are going to pull that kind of draw on an ole fuse box... You may be losing some there along with your service entrance. ( Meter line) sometimes in the 50's they used aluminum instead of copper which is not only fire hazard but aluminum should never been used to conduct home electricity in the first place ( opinion)

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

Does he have an electric water heater? An electric stove? Old refrigerators suck the electricity.

I once had an electric clothes dryer that developed a bad bearing or some resistance to turning. It started consuming enormous amounts of energy that cost me big $$$.

 

[rives]

From the way that you have your first post written, I can't tell if your friend has 2 lamps in each closet or 2 lamps total. Each 1k lamp for a 30 day billing period should draw 720kwh if it is run continuously, so if he has a total of 2 lamps, he has a hell of a lot of other load - if he has a total of 4 lamps, he's doing pretty well.

As mentioned above, old refrigerators and freezers (particularly freezers), are unbelievable energy hogs. I've never had one, but I believe that older plasma tv's are also big electron eaters.

The amount of energy saved by a rewire should be negligible, but the safety concerns would make it a priority for me.

 

[eyes]

2 1000s burn alot of electric -no doubt. 1kw per hour per lamp x 12 = 12000 x 30=360 x2 =720 alone. no fans,vent fans or anything else. now figure out what everything else is using with a killawatt meter. not sure why its 1800 unless hes using 2 ballasts and 4 lights total on a flip then yeah 1800 is about right. id tone it down immediately especially if they are telling you bout your neighbors usage.

 

[stoned2thebone]

It's 2 lights total with 2 ballasts, 1 in each closet so only 1 on at a time. All his appliances are gas. This is why im trying to help him figure this out. It seems like an insane amount of power to be drawn for only 2 1000 watters.

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

id tone it down immediately especially if they are telling you bout your neighbors usage.

I get these letters. They go to everybody who gets a bill. It is just to show you where you stand in your usage. If you are above the community average it is disconcerting. And now you are on a list of sorts, computer generated though. It's not as if you're being singled out to receive the notice.

 

[frankenstein2]

It is definetly the wiring and the fuses. Especially if it is all from the 50's. A breaker box and new wiring hooked up by an elecrician will reduce the bill. Also having the lights on their own breaker is the way to go , that's how i build all my grows and my friends. I know rewiring the whole house would be a pain, it can be done though, but at the very least a breaker box and new wire for the lights only will prduce less of a draw for sure. Look up some wiring diagrams on google, to see what i mean. In electricity the more you have readily available the less draw you will have.

 

[Useful Idiot]

Here is a list for you to check out. Typical household stuff we sometimes forget about the wattage consumed.Check out the furnace watts used, some furnaces use even more.. That is a gas furnace. If you live in a cold area expect that sucker to be running quite a bit.Also check out the fridge,as Rives and the Rabbit stated above, an older fridge is a power hog.
Clock radio = 10
Coffee maker = 900–1200
Clothes washer = 350–500
Clothes dryer = 1800–5000
Dishwasher = 1200–2400 (using the drying feature greatly increases energy consumption)
Dehumidifier = 785
Electric blanket (Single/Double) = 60 / 100
Fans
Ceiling = 65–175
Window = 55–250
Furnace = 750
Whole house = 240–750Hair dryer = 1200–1875
Heater (portable) = 750–1500
Clothes iron = 1000–1800
Microwave oven = 750–1100
Personal computer
CPU - awake / asleep = 120 / 30 or less
Monitor - awake / asleep = 150 / 30 or less
Laptop = 50Radio (stereo) = 70–400
Refrigerator (frost-free, 16 cubic feet) = 725


Televisions (color)

• 19" = 65–110
• 27" = 113
• 36" = 133
• 53" - 61" Projection = 170
• Flat screen = 120

Toaster = 800–1400
Toaster oven = 1225
VCR/DVD = 17–21 / 20–25
Vacuum cleaner = 1000–1440
Water heater (40 gallon) = 4500–5500
Water pump (deep well) = 250–1100
Water bed (with heater, no cover) = 120–380

 

[Hydro-Soil]

I once had a hot water heater in a house like that.... had a short in the wiring that was sucking juice like crazy.

Walking home one night I see a glow near the power box. So much power was feeding back through the conduit it was heating up a point of steel on the power box to a glowing orange color. YIKES!

Hope that's not your issue, or if it is you find it quick.

Stay Safe!

 

[komboloi]

I'm not seeing evidence that there is something outrageous about the power usage here. Your buddy has the equivalent of 1000w going full time, which accounts for 720 kWh/month. That means 1000-1100 kWh unaccounted for by the lights. Assuming there are also fans going, that accounts for some too. That brings the non-grow usage to around 900-1000 kWh/month, which is in line with the report he received about his neighbors' usage.

It seems high to me, but not crazy high. Certainly not high enough to talk about rewiring. I think I'd be inclined to find ways to minimize the non-grow electrical usage by becoming more energy efficient before I'd be inclined to talk about major electrical work. Newer refrigerator, switch to CFLs, remembering to turn lights and the TV off when not actively in use, etc. It'd be useful to know what the power consumption was in a corresponding month (i.e. same time of year) when there was no grow sucking power.

BTW, I agree that your buddy wasn't singled out by the power company, and they aren't tracking him actively.

 

[dddaver]

I'm wondering about that "older fridge" thing. Mine is 1996, about 17. Is that considered older?

I guess I need to get out the manual on it and check the power consumption.

 

[rives]

I'm wondering about that "older fridge" thing. Mine is 1996, about 17. Is that considered older?

I guess I need to get out the manual on it and check the power consumption.

DDD, pick up a Kill-a-watt meter and plug in your refrigerator for 24 hours - they are great for this kind of thing. I had an old freezer that I bought with my house that was from the 60's but refused to die - it was costing over $40 a month by itself, and I have pretty decent power rates.

The only way that rewiring the house saves any money on a power bill is if your wire is high enough resistance that it starts functioning as a heater. Not likely to be a factor.

OP, does your friend have a well? I've seen the riser pipe from the pump get holes in it and start acting like a soaker hose, but it all drains back into the well so you never see it. However, it bleeds the pressure off so the pump runs far more than it should and results in a high bill for no apparent reason. A Kill-a-watt would be a good place to start, and try turning off everything in the house and see if the meter still spins. Sometimes it is pretty surprising to find out what the hell you have been paying to provide power for.

 

[SS-]

Same situation. Got the home rewired when it was time to put a grow in it. But before any grow things were in the home I was pulling the equivalent to around 10 lights a day on a 12/12 schedule. My problem was wall AC's and a super outdated fridge.

Didn't check the usage right after the rewire. But after installing central AC, and everything and all grow related materials uninstalled, the home was pulling about 3 lights worth a day. I did have a 8 light T5 going, but that was it.

 

[myiqis55]

Im shocked this guy isnt popping fusses left and right. I've never even seen a house with fusses

 

[ItsGrowTime]

Numbers don't sound concerning to me. Unless he lives in one of the very few places that high usage gets special attention (and even those haven't been truly confirmed) just pay the bill and keep on truckin. I also live in an older 50's house too (2br, 1ba) and run 4200w 24/7 (flipped) and bunches of power hog accessories (1/2hp chiller, etc) and have high ass power bills for a couple years now and no one has ever blinked as long as the bill is paid. I also get the power usage notices but I think everyone does.