View Full Version : My gas bill is really high, could it be the furnace
chrisjle
Jan 9, 2009, 02:40 PM
I live in a two story townhouse that is 950 sq ft. The furnace is a rheem criterion 2. I recently got my gas bill and it was 250 dollars this month. The bill was an estimate and I checked the meter and it was correct. I was wondering if maybe there is a problem with my furnace because the bill is so high. A friend of mine lives in the same complex in the same size townhouse with the same type of furnace and their bill was only 90 dollars. We run our heat at 66 during the day and 62 at night. The people we know run theirs higher during the day and night so I'm wondering if maybe something is wrong with our furnace since there is such a huge difference between our bills. Last month our bill was 140 dollars and theirs was 80! Any help would be much appreciated.
hvac1000
Jan 9, 2009, 02:47 PM
Do you have more outside walls than they do. Sometimes units might be in the same complex but are different. How do you know there bill is smaller. Have you actually seen there bill or was that figure just told to you. For that big a difference in utility bills something besides the furnace must be different.
chrisjle
Jan 9, 2009, 03:04 PM
Well we do live in a corner unit. The person we know is my girlfriends sister so there is no question about the amount of her bill. I realize living in a corner unit makes a difference but 160 dollar difference seems like a lot. My furnace does seem to run a lot. It seems like its on every 15 minutes, and the upstairs seems to always be cold. I just thought there must be a problem with the furnace for it to be such a huge difference in the bill. I did notice today that when the furnace comes on, an orange light blinks a couple times and it never used to do that
hvac1000
Jan 9, 2009, 03:13 PM
If you feel it is the furnace that I would have a On Site Service call and get a tune up. This way they can check for combustion efficiency etc and make sure your furnace is running in tip top condition. It has probably been a long time since it has really been serviced well.
chrisjle
Jan 9, 2009, 03:17 PM
Im thinking about asking my landlord to have someone come out and look at the furnace. The gas company is going to check the meter in a couple days to make sure the meter is working correctly. It just seems like our bill is way to high. My parents and my girlfriends parents both live in houses and there bills were both less than ours. We also just talked to someone else that lives in our complex and their bill was only 130 so its hard for me to believe that something isn't working right. Anyway thanks so much for your help