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Got my power bill G73 Heater

bucs012

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Joined
Aug 11, 2009
Messages
307
Man, this thing continues to amaze me. Got my power bill last night and used 130 kwh last month. My elect cost per kwh is 6.5 cents now. Used to be 8.3 cents. Not sure why it went down and I don;t plan to ask the power company. Ha!

Any way my electric bill was $8.48! Well you have to add the $10 fee I pay for my 200amp "service/meter" that is mounted to the garage we have seperate from the house power. Total was $18.48. I am so glad I did not go natural gas!

This heats my 400 square foot shop when I am out there a few times during the week and pretty much all day during the weekends. I heat it to 50-60 degrees and the daytime temps here have been -10 to +25 the last month.
 
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bucs012

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Aug 11, 2009
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Ya. I like to post the info because I know most people have their garage and house on the same meter and billing so it's hard to REALLY now what the heater is pulling.

Since I built my garage in the Fall last year and our house only has 100 amp, I had them run a separate 200 amp line from the transformer to the garage so they HAD to put in a separate meter for the garage only. I get my OWN bill for the garage too. It comes to the house on a separate bill but is marked "GARAGE." Kinda cool to know what I am using for electricity out there.
 
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bucs012

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Aug 11, 2009
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Our bill runs from 28-32 days normally. I think this one was 29.
 

Costner

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Jul 24, 2009
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It's great that your bill was so low, but there are far too many factors at plan here to know how comperable this is to anyone else's situation.

First, we have no idea how many hours a day your heater runs. Yes we know how many hours you are out there, but that doesn't have a direct 1 to 1 ratio with how long the unit is actually running.

Second, we don't know the construction of your garage and how well insulated it is...there is a vast difference between 2x4 uninsulated walls with exposed rafters compared to 2x6 walls with sprayfoam insulation and R50 in the ceiling.

Third, we don't know what your exterior average temp for the month was. I know you indicated a range, but if the average was 15 degrees it is a huge difference from 0 degrees.

Fourth, we don't know what you set your interior temp to for the times you aren't going to be working or how you might adjust it when you are gone. Maybe you shut it down totally, or maybe you like to keep it above freezing when you aren't out there working.

Fifth, we don't know what your usage of the space is... meaning if you are opening and closing your garage doors several times a day versus this being your working shop where you only enter the passage door and never open the overhead.

Now don't get me wrong - I know this wasn't the point of your original post, but I don't want anyone to get any ideas thinking this means operating a G73 will be cheap. Bottom line, a 5KW heater is a 5KW heater - and if you are paying 6.5 cents per KW, it would cost you 32.5 cents per hour of runtime. Assuming a cycle on/off time of 50% it would cost $3.90 per day to run or $117.00 for 30 days.

You are obviously using your heater much less than 50% of the time, and others might use theirs more... each person just needs to do the math.

BTW - your 6.5 cent cost per KW is likely a winter rate. It will most likely jump back up to 8.3 for the summer when demand is higher.

The only thing I question is why the comment about not wanting to go with natural gas? On a strictly cost per btu perspective, natural gas will always beat electric resistance heating. For some it won't make sense to go natural gas because of the large up front installation costs (running gas lines, installing a vent etc) and in some cases if you aren't using your heater that often you would never recoup the cost, but for those who will use it extensively it is almost always cheaper to go with NG or propane over electric.

I should note I have an electric heater myself - because I don't use it often enough to justify the install costs of the NG unit. I haven't calculated my cost to run the electric only because I don't have the ability to run a separate meter, but I would say my monthly cost is very similar to yours based upon my very limited usage.
 
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Falcon67

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Jun 11, 2009
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Location
Merkel, TX
Figures indicate you didn't run it (on average) quite 1 hour per day. That's not much. During the December freeze mine ran about 6.5 hr/day on LO.
 

Chetter

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Joined
Nov 30, 2008
Messages
243
Location
Northern Ohio
It's great that your bill was so low, but there are far too many factors at plan here to know how comperable this is to anyone else's situation.

First, we have no idea how many hours a day your heater runs. Yes we know how many hours you are out there, but that doesn't have a direct 1 to 1 ratio with how long the unit is actually running.

Second, we don't know the construction of your garage and how well insulated it is...there is a vast difference between 2x4 uninsulated walls with exposed rafters compared to 2x6 walls with sprayfoam insulation and R50 in the ceiling.

Third, we don't know what your exterior average temp for the month was. I know you indicated a range, but if the average was 15 degrees it is a huge difference from 0 degrees.

Fourth, we don't know what you set your interior temp to for the times you aren't going to be working or how you might adjust it when you are gone. Maybe you shut it down totally, or maybe you like to keep it above freezing when you aren't out there working.

Fifth, we don't know what your usage of the space is... meaning if you are opening and closing your garage doors several times a day versus this being your working shop where you only enter the passage door and never open the overhead.

Now don't get me wrong - I know this wasn't the point of your original post, but I don't want anyone to get any ideas thinking this means operating a G73 will be cheap. Bottom line, a 5KW heater is a 5KW heater - and if you are paying 6.5 cents per KW, it would cost you 32.5 cents per hour of runtime. Assuming a cycle on/off time of 50% it would cost $3.90 per day to run or $117.00 for 30 days.

