Thanks JPM and lots of others.

[C_Heath]

As you all know, I have not been here long. I do want to ultimately do solar but my state discontinued its tax break. I will wait and save until it comes back if it does. It was pretty big. So, in the meantime, I have been trying to seal up my envelope of my home as best I can and by using ideas on this site as well as google. I wanted to do the blower door test but there is no one close to me and they wanted to surcharge me for the drive so instead I opted for the free one from duke power.

So, even before duke gets here, I took it upon myself. My house is brick, 2100 sq ft, large great room in the center and a full unfinished basement and 9 foot ceilings.It is tough to heat. Its also 39 years old with original windows. So here are some of the things I have done so take these down and if you want , I certainly recommend you give it a shot.

Some of these were done up to a year ago but most were done in this year so far. Can you tell I was tired of freezing and pay high power? lol


Last Year

Installed new Trane XR15 3.5 ton outdoor unit and new Trane indoor unit
R-30 cellulose in the attic

2017

Foam Wrapped the cold and hot water lines in the basement.
Foam wrapped and taped water heater lines
Insulated trunk of unit and cold air return
insulated water heater.
Foil taped all seams in the register lines
Sealed where register meet the floor
Insulated all large holes in basement ceiling (large pipe holes, shower drains etc.)
Put new door sweeps on basement double doors
New Foam on basement double doors
Found that the only 2 basement windows we have were partially open on top and bottom
New Foam around main door entrance
Rubber insulation around window slide tracks
covered up doggie door (she died)
sealed off fireplace
sheet metal over chimney caps and siliconed them shut
Replaced every bulb in the house with LED
Installed smart power strips in every room with phantom appliances
Put all DVR's on timers to only run 8am until Midnite then shut off completely from midnight to 8am
Put timers on both freezers to hold at 0 degrees instead of the lowest setting of minus 5
Cleaned the coils on the refrigerator with shop vac and scrub brush
Put in a new trane smart Thermostat
Insulated every light switch and outlet with insulated pads
Hand Washed dishes all but 2 days in Feb ( I had the flu so screw it, we let the dishwasher do it)

Most importantly, had a family meeting about being intentional with not only our money but our resources. Making a smaller footprint on Mother Earth and keeping more money in our pockets at bill time. This went VERY well. There are THREE teenagers and my wife in my house and though, I never said anything before, some days, I would count 7 or 8 showers between us all. They have really taken control and by doing this, I think it will carryover to their homes and lives. We are also on a tight budget and the kids are very aware of this as well and it shows when they go shopping. Overall and I am very proud of them so far. Plus our water usage dropped from a 5500 gallon average to a 3500 gallon average. Water bill went from $60 to $45

Did I spent alot of money? Yes. Where some of these useless? Probably. Does it matter? No to me because I wanted to do it and it got done. Was February a mild month? yes. It was also short. I do take this into consideration.

For the last 3 years (as far as Duke Energy will let me go back). I have averaged 1800 kw/h per month usage averaging $200 or more per month ( I know, I am ashamed, we are hogs but not anymore) with the largest month being 2400 kw/h. We have never been under 1000 kw/h but once in 2013 when I was wood burning it was 1100.

Feb 2017 was 1148kw/h and our bill was $108. With all that time and money spent, I still feel like the heavy weight champion of the world.

Thanks again to ALL that contributed ideas and thoughts. ITS NOT OVER tho! still plenty of more to do. I do want to mastic the ducts and seal off a little more things here and there and when my 20 year old electric water heaters dies, go with a heat pump water heater as well as the 20 year old fridge even tho it takes nothing hardly to run

Thanks again guys!

[J.P.M.]

Thank you for the update. You have every right to feel proud. If your last post were required reading for every new poster who shows up here thinking solar is the silver bullet answer to their high bills, the forum would be able to do more good and also save some other posters a lot of keystrokes.

I'd also note that if there is a possibility of PV in your future, the system size will be a lot smaller (read less $$) by virtue of the lower load it will need to meet. Sort of like compounded savings, or at least synergistic.

I'd agree that the biggest measure you've taken, or at least the one that helps make the others more effective, is to get everyone's awareness and focus on using less. That spirit of cooperation is the one thing that will make all the other measures more effective. You're developing your own leadership as well. Way off topic, but I've found similar results to yours that help build tighter familial relationships. Unit cohesion.

Now, don't be disappointed if March usage reduction is not quite so dramatic. If so, keeping in mind the idea that nothing can replace persistence can be of value at such times. Also, don't be too surprised if Duke shows up some day in the not terribly distant future to see if your stealing service from them or your neighbors. My POCO did that to me after a serious conservation effort in the late '70's on a prior residence.

I'm not much of a teacher - none at all really - but I suspect reading your post gives me a bit of the same feeling a teacher might get when the light goes on for a student after the teacher has worked to help the student understand a valuable principle.

FWIW, nicely done.

BTW, A very effective and cheap trick I learned ~ 40 years ago that I still do: Keep track of daily energy use, that is, read the electric meter 1X/day at ~ the same time, record the result and post it with prior readings in a visible place. For some reason I'm clueless about, keeping track of something on a daily basis and having/keeping that measure visible, results in better/improved results. Basically, if you want to use less energy and keep use low or lower, measure and post usage daily in some way and place that's understandable and visible. If nothing else, it helps build unit (family) focus.

Best Regards. I won't say good luck. You've created some of that by your own efforts. Just that your actions are good examples of the idea that you make a lot of your own luck, both good and bad.

[C_Heath]

Thanks for the kind words JPM. Onward!