She lives in a small, simple house in southern Mississippi. It's only 1700 square feet. Why then, she wondered, were her summer electricity bills running more than $600? She didn't have anything that could be a big energy hog, like a swimming pool, and she didn't do stupid things like leave all the doors and windows open while she ran the air conditioner. What could it be? She called her electric company, one of the co-ops in Mississippi, and they sent someone out to investigate. Utility companies get calls like this all the time, and they've learned from experience what most of the main causes of high bills are. When the utility investigator arrived arrived at the house, he asked her to tell him anything she knew that might help him. "Well," she said, "the air conditioner runs all the time, but the house won't even cool down to 80 degrees." "Ah, that helps to narrow it down a bit." He went to work, and it didn't take him long to find the problem. He measured the temperature drop across the air conditioner coil and found that the air on the 'cool' side wasn't much lower than the air on the warm side.

And both were much warmer than they should be. OK, that could be a disconnected duct in the attic, he thought, like the one from a different house that you see above. A look in the attic, however, showed that wasn't the case here. Besides, a disconnected duct would increase the bill, but it almost certainly wouldn't quadruple it. His next step was to turn off the breaker to the electric resistance heat (a.k.a. strip heat) in the HVAC system. This is basically a giant toaster inside the air handler. Heat pumps use it for supplemental heat. In some homes, it's used as the primary heat source. It's not cheap, though, especially considering that the same electricity going into a heat pump will yield two or three times more heat. Anyway, the utility investigator turned off the breaker to the strip heat and watched what happened to the meter. In the summer time, turning off the strip heat should have no effect at all on how fast the meter spins because it shouldn't be running.

Strip heat is for cold weather. In this case, the meter went from spinning fast enough to saw wood to moving as slow as a horned passalus (photo at right) going for a walk in the woods. "Well, we found your problem, ma'am," he told her. air conditioning heater window units"Your heating and cooling system was doing both at the same time, making you spend a lot of money to stay uncomfortable."cost to install ac unit This problem often results from a thermostat wired incorrectly so that the system kicks on the strip heat when it shouldn't. how much does a wall ac unit cost to runSince anyone can go down to the home improvement store or the Interwebs and buy a thermostat, a good number of these problems result from DIY jobs.

It seems crazy to think that someone wouldn't notice that the heat is running in their home in summer, but they don't feel heat coming out of the vents. That heat gets mixed with the cool air from the air conditioner. They cancel each other out, both using even more energy because they're fighting each other. Got high electricity bills in summer that you don't understand? Check your strip heat. When Is 100% Efficient Not Good Enough? Sex Advice, Diet Tips, Decorating Ideas, & HVAC Design cats are OK - purrr dogs are OK - wooof KEY FEATURESYear Built: 2001Sq Footage: 715 sqft.Bedrooms: 1 Bed, 1 Large Living roomBathrooms: 1 BathParking: 1 Garage | Guest parkingLease Duration: min 6 Months or 1 year Lease, month-month lease can be considered for extra rent in special casesDeposit: half month rentPets Policy: Cats, or small dogs can be allowed for a small extra rent.Laundry: In UnitFloor: 2Property Type: ApartmentDESCRIPTIONThe Condo has: One Extra Large Living Room with Dinning Nook

Kitchen has all stainless steel appliances, Microwave, Refrigerator, Dishwasher, Cooking Range Extra Storage closet and balcony, Linen closet in the bathroom. In-unit washer and dryer One assigned garage parking space Heat and AC in unit Swimming Pool with Spa On Site Management available 7 days a week Security deposit: $2475This apartment is Walking Distance to Union City BART station, Very close to 880 and Silicon Valley companies like Facebook, Linkedin, Google, Intuit... Close to Fremont, Ardenwood, Alvardo, airport, sfo, newark, sunnyvale, san jose, redwood city, oracle, BAE Systems -- San Jose General Dynamics OTS -- Healdsburg Hexcel Corporation -- Dublin Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory -- Livermore Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Solutions -- San Jose Lockheed Martin Space Systems -- Palo Alto Lockheed Martin Space Systems -- Sunnyvale NASA Ames Research Center -- Sunnyvale

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