Interesting Power Spikes

So, I decided to check in to see what is going on with ole' TED and I logged in and saw some odd power usage.  The figure below is for the last 48 hours  What's interesting is the short-term mini-spikes that were occurring 2 days ago, but not this AM:



My Househould Power Usage from 3/28 to 3/30.


From the graph, the 1.1-1.2 kWh spikes start around 10pm and continue until 8am.  It should be noted that no one was home then as you can see, there's no normal increase in power for the morning and evening activities.  Tuesday's power usage showed 32 kWh being used.  Maybe it was really cold outside?  Checking on wunderground.com for my area I see that nighttime temperatures were averaging 28-30F:  Pretty cold.  And it didn't get out of the 30s until 9am...right when the temperature spikes stop.  The next day was significantly warmer showing nighttime temperatures in the mid 50s.

So, I guess I just figured out what was going on.  I probably need to remind my wife to put the thermostats into "Vacation" mode when she goes away and I'm not around.  Otherwise TED will tell on you....Tsk tsk...

Follow by Email...

Ok...so I've been asked about why folks who follow don't get any updates when there is a new post or comment even if they are a "Follower".  Well...apparently that's been a complaint about Blogger and I've updated my blog with the new "Follow by Email" gadget.  So, if you'd like updates, you have to input your email in the gadget box and then you'll start getting updates.  I'm not entirely sure about the details of how it works...but it would alleviate that annoyance.

Enjoy!

Good job babe!

Kudos to my beautiful wife.  Curving in on TED from denver, I've noticed she is averaging less thsn 20 kwh for daily power usage with a low of 15!  

When my family was in town for the ncaa tournament we averaged about 50 kwh...but that was with 6 people in the house plus with two tvs on for 8-12 hrs.

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My home of the future

So I got to thinking yesterday about my "home of the future".  This was in part beause I watched an old (2005?) NOVA episode with the car talk guys which discussed the cars of the future.  The episode ended discussing the merits of plug-in hybrid cars as the best alternative for the US because it keeps our liquid fuel (gasoline, E85) infastructure intact but heavily relies on the more efficient electric vehicle.  The episode was old enough to talk about the Chevy volt as a concept car that was uncertain if it would be produced (which is now being released). 

Well, eventually my wife will need a new vehicle and the plug-in hybrid has been on my radar for quite some time now.  I've also been sold on the concept especially since the vast majority of our travels are <20 miles and easily <40 miles (the current range limit of the Chevy volt, the first plug-in hybrid on the market).  Which car to choose will depend on when we finally start looking for a car...which is years away.

Anyhow...a couple years ago while at the Home and Garden Show, I got in a great discussion with a vendor (I don't recall their name) who was selling a "smart" electrical system.  This system was meant to manage electricity in the house when on a generator.  Well, the system was designed such that if the system had solar PV, then batteries could be used for backup electricity.  And the smart system would only send electricity to the areas that required it (i.e. HVAC, refridgerator, minimal lighting).  Well....the system was also designed with the future in mind such that if a plug-in hybrid was available, then it could use the vehicles batteries as supplemental power .  Wicked cool.  And if the car batteries get low, then the cars can be turned on and their liquid fuel engines/generators can recharge the batteries.

So, watching that Nova episode reminded me of the conceptual plan I had for my home.  Here's my plan:

1)  Install smart electrical system.  I have a very old breaker box (aluminum wiring!) that's located outside.  I eventually want to move that indoors (garage/workshop?) anyway.  Plus, it will most likely need to be upsized to house the necessary circuits for #2 below and the inclusion of plug-in hybrids.  The smart electrical system would include provisions to add in backup batteries and solar PV.

2)  Install 120V/240V plugs in the garage for plug-in hybrid vehicles.  I guess I need to determine where the best place to locate these.  It might be smart to locate them in the ceiling with a retractable cord so it could be plugged into the vehicles front/back/side or who knows where they'll put the plug in these cars.  I'll put in 240V for the primary power and if I'm running electricity, I might as well put in a 120V outlet next to it for convenience.

3)  Install Solar PV with battery backup system.  This system would start small...maybe 1 or 2kW and then would eventually be expanded to allow for net-zero energy as solar panels (hopefully) become cheaper and (hopefully) more energy efficienct.  My first guess for net zero energy would require roughly 50 kWh/day...or that's 2 kW.  However, given that that sun doesn't shine 24 hrs/day, then if we assume 8 hrs of sunlight, then the enitre system would need to be 6 kW.  The battery backup system would be sufficient for, say, 9 kWh which would be sufficient to operate minimal lighting and the refridgerator plug maybe some small appliances.  Add in the car batteries (which from what I understand are around 9 kWh each) and then you could probably run the HVAC system periodically.

