I recently installed a 5 ton ground loop geothermal system that appears to be functioning quite well. EWT currently is still above 42 and LWT approx 37.5dF. Delta on the entering and leaving AIR temp is just shy of 30 degrees (entering 67 or so and leaving at 94-95dF. The system has a DSH and 50 gallon buffer tank and a HPWH (that is broken already, but is using resistance heat alone, but the buffer tank is typically at 120dF all the time. The house is large (4800 sq ft) in zip code 98942, but I'm the only one living here so demands are small.. I installed a TED5000 on both my panels and my December (colder month than usual) power consumption was listed at 2361 KWH! Looking at US averages on the web, I see AVERAGE household power consumption listed at 5-6,000 KWH/yr and clearly I am almost ridiculously above that. I do run a 500watt heater in the pump house for the well pump, have desktop computer, 1 deep freeze and a fridge running but everything else if CFL or off most of the time. Outside lights are on timers and represent about 80 watts of CFL only. Does this seem awfully high to anyone else? Anything specifically I should be looking at?

Isn't that less than $170 a month for a BIG home? You had 1000 HDD in December (less than normal) and that milkshed heater could be using up more than 10kWh a day on it's own.

Average US home power consumption is nearly 1000 kWh/month and that reflects a lot of gas and heating oil being used in houses HALF your size. For all-electric, you seem to be doing pretty good.

Posted By ICFHybrid on 09 Jan 2011 07:58 PM
Isn't that less than $170 a month for a BIG home? You had 1000 HDD in December (less than normal) and that milkshed heater could be using up more than 10kWh a day on it's own.

Average US home power consumption is nearly 1000 kWh/month and that reflects a lot of gas and heating oil being used in houses HALF your size. For all-electric, you seem to be doing pretty good.

Thanks... I guess I'm just being a little obsessive. I need to pull my bills from the last 2 years and setup a spreadsheet including my natural gas bills to see what the real values from prior were I think. Watching the TED 5000 it becomes very clear how 1) damaging to the KWH value constant-on loads are and 2) How much power goes to HVAC (even with a COP of 3.5-4 and ground loop). I'm going to focus my next efforts on air infiltration control and sealing the crawl space (the insulation in the crawlspace walls is pathetic.

I would watch that pump house heater. If there is a way to insulate it better and use heat tape on necessary items.

Our house is a similar size and we had about 2400 kwh last month with 1100 HDD and I know our house is less than other houses in the area.

In my opinion bottom line your doing pretty well.