Gas and Electric usage up since new windows installed

[crockydile]

I changed the setting from 0.4 to 0.8 and left it there for about 1 hour. It appeared to stay on much longer but it still went from on about 1-2 minutes after it turned off.

[Bert]

It does seem odd that your house would cool off fast enough for the heat to come on 2 minutes after it shuts off!

Have you plugged the hole in the wall behind the thermostat where the wires come through? Maybe with the new windows the air infiltration is greater through that hole now & the cold air is cooling the thermostat causing faster cycling times.

MikeB

[Pop]

"Bert" wrote in message news: [e-mail]... : : [e-mail] wrote: : > I changed the setting from 0.4 to 0.8 and left it there for about 1 : > hour. : > It appeared to stay on much longer but it still went from on about 1-2 : > minutes after it turned off. : : It does seem odd that your house would cool off fast enough for the : heat to come on 2 minutes after it shuts off! : : Have you plugged the hole in the wall behind the thermostat where the : wires come through? Maybe with the new windows the air infiltration is : greater through that hole now & the cold air is cooling the thermostat : causing faster cycling times. : : MikeB :

Good Grief Charlie Brown! The fan coming on for a minute or so after the furnace has fired is NORMAL operation, whether it happened last year or not! IFF it was the thermostat calling for heat, this suggestion could be valid, but, out of curiousity I just pulled up the whole thread and read it thru: in amongst all the misinformation not a single poster has noted that the post-burn fan operation is a normal event. It's easy enough to get rid of IFF one knows what the various sensors do and when, but I'm suggesting that no one who has posted here (with a couple of exceptions, I think, because of the awkward direction of the thread), has any REAL idea what they're talking about. The post-burn runtime is simply because the fan cooled the compartment where the sensor is, the residual heat buildup then took over, it came back on for a minute to push out the last little bit of heat, and then turned off. You CAN maladjust these things so that the furnace runs too long or not long enough, resulting in the fan going off while the air is still hot (wasting fuel), or the fan stays on so long it ends up blowing cool air before it turns off, or, ideally, the air temp coming out of the blower us just right when it turns off and then comes back on for a short time to shake out the last few drops of heat that are left but aren't too cool to use yet.

I refuse to detail how to do any of that, because the resetting of the anticipator from a .4 to .8 is already enough to have goofed up the overall balance - further fiddling can only make things worse. There ARE valid ways to set up the anticipator, and in fact, they were detailed on the packaging or papers with the newly purchased thermostat. This little detail was neglected by everyone and near as I can recall, no one suggested checking what the last thermostat was set for, which, apparently is a perfectly good thermostat.

In checking over the headers of these posts, I also suspect that [e-mail] should actually be CROCKydile, and I also respectfully submit that many of you have just been hooked on a troll line. A mental comparison, without any real work involved, says to me that this is an imposter and has posted here under several other names in the recent past. Hasn't AnyONE NOTICED a similarity to any of this kind of post?

Good grief Charlie Brown!

Have fun mates!

[Pop]

You've actually posted the only sane response in several of the last ones I've read on this thread, mostly out of curiousity. Just for grins, I'm pasting here the response I made much deeper in one of the side strings: Good Grief Charlie Brown! The fan coming on for a minute or so after the furnace has fired is NORMAL operation, whether it happened last year or not! IFF it was the thermostat calling for heat, this suggestion could be valid, but, out of curiousity I just pulled up the whole thread and read it thru: in amongst all the misinformation not a single poster has noted that the post-burn fan operation is a normal event. It's easy enough to get rid of IFF one knows what the various sensors do and when, but I'm suggesting that no one who has posted here (with a couple of exceptions, I think, because of the awkward direction of the thread), has any REAL idea what they're talking about. The post-burn runtime is simply because the fan cooled the compartment where the sensor is, the residual heat buildup then took over, it came back on for a minute to push out the last little bit of heat, and then turned off. You CAN maladjust these things so that the furnace runs too long or not long enough, resulting in the fan going off while the air is still hot (wasting fuel), or the fan stays on so long it ends up blowing cool air before it turns off, or, ideally, the air temp coming out of the blower us just right when it turns off and then comes back on for a short time to shake out the last few drops of heat that are left but aren't too cool to use yet.

