Hey folks-
I accidentially came across this blog and found it really interesting:
Tank or No Tank...Endless debate over hot water heating can stand to be cooled down
http://amicusgreen.typepad.com/amicus-answers/2010/03/tank-or-no-tankendless-debate-over-hot-water-heating-can-stand-to-be-cooled-down.html
It's old but very interesting. I am not considering a tankless hot water heater since its not really compatible with the geothermal desuperheater...but could be useful to other folks out there.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
June/July Energy Usage
Last month's energy usage numbers are in (ok...they've been in for awhile and I've forgotten...you busted me) and the results show more good news:
June/July 2010 Usage: 950 kWh / 22 days = 43.18 kWh/d
June/July 2011 Usage: 1,086 kWh/33 days = 32.91 kWh/d
Savings = 23.79%
Pretty good. One thing to note is last month/this month I've been running that dehumidifier a lot (see previous posts) so that usage is abnormally high.
Compared to the "old" townhome, my usage looks like:
June/July 2009 Usage: 794 kWh/33 days = 24.06 kWh + 8 CCF gas (7.5 kWh/d) = 31.61 kWh/d
Difference = 104.1%
So I was 4% higher...but then again, remove the dehumidifier usage and I'd be lower. But even at 4% higher...can I complain? 2005 built vs 1984 built. 1300 sf vs 2600 sf. Yeah...no way!
The July/August bills will be interesting given how hot its been lately (90s). Last year we used 1636 kWh (51.1 kWh/d). With the mid-high 90s now, we've only used a maximum of 40 kWh/d (last Friday when it was 99-100F). This years July/August bill will hold an additional 2-3 weeks of dehumidifier usage too. FYI, I've switched to 3 hrs on/3 hrs off operation. The system is off right now and the humidity is at 50%. Good. So maybe I'll let it run through the week to see where it ends up holding when its off.
June/July 2010 Usage: 950 kWh / 22 days = 43.18 kWh/d
June/July 2011 Usage: 1,086 kWh/33 days = 32.91 kWh/d
Savings = 23.79%
Pretty good. One thing to note is last month/this month I've been running that dehumidifier a lot (see previous posts) so that usage is abnormally high.
Compared to the "old" townhome, my usage looks like:
June/July 2009 Usage: 794 kWh/33 days = 24.06 kWh + 8 CCF gas (7.5 kWh/d) = 31.61 kWh/d
Difference = 104.1%
So I was 4% higher...but then again, remove the dehumidifier usage and I'd be lower. But even at 4% higher...can I complain? 2005 built vs 1984 built. 1300 sf vs 2600 sf. Yeah...no way!
The July/August bills will be interesting given how hot its been lately (90s). Last year we used 1636 kWh (51.1 kWh/d). With the mid-high 90s now, we've only used a maximum of 40 kWh/d (last Friday when it was 99-100F). This years July/August bill will hold an additional 2-3 weeks of dehumidifier usage too. FYI, I've switched to 3 hrs on/3 hrs off operation. The system is off right now and the humidity is at 50%. Good. So maybe I'll let it run through the week to see where it ends up holding when its off.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
It's been a while...
Sorry folks...I know its been a while. It's been wicked busy in the ole' household. But I'm back! The sad news is that Google PowerMeter is no more (see email received below):
Dear PowerMeter User,
We first launched Google PowerMeter as a Google.org project to raise awareness about the importance of giving people access to their energy information. Since our launch, there's been more attention brought to this issue, and we're excited that PowerMeter has helped demonstrate the importance of access to energy data. However, our efforts have not scaled as quickly as we would have liked, so we have decided to retire PowerMeter.
You will continue to have access to the product until September 16, 2011, after which time you will no longer be able to access your PowerMeter account. We know that having access to your energy information has helped you save energy and money. There are many options available for you from our device and utility partners. Please visit this page to learn more:http://www.google.com/support/
We also understand that having your historical energy data is important to you. We've made it easy for you to download your data. To export your PowerMeter data to a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file, log in to your account and go to "Account Settings." More information can be found here: http://www.google.com/support/
We appreciate your understanding and hope that you've enjoyed using Google PowerMeter. If you have questions about this announcement, please visit our FAQ pages athttp://www.google.com/
Thank you,
Google PowerMeter team
© 2011 Google Inc. 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043
You've received this mandatory service announcement email to update you about important changes to your Google PowerMeter account.
Granted, this really has no effect on me. My TED will record data just fine and I'll still be able to blog about it. It's just I was hoping to show y'all my PowerMeter on my blog. I guess I can ditch that effort now. Maybe I'll have to investigate how to replicate my TED data somewhere else. Or at least have an automatic posting of what my daily usage is. That would be neat. Of course, that means I need to learn some potentially complicated coding. Bah! But...that's what my family of computer knowledgeable people is for, right? And my computer knowledgeable friends too.
FYI...I plan to get back on the ole' blog bandwagon a little more in the upcoming weeks. I have a ton of pics from some of my early energy efficiency work before I had this blog...or TED for that matter.
Oh yeah....update on the dehumidifier. It's still going on/off. That's annoying. But with the recent thunderstorms that has knocked out power (the dehumidifier doesn't automatically start back up), I've seen that the crawl space is now at 62% and holding. In a previous post a couple weeks back, after another power outage it was 67%, so its lowering. I just need to get it down to below 60% (maybe 55%?) and I'll be happy. It's probably sucking up all the water in the wood from the many previous years of high humidity. I may just setup the dehumidifier to run 3 hrs on/3 hrs off and I'll monitor how low it gets the crawl space to...and then how the humidity returns to. I gotta think that the lower the crawl space gets in the 3 hrs on...the more 'mass transfer' of water there will be from the wood to the atmosphere which will be removed. So the greater the 'delta' between air and wood, the faster the transfer. And that'll help me get to below my humidity goal.
