Never had a higher electric bill then last month. Why is it my girl friend always looks at me when that thing shows up in the mail? >:::
She used her hair drier a couple times last month, surely that uses as much electric as my ta… ok maybe not.
verdict_in
how MUCH was it jon?
If I post it on the forum I’d never ever be able to yell at anyone for wasting electricity or call myself an environmentalist again.
I continue to blame my electric bill on the hot tub, the hair dryer (which I obviously don’t sue) and the kids.
I know the cost of electricity has chased at least one valuable member out of the hobby in recent years.
Was very sad when I was working for an LFS and had people coming in looking to sell off their tanks or just give away their animals because the electric company told them if they wanted to reduce their bill they should get rid of your tank. Several of them coming in had fresh water tanks!
what are some suggestions for the average reefer to cut down on cost/consumption? what are some of the components that we use on our tanks that cause ‘higher bills’?
I know halides must hurt some peoples pockets…also putting lights on a timer could help a little i guess…cant really think of too much…ideas?
change your halides out to leds, turn off your heater in the summer. thats all i can think of
Set your powerheads on a wavemaker.
Reduce the amount of time you run your skimmer.
Shorten your lighting period.
Increase amount of insulation in room with the tank.
Yea I’m a bit pissed about this months bill, it has always been around $145 a mo. (In an apartment mind you) But then last month it was $208 and then this month it is $267 and I have changed nothing! They say I used 20 KW/H more each DAY this month than last but both were about the same temp. (don’t argue that point, I work out in that sh*t)
In may they installed digital meters and I think they are not accurate but how can you prove it?
Oh well, bux up and shut up right?
[quote=“TimH07, post:9, topic:3224”]
In may they installed digital meters and I think they are not accurate but how can you prove it?[/quote]
They are probably MORE accurate and that is part of the problem.
I knew a guy once that realized the hallway outlet in his apartment (the one they used to vacuum the common area) was on the opposite side of his closet. He cut a hole in the drywall behind that outlet and connected it to a new outlet that he used to run the refrigerator and other “heavy draw” items off of so it got billed to the apartment complex instead of him.
I’m sure if he had a fish tank he would have run that off of it too.
Never ever understood turning a heater off in the summer time. If your heater is on when it’s above the temp you want in your tank it’s broken.
There are countless different ways to cut on energy costs/CO2 footprint with the tank. If you have the upfront cost and the land you can start with a green house, geothermal cooling, solar powered fans, and a solar panel field… but for most of us a couple of cheap fans vs a chiller is an obvious one this time of year a lot of newbies miss.
If your return pump is twice the size you need and dial back half way… twice as much power.(depending on the size of your tank you can pay for the pump in a years time with the savings, not including being able to sell the old pump to another reefer)
Have your return pump dialed back just a little bit and use a little feed pump for a reactor? Make the one pump push both of them and get rid of the little one.
Have a little dead spot in your house you use a really old zoo med, aquaclear, or other older pump just to push through that area? It could use 4-5 times as much power as a newer move efficient model.
As Craig said above a wave maker is huge. A “wave maker” that alternates which power head is on cuts the energy in half and would be healthier for the tank then having both on all the time.
Surge systems are great, another one I certain plan on doing at some point.
I could go on and on.
Craig the opposite was the case when I lived in the complex Tim now lives in. Our air conditioner on our electric bill cooled the common hallways between the apartments. And the doors to the outside right next to the vent wouldn’t close all the way and often the maids would leave it propped open!
One thing I’ve found which helps is to run the majority of your equipment off peak hours, which is 3-7pm.
i heard the rate they charge is actually higher during peak hours??? good thing ill be selling energy here shortly, ha…my electric bill will be a partial payment to myself here in a couple months, when everything is finalized ill tell everyone else how to do it also…another side bizz ive been working on!!!
Ah yes, that can affect your bill a good bit.
I’d like to turn my skimmers off for that amount of time, but never programmed them to. Because of the design of my skimmer it holds a significant amount of water and I’d rather not have it sit stagnant for a significant period of time. Rosti pointed out in a conversation that I could program it to turn on and off for a minute once a couple times an hour.
I’ll also be setting up a skimmer to feed directly off the waste line with no pump. Lots of energy and water moving from falling water from the tanks, might as well use it for something. Have to be careful with the set up as there is an overflow risk. Also in most set ups there isn’t a lot of water rushing into the sump, but with my propagation systems multiple tanks feed into a single sump. While each tank doesn’t have water gushing into it the accumulative drain lines are significant.
[quote=“longballz84, post:14, topic:3224”]
i heard the rate they charge is actually higher during peak hours??? good thing ill be selling energy here shortly, ha…my electric bill will be a partial payment to myself here in a couple months, when everything is finalized ill tell everyone else how to do it also…another side bizz ive been working on!!![/quote]
Solar roof with no batteries to back it up = sell energy back to the company for credit.
yup thats a possibility, but i will have something even better available latter or early next year for you guys.
[quote=“TimH07, post:16, topic:3224”]
[quote=“longballz84, post:14, topic:3224”]
i heard the rate they charge is actually higher during peak hours??? good thing ill be selling energy here shortly, ha…my electric bill will be a partial payment to myself here in a couple months, when everything is finalized ill tell everyone else how to do it also…another side bizz ive been working on!!![/quote]
Solar roof with no batteries to back it up = sell energy back to the company for credit.[/quote]
Which is a great concept and one I considered when replacing my roof last year as my roof gets full sun all day all year. The problem is the cost is so astronomically high to get the panels installed and hooked up that I will sell my house long before I am able to recoup the additional cost.
Well, lighting is the biggest power hog, followed by heating then pumping water depending on what you use. so shallow tanks, better reflectors and T5 or better lighting. i got my bill. $320 for July. That should be the high for the summer. only Dec. Jan. and Feb. were worse. I have a totally electric house. no gas. and i have calculated my tanks use about $100 electric a month. so, im hosed.
Maybe i need less tanks?
I dont think peak rates apply to residential. only commercial or industrial. But i do believe, if you generate power to backfeed the grid, they will pay peak rate during the day, and so forth.
so whatchu doing LBZ? a standby nat gas generator?
Nobody has mentioned it yet, but Solartubes. Even there in Delaware, during the summer a Solartube can provide at least 80% of the necessary light to your reef tank. That would cut your electric bill by a very large amount, and be the most effective when electriticty bills generally run the highest.
And for anyone who doesn’t think the light is strong enough, there are some very sucessful coral greenhouses as far north as Chicago. You need some supplementation, but it can provide alot of the necessary light in the summer, and supplemental light in the winter.