I refuse to detail how to do any of that, because the resetting of the anticipator from a .4 to .8 is already enough to have goofed up the overall balance - further fiddling can only make things worse. There ARE valid ways to set up the anticipator, and in fact, they were detailed on the packaging or papers with the newly purchased thermostat. This little detail was neglected by everyone and near as I can recall, no one suggested checking what the last thermostat was set for, which, apparently is a perfectly good thermostat.

In checking over the headers of these posts, I also suspect that [e-mail] should actually be CROCKydile, and I also respectfully submit that many of you have just been hooked on a troll line. A mental comparison, without any real work involved, says to me that this is an imposter and has posted here under several other names in the recent past. Hasn't AnyONE NOTICED a similarity to any of this kind of post and some of the others?

Good grief, Charlie Brown! Oh well, it's entertaining if nothing else, but it encourages them.

Pop

"Bill" wrote in message news: [e-mail]... : This does not seem right as everybody I know who installs new windows sees a : reduction in their heating requirements. : : Are you looking at the amount of gas used or just the cost? Rates have gone : up. : : Also I don't know if this would have anything to do with it, but perhaps : installing the new windows sealed your house tight so no air can get in. Is : there a vent by the furnace so it can get air? Is the vent open? : : Then around here (Oregon), last winter was mild. This winter it has been : quite cold. So last year, 40's/50's was common. This year it has been : colder - in the 20's for several days now with highs in the

30's. My : neighbor has not changed anything and her bill has gone up quite a bit from : last year. : : Ask your neighbors if their bills have gone up as well. : : Overall if you want to reduce your heating and electric costs, read the info : at the following site. You can get "Energy Star" appliances, a 98% high : efficency furnace, add insulation, seal air leaks, etc... : : :

[Mikepier]

Something is not right. Regardless of how much gas you used last year, your furnace should not come on every 2 minutes. Another factor to consider is where your T-stat is located, which can cause it to cycle on and off quickly if there are big changes in room temperature.

[CJT]

year? If it's

compare

The number of days between meter reads can also vary according to the convenience of the utility.

[crockydile]

I may be using the term cycling different than it is used in the industry.

This is what I hear and see and what i call a cycle. At no point does the fan turn off and then back on during this cycle.

(a) click click click to light the pilot (b) then I hear a large gas flame and burning of gas. (c) then I hear the fan turn on // turns on only once and stays on until (e) (d) then i see the gas turn off (e) then i hear the fan turn off. (f) then either 1, 5, or 10 min interval later this cycle repeats with the click click click (step a).

I think Charlie Brown you are a nutball!!! As you notice in my first post i said i had heating problems with my last house also. So yes I am crockydile in the last post. This is no troll of any sort or to waste anyones time. If you had indeed read the post you would have noticed i temporarily replaced the thermostat and changed that anticapator. The original is back on and untouched.

I am having a problem and looking for suggestions on how to determine the cause of the problem since it is becoming expensive.

It appears to me you are trolling to start arguments and take this thread off course. Please go home charlie brown.

[m Ransley]

Of course getting the thing cleaned by a pro and checked out doesnt enter your mind, for all you know it got a yellow flame and squirrels running the squirrel cage. Gee how about the attic, heat rises you know, nothing like optimal R, not local code R value. Troll or not , you are missing it.

[crockydile]

Thanks to everyones input. The system checks out fine. Tech says it is an air flow problem. He also plugged hole behind thermostat. He suggests two things get a new thermostat with a different differential (one you can set). The one I have has a half degree differential and cannot be changed. Second is replace flex tubing ducts that run into dining room with non flex duct.

So I suspect with the new windows the air flow has changed and is causing the problem.

[Larry Bud]

Here's a website with history of heating & cooling degree days for several cities:

[SQLit]

I am wondering how replacing the flex duct would help. Most of the flex duct I have ever seen or installed has a plastic spiral wound duct inside an insulated cover for heating and cooling. The only flex duct that I have ever used for exhaust fans is the metal uninsulated type. This is usually 4 inches and way to small to run for heating and cooling. Depending on the situation this could get quite expensive to replace and insulate.

Seems an odd fix, to me. Especially the t-stat.