Ok...that's enough...until next time...
Dear PowerMeter User,
We first launched Google PowerMeter as a Google.org project to raise awareness about the importance of giving people access to their energy information. Since our launch, there's been more attention brought to this issue, and we're excited that PowerMeter has helped demonstrate the importance of access to energy data. However, our efforts have not scaled as quickly as we would have liked, so we have decided to retire PowerMeter.
You will continue to have access to the product until September 16, 2011, after which time you will no longer be able to access your PowerMeter account. We know that having access to your energy information has helped you save energy and money. There are many options available for you from our device and utility partners. Please visit this page to learn more:http://www.google.com/support/
We also understand that having your historical energy data is important to you. We've made it easy for you to download your data. To export your PowerMeter data to a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file, log in to your account and go to "Account Settings." More information can be found here: http://www.google.com/support/
We appreciate your understanding and hope that you've enjoyed using Google PowerMeter. If you have questions about this announcement, please visit our FAQ pages athttp://www.google.com/
Thank you,
Google PowerMeter team
© 2011 Google Inc. 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043
You've received this mandatory service announcement email to update you about important changes to your Google PowerMeter account.
Granted, this really has no effect on me. My TED will record data just fine and I'll still be able to blog about it. It's just I was hoping to show y'all my PowerMeter on my blog. I guess I can ditch that effort now. Maybe I'll have to investigate how to replicate my TED data somewhere else. Or at least have an automatic posting of what my daily usage is. That would be neat. Of course, that means I need to learn some potentially complicated coding. Bah! But...that's what my family of computer knowledgeable people is for, right? And my computer knowledgeable friends too.
FYI...I plan to get back on the ole' blog bandwagon a little more in the upcoming weeks. I have a ton of pics from some of my early energy efficiency work before I had this blog...or TED for that matter.
Oh yeah....update on the dehumidifier. It's still going on/off. That's annoying. But with the recent thunderstorms that has knocked out power (the dehumidifier doesn't automatically start back up), I've seen that the crawl space is now at 62% and holding. In a previous post a couple weeks back, after another power outage it was 67%, so its lowering. I just need to get it down to below 60% (maybe 55%?) and I'll be happy. It's probably sucking up all the water in the wood from the many previous years of high humidity. I may just setup the dehumidifier to run 3 hrs on/3 hrs off and I'll monitor how low it gets the crawl space to...and then how the humidity returns to. I gotta think that the lower the crawl space gets in the 3 hrs on...the more 'mass transfer' of water there will be from the wood to the atmosphere which will be removed. So the greater the 'delta' between air and wood, the faster the transfer. And that'll help me get to below my humidity goal.
Ok...that's enough...until next time...
Friday, July 1, 2011
More dehumidifier stuff
OK...so I ran the dehumidifer with the fan on for about 2 weeks. Mind you...the dehumidifier itself should turn the air over in the crawl space at least 24 times per day...in a perfect world. So with the fan running it should do a better job. Well, it ran constantly for a long time and when the dehumidifer started cycling, I knew I must be close.
So yesterday, I turned off the fan and just let the dehumidifer do its thing. Unfortunately, I didn't read the manual and thought that setting it on the "3 hrs" mode would mean it would run for 3 hours then turn off. Nope...it means its runs for 3 hrs...then turns off...and then 3 hrs later it turns on. Seriously? It has a 6, and 12 version of the same thing. Really? So there's no way to save on electricity? It's 12 hrs of operation or Auto?!?
Come on!
OK...so this morning I switched it back to "Auto" mode...and from the figure below you can see that its constantly cycling again. Dang it!
![]()
My guess is that I'm going to have to purchase a cheap-o $15 box fan and install it down in the crawl space with it hooked up to one of those "smart strips". Such that when the dehumidifer turns on...then it turns on the box fan also. Maybe that'll fix this annoying constant "on/off" cycling. It's OK, if it turns on once every hour...but ever couple minutes sucks!
BTW, my power usage jumped up to about 45 kWH/day (OUCH!) with the fan and the dehumidifer running non-stop. Once I turned off the fan, it went down to 36 kWh/day. My goal is to get it back to 30 kWh/day if I can ever get the dang dehumidifer to stop running for 8 hrs!
So yesterday, I turned off the fan and just let the dehumidifer do its thing. Unfortunately, I didn't read the manual and thought that setting it on the "3 hrs" mode would mean it would run for 3 hours then turn off. Nope...it means its runs for 3 hrs...then turns off...and then 3 hrs later it turns on. Seriously? It has a 6, and 12 version of the same thing. Really? So there's no way to save on electricity? It's 12 hrs of operation or Auto?!?
Come on!
OK...so this morning I switched it back to "Auto" mode...and from the figure below you can see that its constantly cycling again. Dang it!
My guess is that I'm going to have to purchase a cheap-o $15 box fan and install it down in the crawl space with it hooked up to one of those "smart strips". Such that when the dehumidifer turns on...then it turns on the box fan also. Maybe that'll fix this annoying constant "on/off" cycling. It's OK, if it turns on once every hour...but ever couple minutes sucks!
BTW, my power usage jumped up to about 45 kWH/day (OUCH!) with the fan and the dehumidifer running non-stop. Once I turned off the fan, it went down to 36 kWh/day. My goal is to get it back to 30 kWh/day if I can ever get the dang dehumidifer to stop running for 8 hrs!
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