Electric bill

Yep... It is the fuge that I showed you. I just increased the flow and put t5's on it... I have to pull a lot of algae out of it, but the frags seem to love it... Colors are changing a little bit...But still nice.
 
A dryer vent without an exhaust fan will not solve anything,unless you have a way of directing all the exhaust from the chiller through the vent.
 
Hows about shoving the back of the chiller against the 4" opening for the dryer vent.

You have to understand my tank is on the second floor, so the chiller is mounted on a shelf in the garage, so all the heat rises, and the mere fact that the outside air is cooler than the heated air means that it will flow through the vent.

I can also mount a small fan prior to the vent and keep it running to vent the air also...
 
Try running more fans in your canopy. I added another 4" fan in my canopy and my chiller never comes on anymore. I have 2 250 watt mh and have both fans blowing in directly on them, ones on a timer with the lights the other stays on 24hrs. I'm having to add a 1-2 gallons of top off a day, but my electric bill went from $400 to $180. I also run my lights 5-6hrs a day and a rio hyperdrive for my return and a couple seios in the tank.
 
I have 2 4" fans in my canopy right now, pulling air through, and I have my window open...

This is also after adding the t5 tek lights to my frag tank...

I'm going to time the skimmers, and vent the chiller to see how that works... I can't make the tank too noisy.. the wife wont like it.
 
Frank spend $20 for a Kill-A -Watt and find out what is using so much electricity. You may be surprised. How old is your refrigerator? I checked Simon's old one and it was using 6 times what our bigger new one does. Unplug all those stupid power transformers that every electronic device uses, except when your using them. If your like us you have two for just your cell phones and only charge the phones at night. But they are using electricity all day. two is not a big deal but if you have 20 like them for other things it adds up. Raising the temp of your tank 1 or 2 degrees will make a big difference on how much the chiller runs.
 
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i just looked at my socal electricity bill and it is a weird one to say the least...

the base starts at 2.9 cents and then when you jump to (what they consider to be max amount used) past 100% usage...it goes to about 23 cents.

my summer bill when i run a/c sparingly, along with my 180g reef (mh lights) and my 29g planted tank (mh also) was $650.

i talked with a power guy and he said that they may go with 15 minute metering so that they will charge max amount at 'peak hours' which is 2pm to 7pm. who knows if they will also have the 'tier' system in place as well.

i am in the process of getting solar panels placed as there is no relief in sight for lower/lowered electricty rates.
 
I put the skimmers on timers only at night, and opened the window wide... Yippee! chiller didnt come on all day..

Did come on at night though, also cut the MH down to 8 hrs a day, and the t5's to 8 hours a day...

I know the electric stove is causing me issues... and my fridge is probably 10 yrs old also..
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8282318#post8282318 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Frankysreef
I put the skimmers on timers only at night, and opened the window wide... Yippee! chiller didnt come on all day..

Did come on at night though, also cut the MH down to 8 hrs a day, and the t5's to 8 hours a day...

I know the electric stove is causing me issues... and my fridge is probably 10 yrs old also..

I know that Edison increases the baseline when major appliances are electric; a stove is one of them. You may want to call and ask if that's enough (for all I know they'd want you to have an electric water heater, as well (in which case it may be worth it to do the math and see how much putting one in would cost you versus using gas. I've heard of some people disconnecting it and going with gas later (cheating the system IOW. Not that I'd condone such a thing...))).

Just worth a mention...
 
I called them and they won't budge on the baseline... they say that the baseline in my area is a fridge and a few lights... that is it.
 
Just called, only water heater, or space heater can increase your baseline. :(

I guess they dont consider cooking a necessity.
 
Huh.

See how much it would cost to install an electric space heater, then.

It's cheaper to wear sweaters, anyway... You could install the electric heater and just never use it. It'd be interesting to see if they'd make you unhook your gas heater, though.

I swear, it's extortion... It'll be interesting to see the profit and loss statements for these utilities over the next year or so.

*sigh*
 
do they come by and check to see if it is installed? I have an oil filled electric space heater in my son's room.
 
IIRC it's a random inspection. But it has to be permanently installed...

If you're caught "cheating" I don't know what the ramifications are, however I'd bet it would be akin to playing catcher in a game of prison shower baseball...

:eek2:
 
I don't understand the numbers (let alone the numbers I DO know!). However, any chance to increase my baseline makes me salivate...

Just trying to offer suggestions; that's all. I think I'll stop bombarding the thread with this bantering, however. Not very useful to others I would think...
 
Frank: also look into the refridgerator rebate and recycle program. You can get a rebate on a new more efficient energy star rated fridge and they will haul your old one away and give you $35 for it.
 
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