Holy electric bill, Batman!!!

[Cubist]

Well, First house, first pool, first electric bill...

Much higher than I had anticipated. over $700!

Someone help reassure me that this is one-off incident. Our pool was a neglected, black, furry swamp when we moved in, so the pump/ filter were running pretty much non-stop for a while while I was SLAMing & clearing the water. The temps were at or above 100 degrees for a week shortly after we moved so the AC was probably working hard during the first month also. I am hoping that this won't be the norm next season.

Question... The pump runs 4 hours a day now (mechanical timer). I have an AquaComfort heat pump hat is not on a timer. When the pump timer is tripped off, I get an F1 error on the heat pump (low/ no flow through sensor). The heat pump doesn't heat when there is no flow, but there is a fan/ blower that seems to constantly run. Should I put the heat pump on a timer as well? Sorry for my ignorance on this one.

 

[JohnT]

The pump is fairly insignificant in electrical usage compared to AC and a pool heat pump.

 

[toofast]

And my heat pump costs at most anywhere from $1 - $2 per day.

So as with the above post...my bet is your House Air was the main culprit of your batman moment!

 

[chiefwej]

My pool pump adds about $40 to my bill. That's with running 4-8 hrs a day depending on season. Oh, and its an old single speed 2hp "watt guzzler".

 

[RobbieH]

Interesting that yours is so low. From what I've seen the big non-efficient pumps add about $100-120 around here, even for a far smaller pool than mine. Our electricity is cheap, too. But I don't think the majority of your bill is from your pool's pump regardless.

I do understand your pain though, my last house was far more efficient (size, shade, no pool, etc.) than this one, and those first bills can be a real shocker.

 

[Wildcat]

Are you sure your first bill wasn't prorated and possibly covered more than a month? Or extra hook up charges or something? That is a crazy bill. I paid $166 last month in Tucson where it was over 100 almost every day. 2700 sq ft house. That was with my new pump, last year it was $200 for the same period. I ran the VS pump about 10 hours per day, yes, 75% of the time on 1300-1750 RPM.

 

[gatorbrit]

My pump and pool heat pump have maybe added $40 a month to my bill.

Actually it is hard to tell. When the weather is cool my house AC is not working as hard but my pool heater is and vice-versa. They sort of cancel each other out.

 

[awp17]

Depends on a lot really. My current house is 4200 square feet. I have 4 18 seer hvac systems and 3 electric water heaters. IN the summer time I have seen bills as high as 980 dollars, and as low as 350. All that changes is my thermostats go from 68 to 74, the same thing is we go from 100 to 85 outside. I have an intelliflo svrs and in the summertime to keep the water clear I keep it running on speed 3 for 20 hours and speed 4 (maxed out) for 4 hours a day (the 4 hours are also at night time to pump water through the solar to keep the water below 90*)

If you have an older less efficent HVAC system, in an older less efficient home, it probably was running almost 24/7 to keep your house cool and that could easily jack up a bill.

I would set the heater timer to be the same as my pool pump, but more to avoid damage than to help save on utilities.

 

[Cubist]

Okay. Now I'm a bit more afraid of the next bill. I need to go out and read the meter. I was pretty convinced the high bill was due to the pool.

The house we rented before purchasing this one was similar in size. Maybe 200-250 less square footage. This house has newer HVAC equipment (3-4 years old), better insulation, better windows & doors, gas stove, and a gas instant hot water system. I kind of assumed it would be far more efficient than our rental. It could have been the AC I suppose. I'm sure with moving and having family here, we were going in & out more than normal.

I hadn't included the hookup charges/ fees above. The bill was not estimated or prorated. This bill was an actual meter reading for 30 days. Our gas bill for the month... $13. Huge difference in cost from my electric. Ha ha ha!

 

[Shane1]

I would call your electric company and ask them what they can do for you. Ours offers multiple time of use plans as well as an equalizer plan that really helps with budgeting for utilities. The only issue is we had to be in the house for a year to average it out before we could get on the equalizer. The time of use plans are real money savers around here.