So, this is my concept.   I'm not installing this anytime soon, more like years away.  More than likely moving and upsizing the breaker box will be the first task since I want that to be moved indoors and if we do get a plug-in hybrid, then I'll want a dedicated circuit for that.  Plus a 240V outlet will charge the car significantly faster than a 120V outlet.  For instance, I was reading last night that a Nissan Leaf electric car charges fully in 20 hrs from a 120V outlet...or 8 hrs from a 240V.   Which would you want? 

The smart system could be added later when costs of PV and backup batteries come down.

My gut says what could inhibit this could be (beside cost) would be my old house wiring.  Given that my breakers appear to control all over the place it might be tough for the smart system to send power to only certain areas.  However, the major loads are on their own breakers so that should be fine.  It would be the fridge and maybe minizing lighting/outlets that would be difficult. 

Any thoughts out there?

Phantom Power Usage

Ok...so I'm trying to figure out where a phantom 40w is being consumed.  From Google Powermeter, my always on power is 323w.  This accounts for 7.75 kwh/d...or 20-30% of our average total power usage.  However, because Google PowerMeter averages every 10 minutes, this is skewed.  Looking at my TED data, my min power consumption is around 285W.
 
So the other day I took out the killawatt meter along with TED and started measuring everything...i mean everything.  Htpc, oven, fridge, garage door openers, etc...anything that is plugged in I measured.  For those that I couldn't (dryer, idle hvac and hit water equipment, etc) , I used Ted and the breakers.  My breakdown is below:

Device                              Watts                 Comment
HTPC                               120                (All HTPC equipment. TV+PS3 off)
HTPC Frontend                  30                 (frontend+APC, at plug to wall)
Office Equip                        17                 all office stuff on powerstrip)
HVAC idle                          26                (taken using TED and breakers to off)
Oven/Microw                       7                 (taken using TED at breakers)
Fridge idle                          10                  (using TED)
Garage door                        6                    (Garage door switch lights?)
motion lights (3)                   3                    (photocell?)
Roomba idle                         4                    (not charging)
den tv/remote/switch             5
Cable booster power            7
alarm clocks                         3
Dirt Devil charge                  2
washing machine                  1
Dryer                                   0
Doorbell                              2kVA. Measured using multimeter.  Does not include efficiency!!!
downstairs phone charger     0
TED gateway                       2
TED display charger            0
Onkyo receiver                   0
bedroom TV off                  0
LED flashlight charger          0
toothbrush charger               0
Lamp (w/CFL)                    0

Total                                  245


Avg “always on” wattage:   ~285  (6.84 kWh/day)  - From TED.


Missing wattage:                  40


Cost of missing wattage:        0.082    per day
                                            2.49      per month
                                           29.87    per year

I can account for 245w...but I'm missing 40w!  Where is it being used?!? I even measured the doorbell using my multimeter (2w, btw).  I can't imagine this is line losses.  I realize that it isn't a lot of money...but still, it's the prinicpal of it, right?  Would you leave a 40W light bulb on 24/7?  Yeah...didn't think so.   I'm not in the mood to be giving out a complimentary $30/year to the electric company.

My plan this weekend is to turn off the power to all the breakers except TED.  Then I'll start flipping breakers on, one by one, to account for power usage by room/area.   Since my breaker box isn't labeled, this will allow me to start labeling some of them anyway.   Actually, I'll probably start by turning the breakers off, one by one, to measure the reduction....and then do it again on when I turn everything back on to see if I can replicate the power usage (scientific method, style!)

So...any thoughts out there what this could be?

Driveway complete!

Looks great!  Can't wait to try it out...

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Almost there

Inspection complete!  All good.

Customer package info...check!

(includes tax credit info)

Driveway guy is forming up today.

Tomorrow, they put concrete.

So, by monday, everything should be 100% finished.

Only thing left is for the grass to grow in the front yard....and I have to step side and let mother nature do that for me.

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Geothermal System Complete!

Well folks...the geothermal installation is complete.  The upstairs unit is functional and they've cleaned up.  I've posted some pics below.  Now, I just need to get the drilling folks back here to remove the rest of the "spoils" and get the concrete guy to pour our new driveway/walkway.  It's funny because I was worried last night after I noticed TED showing an extra constant ~300 W.  Talking to the HVAC guy, that was because the upstairs thermostat wasn't functional...so the flow center didn't have a signal to 'shut off' so it kept running.  Now that everything is functional, the 'mystery' 300W is gone.

