the first electric bill
Jul. 17th, 2021 02:17 pmJust got the July electric bill. It covers June, including the record-shattering heat wave.
Remember, back in April we paid a buttload for a new furnace, new full-time whole-house MIRV 15 filtration, AND new ductwork partially for that but mostly for top-floor-only AC. (It's a separate ducting system, the old ductwork was designed exclusively for heat and wouldn't work for AC well at all.)
All this, just in time for the hottest June in history, the hottest days in history at all. 'Well timed there,' if I do say so myself. Regardless, it ran full time for days, and I've been thinking "well, it's worth it, but let's see how much it costs."
And now the bill is here. Our electric usage and bill last month was...
lower
...than last July or August, when we had the two usual room AC units set up, and no such thing as whole-house filtration.
Last July and August weren't even record-breakers. We had to run the room ACs pretty much full time anyway, because we had to have the house sealed up thanks to a horrible smoke season. We also ran the old furnace's fan full-time with good filters - not quite MIRV 15, but close - which helped a lot with the smoke, but not at all with the cooling.
And here we are, with a bill that's gone...
down.
And we never got above 26 (79F) in the uncooled part of the house last month, thanks to the top floor being cooled full time and with lots of circulation running. We couldn't've managed anything close to that with the old systems. This may've been an expensive experiment on my part, but holy fuck did it work out.
So after the Event, I knew it worked for cooling. Those little indoor wheelabout AC units with vent hoses are better than nothing, but they're still garbage, and the system we had put in is not. I was just afraid of how much more using it would turn out to cost, but turns out? That cost is less.
It still has another test to come, of course. Fire season, which started a few days ago. If we get a smoke event and have to seal up the house again, well, we'll see how it goes. But at this point, I'm feeling pretty confident. I think we'll be okay.
Holy hell, the bill went down.
Mind you, it's still one of those "It'll pay for itself in only... [calculates]... 375 years!" BUT STILL.
Down.
I gotta tell you, it's a relief.
Remember, back in April we paid a buttload for a new furnace, new full-time whole-house MIRV 15 filtration, AND new ductwork partially for that but mostly for top-floor-only AC. (It's a separate ducting system, the old ductwork was designed exclusively for heat and wouldn't work for AC well at all.)
All this, just in time for the hottest June in history, the hottest days in history at all. 'Well timed there,' if I do say so myself. Regardless, it ran full time for days, and I've been thinking "well, it's worth it, but let's see how much it costs."
And now the bill is here. Our electric usage and bill last month was...
lower
...than last July or August, when we had the two usual room AC units set up, and no such thing as whole-house filtration.
Last July and August weren't even record-breakers. We had to run the room ACs pretty much full time anyway, because we had to have the house sealed up thanks to a horrible smoke season. We also ran the old furnace's fan full-time with good filters - not quite MIRV 15, but close - which helped a lot with the smoke, but not at all with the cooling.
And here we are, with a bill that's gone...
down.
And we never got above 26 (79F) in the uncooled part of the house last month, thanks to the top floor being cooled full time and with lots of circulation running. We couldn't've managed anything close to that with the old systems. This may've been an expensive experiment on my part, but holy fuck did it work out.
So after the Event, I knew it worked for cooling. Those little indoor wheelabout AC units with vent hoses are better than nothing, but they're still garbage, and the system we had put in is not. I was just afraid of how much more using it would turn out to cost, but turns out? That cost is less.
It still has another test to come, of course. Fire season, which started a few days ago. If we get a smoke event and have to seal up the house again, well, we'll see how it goes. But at this point, I'm feeling pretty confident. I think we'll be okay.
Holy hell, the bill went down.
Mind you, it's still one of those "It'll pay for itself in only... [calculates]... 375 years!" BUT STILL.
Down.
I gotta tell you, it's a relief.