anyway to figure out how much electricity the boiler is using?

We just got our first electricity bill in our new apt and it's through the f'ing roof - $357. In our old place, the bill for this time of year would be around $75. We've got the same basic set up - we even lost a dishwasher. The only thing I can think of that's sucking up juice is the boiler for the building. Is there anyway to figure out how much it's using?

thanks a lot,

Mike

It may not be the boiler. Other apartments or common areas may be running on your meter. If you are able to access the meter, turn off all electric appliances, lights and unplug all instant-on devices and chargers in your apt. Then go to the meter and see whether it is still spinning. If it is, call Con Ed and/or your landlord.

already tried that. I flipped the main breaker for our lever and the common lights were still on. thanks tho.

Since this is your first bill maybe it's an estimate? Call Con Ed and check with them.

It is an estimate. They came out to do a new reading, so I'm waiting for the update. But still, there's no way it's $275 over.

not to be coy, but is there anything that is fed directly from the meter other than your breakers?

A while ago we learned that the light for the courtyard was fed by our meter. It "took power" after the meter, but before it went to the set of breakers in our apt.

Savings = $20 a month

That's a good question. I don't know and wouldn't even know where to start.

I still think it could be another apartment, or even outlets in the common areas used for vacuuming or whatever.

but each floor has it's own meter

1. Turn off all of your breakers

2. Go down stairs to where you meter is.

3. Is meter still turning?

4. If answer to 3 = Yes, then see if you can see more than one "out wire" from the meter. Or, a split prior to your circuit breakers. Follow you power up the stairwell, or where ever it runs to your apartment.

5. Be suspicious of splits that go away from your apartment.

Each FLOOR has its own meter or each apartment (unit)?

It all depends on whether the wiring was done properly, or was tampered with after initial installation.

Stacey's suggestion is also worth checking. Finally, have you looked at the bill to see whether it covers a longer period than you have been in the apartment?

not to sound like a total tool, but do you mean the wheel under the dials? no, that stopped. Just tried it again to be sure.

@whynot - yeah, each floor has its own - we occupy the garden & the basement and our meter is marked 1st & basement.

@booklaw - I checked that too. The bill covers from when I opened the account.

Yes. The wheels under the dials.

yes, the dial and wheel

Ok, so you have determined that either

1. You aren't feeding anything between the meter and your circuit breakers OR

2. Whatever it is you are feeding between the meter and your circuit breaker isn't on at the moment

With this "knowledge" in hand, you should determine whether you feed anything AFTER your circuit box. Like booklaw states, you may be feeding a common area.

BTW, you don't have ELECTRIC HEAT do you?

One more question: does your apartment have baseboard (I.e. Electric) heating? That could be the problem.

booklaw and I think alike. scary

Now for fun with the flashlight!

To determine whether the boiler runs off your meter, do the following:

1. Find boiler in basement. Locate (but do not push) reset button on the boiler. This will likely be located on the electric thing that looks like a motor near the floor.

2. Turn up thermostat or wait for a while boiler blower to turn on all by itself.

When boiler is on, turn off all circuits. Did boiler turn off as you turned off your breakers?

3. Confirmation test: While leaving your breakers off, go to basement again, this time with flashlight. Be careful not to trip.

4. Push reset button on boiler blower. If nothing happens, it has no power because it runs off your breakers.

Another theory: Electric hot water heater runs off Mike's circuits and someone in building takes long showers. (it may have a reset button as well).

....we wait with baited breath

Also, if you're in new construction, even more reason to think that something was wrongly wired - in our 8 unit building, 4 of the units had criss-crossed metering for the outdoor A/C compressor units.

I have seen this done in loft buildings. If electrical risers run through the loft below then once I am able to splice into your service all I need to do is get into the loft above (during a vacancy perhaps) and run an electrical 220 relay off of one of your 120 breakers back to the 220 splices in my place. Whenever you turn your breakers off it turns my electric off also and stops the wheel from turning on the meter. Seems kind of exotic but not that difficult to do.

Try this: Go outside at night with someone in the apartment to turn off the breakers again. See if someone else's lights go out.

It's how you can even cheat Con Ed if you have what they call a "flat connection" in conjunction with a meter with little use.

addendum: All that is needed is a hot wire #14 or even less off of any electrical source in your apartment, not even a ground. The relay is in my lair. Any suspicion, I yank that #14 out of the ceiling.

If I was even smarter I'd only use your electric for my interior room hemp farm to heat light and ventilate 24/7 and leave the lights on my existing legitimate electric account.

Um, okay, from the top:

@whynot - nope, no electric heat

@booklaw - nope, no baseboard heat

@whynot - I'm a little confused with your boiler test, can you reexplain?

@whyfi - pretty neat & handy. I bet it's the damn cat fountain. & we're in an old brownstone.

Just checked with ConEd & the bill from an actual reading is $234. Still really high for the winter time.

I'm gonna go flip the breakers again and check the boiler. that tiny old boiler room is so fucking scary.

thanks people, I really really really appreciate all your help.

@whynot - I'm a little confused with your boiler test, can you reexplain?

I added words and commas.

I just had a similar spike in my common area charges. First call to Con Ed was unhelpful. Second call I requested to have someone come fix my broken meter. They sprang to action and walked me through a meter reading - they conceded error and I got about $100 back.

just checked the boiler before & after I flipped the circuit breakers and there's no noticeable difference. It's an oil burning boiler, but it does need electricty at some point, right? Here are some pics I snapped:

the old beast

some electrical control box, directly to the right of the beast

oil supply line + other machinery at the base

The gray box doesn't use electric. It has high and low limits. The BX is for cutting off power to the burner. The electric for running the burner (bottom picture) for a building twice the size of a brownstone would use maybe $100 a month.

see the red switch on the right? ...with the paper tag near it?

It will turn off power to the whole unit.

but before we do any of that, let's follow the electrical piping (rookie hint: silver thin piping, not copper piping) to see if it is fed by something BEFORE your meter. If it is fed before your meter, this beast ain't your problem. Go no further, leave this beast and its switches alone.

As modsquad points out, this thing:

http://mikelightman.com/up/boiler03.jpg

is your burner/blower. It will likely have a reset switch on it somewhere on the right side.

However, if your meter isn't turning and this thing is making noise, we can safely conclude that it is getting power from somewhere else and it isn't running up your bill.

....this will allow you to save yourself the fun of reseting it and/or flipping the switch; as modsquad states, I am beginning to think your energy hog is elsewhere.

...or you have a bad meter as mentioned above.

just leave your floors power off for a few hours during the night when everyone is home, if anyone complains about no power you find yourself a miss wired apt. if nobody says a thing, hmm you have vampire appliances.