Sunday, February 3, 2013

Lowering Energy Bills

I've written a lot of posts about the house we bought a year ago.  It was the house that most met our needs of the homes on the market at the time.  What we didn't realize was all of the issues we would face after purchasing the home.  Tons of repairs have been needed.  One of my areas of concern were the utility bills.  The first month was insane.  The second wasn't much better.  I was so worried!  What had we gotten ourselves into!  Over the spring, summer, and fall, we worked bit by bit on various repairs around the house.

We...
1) caulked around all of the windows and french doors.
2) replaced the back door and added storm doors to the back and front doors.
3) added insulation around the front door behind the hot water baseboard heater (the air was pooring in through a small hole!
4) put foam into the cracks of a few windows that weren't shut completely (and wouldn't shut).
5) got rid of an electric water heater that was not in use but was being heated!

I still plan on insulating the water pipes in the basement that take the hot water to the shower and the dishwasher.  But, it is on my list of things to do.  And I haven't gotten to it yet.

We also lowered the temperature on the thermostat 2 degrees last month.  

I watched as we approached winter.  I hoped our bill would stay under $300, but I wasn't sure how much to hope for.  Thankfully, with all of these changes, our electric/gas utility bill was almost $100 lower than it was last February--and it was 3 degrees cooler each day on average.  Our electricity usage was 33% lower and our gas usage was 10% lower.  Our bill is now comparable to the home we lived in before we moved here.  Our old home was two stories and was 500 sq. ft. smaller.  I really didn't think we would be able to get the bill this close to our old bill.  I am so thankful!

Now on to insulating those water pipes!

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