Electric bill when vacant
 

Just got my electric bill today. This is the first one we've got when the house hasn't been occupied at all. We were only down for a week and a half for closing so our first bill included that. Everything is unplugged except the refrigerator. We had a de-humidistat installed and set that at 55% and the temp at 82f. Our bill for the month is $55.00. This seems reasonable to me, but not sure. We have an At Ease which has 1481 sq. ft air conditioned. Is it reasonable?

Seems reasonable to me, Lary. My house is a little larger than yours and when it was vacant, I paid fees in the $60's and $70...but of course, that was 4 years ago. Thermostat was set at 80 I believe without the humidity thingy you have going.

If you are not there it should drop to between 26 and 38 dollars. We set the humidistat at 60 though. It does work. We do not unplug the appliances. They do not use that much energy. We have been pleased with the electric bills while not there. It does jump quite a be when you are there. OUr house id a designer. A little larger than yours. We have about 1600 sf.

We just received our first (unoccupied) monthly electric bill since we installed the (de)humidistat. We are 1943 sq ft. We have the same settings as you do and only have the refrigerator plugged in. Our bill was $46.00 That was roughly $80 less than last year for the same period. Last year the refrigerator was unplugged, the AC was set at 80 degrees with no (de)humidistat and our spa pump ran 3 1/2 hrs a day. I feel that the (de)humidistat was a really good $75 investment. As you can tell, I'm not sure whether it's call a humidistat or a dehumidistat. I'm pretty sure that the box said humidistat. I'll have to check when I get back home.

Xavier

I should have looked at the bill closer. I should have deducted the lease for the surge protector. The bill is about $48.50. Maybe if i keep on finding mistakes SECO will end up owing me money.:MOJE_whot:

Where is the best place to purchase a humidistat?

John "the Handieman". Lives in TV and gets great reviews on TOTV. Did mine and is on time and extremely reasonable. Will PM His number to you

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but you won't need a humidistat if you are a frog as you're signature says. Their purpose is to run the AC enough to keep the humidity at a set level regardless of room temperature while you are away for extended periods to keep from having mildew when you get back. It's cheaper to do that than to control humidity by setting the thermostat at a certain temperature.

I installed a whole new thermostat about a year ago, and inquired about the humidistat, because I'd heard quite a lot about it. The Munn's technician asked if I went away for "long periods of time." When I told him that my longest trip away might possibly be two weeks, he acknowledged that I wouldn't need the humidistat.

With thanks, I declined installing a humidistat! :a040:

SWR
:beer3:

Very good point but I'm "soon to be a frog", as my signature says. :icon_wink: I'm not quite full time yet but as to your point, I probably don't really need one since I don't expect to be gone for extended periods of time.

I agree. The need for the humidistat / dehumidistat ? depends on how long you are away. For a couple of weeks it wouldn't be necessary, but if your away for extended periods, then it would probably pay for itself, or so I'm told. My understanding is that bacteria growth is determined by humidity, and that it won't grow below 58% - 60%, and that heat is not the cause. The humidistat turns the AC on according to humidity, not heat, so it goes on less. But hey, what do I know, I'm still trying to figure out if it's OK to cut the blue off the last english muffin and eat the rest!:confused:

My curiousity is up
 

I just got my bill from SECO. My two vacant months so far this year were:

$58 (12 KWH/day) and $71 (16 KWH/day).

The same periods last year were:

$48 (11 KWH/day) and $53 (11 KWH/day).

Interesting data. I need to first verify there is not a refrigerator open :), but it is unclear to me why it is higher. Has it been hotter or more humid?

FWIW, I also use a humidistat. The thermostat is set to 80 and the humidistat to 60.

Fyi
 

not to put in anything that isn't part of the posting BUT if you have allergies the humidistat concept might be a good one

I lived and worked on Cape Cod, MA for 17 years, I was forced into early retirement because my lungs collapsed while teaching one day, cause, mold in my lungs and a severe allergic reaction to it, even though I had been told by physicians in Boston MGH I had something else


looking forward to becoming a frog, so I think I will keep this thread in my logs for future reference,

I appreciate this information

I googled de-humidistat because I wasn't sure either. It's a de-humidistat. Here's what I found:
http://www.allied-ac.com/dehumidistat.PDF

Thanks Larry, now can you lower my SECO bill :icon_wink: