Gas Consumption Blues

ALH_4

"You mean if we turn up the heat and use more hot water, the gas bill will go up?" ;-)

One 20-min shower would use 200,000 btu! How can they complain about gas consumption with a shower flow rate like that? We should be complaining about their gas usage with a shower like that!

Josh M.

Have a customer complaining about gas consumption. Buderus GB142 and TN4 controls.

Initially I was asked for an estimate on their gas usage. Plugged the numbers into Siggy's program and gave em the print out, along with a big disclaimer!!

Got a nasty email today about their gas consumption. Went out and tested their gas lines for leaks and tested the combustion on the boiler. Every things fine.

Then I remembered... That 20 GPM shower was added after the estimate! And futher more I looked at the t-stats and noticed that their "wake" mode is set for 80 degrees for 1 hour. hmm.. Asked them why and they said "we like warm feet in the morning".

So for the umpteenth time I trained them on proper usage of their system. Hopefully it will stick this time!

Josh_10

Guess this could go under the "what you said, and what they heard" category.

andy_21

Training

I've found if you type something up & hand it to them & ask for a signature on your copy, then throw it in the job folder, It save a lot of "I Don't remember you saying that"

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Egad. Let me guess--they also want warm floors in the summer when the A/C is running...

I'm guilty of having a shower of that sort, but am fully aware of the cost when I turn on a lot of heads or turn on the steam generator. I (and others) occasionally luxuriate in the car wash, the steam room or the whirlpool, but there's a basket in the bathroom with a MANDATORY $2.00 contribution for the luxury.

The floor heating (electric for this bath) is OFF during the warmer months but it definitely goes on once cool mornings are fairly common and stays on until they're gone.

hr

e mail them a copy of

the math that spells out how DHW use translates to fuel cost. Often homeowners don't understand how the shower time translates into dollars.

Politely, of course.


I've run into this with swimming pools running off heating boiler, via HX's. Amazing how fast a tank of LP disappers when the boiler runs 24/7.


hot rod

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Josh M.

As a matter of fact yes.. His wife asked me one day "is there any way I can have the floors warm without heating up the house"? Uh, no!

Well one more lesson learned on dealing with people.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

There's something truly pitiful in this story Josh.

I've seen the type of systems you design and/or build and while they're not of the general type I'd personally design/build, they're of the finest workmanship using first-class materials with quite careful attention to both comfort and efficiency.

While I don't have too much of a problem with people using truly excessive amounts of energy--after all I may well add snowmelt to my quite steep and long driveway--I DO have a problem when they complain about the fuel bill!!!