3.9 kWh/day in ‘vacation’ mode

[Klutch9]

Went on a vacation recently, and found it interesting tracking my home's energy usage while I was gone using the app from DTE energy. It shows daily power consumption, and also shows watt averages for each hour of the day, amongst other things. Pretty much across the board, the house used 3.9 kWh almost every day, which is ~163W averaged throughout the day. It's a small house FWIW, about 900 sq.ft on the main floor and the same in the basement. The things we had running were: handful of led night lights throughout the house, (4) exterior LED fixtures for about 12 hours per day, (2) LED lamps inside on timers, the refrigerator, a couple little computer fans for cellar circulation, a couple 16.5/40VA transformers for the alarm system, furnace/pump/zone valves for radiant heat (set to 55F whole house), modem and router also on for various reasons, and that's about it. I even left most electronics plugged in, although they were off. 163W continuous isn't bad I don't think for a ‘vacation' mode.

 

[Donald]

The refrig uses the most almost certainly. Next would be the furnace. The rest is noise.

 

[Rmay635703]

In the summer I average about 7 watts continuous draw

Now in the winter 3.9kwhr a day
that would be a feat

 

[WyrTwister]

Is your water heater electric ? If so , it may be running unnecessary . Turn off the circuit breaker . Do you have an attic fan ?

Un-plug all the appliances and electronics you can . Turn off the circuit breaker to electric ovens / cook tops / ranges , dryers .

 

[SwampSurvivor]

When I go on vacation I turn off the water to the house, kill the breakers to everything but the refrigerator and turn off the gas water heater.

My utility bill loves it!

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

I have an electric furnace/heat pump and water heater, and we average around ten-twenty times that amount. Furnace set at 68*, water heater at 115*... 1800-2000 kWh per month, which drops down to as low as 600-700kWh/mo in early spring when we're in the 'tweeners... the time between the furnace going off and the A/C going on.

I have 19" of blown-in cellulose in the attic but the house was built in '73 and is quite porous even after squeezing about 30 tubes of caulk around every opening. I hate it.

 

[Ducati996]

I shut my house downforce the winter, drained the pipes & turned the heat off. Everything turned off or unplugged except my security system, router & backup battery/inverter.
Daily consumption is 0.2kw per my SolarCity app.
90cummins

 

[Andrew1972]

Originally Posted by Miller88
When I go on vacation I turn off the water to the house, kill the breakers to everything but the refrigerator and turn off the gas water heater.

My utility bill loves it!


Vacation mode on water heater likely uses less energy unless you take longer vacations. It takes a lot of energy to bring hot water fully back to temperature.

 

[Touring5]

Depending upon your circumstances, the weather, time of year, etc., one overlooked use of power are sump pumps. During spring and early summer, my pumps (two) will cycle several times per hour. With pumps being 1/3 or 1/2 HP, that can add up. I put a kill-a-watt on one of the pumps for a while and as I recall during that period it was pulling significantly more power than the fridge or freezer. Once summer begins, it isn't uncommon for the sump pit to dry out and have very rare cycling of the pumps.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted by madRiver
Originally Posted by Miller88
When I go on vacation I turn off the water to the house, kill the breakers to everything but the refrigerator and turn off the gas water heater.

My utility bill loves it!


Vacation mode on water heater likely uses less energy unless you take longer vacations. It takes a lot of energy to bring hot water fully back to temperature.


It's more my distrust of gas appliances than energy savings.

 

[SevenBizzos]

I think that's pretty good. I left my house for a three day weekend and turned the furnace down to 58. So one interior light on, three exterior lights on, and the usuals (furnace, fridge, etc.) and I used 12kwh/day. It did get cold those days (0-12F), so the fan on the furnace probably ran more frequently. The hourly use was .4 - .6kw/hr.