High gas bill

[MasterPlumbersKeymaster]

My mother recently learned that her summer gas bill (she just has a hot water heater on gas in the summer)is averaging $50 while similarly situated neighbors in the apartment complex (older, single individuals) have bills that average $16. The gas meter has been checked, any suggestions as to what to check next?

[SylvanLMPParticipant]

quote:

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Originally posted by dallen:
My mother recently learned that her summer gas bill (she just has a hot water heater on gas in the summer)is averaging $50 while similarly situated neighbors in the apartment complex (older, single individuals) have bills that average $16. The gas meter has been checked, any suggestions as to what to check next?

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Has anyone though of installing a
a non standing pilot light stove something in the order of an energy saving electronic ignition

TA DUM now wasn’t that easy to think of

[fourth yearParticipant]

Ta dum what? Are you going to press the button to light the pilot every time she wants hot water? If not, maybe you can retrofit an electronic on demand burner. You would have to do it at a very cheap price in order to make it less expensive than her gas bill.

There are two other possibilities. If she is on the first floor of a concrete slab buillding and the water lines run under the floor, she could have a leak and that would cause the water heater to run more often. And depending on the apartment’s water heater location revlevent to other apartments, it is conceivable that her water heater could be connected to someone else’s water system and vice versa. This is easy to test by turning off the water supply to her water heater and opening a faucet to see if the flow is stopped.

[GuestParticipant]

quote:

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Originally posted by fourth year:
Ta dum what? Are you going to press the button to light the pilot every time she wants hot water? If not, maybe you can retrofit an electronic on demand burner. You would have to do it at a very cheap price in order to make it less expensive than her gas bill.

There are two other possibilities. If she is on the first floor of a concrete slab buillding and the water lines run under the floor, she could have a leak and that would cause the water heater to run more often. And depending on the apartment’s water heater location revlevent to other apartments, it is conceivable that her water heater could be connected to someone else’s water system and vice versa. This is easy to test by turning off the water supply to her water heater and opening a faucet to see if the flow is stopped.

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Hey I am sure Sylvan was saying that a standing pilot on a STOVE uses a lot more gas then a electronic type of oven/stove.
Now for your information if they did have a small leak the sweating would be unbelievable plus the water would be tempered.
[Edited by Lorenzo on 06 September 2001]

[SylvanLMPParticipant]

Quote:

Originally posted by fourth year:
Ta dum what? Are you going to press the button to light the pilot every time she wants hot water?

ANSWER:
Excuse me but a stove doesn’t have water in the area’s I’m used to working in guy,

BUT then In my area we do have certain qualifications to be called “plumber” S.LMP

Stupidity Below>>
If not, maybe you can retrofit an electronic on demand burner. You would have to do it at a very cheap price in order to make it less expensive than her gas bill.

Class is IN AGAIN for the unknowing from the sand land of the senile and WANNA BE’S.

Actually I have converted boilers with a standing pilot flame to electronic ignition as the energy saved by a non standing pilot flame pays for the spark ignition with in a year.

There are some other benefits a stumblebum from back woods area would never think of like that can be added to a boiler like If your smart enough to have installed a non pilot light system

Then you could install a vent damper that closes between cycles thus increasing the efficiency even more BUT of course you being a non plumber/heating person would never know the technical aspects of ANY trade or profession

STUPIDITY again below….

There are two other possibilities. If she is on the first floor of a concrete slab buillding and the water lines run under the floor, she could have a leak and that would cause the water heater to run more often.<<<< Did you think this up all by yourself?

Class is in about PLUMMMIN

Seems to me if I remember correctly a leak on a water line is continous

Now lets say the unknowing schlepper is correct and there is a leak don’t you think

1-someone would hear the gas firing constantly?

2- The water bill would also SKY Rocket

3- Cold water lines would sweat?

AND Mildew and dripping would be seem? READ Sick Building Sydrome and how to prevent DUH

4- Hot water would be tempered as stated

My point being IF only the gas bill is WHY NOT CHECK the stoves for a standing pilot?

Burning just a small amount of fuel 24-7 ADDS UP

But a know nothing from a state with no code has no clue to fuel savings.

Amazing how states GIVE AWAY a plumbers card

[fourth yearParticipant]

You are trying to hard to rationalize a dumb reply. They specified that they just have a water heater. NO STOVE. NO BOILER. How many 30, 40, or 50 gallon water heaters have you ever converted to on demand ignition systems? If the answer is more than zero, then what was the exhoritant cost to do it? Probably more than a new heater would cost. And depending on the extent of the leak the heater will either run all the time,in which case the water temperature eventually becomes warm as the leak gets to great to allow the water heater to recover, or it will cycle as the temperature builds up and is then drained down. Since you just do downspouts, you probably have never encountered this situation. I have seen it many times. In fact, customers sometimes replace the water heater themselves when the water is not hot enough and then they call an expert plumber, me, because they still have the same problem. That is when I tell them the old water heater was not defective and they have a leak under the floor. In an apartment complex, there may only be a single water meter so a leak would not be as obvious as it would if there were a meter for each unit. We are addressing the situation as if there is a problem. She may also just use a lot more hot water than the neighbors.

[fourth yearParticipant]

One other possibility. If she heats with gas in the winter time, she may be on an average billing which makes every months bill about the same, which would mean her winter bills are less than the neighbors.

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