My Electric Bill is Much Higher

Of course one thing we all know is electric bills do not go down but in the event you believe that it is not a random rise in rates in your area it might be time to look at several possibilities. If your spa has the required gfci breaker it is most likely not the spa that is using the large additional electric.

Try to think about what has changed in the house is there a purchase that has been made for something electrical about the time that the rates began to rise. People often jump to the spa being the problem and this is rarely ever the case. Have a electrician check the amperage draw on the various breakers in your box looking for one that seems to be constantly pulling a large amount of electric

There have been many times I have seen a short in a motors or, electronics on a appliance that is actually pumping electric to the ground wires in your house. The electric then travels to the main house ground, a post driven into the ground out by the meter. What happens then is this electric is dispersed into your yard.

One funny thing I have seen happen, is it will rain and in the affected yard bugs and critters and worms will be crawling out of the ground. They are getting shocked as the water in the yard is now moving the electric a much greater distance. When we were kids back east we gathered earth worms. Driving two stakes in the ground 10 foot apart and wetting down the area. We putt electric to the two stakes and watched as the worms crawled to the surface. I do not recommend you do this as it is indeed dangerous to distribute electric to the ground that is wet.

Rubber boots would required and the electric would defiantly not be turned on when you are in the area collecting. One day as I was troubleshooting a spa with a tech in the field we reached a humorous point in the conversation. He said the customer was being shocked by the spa and it happened even when the spa was off if they touched the water. I had him place a meter lead into the dirt and then tested the water with the other meter lead.

There was 12 volts there I asked if the ground was wet again “yes” and then I laughingly asked if there were a lot of worms crawling out of the ground. Again the answer was yes I explained why they were getting shocked by the spa. He said it only happens once in a while, I asked if it had been raining today. He responded it had. I asked if he knew where water would be finding its way into an outlet and carrying the electric into the ground. He said there was bad wiring going to a shed. Again it was not the spa.

Ground should be ground if it has voltage you will be paying for the electricity that is pumped into your yard. Proper and safe electrical connections conduit and water resistant boxes are always the best course of action.