Recently finished upgrading to a 200A panel and replacing all the
wiring in the house. Instead of Al entrance cable I used 2" conduit
to get from the meter to the panel and ran copper feeds to the panel.
The electric company replaced my old ham slicer meter with a digital
meter.

First, can I putty or caulk around the wires inside the conduit to
stop the cold air from coming in?

Second, my electric bill is up about 15% since I started. The only
additional load I added was six 75watt bulbs on two dimmers that
replaced one 100watt table lamp, these run 16 hours a day. Also three
hard-wired smoke detectors. Are the digital meters more accurate? Is
there a way I can test the meter?

On Jan 28, 9:18*am, Limp Arbor wrote:
Recently finished upgrading to a 200A panel and replacing all the
wiring in the house. *Instead of Al entrance cable I used 2" conduit
to get from the meter to the panel and ran copper feeds to the panel.
The electric company replaced my old ham slicer meter with a digital
meter.

First, can I putty or caulk around the wires inside the conduit to
stop the cold air from coming in?

Second, my electric bill is up about 15% since I started. *The only
additional load I added was six 75watt bulbs on two dimmers that
replaced one 100watt table lamp, these run 16 hours a day. *Also three
hard-wired smoke detectors. *Are the digital meters more accurate? *Is
there a way I can test the meter?

I'm not sure about putting stuff inside conduit code wise so I'd opt
for simple. Wad up a bit of fiberglass insulation and stuff it in
the end.

When did you change over? How much of your heat system uses
electricity? All the meters should be pretty accurate. Does your new
meter allow the pwoer company to read it remotely? Did you look
closely at the bills to see if any of them are "estimated" rather than
based on actual readings? Few power companies read the meter every
single month.

On Jan 28, 9:30*am, jamesgangnc wrote:
On Jan 28, 9:18*am, Limp Arbor wrote:

Recently finished upgrading to a 200A panel and replacing all the
wiring in the house. *Instead of Al entrance cable I used 2" conduit
to get from the meter to the panel and ran copper feeds to the panel.
The electric company replaced my old ham slicer meter with a digital
meter.

First, can I putty or caulk around the wires inside the conduit to
stop the cold air from coming in?

Second, my electric bill is up about 15% since I started. *The only
additional load I added was six 75watt bulbs on two dimmers that
replaced one 100watt table lamp, these run 16 hours a day. *Also three
hard-wired smoke detectors. *Are the digital meters more accurate? *Is
there a way I can test the meter?

I'm not sure about putting stuff inside conduit code wise so I'd opt
for simple. * Wad up a bit of fiberglass insulation and stuff it in
the end.

When did you change over? *How much of your heat system uses
electricity? *All the meters should be pretty accurate. *Does your new
meter allow the pwoer company to read it remotely? *Did you look
closely at the bills to see if any of them are "estimated" rather than
based on actual readings? *Few power companies read the meter every
single month.

All my readings are actual. Forced hot air so only the blower and the
ignitor are using electric. My jump in usage occured when I first
made the change back in April so the cold weather probably isn't it.
I'm thinking my new meter is either bad or more accurate than the old
one.

On Jan 28, 9:18*am, Limp Arbor wrote:
Recently finished upgrading to a 200A panel and replacing all the
wiring in the house. *Instead of Al entrance cable I used 2" conduit
to get from the meter to the panel and ran copper feeds to the panel.
The electric company replaced my old ham slicer meter with a digital
meter.

First, can I putty or caulk around the wires inside the conduit to
stop the cold air from coming in?

Second, my electric bill is up about 15% since I started. *The only
additional load I added was six 75watt bulbs on two dimmers that
replaced one 100watt table lamp, these run 16 hours a day. *Also three
hard-wired smoke detectors. *Are the digital meters more accurate? *Is
there a way I can test the meter?



What type conduit did you use on your panel feeder run ?

EMT ? RMC ?

