High Power Bill

[wyliesdiesels]

A logical note to everyone on this thread! It is COMPLETELY pointless to list what your total electric bill is because everyone has different rates and taxes. Listing your bill total makes no sense. The correct thing to do would be to list your total KWh usage, electric appliances and house sq ft.

As far as condenser and evaporator coils go, evaporator coils usually get way dirtier than condenser coils because everyone thinks the filter takes care of the dust.

Attached are pics of my evaporator, the first one is right after I started cleaning it(I should have taken one before as it was entirely covered in crud and was completely white)

 

[IOWNJUNK]

What did you use to clean that with? Night and day difference, doubt you used just that sponge.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

What did you use to clean that with? Night and day difference, doubt you used just that sponge.

Actually thats not a sponge in the picture. Its a broken piece of insulation that use to cover one of the refrigerant line sets. What i did use was the brush attacent on my vaccuum! It worked quite well but i had to make sure to go with the grain of the fins otherwise i would end up bending the hell out of em, which i did to a few and had to straighten them out. The evaporator is a lot harder to clean than the condensor because u cant take a hose or acid to it!

 

[Falcon67]

They use some serious stuff at work to clean coils. I've borrowed some, and it's mask, gloves, etc personal protection. Nasty, gets-er-done.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

They use some serious stuff at work to clean coils. I've borrowed some, and it's mask, gloves, etc personal protection. Nasty, gets-er-done.

Yup its hydrocloric acid. Ive used it and it takes your breath away. I wish i could have used it on my evaporator as it was a royal bi*ch to clean because my air handler is in my ceiling and i had to stand on a chair and contort myself to fit in the plenum!

 

[92GreenYJ]

I'm telling you guys, look into solar. I don't know how it is in the rest of the country, but here in CA they are pushing that **** hard! I can't walk I to Home Depot without someone asking me if I have a high electric bill. I always say no of course because I already have full solar on the house that the previous owners had installed.

The way most of the companies out here work, and the way the company our system is from works, is you don't pay a dime for the system. The company takes the annual solar tax credit as the "lease" fee. You back feed any power you don't use yourself into the system for the power company to redistribute and you get that money back (depending on your power company). I have the option to buy the system outright next year for $1,500 bucks and I will be doing so. The first year we owned the home the energy bill was $5 every month, but we never had to actually pay it. Because we were on solar they bill us once a year. When that time came, we had generated far more than what we used so our power bill statement came in at negative $180. We then had the option to take a check FROM the power company for that amount, or roll it into our next year long billing cycle. We rolled it over.

As I continue to upgrade the remaining light fixtures to LED and upgrade the appliances to more energy efficient models it's only going to get better. And Sunpower solutions, the company that our system came from, has an online monitoring tool so you can see online how much juice the system is generating, how much you are using, and how much you are selling back to the power company.

Everyone is doing it here in SoCal now. Especially since they shut down the San Onofre nuclear power plant and energy rates went thru the roof. 8 houses on my street alone have had solar installed in just the last month or so.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

I'm telling you guys, look into solar. I don't know how it is in the rest of the country, but here in CA they are pushing that **** hard! I can't walk I to Home Depot without someone asking me if I have a high electric bill. I always say no of course because I already have full solar on the house that the previous owners had installed.

The way most of the companies out here work, and the way the company our system is from works, is you don't pay a dime for the system. The company takes the annual solar tax credit as the "lease" fee. You back feed any power you don't use yourself into the system for the power company to redistribute and you get that money back (depending on your power company). I have the option to buy the system outright next year for $1,500 bucks and I will be doing so. The first year we owned the home the energy bill was $5 every month, but we never had to actually pay it. Because we were on solar they bill us once a year. When that time came, we had generated far more than what we used so our power bill statement came in at negative $180. We then had the option to take a check FROM the power company for that amount, or roll it into our next year long billing cycle. We rolled it over.

As I continue to upgrade the remaining light fixtures to LED and upgrade the appliances to more energy efficient models it's only going to get better. And Sunpower solutions, the company that our system came from, has an online monitoring tool so you can see online how much juice the system is generating, how much you are using, and how much you are selling back to the power company.

Everyone is doing it here in SoCal now. Especially since they shut down the San Onofre nuclear power plant and energy rates went thru the roof. 8 houses on my street alone have had solar installed in just the last month or so.

Not so fast Mr solar salesman. This ALL depends one which PoCo one has. If u have "Pacific Gasp and Extortion", u wont get a check because theyve convinced the CPUC to allow them to onlydo net metering. So if u generate excess electricity, u are giving PGE free electricity. I know this personally because my coworker found this out the hard way.

Now, if u have a public owned PoCo such as SMUD, MID or TID, then a solar lease is a horrible idea, because not only does the PoCo give u rebates for te system bu they also pay u monthly for the electricity u generate AND u get the federal tax credits! U will end up better off in the long run purchasing the system than leasing it because u wont get any of those benefits leasing up here!

 

[92GreenYJ]

Not so fast Mr solar salesman. This ALL depends one which PoCo one has. If u have "Pacific Gasp and Extortion", u wont get a check because theyve convinced the CPUC to allow them to onlydo net metering. So if u generate excess electricity, u are giving PGE free electricity. I know this personally because my coworker found this out the hard way.

Now, if u have a public owned PoCo such as SMUD, MID or TID, then a solar lease is a horrible idea, because not only does the PoCo give u rebates for te system bu they also pay u monthly for the electricity u generate AND u get the federal tax credits! U will end up better off in the long run purchasing the system than leasing it because u wont get any of those benefits leasing up here!

I agree on the lower statement. However, as I said, the previous owners of our home did the system install. It was in place when we purchased the house and we assumed the "lease" on the system. Next year when I have the option I am all set to buy out the contract on it. Our power company is the state run SDG&E and I gotta admit, I have been nothing but pleased with the set up so far. It's nice not having to pay an electric bill.

 

[SmokeyBC]

That much power would have cost me $137.

We pay 7.5 cents KWH. My monthly bill is averaged over the year, and I pay $45 month. If I get into the second tier of billing, the extra is billed at 11 cents KWH. I only got to the second level in one month last year.

Fridge is 21 years old, deep freeze is 40, have a window 8000 BTU AC that's about five years old.

I have gas furnace, hot-water, and stove-top. Gas unit heater in garage.

We have cheap energy costs in BC. Excluding gasoline, it's currently $5.05, US$ per US gallon.