HVAC Question

[Blackmouth]

For the HVAC experts out there, our electric bill has been absolutely ridiculous the last 2 months. I had a friend that owns an HVAC company come out and check if our units are working properly. Unfortunately, he found out the house is heated by neither heat pump or furnace, it's all electric. He tested the load and when the heater comes on, it's pulling 100 amps between the 2 units.

Based on my math, I could run almost 500 little 0.4 A space heaters to equal the output of the 2 units. Not that I would do that and have every breaking flipping every time they come on, but what are my options? My friend was going to check and see if we can retrofit a heat pump in to the existing ones which would be dependent on the lines and how much pressure they could handle.

If that doesn't work, my ideas are that we could have a space heater in every occupied room (3-5 heaters) and turn the thermostat down really low and/or put in a little more insulation in the attic. Replacement windows aren't an option at $20,000+ for the house or even $5,000 for the north and west facing windows.

House is roughly 3,000 s.f., brick, about 25-30 years old. Last months bill was $885.

[swanjts]

Electric heat will do that to you. Space heaters will run up the bill as well and can be dangerous. Are the existing units original to the house or have they been replaced in the recent past? If they are original to the house, I would highly consider replacing them and go with either a heat pump or converting to gas heat if that is available. I live in Cleburne and we have a heat pump and it works great and our bills are less than half of yours. There are probably some rebate dollars available from your utility company for upgrading/replacing your units. You might look into that as well if you consider replacement. Good luck.

[bowtecmike]

Electric heat will do that to you. Space heaters will run up the bill as well and can be dangerous. Are the existing units original to the house or have they been replaced in the recent past? If they are original to the house, I would highly consider replacing them and go with either a heat pump or converting to gas heat if that is available. I live in Cleburne and we have a heat pump and it works great and our bills are less than half of yours. There are probably some rebate dollars available from your utility company for upgrading/replacing your units. You might look into that as well if you consider replacement. Good luck.

X2

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[Blackmouth]

Electric heat will do that to you. Space heaters will run up the bill as well and can be dangerous. Are the existing units original to the house or have they been replaced in the recent past? If they are original to the house, I would highly consider replacing them and go with either a heat pump or converting to gas heat if that is available. I live in Cleburne and we have a heat pump and it works great and our bills are less than half of yours. There are probably some rebate dollars available from your utility company for upgrading/replacing your units. You might look into that as well if you consider replacement. Good luck.

One is original other is about 8 years. Open to any and all suggestions. Thanks.

[Kelmat]

Changing over to a heat pump will be your best bet if you don't have natural or propane. You will still have the electric heat to deal with when outside temps drop below 30*. Heat pumps loose efficiency below that and can't produce as much heat but it will be better than running the electric heat all the time. A compressor draws way less amperage than electric heat strips.

[CoolHandLuke]

Reach out to local contractors or drive around and find framers and carpenters working on houses. Get them to quote you on replacement windows instead of the big window companies.

[swanjts]

Based on your response, I take it you have two units. The one that is still original, is it the larger of the two? Is it your primary unit for the main part of the house? Either way, I would look at replacing that original unit. It will save you money in the long run.

[HogCommander]

If you can find one with high enough efficiency, you can get up to a $2000 tax credit on a heat pump. The trouble is finding available inventory that has high enough SEER2 rating

[mavrick]

What’s the thermostat set at?

[db@100]

The cheapest way...set the thermostat lower and more blankets on the bed.

[Monark]

Silly question. What is your $/KWH? Are you in a deregulated electric provider area? If you are paying the month to month price for Reliant/Centerpoint or whoever, I can see the bill being twice what is could be.

I logged into Powertochose.org for area code 75165 (Waxahachie, ??) and looks like Oncor is your electric company. I see 7-8 cents/kwh available for you.

[jdavidson]

What did you pay last year at this time ?
And the year before ?
And the year before that ?

Is this a drastic change ?

[bowhntrmatt]

What did you pay last year at this time ?
And the year before ?
And the year before that ?

Is this a drastic change ?

This is a very good question.
If it has always been that way, very likely it is caused by your heaters.

Even if you only upgraded one unit to a high-efficiency heat pump, it would make a huge difference. Most good AC companies offer financing, so you could do both and the payment would likely be mostly offset in energy savings.

[kumathebear]

Changing over to a heat pump will be your best bet if you don't have natural or propane. You will still have the electric heat to deal with when outside temps drop below 30*. Heat pumps loose efficiency below that and can't produce as much heat but it will be better than running the electric heat all the time. A compressor draws way less amperage than electric heat strips.

Our unit has the heat pump as well. When outside temps fall below 35 we switch to the EM (emergency heat) on the thermostat. Then it's much more efficient and maintains the temp. Just had the new system put in last June when the AC was running constantly. The new unit has made a noticeable difference in efficiency and electric bill.

[SaltwaterSlick]

I’d absolutely upgrade to a heat pump for at least the primary unit. The other thing we did was install a high efficiency wood burning stove. When it got down to the low 40’s I’d get the stove going. Heat never came on while the stove was going. Figure that reduced our energy bill this Winter by 50% or more. AND we got almost a $2000 income tax refund credit from the gubment!!