I'm building a new all electric, 3100 sq ft two story house and the HVAC has been in and running for about three weeks. I've been monitoring the electrical consumption for the entire three weeks, as the HVAC is [practically] the only thing drawing electricity. The system is:
Air Handler: 4TEE3F49A (4 ton)
Heat Pump: 4TWX6 (XL16i, 4 ton)
Termostat: TCONT800
Filter: CleanEffects Whole House Cleaner
Insulation: 2x6 outside walls with blown in foam (the stuff that expands). All windows are double pane.
It's winter here in northern Arkansas and temperatures have averaged 38 degrees during the period.
I had the set point at 60 degrees for the first three weeks and electrical use has averaged 50 KwH per day (at $.079, this is $111 per month, just for the heater). The system blower would ramp up and down just like it is supposed to, and shut off for sometimes hours at a time. The temperature would never change at all from the set point. Looked promising but still a bit expensive. On the two nights when the outside temperature dipped below 27, the system would not heat the house past 58 degrees (with the thermostat set at 60).
The installer came out and did a lot of checks, including adding a bit of freon, installing the registers so as to balance the system, checking the cfm, dip switch settings, output temperature (125 degrees when he checked it) and thermostat programming. This all seemed to do some good.
A few days ago I bumped the thermostat up to 70 degrees. My electrical useage for the last two days has been 130 KwH per day ($307 per month).
It has been running continuously (48 hours non stop) since I set it at 70. The blower stays on high, the unit outside cycles on and off, and "Heat On" has been on continuously in the thermostat since I set it to 70. Don't know if "Heat On" means "Heat Strip On", as I can't find any reference to it in the owners manual. The air temperature coming out of the registers does not seem that warm (certainly not 125 degrees). When I initially changed it from 60 to 70, it went from 60 to 68 in about an hour, but took another 4 hours to bring the temperature to 70.
I went through a lot of expense with the 2x6 walls, foam insulation, double pane windows, and buying what I thought was a great 15.5 seer unit, and the installer did a great job installing and insulating the ductwork.
Once I start adding hot water heaters, etc., to the house, it'll be hard to get anyones attention. The house I just moved from in Northern Virginia (a 3100 sq ft three story with lousy insulation) had a 14 year old heat pump and my total winter electric bill was not a whole lot more than what the Arkansas heat pump alone will cost me.
Can you guys confirm that this thing really shouldn't cost me $300+ dollars in the winter to run at 70 degrees? Thanks in advance.
Air Handler: 4TEE3F49A (4 ton)
Heat Pump: 4TWX6 (XL16i, 4 ton)
Termostat: TCONT800
Filter: CleanEffects Whole House Cleaner
Insulation: 2x6 outside walls with blown in foam (the stuff that expands). All windows are double pane.
It's winter here in northern Arkansas and temperatures have averaged 38 degrees during the period.
I had the set point at 60 degrees for the first three weeks and electrical use has averaged 50 KwH per day (at $.079, this is $111 per month, just for the heater). The system blower would ramp up and down just like it is supposed to, and shut off for sometimes hours at a time. The temperature would never change at all from the set point. Looked promising but still a bit expensive. On the two nights when the outside temperature dipped below 27, the system would not heat the house past 58 degrees (with the thermostat set at 60).
The installer came out and did a lot of checks, including adding a bit of freon, installing the registers so as to balance the system, checking the cfm, dip switch settings, output temperature (125 degrees when he checked it) and thermostat programming. This all seemed to do some good.
A few days ago I bumped the thermostat up to 70 degrees. My electrical useage for the last two days has been 130 KwH per day ($307 per month).
It has been running continuously (48 hours non stop) since I set it at 70. The blower stays on high, the unit outside cycles on and off, and "Heat On" has been on continuously in the thermostat since I set it to 70. Don't know if "Heat On" means "Heat Strip On", as I can't find any reference to it in the owners manual. The air temperature coming out of the registers does not seem that warm (certainly not 125 degrees). When I initially changed it from 60 to 70, it went from 60 to 68 in about an hour, but took another 4 hours to bring the temperature to 70.
I went through a lot of expense with the 2x6 walls, foam insulation, double pane windows, and buying what I thought was a great 15.5 seer unit, and the installer did a great job installing and insulating the ductwork.
Once I start adding hot water heaters, etc., to the house, it'll be hard to get anyones attention. The house I just moved from in Northern Virginia (a 3100 sq ft three story with lousy insulation) had a 14 year old heat pump and my total winter electric bill was not a whole lot more than what the Arkansas heat pump alone will cost me.
Can you guys confirm that this thing really shouldn't cost me $300+ dollars in the winter to run at 70 degrees? Thanks in advance.
