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i have a brand new small house 954 square feet. I keep my heat on at 68, the whole month of january i never touched it i just left it alone. my heat comes on for 5 minutes and off. I checked all of my windows, there is a no air coming through. I do take 15 or 20 minute hot showers almost everyday. I use the bathroom every hour. i do laundry every other 5 days. My jan uary bill was 120. and now my bill went up to 160.
As for why it goes on and off so often. Check your thermostat and see what the temp variance you have it set for. To have it come on less often, and be on longer when it comes on set the variance for +/- 2 degrees That will allow the temp to go down to 66 before it heat goes on to bring the house back up to 68.
Gas or electric heater?
We have a gas heater and it turns on, runs for a while to warm the house and shuts off. After a while it runs again for a short time, this is to exhaust the heat so it cools down.
Quite a few heaters do this.
It's generally colder in January than December, so naturally your furnace will run a little more. So it makes perfect sense that your February utility bill (for January's service) would be higher than your January bill (for December). Plus shorter days means the lights are on more, etc, etc. I don't know about you, but I tend to bake more in the winter months and cook bigger meals using the stove, where in the summer it's more grilling and salads.
It does sound like you're furnace is "short-cycling", though, which hurts efficiency. A lot of things can cause it; check the adjustment on your thermostat as someone mentioned, and make sure the filter is clean. You might check the location of the thermostat, too. If it's too close to a heat register it can also shut off too soon and run more often.
Oh, and regarding this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by PinkAquarius
I use the bathroom every hour.
TMI, as far as I'm concerned. It does seem a little excessive; maybe you should start a discussion about it in the health forum.
i have a brand new small house 954 square feet. I keep my heat on at 68, the whole month of january i never touched it i just left it alone. my heat comes on for 5 minutes and off. I checked all of my windows, there is a no air coming through. I do take 15 or 20 minute hot showers almost everyday. I use the bathroom every hour. i do laundry every other 5 days. My jan uary bill was 120. and now my bill went up to 160.
It would cost about $75 to have a licensed HVAC technician check out the furnace. It seems like that would be paid for in about two months. Then, you would really know what the problem is.
Gas or electric heater?
We have a gas heater and it turns on, runs for a while to warm the house and shuts off. After a while it runs again for a short time, this is to exhaust the heat so it cools down.
Quite a few heaters do this.
A lot of gas furnaces run the fan for a few minutes after the heat is turned off without stopping inbetween.
I agree, sounds like short-cycling. If your house is newly built, then your furnace should be under warranty. If so, you should be able to call up and have them send a tech out. We had to have my father in law do this, as his furnace was short-cycling. Turned out, the computer was defective and it was replaced under warranty.
Anyway, it's worth a call. Before you do, make sure you can tell them how often it's going on. My FIL's was going on literally every five minutes, running for 2-3 minutes, then going off.
if it is hot air is the burner going off before the fan or after?
that is a key question.
if the burner is on and the fan is going off then it may be the little klixon fan controller disc. eventually without the fan running the high limit will shut the burner down too so you kind of have to witness this in a small window of time to see if the burner is on and you have hot air yet the fan is stopping..
if the burner is going off before the fan then there are quite a few reasons for that including thermostat issues..
it is easy to troubleshoot but you need to have a clue what you are doing.
How much time are you, actually, spending AT the house?
Best fix is to get programmable thermostat, not that expensive, and have it installed. Then, set "away" time for the day, with about 60 or so degrees as base temp, and 60-62 degrees for the night. It's around 30 here at night, I have day set for 68, night set for 63, and furnace will not kick in until 5 am wake time. House doe snot cool down to below 63.
I don't think anything's wrong with your t0stat or furnace. But - you have your 1 year builder warranty, right? MAKE THEM WORK FOR WHAT YOU PAID THEM!! Call and ask them to send you complimentary tech to check everything out. Maybe even raise your voice, ***** about high bill, and have THEM install programmable t-stat for free.
Next time you buy a house, make sure you have programmable t-stat AND dual stage furnace. Thank me later.
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