[Greenbuilding] [BULK] Re: cost of electric versus natural gas and gasoline

[Reuben Deumling]

On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 2:33 PM, Lawrence Lile <LLile at projsolco.com> wrote:

>  How did you go about submetering the gas appliaces – do you have a name
> of a supplier of such meters, a rough cost?
>
gas utilities' meter shops refurbish these and sometimes will sell them to
folks like us. I got some off ebay for cheap~$10 plus shipping. There are
also companies out there that sell them. My first one was about $45 I think.

>
>
> If you meter it, you will probably conserve it!
>
>
>
> WoW! I knew pilot flames were inefficient, but I didn't realiuze that the
> pilot used MORE gas than the appliance it was keeping ready!  Are you sure
> there isn't a decimal point missing in that pilot flame number?
>
Very sure. This is the kind of stuff you learn when submetering appliances.
I should add that my water heater was not a standard model, and I did not
operate it in a standard manner. Microwaves have (I think) been metered with
an eye to comparing the various loads: the electric usage for the clock can
be as much or more as the electricity usage for nuking your food. The
latter, of course, depends on usage patterns, while the former is fixed
unless you yank the cord out of the wall and tape over the blinking clock
showing the always wrong time....

Reuben Deumling

>
>
> Lawrence Lile, PE, LEED AP
>
> Project Solutions Engineering
>   ------------------------------
>
> *From:* Reuben Deumling [mailto:9watts at gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Friday, March 14, 2008 11:47 AM
> *To:* Lawrence Lile
> *Cc:* greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org
> *Subject:* Re: [Greenbuilding] [BULK] Re: cost of electric versus natural
> gas and gasoline
>
>
>
> drifting even further afield (at least given the hold-over title of this
> thread):
>
> On Fri, Mar 14, 2008 at 9:35 AM, Lawrence Lile <LLile at projsolco.com>
> wrote:
>
> OTOH I do have a gas kitchen stove, which I guess is unvented if I don't
> turn the kitchen fan on.
>
> And that depends on the fan. Mine which I inherited and ripped out just
> redistributed everything back into the kitchen after passing it through a
> 'filter.'
>
> I've been submetering my gas water heater and gas kitchen stove for many
> years now, and we all know which one is required to be vented....
>
> Anyway, with my old setup--when we lived in an apartment--the WH used <5cf
> of gas per day and the stove used 7cf. Now with the WH in the basement I
> have less control over its operation, so the WH consumes about 15cf/day and
> the stove 9cf. For reference, a standard 400BTU/hr pilot flame corresponds
> to roughly 10cf/day.
>
> Reuben Deumling
>