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OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 #7623356 10/04/19 12:13 AM
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Flashprism Offline OP
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My cabin has a chest freezer outside and a side by side Refrigerator inside. I have a water tank for game outside. Except for the stove clock no other power is on. Water heater is off when we leave. When not there I use 5.5 to 6 KW a day or 180 to 200 kw a month. So May, june July August was 170 to 200 KW each.I checked with the power company and I used 33 KW for the last 6 days. Normal now

When I get my bill for September I used 378 kw. I'm thinking a critter chewed my hose to the water tank and my well ran till it froze or it over heated and the breaker shut down.

Depressed I'm thinking I have a big project next week when I go up fo the deer season

I call a friend who is farming 50 of the 160 acres and ask if he could check my well. He tells me all is fine the stock tank is full the float valve is working.

He says the door is secure on the cabin so it doesn't look like someone was inside.

What could have spiked my power by 100%???? it occured between 8/18 and 9/9 21 day at 15KW a day

I am so glad my wellis OK but I am baffled at the surge and now all seems fine.

Any Ideas???

Last edited by Flashprism; 10/04/19 12:19 AM.
Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: Flashprism] #7623369 10/04/19 12:29 AM
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krmitchell Offline
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They didn’t read the meter wrong did they?

Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: Flashprism] #7623371 10/04/19 12:32 AM
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Flashprism Offline OP
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KRM

Its one of those new remote read. That may be the case but after my 3 calls to them and detailed reviews I hope they would have owned up to that.

Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: Flashprism] #7623379 10/04/19 12:39 AM
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krmitchell Offline
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I doubt they read it wrong if it is automated.

Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: Flashprism] #7623424 10/04/19 01:19 AM
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Would the electric company pro rated?

Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: Flashprism] #7623427 10/04/19 01:22 AM
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jeffbird Offline
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Was the A/C left set low?

Could someone with an RV have plugged in? Saw that at a lease once.

Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: Flashprism] #7623502 10/04/19 02:37 AM
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flintknapper Offline
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Meter misread or misinterpreted at some point.


Spartans ask not...how many, but where!
Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: Flashprism] #7623580 10/04/19 11:11 AM
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David Maas Online Content
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Smartmeter Texas, sign up and you can read your meter yourself, has plenty of tracking/sort options, by the hour, day, week etc


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Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: Flashprism] #7623586 10/04/19 11:29 AM
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Flashprism Offline OP
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Air conditioner is off . If it was on I'd have high usage every prior month and Gates all locked as my friend verified during his visit so no access to house power

I'll be heading up next week so I hope I can see something that caused this huge jump. Misreading the usage would make sense but it's an advanced remote unit and I've been talking to a customer service rep and they have not raised this as a possibility.

David my neighbor in corpus advised me of smart meter and I will be signing up. Thanks

Last edited by Flashprism; 10/04/19 11:30 AM.
Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: Flashprism] #7623865 10/04/19 05:43 PM
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redchevy Offline
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You say they just put in a new meter that reports itself.

Any chance they were just charging you an average before the new meter based on your prior use and now the new meter is a more correct representation? I know we had some disputes from power company at my grandmas old farm/farmhouse when we transitioned from a meter that they had to manually read (and only read every once in a while) to the new automated ones.


It's hell eatin em live
Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: Flashprism] #7624025 10/04/19 08:41 PM
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Flashprism Offline OP
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Red not new about 1 year old and no previous issues, They claim actual readings. Next week I will review all possibilities maybe meter is screwed up

Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: Flashprism] #7624454 10/05/19 01:15 PM
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Could be someone trespassed and didn't close the outside freezer. Then your friend checked it and closed it. Could be the angle of the sun changed, to hit both the inside and outside freezer. Could be the compressor or thermostat or pipes going bad in either freezer. It seems like a lot of electricity, and you say it is all coming from the two freezers so far as you know. If it is all coming from the freezers, and a mechanical problem can quickly change the load from the freezers, it is probably a freezer. If the load is normal now, could be the compressor died and is no longer running hot.

Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: Flashprism] #7624462 10/05/19 01:26 PM
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Long story short, you need a new chest freezer.

Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: ConfederateRobot] #7624522 10/05/19 03:16 PM
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flintknapper Offline
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Originally Posted by ConfederateRobot
Long story short, you need a new chest freezer.


^^^^

Dang....I'd say you have a lucrative future in front of you. Being able to conclusively diagnose appliance issues from a remote location. wink

Got to be a market for that kind of talent.


Spartans ask not...how many, but where!
Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: flintknapper] #7624582 10/05/19 04:59 PM
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Originally Posted by flintknapper
Originally Posted by ConfederateRobot
Long story short, you need a new chest freezer.


^^^^

Dang....I'd say you have a lucrative future in front of you. Being able to conclusively diagnose appliance issues from a remote location. wink

Got to be a market for that kind of talent.

It is called ESTCP.

https://www.serdp-estcp.org/About-SERDP-and-ESTCP/About-ESTCP

DOD paid for it. Lot of old equipment burning electricity on military bases.

Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: ConfederateRobot] #7624811 10/05/19 08:58 PM
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Originally Posted by ConfederateRobot
Originally Posted by flintknapper
Originally Posted by ConfederateRobot
Long story short, you need a new chest freezer.


^^^^

Dang....I'd say you have a lucrative future in front of you. Being able to conclusively diagnose appliance issues from a remote location. wink

Got to be a market for that kind of talent.

It is called ESTCP.

https://www.serdp-estcp.org/About-SERDP-and-ESTCP/About-ESTCP

DOD paid for it. Lot of old equipment burning electricity on military bases.


That's called 'when your only tool is a hammer, everything problem looks like a nail'.

OP's issue could be any number of things (to include your assessment).

I wouldn't be too quick to "Long Story Short" anything.


Spartans ask not...how many, but where!
Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: flintknapper] #7624817 10/05/19 09:08 PM
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Originally Posted by flintknapper
Meter misread or misinterpreted at some point.

this


hold on Newt, we got a runaway
Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: Flashprism] #7624892 10/05/19 11:30 PM
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spg Offline
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Could have a critter across your meter connections or a high resistance short in a circuit somewhere. Check all your receptacles and compare voltage readings with all appliances off, if there's high resistance short that's not tripping a breaker the voltage on the circuit should be lower than the other circuits. First pull your meter and see if there is anything like a nest or critter that fried itself that's drawing amperage. You can also feel the breakers to see if one is hotter than the other and that will be your problem, either the circuit or the appliance on the circuit.

Last edited by spg; 10/05/19 11:33 PM.
Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: Flashprism] #7624927 10/06/19 12:26 AM
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Are you in some social rate plan? We had the same happen called them and was told that the rate was not honored when a power emergency was called. They charges us about 100% more for those months.

Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: Flashprism] #7625514 10/06/19 09:14 PM
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Flashprism Offline OP
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Appreciate all the inputs. Will bring my meter and check all suggestions. Again all power off except well, chest freezer outside, Side by side refrigerator inside. Micro wave, electric stove plugged in but no usage as far as I know. Been very consistent for years at 5 to 6.5 KW a day. From 8/18 to 9/9 used 296 kw or 14kw per day. I was sure that the well which is connected to my stock tank by a hose was chewed or ruptured and the well ran to over heat or froze however by friend confirmed stock tank is full and well is OK.

Access to land is via gates with hardened chains and secure combo locks. Friend confirmed no gate tampering or cut 5 wire fence. Lost a trailer 3 years ago so made it much more difficult to break in.

Baffled to say the least

Again appreciate all your thoughts.

Last edited by Flashprism; 10/06/19 09:17 PM.
Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: David Maas] #7625700 10/07/19 12:19 AM
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Originally Posted by David Maas
Smartmeter Texas, sign up and you can read your meter yourself, has plenty of tracking/sort options, by the hour, day, week etc



THIS


You can't fix stupid
Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: tlk] #7625818 10/07/19 02:01 AM
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Notify the electric utility if you plan on cutting the seal and pulling the meter. Electric utilities have different policies on how they handle a customer doing this. Some allow it but most require a serviceman to come to the location and disconnect it. Liability reasons. I don't know how sophisticated your utility's meter reading software is but some alert if power is disconnected from the meter. A broken seal is an indication of tampering and they may have a policy to bill you an additional charge to send a serviceman out to check the location. I would call them ahead of time and explain your situation and what you plan to do before you do it. I'm just trying to save you a headache with the utility company.

I don't have an explanation for the additional power usage unless livestock used your water trough for a period of time while grazing in your area. Our cattle rotate to different parts of the ranch and will stay for several weeks and then move on to another part of the ranch.

There are several device specific electrical monitoring devices on he market now. One is Kill-A-Watt but their are others. You can plug your freezer into it and then into the wall outlet and it will give you the Kwh used by that appliance during a period of time. If you use several of these units, it may give you a clue which appliance may be the culprit. The water well is probably on a separate breaker however with the Kill-A-Watt devices you should be able to subtract the usage from your appliance usage and get a close idea of well usage.

My experience? 30 years in the electrical utility industry in billing systems, SCADA systems, customer service and computers.
and best of all - Retired

Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: Flashprism] #7628047 10/09/19 01:07 PM
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Hmmmm.......any chance tweakers are running an extension cord to your place and stealing power? Don't laugh! It happens more than people realize


Rob Valle
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Originally Posted by Texsun
The three things you need in life are a good doctor, lawyer and taxidermist.

Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: Flashprism] #7628291 10/09/19 04:32 PM
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just a wild guess, but could you have a running toilet that is causing your well pump to run more than usual.


Thanks,
Rich
Re: OK Need your thoughts as I had a 100% increase in power consumption at my cabin from 8/6 to 9/9 [Re: rob valle] #7629109 10/10/19 02:04 PM
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Originally Posted by rob valle
Hmmmm.......any chance tweakers are running an extension cord to your place and stealing power? Don't laugh! It happens more than people realize

If it were bitcoin miners, the bill would be way higher.

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