This blog is a travel to finding ways to save money on my electric bill. Currently I owe over $300. I have had enough. As an electrician, I am beginning to see how the bill works, and I have run into people as of late, that use other forms of resources to make electricity.
I want to say, that the electric company charges you based on how many hours of watts you use. Now how in the world can you really know that?
Well I could explain to you the math based on Ohm's law, like other bloggers do. And then you would likely say "what the HECK IS ALL THIS?" And start thinking on how to make more money to pay the higher bills instead. So I am not even going to go into it. BUY THIS INSTEAD. Its about $30. Its called "Kill-o-watt" its a thing you plug into the wall, then plug whatever you want to monitor, into it.
Click HERE to see the "kill-o-watt" on ebay
That product will tell you exactly how many Kilowatts the product you have plugged into it, is using.
Some products, such as a window air conditioner, have a watt amount right on them. But they are not reliable. because they tell you what the TOP watt usage is when a compressor or fan kicks in. That doesnt run all the time. So it would be a high cost if you based it on that number. What you need is the average watts in an average hour, of the product.
next step is to grab your electric bill. It will tell you a "usage" number. Comed tells you what it has been per month on the left of the bill. If you have signed up for one of those "alternate" providers as I have, their rate is on the comed bill first. Whatever your kWh (kilowatt hours) are for the month is what they use in the math to charge you.
its like using a phone from back in the day. If you talk on the phone, they charged you per minute. But if you called far away, you were charged more..And if you called out the country...you were SUPER charged!
Well electricity is the same. Each electrical thing in your home is making a "call" via com ed. And the Meter outside your house its whats keeping track of your calls.
Some of them talk a HECK of a lot, and to far away places on YOUR dime...Things like a central air unit and furnace. They talk ALL DAY! Other things make calls all day but the calls are equal to calling right around the block, quick calls, like we did as teenagers...
That would be lights. off and on, all day.
then there are things that make calls outside the area, to another state, but again, not often, and for short times...that would be toasters, irons, etc. Any appliances that use heat (this means my daughters, and wife, using heat to straighten hair, adds to the bill. Another reason to go natural)
So now that we have an understanding of how you're billed...the issue is now clear. HOW do we get all these people from "calling" on the "phone" so much in your house? Well how did your parents do so for the literal phone back in the day? By seeing you talking and kicking you off the phone right? Well electricity has no way of really telling you that its talking as much as it is, in an easy way. THAT is why the above meter--"Kill-o-watt" device is such a good Idea to buy. You will then see WHO is making the biggest "calls" and running up the bill.
So we now SEE the callers. Your electric box has a mess of circuits on it. The literal phone has circuits too. A single phone line is a circuit. So if you had 2 lines that was 2 circuits in your home. Well a hotel has several lines. And they all went back to a "fuse panel"...or as we call it in a phone term..."the switchboard operator". She would patch you into the rest of the world, down in the hotel lobby. (We are talking WAY WAY WAY back)
well your house is like that. The panel has several circuits branching off from the panel. And it has a main, and that main wire goes out to the "switchboard lady" called the meter. And that meter is the guy looking to see what youre using so he can bill you!
So what we need to do, is place LESS calls thru that meter!
How do we do that? Some say solar pads. I am not going to get into how many pads can do what, and what they should be rated, and all that.
I will simply say this.
BUY THIS SOLAR PANEL It can mount on a piece of wood in your back yard. Doesnt have to be a roof. Just like dish network does, they set stuff in the back yard right? Well set it on the back padio or something where the light can hit it. You need to have an outlet in the back yard or something. If its a garage, then so be it
you see 2 wires hanging on that panel thing right?
Plug those leads into THIS
And that thing has a cord for power you will need. It comes with it. See it on the left? It looks like a little black extension cord? Well plug that into an outlet in your house somewhere.
The set up I just stated is a means of generating your own electricity and In illinois, COMED appreciates you for that...It goes back into the resto of the neighborhood for all to use, and takes some of the stress from Comed to have to supply so much power. THEY WILL PAY YOU FOR THAT in Illinois.
Comed has a form you have to fill out to first be part of the program. They come out and change your meter to one that PAYS YOU BACK depending on how much power you are generating. Its called "net metering".
Comed Customers, FILL OUT THIS FORM
Here is a NEW source to save as well!
Now all of the above will set you back about $250. But I am more broke than that.
So I have been thinking on something. The meter reads how much wattage youre using right? Wattage is "heat"
So just like a higher watt bulb costs more to run than a lower watt bulb...Hotter wires cost more to use than cooler ones. Well what makes them hotter? Your use of the wires...OVER SKINNY WIRE. just like a light bulb, the brighter it is, the Smaller the filament on the inside is. thats what makes the light brighter. Also the Brighter it is, the HOTTER it is. the HOTTER it is, the More EXPENSIVE it it.
So then how do we drop the watts of a light bulb? Bigger filament. How do we drop the watts on a house? BIGGER WIRE!! Less Wire in a pipe also. Crowded wires means more heat.
Another way is to not use 1120 volts to run stuff. Use 12 volts. How? Buy things that run off an adapter. You know something that looks like this???
That drops the watts down because it drops the Volts down from 120 to 12. From AC to DC.
your car does a lot with 12 volts. That car battery powers a DC to AC converter called an "alternator". Anything that runs on DC in your car is "running off the battery".
Well a car can do a great deal cant it? Run radios, wheels, AC, heat, and a mess of other things... All based on 12 volts and an alternator.
That Solar system is doing the same thing, but youre using it in a house.
Well that also stands to reason that if you took some car batteries, and ran them into a converter like the one stated for the solar panels, you could eliminate the solar panels and make power. BUT the batteries would wear down. Well solar pads can be used to generate power for JUST YOU and not others as well.
the leads from Solar pads, to car batteries, from car batteries to the ac/dv grid tie converter . Then from the grid tie converter to whatever product youre trying to run.
But like anything, it has limitations. it all is about how many batteries you have and how big of an ac to dc converter you have. Just like anything...MORE batteries is MORE power.
This is now getting complicated. So end this for now. Save money with the "Net metering" set up. It takes about 30 to 50 dollars off your bill per month.
I have been toying around with an Idea. At&t provides old fashioned phone service and it uses AT&T provided DV. no batteries needed. Its 48 to 56 volts. There's your "solar panels" right there. Take that power and filter it off with a filer made for such (its like a $5 item) and convert THAT with a grid tie converter. But the problem is, you have to PAY at&t for that service line...And now you lost your ability to save monthly.ALTHOUGH...if you can generate MORE than the cost of the at&t line, then you start back to saving again.The cheapest line is about 17 dollars a month, strip down plain old phone service.
