Power Consumption

[Kwajdiver]

I'm staying at a KOA in North Little Rock, AR.  Just receive my electric bill.   

From Jan 27 through Feb 27 I used 2000KWH.   

At 13 cents a KWH that is $260.00.  The highest in the park for the month, some prize....

Today I tested everything in the coach with a amp probe to see what each item was pulling.

More informaton:  I was out of the park for two days. One week the temp. was down in the teens during the early morning.

My power cord to the coach seems to drop .22 amps.
Battery Charger for house battery              .62
Rope lighting                                          1.46
TV                                                       1.6
Front Roof Mount A/C with heat strip on    12.88   (has new heat strip)
Rear  Roof Mount A/C with heat strip on     15.88
Space Heater                                        13.88
Microwave                                            13.14
Ref                                                      1.4 - 3.0
Water heater,,,,,,  oophs forgot to write this down

Of course not everything is on 24 hours everyday.

When it is cold, I run the two roofmounts and a space heater, But only at night, leaving one heater on during the day.

Question, does this sound out of line......Sounds high to me, but then again, I'm way over my head.

Thanks for the input.

Bill

[Tom Y]

Yes, The .13 a KHW seems high. The company I work for charges .08, I am on a co op and pay .11 and complain at that.  I run my whole house on 700 KWH a month, but not electric heat. So maybe 2k is fair, not sure about the .13.  Tom Y     

[Buffalo SpaceShip]

I just checked my bill and I pay 0.055 / KWH, but ours is some of the lowest in the country (they like to ballyhoo about it). Our 3,500sf house used a little over 1000 KWH last month. Not electric heat, obviously... and the gas bill to run the furnace, WH, and dryer was pretty hefty.

At those rates and usage patterns it wouldn't take long to be paid back on a diesel heat setup. In the meantime, I'd give up on the heat strips and get a 1500 watt oil-filled heater from Wallyworld. They provide nice radiant heat when they get going and "swing" a lot less than forced-air elec. heat. They can also run at 700w or so and still provide heat.

BTW, you should call the elec. utility and get the rate to see how much KOA is upcharging your bill (if any).

HTH and good luck,
Brian B.

[Kwajdiver]

I had the highest bill in the park.....   I used much more power than other RV's, trailer, 5th wheels......

Why can't you use a propane heater in an RV?  Fumes, hummm, but you use it in a house......  I have a huge propane tank.



Bill

[WEC4104]

"My power cord to the coach seems to drop .22 amps."

I got lost on this comment.  I would expect a slight voltage drop in the cable, but a current drop?  Always thought the current measured anywhere in a circuit has to be the same.  

Maybe that's the problem. You have little amps spilling out all over the ground.

[gus]

Bill,

I live in North Arkansas about 150 mi from LR. My electric bill for my three BR house for the same period was $75 for 637KWH or about 0.12/KWH including taxes. Our base rate is 0.073 for the first 500KW and 0.057 after that.

I have electric heaters in two bathrooms which are on most of the time and this includes my electric water pump. House heat is wood and sun.

The thing that shocks me is the 2000KWH, that is a bunch!!

We heat our 4104 with two small 1500W electric space heaters and don't use the AC heat strips, they make matters worse in my opinion. We usually use only one space heater at a time, especially at night, and use an elec mattress pad when really cold but LR is not that cold. It is 5-10* colder here.

[David Anderson]

Wow, you guys are living in kilowatt eden at less than .10cents.  Down here in Texas where our great Aggie governor loves deregulation and all the PAC money that goes with it, the best I can get is .15cents.  One thing about it, you sure remember to turn off every light you can find.  Makes it tough in the summer when we hit 100 degrees, very costly to stay cool. 

David

[Hartley]

Those roof airs with the heat strips are just a complete waste of electric. Most don't have enough insulation in the metal
shrouds to keep cold in and heat out. Put that energy to creating heat directly rather than using it all to heat the great outdoors. You roofline was probably getting 90% of the energy and just radiating it away, Pushing the air around just dilutes what little heat you can get out of them.

