The only natural gas I use in the summer is in my water heater. (An A.O. Smith model). This month it spiked up to 16 therms for no reason I can tell when it is normally 9 therms during summer months. My wife is frugal and has started insisting on turning the heating level down all the way below the recommended level. I suspect that this has something to do with it, but I have no practical or scientific explanation. Would, turning the heating level all the way down cause the gas usage to go up? (A heating and cooling person once told me that it is counterproductive to close air vents in rooms that you are not using because a gas heater is adjusted to heat the whole house, and maybe the same thing is happening here.) Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks,
JD