Energy Consumption question *please read*

[beezer720]

My energy bill for this month is 172% more than last yr Jan. It was up about $80+ from the last month, Dec, obv.

I had a 55 with 2 Aquaclear 300, a 200 W heater, 48" 60w light, and good air pump, forever.

In late Nov I set up a new 100 G with a Fluval 404, 2 36" 60W total, and two penguin 1140 powerheads(200-300GPH), and I also added another fluval submersible 250 GPH filter and around 100 W of another heater and 2 more lights 60W total(120 on larger tank). Put the 55G up again about 2 weeks later early, Dec. The 60W extra of lights were added about 3 weeks ago, do the lights draw that much electricity??

I leave lights on around 12+ hours a day. I have never paid or paid attention to the energy bill so I have no frame of reference. I can't imagine that setting up an additional 100 G would add $100 to an electricity bill, esp when it was up and running in dec, why would it be up $80???

Those of you that have maintained tanks, esp a setup similar to mine, and pay the bills and have actually looked over time and estimated how much the setup was drawing in electricity, I would be absolutely grateful if you had any info. Thanks in advance!

 

[Onikun]

The cost of electricity is different depending on demand. What I suggest is you look at your previous billing statements to see how much more electricity you are using.

 

[beezer720]

I did, and I realize the cost of electricity is dependent upon demand, I'm simply looking for a rough estimate in either dollars or kilowatt hours. Compared to last month $80 more. Compared to last yr jan over $140 more. There has been an increase in price as of 1/1/06, but by like $6. I had pretty much the same stuff setup btw last month aside from 60 W worth of lights extra.

 

[Onikun]

Perhaps its something else in your house. Are you running large appliances such as dishwashers, dryers, washers, ovens, etc.. during peak hours? Have you changed your habits in regards to that?

 

[Onikun]

btw 60watts of lights on for 12 hours a day is only 0.72Kilowatts per day.

60watts = 0.06kilowatts
0.06x 12 = 0.72kilowatts per 12 hours.

Correct me if my calculations are wrong
so in a 30 day billing period thats 21.6kilowatts

 

[beezer720]

Dunno that's a good question, but I doubt, if so, it can't be to a point that there is this much of a change, ie no new appliances. So you don't actually know from experience how much your setups seemed to have raised your energy consumption??

 

[beezer720]

I have no idea whether your calculations are right, but they seem reasonable to me(wattage calculations and conversions was one thing I never bothered to learn). Is that how things are measured, each watt signifies the amount of watts drawn/h. Any idea what adds up to a killowatt hour?? Would it be 21.6 kwh. Thanks for the info, that at least gets me goin. Would anyone know how much wattage a fluval 404 or say 300 ph powerhead would draw?? would I be able to find that out somewhere??

 

[Red K]

Seems weird to me, too. I've never noticed THAT huge of a difference in my energy bills regardless of how many or what size tanks I'm running. Maybe you should check with your power company and make sure there wasn't a mistake on your bill?

 

[fishpoor]

I live in MI also, and have nearly doubled from last year.

 

[beezer720]

Fishpoor, What the f**k!?! haha, I did see somewhere that as of 1/1/06 we were getting a hike on prices, but it said on avg 6 or so dollars per acg family. I'm sure we consume more than the avg fam but not 100s of dollars worth in extra charges. And yeah Red, I'm agreeing with you. I'm gonna look into it. My mom was b*tch*ng at me saying it was the tanks, but I just highly doubted it would be that much of a dif. Thats why I'm asking you guys. Thanks. Keep the knowledge/experiences coming. haha