PC energy costs!!!
- Thread starter danrw84
- Start date
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thomas712
Guest
Found this, hope it helps.
Electricity
An in-depth class on electrical terms and meanings is beyond the scope (and my capabilities) of this short article. However, the hobbyist should be familiar with the terminology and be able to use conversion factors.
Power companies charge you by the kilowatt hour (abbreviated as kwH). A 1,000 watt light bulb burning for 1 hour uses 1 kwH. Prices vary for a kilowatt-hour. Many utilities state your cost per kwH on your bill, if not, divide your bill (less tax) by the number of kwH used to arrive at your cost.
Some equipment will not list its wattage on the information plate. All is not lost, however. If the plate lists the amperage and voltage, use this formula:
Amperage X voltage = wattage
For example, a pump pulling 4 amps at 115 volts uses 460 watts.
If horsepower is all that is listed, use this formula:
Horsepower X 0.75 = kilowatts
For instance, a chiller listed at 1/4 (0.25) horsepower = 0.25 X 0.75 = 0.1875 kw or 187.5 watts.
Lighting
Estimating your lighting cost appears to be straight forward. In reality, it gets pretty complicated when we consider ballast efficiencies. Electronic ballasts are usually more efficient than tar ballasts - we'll leave it at that. For estimating costs, use the total bulb wattage times the hour of hours they are on. For example, an aquarium might use 1 - 175 watt metal halide bulb for 10 hours and 2-110 watt VHO florescent bulbs for 12 hours.
Hence:
175 watts X 10 hours = 1,750 watts = 1.75 kwH
2 X 110 X 12 hours = 2,640 watts = 2.64 kwH
Total kwH = 4.39 kwH per day X ?? cents per kwH =xx.xx
Some lighting systems use a small, computer fan for cooling. Be sure to include this wattage in your estimations.
Thomas
Electricity
An in-depth class on electrical terms and meanings is beyond the scope (and my capabilities) of this short article. However, the hobbyist should be familiar with the terminology and be able to use conversion factors.
Power companies charge you by the kilowatt hour (abbreviated as kwH). A 1,000 watt light bulb burning for 1 hour uses 1 kwH. Prices vary for a kilowatt-hour. Many utilities state your cost per kwH on your bill, if not, divide your bill (less tax) by the number of kwH used to arrive at your cost.
Some equipment will not list its wattage on the information plate. All is not lost, however. If the plate lists the amperage and voltage, use this formula:
Amperage X voltage = wattage
For example, a pump pulling 4 amps at 115 volts uses 460 watts.
If horsepower is all that is listed, use this formula:
Horsepower X 0.75 = kilowatts
For instance, a chiller listed at 1/4 (0.25) horsepower = 0.25 X 0.75 = 0.1875 kw or 187.5 watts.
Lighting
Estimating your lighting cost appears to be straight forward. In reality, it gets pretty complicated when we consider ballast efficiencies. Electronic ballasts are usually more efficient than tar ballasts - we'll leave it at that. For estimating costs, use the total bulb wattage times the hour of hours they are on. For example, an aquarium might use 1 - 175 watt metal halide bulb for 10 hours and 2-110 watt VHO florescent bulbs for 12 hours.
Hence:
175 watts X 10 hours = 1,750 watts = 1.75 kwH
2 X 110 X 12 hours = 2,640 watts = 2.64 kwH
Total kwH = 4.39 kwH per day X ?? cents per kwH =xx.xx
Some lighting systems use a small, computer fan for cooling. Be sure to include this wattage in your estimations.
Thomas
pyro383
Member
http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/tank_elec_calc.htm
enjoy, actually you are in for a shock
enjoy, actually you are in for a shock
heyoo
Member
I was browsing through my aquatic-ecosystems catalog, and noticed that they sell an inexpensive power meter that plugs into your wall outlet. It looks sorta like a lighting timer, but it displays power consumption (in watts) of everything thats plugged into it. If you really want to know how much your tank impacts your electric bill, that'd probably be the most accurate (and simple) method for the money.
Heyoo.
Heyoo.