Also if it was below 40 degrees outside and you have reverse cycle roof airs with heat strips you are just hemmoraging energy into the wind.

Baseboard heaters, Oil type radiator heat and spot heaters should keep you warm enough providing you have any insulation at all that is working.

Other than that, My coach can spin a meter if both roof airs and the water heater is on. Yup $260 a month during the summer is not all that hard to believe here in Florida.

If you use 8,000 watts when everything is on, you will be using a lot of power if left running for a month.

Oh... Guys,   .13 cents per Kwh is not that rare.. If you figure the fuel charge, useage charges, taxes, Fuel recovery charges, Meter rental and combined on and off peak charges. Then factor in the fact that a campgound is "commercial" rate on power.

I am residential and mine costs .11 per khw with all that crock of charges added.

If I plug the bus in and run the air conditioning my power bill jumps another $200 a month.

Also. The normal desktop computer, monitor and printer can use up to $30 or more a month to leave on all the time.
so there goes the first $60 of my power bill right there.....

I will be so glad to get out of Florida..... Cost of living and taxes now exceeds Income... Your Mileage may vary.....

[Kwajdiver]

My power cord to the coach seems to drop .22 amps."

With everything off in the coach, using a current probe, I'm reading .22 amps, on the power cord, which was a little of a surprize.  Thinking I need a larger power cord.....

Bill

[Buffalo SpaceShip]

Bill, you can certainly run a properly-vented forced air propane furnace intended for RVs. They're about $600 for a 35k BTU. There's also ventless propane radiant heaters (they do create some moisture, and you have to crack a window for make-up air). http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/rv-furnaces/olympian-wave-heaters.htm

Time to "cut the cord" on electric heat?? 

Keep us posted,
Brian

btw, 20-ish watts in your power cord could just be a phantom load on a clock or something, or it's simply under the measurement capacity of your device. I wouldn't worry about the tens of watts... but the 1,000s! 

[Kwajdiver]

   I bought a used furnace in Arcadia, haven't had the time (or all the material) to install it.  Need a good baseboard heater and a few other items.

Keep the information coming.

Will try not running the overhead heat strips, and just use two space heaters.

If you don't hear from me tomorrow, I froze to death tonight....

Bill

[WEC4104]

Bill:

The .22 amp reading on your power cord is not resulting from it being undersized. An undersized cord could cause a voltage drop because of the resistance of the small wire. But the current going into one end of the cord HAS to equal the current coming out the other end. Simply put, your coach is using the .22 amps for something inside.

It sounds like there is something else that is still "on" in the bus. At .22 amps that translates to only about 25 watts, so it is not a big load.  Could be the power draw of a TV that is turned off but still plugged in. Or maybe clocks?

Certainly your high electric bill is not affected much by this drain, so you have other things to chase. I just don't want you rushing out to buy a new cord thinking it will save you the .22 amps.

WEC

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Up here in NJ

Electric- 13 cents per KW

Nat Gas- 25.50 per cubic ft.

Diesel- 2.76 gal

Gas- 2.59 gal

Knowing you pay the most for everything- "PRICELESS"

Nick-

[oldmansax]

What Nick doesn't tell you is a refrigeration tech in NJ get $500/hr!!!

TOM (retired refrigeration tech in MD, only $200/hr )

[WEC4104]

Nick:

I got a chuckle out of your post, but you get no pity from us folks on the west side of the Delaware River.

My latest electric bill shows $0.1483 per KWH. (thank you PECO)

Gas and Diesel prices vary from station to station, but as a rule your NJ prices tend to be 10-15 cents a gallon less than what I pay in PA.  Everytime I visit Luke, I make a point of tanking up before I cross the bridge.

Of course a primary reason for the price difference between NJ and PA is tax related. Take a look at the attached file which shows a breakdown of the gasoline and diesel taxes paid in each state.   Everybody from PA, let's all chant together: "We are No. 1! We are No. 1!..."