I am not aware of any air tight fittings for EMT, however
RMC has several different types of explosion proof fittings
and junction boxes which are used with threaded RMC
conduit... These are the same type of fittings you see
all lined up in a row on the side wall of a gas station to
feed power and comm to the pump islands... Such
fittings are used with an approved packing fiber and
sealing compound to create a barrier to prevent
gases, vapors or flames from using the conduit to
migrate in an electrical system...

As to your increase in the electric bill: What did
you upgrade to 200amps from ?

You replaced some lighting, namely one 100w
lamp with six 75w lamps... You realize that the
six lamps use 4.5 times as much wattage as
the single 100w lamp did...

You are comparing 100w per hour x 16 hours
which is 1,600w or 1.6 kWh to
(6) x 75w = 450w x 16 hours which is
7,200w or 7.2 kWh

Without knowing more about your electrical
usage history and how many kWh your home
uses besides the one change you described
which happened at the same time as your
200amp service upgrade a definitive answer
can not be given, but it sounds like the
increase can be reasonably explained by
the lighting changes you have made rather
than a faulty electrical meter or an "estimated"
bill because your meter is only actually read
periodically as someone else proposed...

~~ Evan



~~ Evan

"Limp Arbor" wrote in message
Recently finished upgrading to a 200A panel and replacing all the
wiring in the house. Instead of Al entrance cable I used 2" conduit
to get from the meter to the panel and ran copper feeds to the
panel.
The electric company replaced my old ham slicer meter with a digital
meter.

First, can I putty or caulk around the wires inside the conduit to
stop the cold air from coming in?

Second, my electric bill is up about 15% since I started. The only
additional load I added was six 75watt bulbs on two dimmers that
replaced one 100watt table lamp, these run 16 hours a day. Also
three
hard-wired smoke detectors. Are the digital meters more accurate?
Is
there a way I can test the meter?

I've heard of another person who had their electric bill go up after
switching to digital.

It could be the old meter was reading wrong or the new is reading
wrong. Call the electric company and explain the problem.

Also if you properly upgraded your ground system with the installation
of the new panel, it is also possible that an electrical gizmo is
*now* leaking to ground. Whereas *before* there was no path to
"ground". Now there might be something which is now grounded which was
not grounded before (the way things should be).

For example electric motors in HVAC, refrigerators, sump pumps, etc.
can get dirt and crud in them. Then there would be a small "short to
ground". And this small short to ground would be to the third prong on
the plug. And it would always use a little electricity, not enough to
trip a breaker.

And before there might not have been a grounded third prong. Now there
is a grounded third prong and the problem has surfaced.

This could be quite difficult to track down these days since just
about every appliance / gizmo now has electronic controls and always
uses a little electricity. So you could turn everything in the house
off, but there would still be a normal small use of electricity for
all the electronics.

I suppose you could turn everything in the house "off". Then watch the
electric use on the meter. Then turn off one breaker at a time and see
if any one breaker substantially slows the meter when turned off.

And before doing that, calculate what amount of meter use a 15%
increase would cause. Then with all appliances / gizmos off, see if in
fact the meter is using 15% electricity at all times. If not, then
that might not be the problem.

Also perhaps an electrician would have test equipment to measure
leakage to ground. Maybe an amp meter placed on the ground wires would
detect current flow which should not be there?

Things which might now be grounded which were not in the past might be
metal water pipes and anything metal they are touching, metal A/C duct
work, metal cases of appliances, and anything metal the 3rd prong of
plugs would connect to like metal cases.

Note GFCI breakers/outlets detect leakage to ground and trip.

And I suppose it is possible a staple could be in a wire somewhere
causing a small leakage to ground. Or a wire pulled tight against a
sharp metal object which is cutting into the wire. And not a good
short to ground which would trip the breaker, rather just enough to
run up the electric bill!

The key is where the ground wires connect to the electric panel and
current flows through these to the panel. DO NOT DISCONNECT THESE to
measure current flow as there could be a possibility of electrocution!
A ground wire could be "hot"!

