Technical > Home Improvement > Electric Bill

reply to Mr Matt

Re: Electric Bill

Check this video on YouTube showing a thermal energy audit:

reply to Archivis

reply to Archivis
2nd the shutting off each circuit at a time. My parents have a well and pump. One month their bill was huge. The disk on the meter was spinning real fast. After shutting off the pump it all but stopped. Turned out that a joint in the pvc pipe broke and the pump could not satisfy the pressure requirement and ran constantly.

reply to Archivis
Consider using a mattress heating pad for each bed and keeping the rooms cold until wake up time.
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if his single electric meter has a spinning disk, it probably is not a time-of-use rate.
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reply to jp16

Arch mentioned earlier that the pump only ran when there was demand. Do you know if it is a deep or shallow well? Is it a jet or submersible pump? Can you be a little more specific as far as what you mean by 'water pressure issues'?
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I don't know anything about the well pump except it was hit by lightning a few years ago and replaced with a newer pump.

Regardless of what faucet you turn on, they all have the water spitting out of them, instead of flowing.

and the blue tank in the basement makes noise :P

Water 'spitting' out of faucets could just be dirty aerators at the faucets. On the other hand, it could be more serious. Does it stop eventually or is it all the time the faucet is on? As far as the blue tank, do you know if it is part of a filter/softener system or if it's the well pressure tank? Is it tall and thin (filter/softener) or short and relatively large around (pressure tank)? What noise?

I apologize if I disappear. The weather is deteriorating rapidly here and I'm probably going to head home. It's a haul.
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It's spitting all the time, every faucet (and we cleaned out the aerators in most of the faucets because they had this brown/rust like grime on them). There is a water softener system that was purchased 2 years ago and installed (Culligan). The Blue tank we're told is the well tank so I'm assuming its the well pressure tank. It's shorter and fat. Clicking noise, like a couple times in a row, then some pauses, then can click a few more times. No rhythm or anything to the clicking noise.
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Corrupt Politician - tmodelt
You may privately message the rest of the mafia: ekster, Rook008 & Kristopher. You win with the mafia.

The clicking at the pressure tank is probably the pump pressure switch turning pump on and off in response to water use. There should be a pressure gauge that you can watch to confirm pressure switch operation. One caution is that it might be plugged up so will not read properly.

If no one is using water and the pump is constantly cycling you have a leak either in the house or perhaps the check valve in the pump.

Since you have already dealt with the aerators spitting is probably air in the system. That normally only occurs if water is turned off and the system drained or partially drained. We have a submersible pump so pretty much impossible for air to get into the system. I'm not familiar with jet pumps.

Check if the pump is cycling unnecessarily. That indicates a leak, incorrect bladder pressure in the pressure tank or a waterlogged pressure tank. None of these problems explain air in the system - but needs to be taken care or right away.

Did the spitting just start? You can try turning on each faucet for a while to try and get the air out of the system. If that does not resolve the issue my guess is you have a jet pump and somehow air is getting into the system. I'll leave that to the plumbings professionals that frequent this forum.

/tom

reply to Antonica
Why don't you start a new thread regarding your water pressure issues. This doesn't have anything to do with the current topic and many of us who can help won't see it buried in this thread. When you do, post some pics -- the blue tank and connected plumbing and anything else that you know of which is part of your well.

@robbin - This is some-what related as it was brought up by another member that the well pump could be part of the electrical issue if it was constantly running. This is my thread as well as Archivis is my husband, so all this is in reference to the same house.

The clicking noise that "I" have noticed is only when water is being used (toilet flushing, etc). I haven't heard it run other times so I assume again, the well pump is not running constantly. As for the air, we've tried to bleed the pipes for 15 minutes with every faucet turned on, still does the spitting. I will take robbins advice and that can be another thread or just dropped all together for now until the plumber comes out, but just wanted to clarify that I don't believe the well pump is constantly running. (Plumber will be asked to check that too).
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Corrupt Politician - tmodelt
You may privately message the rest of the mafia: ekster, Rook008 & Kristopher. You win with the mafia.

I wouldn't call a plumber unless you have other plumbing problems. Most of them don't have experience with wells.

Wouldn't that depend on where a plumber is based ? I mean, a plumber "in the city", you're right, may know little about wells, sump pumps, etc, but a plumber who is in more rural areas definitely could.

reply to Antonica
Sounds like you have a bad air volume control. My parents submersible pumps pressure tank had a valve (air volume control) about 2/3 of the way up from the bottom of the tank. Every so often the air volume control would begin hissing. The way the system worked there was a check valve at the tank that prevented back flow when the pump was not running. The check valve also included a vent valve on the well side of the check valve to allow the water in the line between the pressure tank and the well to drain back into the well to keep it from freezing in cold weather. Whenever the pump started the air in the line was injected into the pressure tank as well as the water pumped in. The air helped maintain pressure in the system. When the water in the tank dropped below the float valve the air volume control released excessive air in the tank. Whenever the air volume control failed closed they experienced the same problem you are experiencing, air coming out of the faucets. The plumber replaced the air volume control to fix the problem.