Electric Bill

bolivian_d · Dec 5, 2008

I've heard one person tell me that the costs of running a standard heater and filter is expensive, I've heard others tell me the costs are insignificant. I know it's all relative to what's 'standard' and 'insignificant' but how much does running your tank cost you?

minxfishy · Dec 5, 2008

Dont know to be exact, but up until a couple of months ago, I was running 7 tanks, Im now down to 3, my electric bill has doubled in the last year!! Now some of that is due to the extortionate price rises, but some of it has to be down to the amount of filter, heater and lights, Ive cut back on the time my lights are on in my tanks the last few weeks, just to save a little bit - its probably not much, but gotta try something.

raptorrex · Dec 5, 2008

bolivian_d said:
I've heard one person tell me that the costs of running a standard heater and filter is expensive, I've heard others tell me the costs are insignificant. I know it's all relative to what's 'standard' and 'insignificant' but how much does running your tank cost you?

filters consume anything from 7-40 watts, and run 24/7. heaters are from 50-300 watts but they are only on for a short while, dependent on the ambient temperature.

this would mean that a filter would use, roughly, the same electric as a small bedside lamp on all day. working out the consumption of the heater is, far, more complicated. it can only really be done with one of those electronic gizmo's sold by RS and the like. those who have done the calculations, often, find it uses less power than the filter over any given period of time.

sadly, anything that uses electric for power will up your bill.

Jallen · Dec 5, 2008

I don't know how much my tanks use to run, but I do know that the computer I'm currently using has a 570W power supply, and if you want to save electricity, you should first analyse how long your computer is on every day.

minxfishy · Dec 5, 2008

^^^ All day, every day, least 12 hours, plus two teenagers that have theirs on at least 6 hrs too.

rabbut · Dec 5, 2008

Lights are usualy the biggest power eaters. I have 154W over my 4ft Discus tank, on for 11 hours a day. You are charged by the killowatt hour on most electricity supplies. So, 1kW = 1000W of power use over 1 hour, thus over a day, my lights consume 1.694KW's, at an adverage of 10p per KWH, they cost about £0.16 per day. The heater is 300W, and on for roughly 1/6 of the time, equivilant to 50W solid on, hence, 1.2KWH per day there, another £0.12. Filters use 42W between them (there are two), so £0.10. Total daily running costs for my 335l, 4ft Discus tank = £0.38 :good:

All the best
Rabbut

Mikaila31 · Dec 5, 2008

Yeah a couple large tanks will definitely effect your bill. I calculated my hi-tech planted tank's running cost, its got 110watts of light and 300w heater. I guessed that the heater would be on 1/3 of the day, but I'm not sure if thats correct. Anyway total cost of running it for a year was over $200 w/ electricity at $0.11/KW

Its pretty easy to figure out how much its going to cost you. Find out how much each device uses in a day X by 365 days(or a month or a week if you want). Then divide by 1000, to turn your watts to KW. Then find out how much your paying per KW and multiply by that.

Computer left on really annoy me. First cuz they are going to wear out sooner and second cuz parents always use to yell at me for leaving stuff on. If the computer is running scans and stuff, like my dad always does. I turn the monitors off. I've woken up at 4am and found the computer chugging away downstairs w/ its monitor on :grr:

.

doresy · Dec 5, 2008

Just a couple of pints less at the weekend more than cover the cost of running my tanks....can't have it all :look:

Jallen · Dec 5, 2008

rabbut said:
Lights are usualy the biggest power eaters. I have 154W over my 4ft Discus tank, on for 11 hours a day. You are charged by the killowatt hour on most electricity supplies. So, 1kW = 1000W of power use over 1 hour, thus over a day, my lights consume 1.694KW's, at an adverage of 10p per KWH, they cost about £0.16 per day. The heater is 300W, and on for roughly 1/6 of the time, equivilant to 50W solid on, hence, 1.2KWH per day there, another £0.12. Filters use 42W between them (there are two), so £0.10. Total daily running costs for my 335l, 4ft Discus tank = £0.38

All the best
Rabbut

My 3ft tank's light it only 20W, plus it's one which emulates sunlight.