In article ,
"Bill" wrote:

I've heard of another person who had their electric bill go up after
switching to digital.

we've had this topic a few times on a.h.r., and apparently it's not
uncommon for the new meters to be flat out wrong.

Limp Arbor wrote:
Recently finished upgrading to a 200A panel and replacing all the
wiring in the house. Instead of Al entrance cable I used 2" conduit
to get from the meter to the panel and ran copper feeds to the panel.
The electric company replaced my old ham slicer meter with a digital
meter.

First, can I putty or caulk around the wires inside the conduit to
stop the cold air from coming in?

This is actually required by the NEC (300.7-A). Mix of warm and cold air
can condense the moisture out of the warm air producing water. The
common building entry is for conduit down from the meter can to an LB
fitting and conduit out the back into the building. Common practice is
to pack "Duct seal" (a UL listed a commercial product) around the wires
inside the LB where they go into the conduit into the building. Also
common practice around here to hacksaw a small slot in the bottom of the
LB to drain water if any accumulates.


Second, my electric bill is up about 15% since I started. The only
additional load I added was six 75watt bulbs on two dimmers that
replaced one 100watt table lamp, these run 16 hours a day. Also three
hard-wired smoke detectors. Are the digital meters more accurate? Is
there a way I can test the meter?

The digital and mechanical meters should both be very accurate. You can
shut everything off except for a known wattage and read the meter before
and after a timed interval. A 1,000 W load for 1 hour will register 1
KWH. For real accuracy you would probably have to check the "known" load
with something like a "Kill A Watt" meter
http://www.p3international.com/produ.../P4400-CE.html

--
bud--

On Jan 28, 10:41*am, Evan wrote:
On Jan 28, 9:18*am, Limp Arbor wrote:

Recently finished upgrading to a 200A panel and replacing all the
wiring in the house. *Instead of Al entrance cable I used 2" conduit
to get from the meter to the panel and ran copper feeds to the panel.
The electric company replaced my old ham slicer meter with a digital
meter.

First, can I putty or caulk around the wires inside the conduit to
stop the cold air from coming in?

Second, my electric bill is up about 15% since I started. *The only
additional load I added was six 75watt bulbs on two dimmers that
replaced one 100watt table lamp, these run 16 hours a day. *Also three
hard-wired smoke detectors. *Are the digital meters more accurate? *Is
there a way I can test the meter?

What type conduit did you use on your panel feeder run ?

EMT ? *RMC ?

I am not aware of any air tight fittings for EMT, however
RMC has several different types of explosion proof fittings
and junction boxes which are used with threaded RMC
conduit... *These are the same type of fittings you see
all lined up in a row on the side wall of a gas station to
feed power and comm to the pump islands... *Such
fittings are used with an approved packing fiber and
sealing compound to create a barrier to prevent
gases, vapors or flames from using the conduit to
migrate in an electrical system...

As to your increase in the electric bill: *What did
you upgrade to 200amps from ?

You replaced some lighting, namely one 100w
lamp with six 75w lamps... *You realize that the
six lamps use 4.5 times as much wattage as
the single 100w lamp did...

You are comparing 100w per hour x 16 hours
which is 1,600w or 1.6 kWh *to
(6) x 75w = 450w x 16 hours which is
7,200w or 7.2 kWh

Without knowing more about your electrical
usage history and how many kWh your home
uses besides the one change you described
which happened at the same time as your
200amp service upgrade a definitive answer
can not be given, but it sounds like the
increase can be reasonably explained by
the lighting changes you have made rather
than a faulty electrical meter or an "estimated"
bill because your meter is only actually read
periodically as someone else proposed...

~~ Evan

~~ Evan

So if I have the math right:

7.2 - 1.6 = 5.6 additional KWH per day
5.6 x 30 = 168 KWH per month
168 x 0.1227 = $20.61 per month

Wow!