Here's the hydronic unit (located in the crawl space) for the upstairs 

Here's the downstairs combo hydronic and air handler.  You can see the new crawl space duct work in the background.

 

Here's the flow center.

Here's a pic of all three units.  You can see the return/supply lines running in the background.

Here you can kind of see the desuperheater connection to the hot water heater

Here's the upstairs air handler connecting to the new duct work.

Here's the new duct work to the bonus room.  This should help significantly especially during the summer months as that old duct work was falling apart.

The HVAC guys installed my attic tent for me...even though I didn't ask.  Thanks guys!

Here's where the old heat pumps were located.  Ahh...no more!  You can see the new drain.

Upstairs system online!

Yeah!  The hvac guys are done and the system is online.  there's a little bit of catching up to do, now.  also the front drill spoils need to be cleaned up but after that everything will be done.  Then we can do the driveway.  pictures soon to follow...

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Downstairs geothermal operational!

Almost finished....

The downstairs geothermal system is operational!  I didn't even know when it turned on...I just got up to use the bathroom and noticed it was 68 degrees inside.  That's pretty awesome.  Below is a pic of the "HD" thermostat.  I'm probably going to buy the wireless outdoor sensor ($60) so it'll have the outdoor temp on it too.

The Honeywell Prestige "HD" thermostat

Below are some pics of the geothermal units installed.  The pics aren't that great (I can't find the camera), so I'll post some better once I figure out where it has disappear to.

On the left is the upstairs geothermal unit.  In the center is the return/supply flow unit.  On the right is the downstairs combo geothermal/air handler unit.  

Tomorrow, the guys come back and will wrap up the upstairs unit as well as cleanup.  The drillers will be back tomorrow also to remove the rest of the well "spoils" from my front yard.  That will finalize the geothermal system installation.  The concrete guy should be back on Monday to pour the concrete for the driveway/walkway.  At that point...the project will be fully complete.

Stay tuned for TED information.

Look ma, no heat pumps

A pic of my "reclaimed" garden

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Lake johnson

Its getting full...  Luckily, the drillers are done

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Pure mayhem

It is pure mayhem around here.  The driller is doing his thing (I got to see quite a geyser) and that's just a mess.  Then the HVAC guys are in the attic tearing out all the old stuff preparing for the installation of the new air handler.  The neighbors, I'm sure, are going, "What the...?!?"  It's funny because I've at least seen 7 cars use the turn around at the end of my street...and I rarely see ANYONE go down there except for those who live in the houses.

I'll fwd some pics via my cell...

Various Pics

Mornin'

I've uploaded some additional pics for your viewing pleasure.  Today, the drillers should wrap up as they only have one more well to go and I bet they want their drill rig and 'ditch witch' back (that's been sitting in my front yard all weekend).  The HVAC guys are going to install the new air handler in the attic plus the additional duct work.  I'm not sure but they may also do some work down in the crawl space as well.  The owner stopped by on Saturday and seemed to indicate that inspection would be on Tuesday.

Here's the return/supply line installation (before the drillers go there).

Here's the grey goo that is all over my front yard.  My guess is that it's bentonite clay that they use to fill in the well once they put in the piping.  If you feel it with your fingers is very fine, almost silky, material which lends me to believe that it's an engineered product and not natural (aka didn't come up from the well).   

Here's the silt fence they erected to hold back the grey goo from flowing down into my neighbors driveway.  They had to put up a second 'layer' to contain the stuff.

 

 

Here's where the return/supply line enter the house.

 

Oh yeah...and hopefully my dishwasher will finally be fixed too.

Drill

Here's a pic of the drill rig.  You can see the 3 completed wells with the pipes sticking out.  One more to go..which will be completed on monday.  Hopefully the entire project will be complete as I'm in missouri and my wife is away too.

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Digging Trenches

So yesterday, the the guys trenched for the return and supply lines.  I've posted some pics below...I kinow, not overly exciting, but somewhat interesting nevertheless.
Today, they are physically laying the return/supply lines and the driller *should* show up and start drilling the wells.  I'll post those pics later today/tomorrow. 

Above are the trenches for the return/supply lines.  The "X" is where each line will go to a well.



The trenching machine.  They have a machine for everything these days don't they?





Here's the trench going to the house.  The trench ends at the crawl space wall where they'll punch through to connect to the flow control center.



Crawl Space Duct Work

Many thanks to my beautiful wife who took these pics below of the duct work replacement in the crawl space.

Above is a bunch of the duct work with the old 26 yr old air handler.

