Recent content by dpilati

15 kwh a day * 345 * .05 = $250. Yeah I must have rounded a bit much. You can probably count on 20 days of travel a year hence 345 days.   5 cents - NC TOU-D off peak rate. 5.27 cents. 3% tax. 5% energy star house discount. Net 5.15 cents. No separate delivery charge. I do heat some in the peak...

Great stuff guys. Gives me lots to try.   Reply to a couple of points - total transperancy. There are actually 3 sinks that she could wash her hands in right away and she really does want 120. We agreed to that sometime ago as I was perfectly happy with 105. She would probably want 130 but we do...

So the wife does come inside and wash her hands right away. Complete transparency is needed.   My thought is to have a "guest" mode on Homeseer (don't have yet) for when there are guests in the house.   I've thought of increasing the pump size but that isn't a cheap fix at all. Yes 2.3 gallons...

My issue is not detecting when she is home, I need to know when she is 2 miles away because the pump needs 5 min (at least) to heat the pipes.    The heat loss is easy to detect. It is electric hot water heater and I have a monitor on it. It runs just at a kw of losses or 16 kwh a day if I run...

Does Tasker interface with Elk?    The pump runs about 50% duty cycle for 16 hours a day at 30 watts. At my rates, $5 a year. Definitely not my concern.   The house is new with Pex plumbing. I'm not sure the heat/cold stress is a big issue. Typically the pipes don't get cold for several hours -...

Technically, tax credit requires "professional" installation. Just something to think about.   My TOU is a bit of a joke. 5 cents off peak, 6.3 cents on peak. The bigger peak issue is the demand charge which solar helps little for. But you can time the a/c with the sun. But clouds happen, ovens...

So I'm back to an old problem of mine, the recirc pump on the hot water.   The wife insists that the pump be on all the time but it is pretty wasteful of energy. We have solar hot water but on a cloudy day or in the winter, the backup has to come on.   I have the pump as an output on Elk M1...

160 gallons of hot water is a lot. I think dumb switching is not bad.   In a hot climate, the a/c may need to run continuously for 8 hours. Not a lot smarts can do about that. If the a/c never shuts off, you can never run the hot water.    The typical 80 gallon tank has 2 4.5 kw elements. They...

Lowes now carries a decent quality fixture with a LED bulb. The color is good (better than led replacements that I have seen) and they have a 5 year warranty on the light and fixture. They are far nicer than cheap Malibus. $35 or so which compares very favorably to name branded LED fixtures. I...

Both in AZ and NC, the demand charge is based on highest demand during peak hours. While yours could be different, it may not be. Often talking to the reps they have no idea. I've had other customers and reps think that it was highest demand period but reality is that it is during peak hours...

If you have 2 80 gallon tanks, you might consider a much simpler solution.   A timer on the hot water heater.   In my area (and the way these things are usually set up), the demand charge is only for the peak times. So just fire the hot water heater (s) up at night. Then the Kwh charge is...

Well as far as I can see, both those relays are 120V rated. Even though a 240 is just 2 legs of a 120, the potential difference on any part of the completed circuit is 240V. So I can't see that either of those would be technically adequate. And since you are talking likely the biggest amp...

OT? - where are you located? I'm trying to assess trends in demand charges and yours is exactly like mine - ie 15 min.    What I do is run a 1.2kw element on the hot water that shuts down from 6pm-9pm when the solar panels are not generating anything and when the a/c is running.    Obviously...

I don't have issues as a continuous system but I want like to be in a quasidemand setup. If my wife leaves the house, I'd like it to shut down but she would not do well with the 7 minutes to restart when she comes home. If it tripled in speed, I might have a fighting shot to have the pump turn...

I am curious about pumps and I do realize that I am hijacking a thread...   I was told by my plumber that the flow was not pump limited - and I believed it. Really stupid now that I think about it. I've known the 3.5 gallons in the loop (or so) and of course it doesn't take 7 minutes for the...