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Home > Archive > Home Repair forum > January 2006 > HIGH ELECTRIC BILL
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HIGH ELECTRIC BILL
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| Freckles 2006-01-29, 1:21 am |
| Our electric bill just been increased to nearly double what it used to be.
The heating and cooling is what eats up most of the electricity.
Will thermal curtains or drapes help to reduce the heating and cooling
enough to make buying and hanging them worth the effort?
Thanks
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Freckles wrote:
> Our electric bill just been increased to nearly double what it used to be.
>
> The heating and cooling is what eats up most of the electricity.
>
> Will thermal curtains or drapes help to reduce the heating and cooling
> enough to make buying and hanging them worth the effort?
>
> Thanks
Not enough info. It depends upon the number of windows that you have,
their sizes, their locations, how well they are sealed, what type, and
how much you plan on spending on the curtains. Even with that info the
only way to know is to try it, and even then you would have to keep
precise records of electric usage and average outdoor conditions both
previous to and after hanging the curtains, over a period of several
years. IOW your question isn't as simple as yes or no.
There are many ways to reduce electrical consumption. Here's a starting
point:
http://www.wbdg.org/ccb/DOE/TECH/doe_v2.pdf
Just one of infinite articles on the subject to be found on the web.
IMO it's probably a better option, if possible, to simply get a higher
paying job 
Richard Perry
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| Freckles wrote:
> Our electric bill just been increased to nearly double what it used to be.
>
> The heating and cooling is what eats up most of the electricity.
>
> Will thermal curtains or drapes help to reduce the heating and cooling
> enough to make buying and hanging them worth the effort?
>
> Thanks
>
>
It depends on what they cost.
My guess (and it's only that -- a guess) is that they might make a
two or three percent difference.
--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form che...@prodigy.net.
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| buffalobill 2006-01-29, 6:21 am |
| put your electricity on balanced billing and hire a hvac repairman and
an electrician.
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| Get references from neighbors and friends. Then get estimates for more
insulation, new windows/doors, and a new HVAC system. Contractors will
usually give those estimates for free. You don't have to do everything at
once, but in many cases the payback can be very quick. Depending on where
you live, you may be eligible for an energy loan, but even if you aren't, it
is usually better to borrow the money and make payments, than to have high
electric bills.
"Freckles" <freckles1507@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:wKydndZWWLvW2kHenZ2dnUVZ_tqdnZ2d@comcast.com...
> Our electric bill just been increased to nearly double what it used to be.
>
> The heating and cooling is what eats up most of the electricity.
>
> Will thermal curtains or drapes help to reduce the heating and cooling
> enough to make buying and hanging them worth the effort?
>
> Thanks
>
>
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| Justin West 2006-01-29, 10:21 am |
| Although it doesn't answer your initial question, re: Thermal Curtains.
You may want to review why your heating or cooling so much.
To provide you with my experience, we have in the past heated our house
hold to a ridiculous degree to compensate for poor insulation in the
attic space. The previous owner's installed a nice shower stall;
however, who ever did the installation didn't insulate around the stall
and the air from the attic was comming in and freezing the pipes, and
us in the master bedroom.
Adding some insulation has let me drop the house temperature down while
we're not here. This is reducing the amount of on-time the furnace is
going through and saving both on our electricity and oil consumption.
Regards, JW
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| Justin West 2006-01-29, 10:21 am |
| Although it doesn't answer your initial question, re: Thermal Curtains.
You may want to review why your heating or cooling so much.
To provide you with my experience, we have in the past heated our house
hold to a ridiculous degree to compensate for poor insulation in the
attic space. The previous owner's installed a nice shower stall;
however, who ever did the installation didn't insulate around the stall
and the air from the attic was comming in and freezing the pipes, and
us in the master bedroom.
Adding some insulation has let me drop the house temperature down while
we're not here. This is reducing the amount of on-time the furnace is
going through and saving both on our electricity and oil consumption.
Regards, JW
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| trader4@optonline.net 2006-01-29, 10:21 am |
| "> Will thermal curtains or drapes help to reduce the heating and
cooling
> enough to make buying and hanging them worth the effort? "
The way I would approach this is if I needed new curtains anyway, then
I would take energy issues into account when I bought new ones. The
incremental cost may be worth it over time. However, if I had
curtains that were fine, I wouldn't buy new ones expecting to come out
ahead in energy savings, as I doubt that will happen. You can get more
mileage out of what you have by making sure they are closed at night
and open any on the sunny side during day.
Also, as others have suggested, I'd look at other things that could
have bigger impact and for less money. There are websites that will
give you a list of things to look at. For most houses, fixing simple
things like weather stripping around doors, making sure the water
heater isn't set higher than necessary, installing an auto set back
thermostat, replacing regular bulbs with CFI where practical, etc, will
have a bigger cost/benefit than replacing drapes.
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| m Ransley 2006-01-29, 11:21 am |
| Yes they will help you can add R 1- 4 with cullular shades with a track
and curtains. A single pane window is R 1, a tri pane lowEargon R 3.3
apx. So you may depending on what you have you may tripple its R value.
A typical wall is only apx R8 to R 12. But you dont say what you have or
why you may be heating with electric since for most electricity is still
50% more than Ng. You don`t mention insulation, zone and the overall
condition. Do an energy audit of your electric, you can do it with a
clamp on amp meter and a Kill-A Watt meter. I reduced my electric from
60 a month to 16-30 by redoing everything. Even an old tv unused may
take 3$ a month in standby and old friges can cost 15-20 a month a new
unit can cost 5$ a month or less.
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| Eugene Nine 2006-01-29, 4:21 pm |
| buffalobill wrote:
> put your electricity on balanced billing and hire a hvac repairman and
> an electrician.
I don't think anything needs repaired, our electric bill doubled this month
as well because the local electric company uses natural gas to generate
power and since the price of the gas has increased so has the price of the
electricity.
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| Mark Lloyd 2006-01-30, 1:21 am |
| On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 14:16:44 -0500, Eugene Nine <no@spam.com> wrote:
>buffalobill wrote:
>
>
>I don't think anything needs repaired, our electric bill doubled this month
>as well because the local electric company uses natural gas to generate
>power and since the price of the gas has increased so has the price of the
>electricity.
My bill went up last time, but I thought it was just the holiday
decorations.
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what
to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb
contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin
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| Jim Elbrecht 2006-01-30, 9:21 am |
| RP <no_mail_no_spam@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>Freckles wrote:
>
>
>Not enough info. It depends upon the number of windows that you have,
>their sizes, their locations, how well they are sealed, what type, and
>how much you plan on spending on the curtains. Even with that info the
>only way to know is to try it, and even then you would have to keep
>precise records of electric usage and average outdoor conditions both
>previous to and after hanging the curtains, over a period of several
>years. IOW your question isn't as simple as yes or no.
-snip-
It also depends on the cost of the window treatment- and the cost to
heat for a season.
If you can come up with;
1. the heating degree days for your area;
2. what type of windows you have now now[single pane, double hung, 100
yr old windows, or triple pane high-E 2 yr old windows];
and 3. the sizes and thermal efficiencies for the treatments you plan
to do.
then someone could tell you a ballpark of what you'd save per year.
If you ask where you intend to buy the treatments and they can't tell
you-- then go someplace else.
Jim
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