On Jan 28, 11:10*am, Limp Arbor wrote:
On Jan 28, 10:41*am, Evan wrote:



On Jan 28, 9:18*am, Limp Arbor wrote:

Recently finished upgrading to a 200A panel and replacing all the
wiring in the house. *Instead of Al entrance cable I used 2" conduit
to get from the meter to the panel and ran copper feeds to the panel.
The electric company replaced my old ham slicer meter with a digital
meter.

First, can I putty or caulk around the wires inside the conduit to
stop the cold air from coming in?

Second, my electric bill is up about 15% since I started. *The only
additional load I added was six 75watt bulbs on two dimmers that
replaced one 100watt table lamp, these run 16 hours a day. *Also three
hard-wired smoke detectors. *Are the digital meters more accurate? *Is
there a way I can test the meter?

What type conduit did you use on your panel feeder run ?

EMT ? *RMC ?

I am not aware of any air tight fittings for EMT, however
RMC has several different types of explosion proof fittings
and junction boxes which are used with threaded RMC
conduit... *These are the same type of fittings you see
all lined up in a row on the side wall of a gas station to
feed power and comm to the pump islands... *Such
fittings are used with an approved packing fiber and
sealing compound to create a barrier to prevent
gases, vapors or flames from using the conduit to
migrate in an electrical system...

As to your increase in the electric bill: *What did
you upgrade to 200amps from ?

You replaced some lighting, namely one 100w
lamp with six 75w lamps... *You realize that the
six lamps use 4.5 times as much wattage as
the single 100w lamp did...

You are comparing 100w per hour x 16 hours
which is 1,600w or 1.6 kWh *to
(6) x 75w = 450w x 16 hours which is
7,200w or 7.2 kWh

Without knowing more about your electrical
usage history and how many kWh your home
uses besides the one change you described
which happened at the same time as your
200amp service upgrade a definitive answer
can not be given, but it sounds like the
increase can be reasonably explained by
the lighting changes you have made rather
than a faulty electrical meter or an "estimated"
bill because your meter is only actually read
periodically as someone else proposed...

~~ Evan

~~ Evan

So if I have the math right:

7.2 - 1.6 = 5.6 additional KWH per day
5.6 x 30 = 168 KWH per month
168 x 0.1227 = $20.61 per month

Wow!

Just get your own meter and load and test.
I would like to test mine cause I think I need to pay more !!!!!

Also got a new digital water meter.

greg

On Jan 28, 10:52*am, "Bill" wrote:
"Limp Arbor" *wrote in message
Recently finished upgrading to a 200A panel and replacing all the
wiring in the house. *Instead of Al entrance cable I used 2" conduit
to get from the meter to the panel and ran copper feeds to the
panel.
The electric company replaced my old ham slicer meter with a digital
meter.

First, can I putty or caulk around the wires inside the conduit to
stop the cold air from coming in?

Second, my electric bill is up about 15% since I started. *The only
additional load I added was six 75watt bulbs on two dimmers that
replaced one 100watt table lamp, these run 16 hours a day. *Also
three
hard-wired smoke detectors. *Are the digital meters more accurate?
Is
there a way I can test the meter?

I've heard of another person who had their electric bill go up after
switching to digital.

It could be the old meter was reading wrong or the new is reading
wrong. Call the electric company and explain the problem.

Also if you properly upgraded your ground system with the installation
of the new panel, it is also possible that an electrical gizmo is
*now* leaking to ground. Whereas *before* there was no path to
"ground". Now there might be something which is now grounded which was
not grounded before (the way things should be).

For example electric motors in HVAC, refrigerators, sump pumps, etc.
can get dirt and crud in them. Then there would be a small "short to
ground". And this small short to ground would be to the third prong on
the plug. And it would always use a little electricity, not enough to
trip a breaker.

And before there might not have been a grounded third prong. Now there
is a grounded third prong and the problem has surfaced.

This could be quite difficult to track down these days since just
about every appliance / gizmo now has electronic controls and always
uses a little electricity. So you could turn everything in the house
off, but there would still be a normal small use of electricity for
all the electronics.