Here's the dirty old crappy air handler.

Look how dirty the old duct work is....blah!

 Here's the new duct work.  Those connections look like their are mastic-ed together quite nicely.

OK...more pictures should be taken today and uploaded as they continue working....stay tuned...same bat time, same bat channel

Pics of Today's Work

OK...so the guys are finished for today.  They've replaced my attic main trunk line...and that's it. Below are some pictures:

Here's where the wells are going to be drilled

 

 

Here's where the supply/return lines will go.  Hank is investigating...

The new duct connection to the old duct board.  The duct board will be replaced when the new geothermal air handler is installed.  The only reason it's hooked up now is so I have upstairs heat until they get the wells drilled.

Pic

Here's a pic of the attic duct work before it goes up to the attic to be installed.

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Work is beginning

Get excited folks!  The work on my geothermal (ground source) heat pump is beginning.  The HVAC guys (Panther HVAC, Rock Hill, SC) are here and they are tearing out my old duct work and installing the new stuff.  Unfortunately, I got the bad news that the driller won't be here until Thursday.  That blows....but at least Panther is going to get all their stuff done before they arrive.  That means all my duct work will be replaced and the Equipment will be installed.  They will even run the return and supply lines to the well area.  Then...once the wells are drilled, piping installed, pressure tested, and inspected by the City, they can make the connections and begin startup.   That also means the new driveway won't be poured until at least Monday or Tuesday next week. 

That does mean, however, that I will be without HVAC for the week.  It's a good thing its going to be in the high 60s/low 70s all week.  Plus, if we need heat, we can use the gas log...which we've pretty much been using to heat the downstairs since we got it. 

I'll post some pics later today.  BTW...my better half will be around the rest of the week and will either post the pics herself or will send them to me to post. 

Delayed....BAH!

Well....I just got word that they won't start drilling until Monday...what's a nice Valentine's Day present.  The HVAC guys are also going to take care of the attic duct work too.  I'll make sure I take lots of pictures.  I'll be there on Monday when they start drilling but unfortunately, I'm out of town for work, so I'm going to have to rely on my better half to take lots of cool pictures.  I'm soooo tempted to buy myself one of those internet webcams to show the progress.  We'll see...

Electric Bill and Driveway

OK...so we got the electric bill for last month.  The total...$165.45.  High, but definitely not as heartbreaking as the $253 for last month.  TED predicted $162.31 for the month.  That's an error of 1.9%.  That's pretty good.  Factors for the error?  Who cares? It was in the neighborhood to have a consumer product with an erro less than 5% is a miracle.

For the geothermal, the driveway is being removed as a type.  See the pic above. I called the HVAC company and they expect the driller to be over by mid week.  So that probably means the system won't be online until after the weekend.  I tried my best to coordinate a smooth transition, but oh well.  I can live with a dirt driveway for a week.  Thank goodness the driveway guy is accommodating.

TED Update

OK...so before we install the geothermal system, I thought I'd update y'all on the TED.  From the history above you can see there's been a significant reduction in energy usage so far.  While it hasn't been as bitter cold (no teens resulting in 100+ kWh days), there's still lows in the 30s.  So our previous days of 70s, 80s, and 90s for energy usage has been reduced to 40s, 50s, and 60s.  Last Sunday was a gorgeous day with highs around 70, but that 41 kWh is skewed because that was cleaning/laundry day.  Wednesday is a good look as it was pretty warm out (50s) all day.  When I got home from work it was still 65 degrees inside...so that's probably why only 25 kWh was used.

Anyhow, I'm not celebrating yet.  We need to get a natural gas bill to see how much that's going to be as we've been heating the downstairs with it although we generally don't have it on much more than 2-3 hrs/day which should cost us ~$0.8-$1.2/day.  And we haven't received an electric bill yet for January...which I'm guessing will produce lots of swears.  

BTW...I've been playing with the HTPC to hibernate when not in use and then it has an 'alarm' to turn back on for a recording.  I haven't gotten to play much, but I did get it to hibernate and then wake back up on alarm after 5 minutes.  I just need to take the time to play more.  Setting this up could reduce my baseline electricity (i.e. "always on") usage by roughly 40%.

I'll keep you posted...

Info on geothermal

Since I get asked this a lot...below is a link to an explanation of how geothermal (ground source) heat pumps works:

 http://www.geoexchange.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=48:geothermal-heat-pumps&catid=375:geothermal-hvac&Itemid=32 

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One step closer

We got approval from the HOA for the driveway (no approval needed for hvac).  Now, it's time for scheduling....

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