How Much Electricity Does a Circulator Use?

I have 4 Taco pumps, 3 zones and one circulating 24/7 between the coal boiler and the oil boiler. I installed the boiler in January this year. My 2013 kWh Usage : 9137
and 2014 kWh Usage YTD : 13785
The only change I can think of is adding the coal boiler and running that one circ all the time. Should I expect that big of an increase or is something else going on?

It will never make sense if there are estimated meter readings in the mix...and a rate increase plays havoc too.

About .75 amps or 120 x .75 = 90 Watts

2001Sierra wrote:About .75 amps or 120 x .75 = 90 Watts

Which would be just under 800 kW per year roughly.

The OP's increase seems a bit extreme to me..

Rob, is there a wattage or amperage rating stamped on the pumps?

sure does seem extreme, I knew our bills had been higher but I had always just attributed it to a rate increase. We're 4648 KWH more this year than all of last year even if all four circs ran 24/7 that still wouldn't add up to that big of an increase
time to start investigating I guess

I'm not sure, but I will check when I get home

Something else is going on. That is a significant jump.

Did you run the EFM through the summer? If you did not, and your summer usage was higher than previous years it is defiantly an indicator that something else is to blame.

Air conditioning? Dehumidifier? Extra beer fridge?

My Grundfos 3-speed circulators are labeled 60/80/87 watts for the different speeds. Agreed, that doesn't seem enough to account for your usage. Since you are running the circulator 24/7 one would assume you are also running the coal boiler 24/7 and using some (minimal) power to keep the oil boiler active. How much do their controls use?

Didn't leave your cellar or attic lights on by accident for a few months, did you? (Been there, done that. ) Can you look back at old power bills or ask your electric company to get each month's usage so you can see where it started?

If you have a well check to see that everything is working right. A bad check valve can cause the pump to run excessively.

gaw wrote:If you have a well check to see that everything is working right. A bad check valve can cause the pump to run excessively.

That was my first thought but never thought to post it

Do you have an electric water heater?
If yes, are you using it?
Is the circuit breaker on?

Reason for these question, electric hot water heaters only switch 1 leg of 240 volt to turn on and off the elements.
Therefor the other un-switched leg is always energized through the element...if the element has a fault that ruptures the elements cladding then current will flow continuously through the conductive water and this will spin the meter accordingly.

It has been an issue with septic systems that require a pump for the effluent. One family had a 220 a month increase last winter and we traced it to a stuck float in the pump chamber. Lots of possibilities, so don't target just one thing.

whistlenut wrote:It has been an issue with septic systems that require a pump for the effluent. One family had a 220 a month increase last winter and we traced it to a stuck float in the pump chamber. Lots of possibilities, so don't target just one thing.

That is true; if you have a pre conceived idea you may miss the forest for the trees.

There are trouble shooting charts for this type of thing, search for them, I have found them in the past. There is a systematic way to go circuit by circuit to find the culprit. An underground cable can leak electricity as an example, so you have to start at the main and work it from there to find out who is eating all that electricity.

I've attached an excel spreadsheet of our daily usage from Jan 2013 to current
We have 2 wells, one services my house and a mobile home in the next lot. The other well is for the barn. When you talk about a bad check valve is that in the pump? Both are submersible pumps and I'm not aware of any valves between the pressure tank and the pump..

We ran the EFM through the summer for DHW, the coil is in the old oil boiler so that one circ ran all summer. also as a result of that we probably ran the AC a little more than normal but it doesn't seem that it was that much more. No dehumidifier, same ole beer fridge, nothing new.

No electric hot water heater, no pump for the septic system. We do have a pool, the pump runs in the summer for 4hrs per day and is on a timer but that isn't new.

I know the library used to have some meters that you could use to monitor KWH's I think I will see if that is still available. I bought this house from my parents, when they purchased it back in 1995 the electric bill was high then as well. The electric company came out and checked every circuit, multiple time always maintaining that it could not be the meter. Well in the end it WAS the meter and they ended up refunding a bunch of money, seems unlikely that would be the case again though I guess....

Submersibles have check valve built in the top of pump.

And the library kW meter may not do 240 volt well pump.