I suppose you could turn everything in the house "off". Then watch the
electric use on the meter. Then turn off one breaker at a time and see
if any one breaker substantially slows the meter when turned off.

And before doing that, calculate what amount of meter use a 15%
increase would cause. Then with all appliances / gizmos off, see if in
fact the meter is using 15% electricity at all times. If not, then
that might not be the problem.

Also perhaps an electrician would have test equipment to measure
leakage to ground. Maybe an amp meter placed on the ground wires would
detect current flow which should not be there?

Things which might now be grounded which were not in the past might be
metal water pipes and anything metal they are touching, metal A/C duct
work, metal cases of appliances, and anything metal the 3rd prong of
plugs would connect to like metal cases.

Note GFCI breakers/outlets detect leakage to ground and trip.

And I suppose it is possible a staple could be in a wire somewhere
causing a small leakage to ground. Or a wire pulled tight against a
sharp metal object which is cutting into the wire. And not a good
short to ground which would trip the breaker, rather just enough to
run up the electric bill!

The key is where the ground wires connect to the electric panel and
current flows through these to the panel. DO NOT DISCONNECT THESE to
measure current flow as there could be a possibility of electrocution!
A ground wire could be "hot"!- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

If Evans calculations and my followups are correct just putting in the
ceiling lights and ditching the table lamp could explain most if not
all of the difference.

I'm still going to to amp each wire this weekend and see if I do have
a short or something that is going to ground. My electric before was
grounded so I doubt it is a newly ground appliance but it could be I
nicked a wire or ran a staple through something.

I was actually expecting the bill to go down since I got rid of all
the Al/Cu-clad wire and replaced it all with copper. I found a few
wires with burnt insulation and corroded wires so I thought the
resisatance of the new all copper would be less saving me hundreds per
month. :-)

On Jan 28, 11:03*am, bud-- wrote:
Limp Arbor wrote:
Recently finished upgrading to a 200A panel and replacing all the
wiring in the house. *Instead of Al entrance cable I used 2" conduit
to get from the meter to the panel and ran copper feeds to the panel.
The electric company replaced my old ham slicer meter with a digital
meter.

First, can I putty or caulk around the wires inside the conduit to
stop the cold air from coming in?

This is actually required by the NEC (300.7-A). Mix of warm and cold air
can condense the moisture out of the warm air producing water. The
common building entry is for conduit down from the meter can to an LB
fitting and conduit out the back into the building. Common practice is
to pack "Duct seal" (a UL listed a commercial product) around the wires
inside the LB where they go into the conduit into the building. Also
common practice around here to hacksaw a small slot in the bottom of the
LB to drain water if any accumulates.


Packing the pipe coming out of the LB into the house will be easier
than trying to plug the conduit where it comes into the panel.
When I had the panel inspected he didn't look at the LB or ask me to
pull the cover.

I thought about drilling a small hole in the bottom of the LB as a
precaution but didn't do it (maybe I will). The cover on those is
surprisingly flimsy and the gasket wasn't very thick. Seems like the
outdoor outlet boxes would seal better than the LBs.

Thanks.

I'm getting the branch wire replacements inspected Monday so I'll ask
the inspector about the LB then.



Second, my electric bill is up about 15% since I started. *The only
additional load I added was six 75watt bulbs on two dimmers that
replaced one 100watt table lamp, these run 16 hours a day. *Also three
hard-wired smoke detectors. *Are the digital meters more accurate? *Is
there a way I can test the meter?

The digital and mechanical meters should both be very accurate. You can
shut everything off except for a known wattage and read the meter before
and after a timed interval. A 1,000 W load for 1 hour will register 1
KWH. For real accuracy you would probably have to check the "known" load
with something like a "Kill A Watt" meterhttp://www.p3international.com/products/special/P4400/P4400-CE.html

--
bud--

SNIP

Also perhaps an electrician would have test equipment to measure
leakage to ground. Maybe an amp meter placed on the ground wires would
detect current flow which should not be there?