You are obviously using your heater much less than 50% of the time, and others might use theirs more... each person just needs to do the math.

BTW - your 6.5 cent cost per KW is likely a winter rate. It will most likely jump back up to 8.3 for the summer when demand is higher.

The only thing I question is why the comment about not wanting to go with natural gas? On a strictly cost per btu perspective, natural gas will always beat electric resistance heating. For some it won't make sense to go natural gas because of the large up front installation costs (running gas lines, installing a vent etc) and in some cases if you aren't using your heater that often you would never recoup the cost, but for those who will use it extensively it is almost always cheaper to go with NG or propane over electric.

I should note I have an electric heater myself - because I don't use it often enough to justify the install costs of the NG unit. I haven't calculated my cost to run the electric only because I don't have the ability to run a separate meter, but I would say my monthly cost is very similar to yours based upon my very limited usage.

You bring up some good points with your post. My electric bill runs me at least 100.00 a month during the winter months and 130-150.00 during the summer. I heat my home with NG and my garage with propane since it was the most cost effective way to get heat to it and electric wasn't even a consideration due to the high cost here. My garage costs me 120.00 during January when the temps are the coldest for the longest and that is heating it 24/7 at 50* after January, it runs me half that for February and less again for March, December runs me about the same as February. My garage is well insulated, walls, doors, and walls, and that is with my wife and I going in out of the overhead door at least 2 times each a day. It's worth it to me to have my tools dry and rust free as well as my hot rod that sits there. Heated garages are great for sure..
 

Gary S

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Dec 27, 2008
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Bismarck, ND
First, we have no idea how many hours a day your heater runs. Yes we know how many hours you are out there, but that doesn't have a direct 1 to 1 ratio with how long the unit is actually running.
.


Run time is very easy to figure out. 130kw of electricity were used and the heater is 5kw. Simple division says it ran 26 hours.
For intermittent use like this nothing is as nice and clean as electricity.
 
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bucs012

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Aug 11, 2009
Messages
307
Run time is very easy to figure out. 130kw of electricity were used and the heater is 5kw. Simple division says it ran 26 hours.
For intermittent use like this nothing is as nice and clean as electricity.

Thank you, Gary...........This message was to only share my experience with my heater. I thought I would share with my fellow garage guys.
 

nate379

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Feb 2, 2009
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Palmer, AK
The is weird your electric bill is higher in the summer. Mine is higher in the winter since there isn't much daylight and also the boiler is running. Runs me around $30-40/month in summer and $50-60 in winter. Juice is 0.19kw/hr.
 
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Gary S

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Dec 27, 2008
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Bismarck, ND
The is weird your electric bill is higher in the summer. Mine is higher in the winter since there isn't much daylight and also the boiler is running. Runs me around $30-40/month in summer and $50-60 in winter. Juice is 0.19kw/hr.


Are you running air conditioning in the summer?
My gas bill goes up in the winter. (gas boiler)
My electric bill goes up in the summer. (air condtioner)
 

Boyd Who

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Joined
Oct 15, 2007
Messages
1,080
Location
Manitoba
We pay somewhere around 6.3 cents/kwh up here. I have an 25KW forced-air electric furnace in our 100-y/o house. We had a very cold December, temps in the -30 to -40C range. My electric bill was $495 for the month. Luckily it doesn't get that cold here that often.
 

dragginbalz

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Joined
Sep 19, 2005
Messages
197
Location
Illinois
Are you running air conditioning in the summer?
My gas bill goes up in the winter. (gas boiler)
My electric bill goes up in the summer. (air condtioner)

I am not that familiar with the state, but is there even a need to run AC in the summer, in Alaska?



:)
 

rickairmedic

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Joined
May 31, 2005
Messages
4,165
Location
louisville ,Ky
I just got this months bill and the electric portion went up a whole dollar from last month . Last month I was running a 110 V space heater in the garage and it was running only when I was out here. This month I ran my Dayton 3VU36 ( similar to the G73 ) full time running 24/7 . I have it set at medium heat setting and it stays 65-70* in my garage even with wind chills in the single digits outside and the heater actually cycles on and off . I have R4.9 insulation in my overhead door and none in the walls so I am quite happy with the new heater and highly recomend them.


Rick
 

PassnThru

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Jan 5, 2010
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Location
Bowling Green KY
Of course, there is always the possibility that they didn't actually read the meter - just guessed at the usage. It seems unlikely but it could be the reason it was so cheap. I don't think they are actually required to read the meter every single month by law.
 

Boyd Who

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Oct 15, 2007
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1,080
Location
Manitoba
Of course, there is always the possibility that they didn't actually read the meter - just guessed at the usage. It seems unlikely but it could be the reason it was so cheap. I don't think they are actually required to read the meter every single month by law.

Good point. They only read the meter every two months up here. The first winter we had the new electric furnace they didn't estimate the billing correctly between readings. We had a nice low bill one month, then got hit with a $900+ bill the following month after they read it again. I just about **** myself! :shocking:
Since then I've been reading it myself and calling it in.
 
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bucs012

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Aug 11, 2009
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307
For the heck of it. I read my own meter and watch my usage. It's just outside my shop door and is digital. Here it is on the garage before they actually installed the meter. The box is on the right side of the picture by the window.

garage003-4.jpg
 
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