Now you need to find out who’s using the other $85/month. It’s probably the person who was blaming the car.
Higher than expected electric bill
- Thread starter turtleturtle
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Now you need to find out who’s using the other $85/month. It’s probably the person who was blaming the car.
ericy
Well-Known Member
In our case, I suspect our house is kind of leaky (especially noticeable when the wind is blowing in the winter, so the HVAC system has to work harder) , and I was thinking of getting a FLIR camera for my phone.
Could be. You can always have a home energy audit performed. Or just seal up any obvious areas such as, recessed lighting, plumbing penetrations under sinks, weather striping on exterior doors, door to an attached garage, etc.
The OP is in the same house as last year, so major changes in a leaky envelope are probably unlikely. There’s a difference of more than 1000kWh’s per month. There are 720 hours in a 30 day month, so a 1000 watt space heater left on 24/7 would only consume 720kWh’s.
A number of possibilities have been mentioned that could be causing the additional usage. It isn’t the Clarity.
turtleturtle
Active Member
Ha! Sweet justice. I haven’t figured that part out yet, but I have designs to place the meter in other places after this. Process of elimination.
turtleturtle
Active Member
Here is the end of month result. Now, I have to think that there’s a missing decimal point, but I went out of town for a week and was presented with this huge number.
Either there’s a missing decimal, or the car just consumed 2,000 KWh in a 3 week span. I hope it’s the former, but can’t prove it.
That is theoretically impossible. You would have to use 4 kW per hour straight for 3 weeks on level 1 120V. The problem is Level 1 only uses around 1.4 kW per hour.
I would recommend writing the numbers down weekly or biweekly. Unplug and check the connectors each time. This resets the meter so that's why you write it down first. Also my Kill-A-Watt overheated and caused a burn around the prong and the outlet.
turtleturtle
Active Member
Indeed, that would be absolutely too high. I’m disappointed the meter read out the way it did. I just programmed in the price/KWh and will run it another month.
I also switched to other modes and verified the “missing” decimal point does actually work, so it’s not a dead LCD. Only other way to verify is to use the cost mode. Assuming the decimal is “missing”, however, that would put the cost at ~$20/mo.
I also switched to other modes and verified the “missing” decimal point does actually work, so it’s not a dead LCD. Only other way to verify is to use the cost mode. Assuming the decimal is “missing”, however, that would put the cost at ~$20/mo.
turtleturtle
Active Member
In the future, maybe get the real thing and not a weird knockoff
Yeah weird though, but guessing it's just bugged.
I got it from Newegg; had good reviews. I bought what I could afford.
Don't sweat it, I bought the real thing a long time ago and it still overheat. That's why I told you to write down the numbers once or twice a week and check the connectors each time. That's a lot of power/current going through it continuously so I wouldn't be surprised if it overheat like mine.