If Evans calculations and my followups are correct just putting in the
ceiling lights and ditching the table lamp could explain most if not
all of the difference.

I'm still going to to amp each wire this weekend and see if I do have
a short or something that is going to ground. My electric before was
grounded so I doubt it is a newly ground appliance but it could be I
nicked a wire or ran a staple through something.

I was actually expecting the bill to go down since I got rid of all
the Al/Cu-clad wire and replaced it all with copper. I found a few
wires with burnt insulation and corroded wires so I thought the
resisatance of the new all copper would be less saving me hundreds per
month. :-)

Go back to your 100 watt bulb for a month and note the difference. The math
looks pretty good; sometimes what's going on is not that intuitive.
MLD

On 1/28/2011 8:18 AM, Limp Arbor wrote:
Recently finished upgrading to a 200A panel and replacing all the
wiring in the house. Instead of Al entrance cable I used 2" conduit
to get from the meter to the panel and ran copper feeds to the panel.
The electric company replaced my old ham slicer meter with a digital
meter.

First, can I putty or caulk around the wires inside the conduit to
stop the cold air from coming in?

Second, my electric bill is up about 15% since I started. The only
additional load I added was six 75watt bulbs on two dimmers that
replaced one 100watt table lamp, these run 16 hours a day. Also three
hard-wired smoke detectors. Are the digital meters more accurate? Is
there a way I can test the meter?

I've heard dozens of times never change out an old mechanical meter.
They are almost always sluggish and slow. You found this out.

--
Steve Barker
remove the "not" from my address to email

On Jan 28, 12:55*pm, Steve Barker wrote:
On 1/28/2011 8:18 AM, Limp Arbor wrote:

Recently finished upgrading to a 200A panel and replacing all the
wiring in the house. *Instead of Al entrance cable I used 2" conduit
to get from the meter to the panel and ran copper feeds to the panel.
The electric company replaced my old ham slicer meter with a digital
meter.

First, can I putty or caulk around the wires inside the conduit to
stop the cold air from coming in?

Second, my electric bill is up about 15% since I started. *The only
additional load I added was six 75watt bulbs on two dimmers that
replaced one 100watt table lamp, these run 16 hours a day. *Also three
hard-wired smoke detectors. *Are the digital meters more accurate? *Is
there a way I can test the meter?

I've heard dozens of times never change out an old mechanical meter.
They are almost always sluggish and slow. *You found this out.

--
Steve Barker
remove the "not" from my address to email

Wasn't my choice. I had to change the meter socket to one that was
rated for 200A when I changed the panel. The new meter socket was
only 1" taller.

When the electric company got the OK from the inspector to turn me
back on they stuck in the digital meter.

Recently finished upgrading to a 200A panel and replacing all the
wiring in the house. Instead of Al entrance cable I used 2" conduit
to get from the meter to the panel and ran copper feeds to the panel.
The electric company replaced my old ham slicer meter with a digital
meter.

First, can I putty or caulk around the wires inside the conduit to
stop the cold air from coming in?

This is actually required by the NEC (300.7-A). Mix of warm and cold air
can condense the moisture out of the warm air producing water. The common
building entry is for conduit down from the meter can to an LB fitting and
conduit out the back into the building. Common practice is to pack "Duct
seal" (a UL listed a commercial product) around the wires inside the LB
where they go into the conduit into the building. Also common practice
around here to hacksaw a small slot in the bottom of the LB to drain water
if any accumulates.


Second, my electric bill is up about 15% since I started. The only
additional load I added was six 75watt bulbs on two dimmers that
replaced one 100watt table lamp, these run 16 hours a day. Also three
hard-wired smoke detectors. Are the digital meters more accurate? Is
there a way I can test the meter?

