Hey BD,

You might try putting a meter on that before you do anymore troubleshooting. It would be hard to isolate something as small as 18 watts from a bill.

At that rate you are talking a buck and some change a month @ 8 cents a kwh

The 18 watt was correctly determined before the posting. The power rate is about $.12 per KWH.
That much power usage does not seem normal to me for the controls alone.

"The 18 watt was correctly determined before the posting. The power rate is about $.12 per KWH."

OK, so it's .0018 X 24 X 30 X .12 = Sixteen Cents a Month.

EDIT: Oops, as pointed out $1.56. Still, a small parasitic load compared to many other household devices.

Replace a single incandescent light bulb in your home with a more efficient CFL or LED and you'll possibly make up the difference on one's bill.

This post was edited by saltidawg on Thu, May 15, 14 at 12:12

"OK, so it's .0018 X 24 X 30 X .12 = Sixteen Cents a Month."
My calculations differ. 18 watts times 24 hours is 432 watt hours. 432 times 30 is about 13 KWH. 13 x .12= $1.56.
But that was not the principal focus of my post.

SD,

Unless I'm mistaken, it would be about $1.55 a month.

I understand your point BD... but one of the things that we often hear is that all the wall-wart power supplies on our electronics, for example, adds up -- so this doesn't surprise me. If the manufacturer isn't really paying attention to idle power consumption it could slip by (it's only 18 watts).

18 watts isn't much (about 3 night lights) but it's on all the time.

Here is an old article about the standby power of gas furnaces. It states the average stand by power of a gas furnace with a ECM blower is 12 watts. Your power is on the high high side of what is typical.

Unfortunately the standby power of a gas furnace is not factored into the overall efficiency. There is no incentive for manufacturers to spend money to redesign their boards to lower the power.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Electric Side of Gas Furnaces

Very interesting information. Thank you for posting. Appears to be the nature of the beast.

"Unfortunately the standby power of a gas furnace is not factored into the overall efficiency."

Mike,

If I may add, NO electrical usage is included in a gas furnace (thermal) efficiency determination.... not the electric for the fan nor controls,

This post was edited by saltidawg on Thu, May 15, 14 at 18:40

Saltidawg,

I know electric usage is not factored into the overall efficiency of a gas furnace. But maybe it should. I didn't appreciate how much stand by power is being used.

If I assume my two furnaces use 12 W of standby power, at $.18 per kWh my costs are $37 per year. For the past two years my average heating costs have been $400. The stand by cost is about 10% of the heating cost!

I agree. All of the power used should factor into those ratings. 18 cents a kwh is pretty pricy electricity - would make a grid tie solar installation start to look very appealing.

parasitic electrical usage is a huge user of electrical.

As an example, if you use a DVR to enhance your TV viewing experience you'll find that DVR uses a ton of power even when "sleeping."

As an example, my Dish 722k and Dish 622 receivers EACH use about 50 Watts 24/7/365.

This post was edited by saltidawg on Fri, May 16, 14 at 13:36

To look at it from another angle, we just bought a new freezer for home use. Much of the contents is home grown-- which is now illegal under a Federal law-- which is currently not being enforced.
The estimated annual cost of operation for the freezer (per the Federal government) is $73.00. Compared to that cost, the HVAC controls use 25% of the power required to operate the freezer at 0 deg F. Let's be a bit generous and say that it is only 20%-- still quite a lot.

Here is a link that might be useful: It is law

This post was edited by bus_driver on Mon, May 19, 14 at 21:35