Electricity

[loki32687]

Since I live at home, they are saying that my tank is causing the electric bill to go up $100 a month. I think this is a lie since they won't even show me the bill. Not to mention, now my dad is retired, and his mother in law sits at home and watches TV all day and such. Using the reef central calculator it says $30/month. Which sounds correct?

Thanks,
Matt

 

[s_kelley]

Get ya hands on one of those kilawatt things n it will tell u exactly how much power your using

 

[delta]

Yup killowatt meter and an electrical calc http://reefcentral.com/index.php/tank-electrical

They sell kilowatt meters at Lowes now.

But depending on how you setup the tank you could rack up 100/mo easily. I saved a fortune on my electricity after I got a kilowatt meter.

If you had a
Return pump running at 250watts
Halide 500watt 10hrs/day
skimmer pump 100watts
@.18/kw it would run around $ 75/mo

If your even close to that you could easily add up to 100/mo but you need to actually measure as some equipment uses less or more(this is more common) than the manufacturer states.
I have seen pumps using almost double what the manufacturer states. This can also be as the pump is worn and is not performing as well as it should.

Make sure you know the correct per kilowatt price and input that correctly into the calculator

 

[willray]

Hard to say Matt without knowing what your setup is.Total watts?

 

[loki32687]

Yup killowatt meter and an electrical calc http://reefcentral.com/index.php/tank-electrical

They sell kilowatt meters at Lowes now.

But depending on how you setup the tank you could rack up 100/mo easily. I saved a fortune on my electricity after I got a kilowatt meter.

If you had a
Return pump running at 250watts
Halide 500watt 10hrs/day
skimmer pump 100watts
@.18/kw it would run around $ 75/mo

If your even close to that you could easily add up to 100/mo but you need to actually measure as some equipment uses less or more(this is more common) than the manufacturer states.
I have seen pumps using almost double what the manufacturer states. This can also be as the pump is worn and is not performing as well as it should.

Make sure you know the correct per kilowatt price and input that correctly into the calculator

Kilowatt price is .15

I have 2x150, my return pump(rio2500) states 55w, skimmer pump(vertex IN-180) is 32w. My lights are only on 6 hours a day

 

[delta]

I would just borrow a kilowatt meter then do the calculator so you can show them what the usage is. Then it is all out on the table.

Heck you can tell them what the TV uses maybe you can save them money as they might have a bad appliance or something.

I had a TV drawing 140watts when it was off :: all my upgrade from my 135g to my 200g were lateral moves meaning the money I made selling stuff vs the money I was saving on energy paid for the upgrade. Actually felt kinda foolish for over paying for things previous to that.

 

[jimrawr]

No way its costing $100 a month for what you mentioned... Even if you leave them on 24hr a day then its still only $40 a month.

 

[mason90]

Iv got a meter on my tank now letting it run for the month

 

[Sean Irwin]

You may also be able to borrow a Kilowatt from your local library.