The digital and mechanical meters should both be very accurate. You can
shut everything off except for a known wattage and read the meter before
and after a timed interval. A 1,000 W load for 1 hour will register 1 KWH.
For real accuracy you would probably have to check the "known" load with
something like a "Kill A Watt" meter
http://www.p3international.com/produ.../P4400-CE.html



*Bud is correct about the Duct Seal. I think it the best way to go because
it can be removed years later if needed. I've drilled holes in weatherproof
boxes to let water drain out, but eventually they become clogged with crud
and water accumulates anyway. If you're so inclined you can open the LB
every year and clean out any condensation. Have an extra gasket standing
by. You can also pack some Duct Seal inside of the weatherhead to prevent
rain from getting in. I also caulk around the fittings and the hub.

If you think that there is a problem with the new meter, you should ask the
power company for a replacement. However you did increase your load by 350
watts which is on 16 hours a day. Do you have a day rate and a night rate
with the new meter? I have Time of Day Service for my electric and
consequently have a higher rate during the day than at night and on
weekends.

On Jan 28, 1:16*pm, Limp Arbor wrote:
On Jan 28, 12:55*pm, Steve Barker wrote:





On 1/28/2011 8:18 AM, Limp Arbor wrote:

Recently finished upgrading to a 200A panel and replacing all the
wiring in the house. *Instead of Al entrance cable I used 2" conduit
to get from the meter to the panel and ran copper feeds to the panel.
The electric company replaced my old ham slicer meter with a digital
meter.

First, can I putty or caulk around the wires inside the conduit to
stop the cold air from coming in?

Second, my electric bill is up about 15% since I started. *The only
additional load I added was six 75watt bulbs on two dimmers that
replaced one 100watt table lamp, these run 16 hours a day. *Also three
hard-wired smoke detectors. *Are the digital meters more accurate? *Is
there a way I can test the meter?

I've heard dozens of times never change out an old mechanical meter.
They are almost always sluggish and slow. *You found this out.

--
Steve Barker
remove the "not" from my address to email

Wasn't my choice. *I had to change the meter socket to one that was
rated for 200A when I changed the panel. *The new meter socket was
only 1" taller.

When the electric company got the OK from the inspector to turn me
back on they stuck in the digital meter.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I would go back to a single light bulf and use a CFL, and replace all
the bulbs you can thruout home with CFLs my electric bill dropped a
lot when I did this

"Limp Arbor" wrote in message
...
Recently finished upgrading to a 200A panel and replacing all the
wiring in the house. Instead of Al entrance cable I used 2" conduit
to get from the meter to the panel and ran copper feeds to the panel.
The electric company replaced my old ham slicer meter with a digital
meter.

First, can I putty or caulk around the wires inside the conduit to
stop the cold air from coming in?

Second, my electric bill is up about 15% since I started. The only
additional load I added was six 75watt bulbs on two dimmers that
replaced one 100watt table lamp, these run 16 hours a day. Also three
hard-wired smoke detectors. Are the digital meters more accurate? Is
there a way I can test the meter?

There is a specific putty for sealing conduit.

http://www.homehardware.ca/en/rec/in...jx7/R-I3622976

Judging by the rest of the thread, it looks like you got your math down on
your new power consumption.

I did my panel 2 years ago, but I'm still working on retrofitting the rest
of the house. Stinkin non grounded cable...

?
"Limp Arbor" wrote

I was actually expecting the bill to go down since I got rid of all
the Al/Cu-clad wire and replaced it all with copper.

Maybe you have too much oxygen in the wire. Take it out and replace it with
Monster Cable. Is is oxygen free. Gold plate your connectors too.

?
"Limp Arbor" wrote
Second, my electric bill is up about 15% since I started. The only
additional load I added was six 75watt bulbs on two dimmers that
replaced one 100watt table lamp, these run 16 hours a day. Also three
hard-wired smoke detectors. Are the digital meters more accurate? Is
there a way I can test the meter?


At the rates here is CT, the 100W bulb is 28¢ a day, the new setup is $1.26
a day. That 98¢ difference is $29.40 a month.

You can buy a new table lamp or use CFLs in place and save a few bucks.

Oh, meters can be wrong too. If the added load is not the answer, have it
checked out.