Electrical Costs Killing Me!!!

[mrpet]

man im not sure if i can take this much longer my pg&e bill is going through the roof. i hit a new record this month 800.00
im going to try and not run the a/c this month and see how much that might help. as of now im running the lights 9hrs a day i might try and cut them back to 7hrs do ya think that will be alright?
im not sure what else i can do im going to really start looking into solar damn ca can really suck sometimes....

 

[mrpet]

i was wondering if i switched out my pumps if that would help?
i have 2 darts on cl loops and a barracuda for my return is there other pumps that would be a lot more energy efficient? i can not think of anything else that would really help. im not even sure if it would be worth the costs of new pumps?

 

[moondoggy4]

What is your elec bill in the none hot months? Try turning your lights off for a hour less then rotate the pumps by turning one off for 2 hours each. This may get you below the punitive base line. Try using T-5 as a supplement I was able to save 100 a month on that alone I feel your pain I am in the southern part of Cal my elec bill as tripled because of the rate increase

 

[JNye]

I think you are using the best pumps. I would look at everything that runs fulltime and see what can be eliminated or cut back to off peak hours only. are your lights run off-peak? maybe shut down one closed loop for 12-16 hours during night-time. skim for only 12 hours? I know none of these things are ideal but...

 

[kau_cinta_ku]

you could always switch the pumps to red dragon's much cheaper in elec. costs but spendy up front.

 

[DallasCowboys]

Do you run a chiller? Try using cooling fans before turning on the chiller as fans use a lot less energy.

 

[mrpet]

thanks guys i am using t5s already and i do have a 1/2 chiller
i also run fans i have a euro reef rc500 has three ehime pumps only 80w each though and im running my lights off peak. guess i will cut down the pumps and om not sure what else i can do does anyone know how to calculate the cost of the a/c on your house im curious how much is the tank and how much is the a/c. its a new home so im sure the a/c unit is efficient. but the wife has it set at 72 runs all day or at least it seems like it. after the last bill she shut it off going to try to deal with the heat. before the tank went in my bill was at most 400.00 more like 350.00 i dont have the heaters plugged in i also have a kalk reactor and a calcium reactor. i need to figure something out or im going to sell my tank.
i knew it would go up but i figured like 150.00 to 200.00 a month more not 400.00 more.

 

[mrpet]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13126959#post13126959 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DallasCowboys
Do you run a chiller? Try using cooling fans before turning on the chiller as fans use a lot less energy.

how much better are they? like 50% more energy efficient? and which models compare with what i have now?

 

[Paulairduck]

first I would order yourself a kill a watt meter and then you can see where you energy is going

AC set @ 72 would pretty much run non stop, I think this is the bulk of the electricity bill.

the dart closed loops are energy hogs especially if they are ran 24/7 . they are over 100 watts a piece for those pumps and the barracuda is even more.


Tunzes are way more efficient, but just do not look as good.

You can get away with 6 hrs on the light cycle, just run them @ night when you are home

I would also look @ the flat rate plan, I know they have them with edison for homes.

I run a 400 gallon system with 1000 watts of lighting and I came in @ 250 this month

I run the halides for 7 hrs and day and the actincs for 10, 1 hr 1/2 on before and after the halides.

I run two 50 pxx panworlds for the return pumps to feed the different tanks

And I use Lots of fans before the chiller comes on 5 in all.

If my bill came in @ 800, I would be switching back to the 12 gallon nano that started this addiction:bum:

 

[wnutz]

ur ac probably costing u $200 and the tank the other $200 so just run the ac at night and u should get it down atleast $150 or raise ur temp in ur house to 74 while ur not home and make sure u close all bedroom doors so that the main house gets to temperature faster and shuts off.

 

[OliverM3]

It's a hell of an investment but a Bubble King DeLuxe 200 or 250 is only 40-45watts if you're looking change skimmers anyway
That'll give you a 200watt savings but you have to shell out $1600

 

[Freed]

Or you could just call your electric company and look into a "Time Of Use" meter.

 

[James77]

Google online for estimates of what your AC gobbles up. Take the above advice of a kill-a-watt meter to find out the worst offfenders.

Your closed loop is pulling about 400-500 watts, that would be $60+ where I live, nevermind CA. You could easily replace that with a few tunzes/vortechs with about less than 1/4 the power usage. 2 tunze 6201 would push 10,000 GPH at 110 watts.

You clould replace the EuroReef with something like the Reeflo Orca 250, and use half the watts. You have great equipment now, selling it would pay for most of the new equipment.

 

[TomRep]

Not tank related, but did you look into running cfl light bulbs throughout the house? I switched all the bulbs in our house to cfl's after I figured out how much I could save just with our family room light. I don't have the new electric bill yet, but I'm interested to see what it comes out too. just a thought.
tom

 

[moondoggy4]

I put a Kill-A-Watt on my FAU fan not the AC it is 400 watts. turn up the AC to 80 deg. and buy some Air King fans they are the best IMO

 

[Herndog]

CFL Bulbs

CFL Bulbs

You know I changed every bulb in my house to CFL and the bill didn't change. I think that the only place saving money is the power company. Too tired to explain Power Factors and the way your meter on the house reads useage but I think it is a fraud.

Someone feel free to explain... I have a degree in electronics but am not an engineer.

I only changed because the actual bulbs burn out less often in my house.

 

[Nuuze]

mrpet,

How many sq. ft. is your home? I'm about an hour from you and I run my AC in a 2000 sq. ft. home 79 degrees 24/7 in the summer months. I was able to eliminate my 1/4hp chiller from blowing a fan across my tank in between the tank and lights. I have a Eheim 1262 return, 1260 for skimmer and 1048 to feed reactor. I run my halides 6 hours with T5 3 hours before and 3 hours after the hallides. Our bill is about half as yours.

 

[8BALL_99]

CFLs do use less watts, But they are much worse on land fields then standard bulbs. Really depends on your house and lifestyle but changing out a few light bulbs won't make that much of difference for most people..Central unit, washer, dryer, hotwater heater, stove older fridges and deep freezes ect ect are the real heavy hitters.

Ouch.. If my bill hit 800 I would be down grading tanks lol! You can cut back on your lighting NP.. No need for 9 hours 6 or 7 is fine.. I also agree two darts and a barrcuda is KILLINg you.. My Barrcuda pulled like 280watts if I remember a dart is around 150. so thats 600 watts running 24/7. Thats huge on anyones bill. Anything that runs 24/7 is going to have the biggest impact. Your chiller also pulls alot of juice. If you can get by with a few fans that would save a ton. The other problem with your chiller is its dumping all the heat into your house.. So no only is your central unit dealing with the heat from the tank, but it also has to deal with the extra 4-500 watts from your chiller. You have alot of stuff you can cut back on..

 

[shawnz28]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13127783#post13127783 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mrpet
i have a euro reef rc500 has three ehime pumps only 80w each though

I believe the pumps on the ER are actually using about half of that. The 80w is the rated usage as a water pump, when ran as a needlewheel it uses less.

 

[inachu]

A person who REALLY wants to cut his electricity cost with just regards to AC will just run the air conditioning unit at night so you get a good nights rest.

1 LCD monitor in standby mode for one month = $7
VCR in standby mode or off position for one month =$12
52 inch Plasma off mode for one month = $22


There was a video news article on this.... cn or usatoday or news.com and they reccomend putting all electronics on a power switch so you will really know when they are turned off.