For those of you running 2 x 400w halides or more

[RRaider]

As a spin off of the lighting thread, What does your electricity bill run per month?

 

[phurst]

I run 2x400w MH and 2x110w VHOs as well as an additional 150w MH over my frag tank. Bills are usually around $350/month, but I have lots of power hungry things in the house

 

[Znut Reefer]

I'm using (4) 400 MH and (1) 250 MH on a mixed 500 gal tank. Also have some power hungry things in the house. My power bill is around $250. Usually goes up to $500 during the summer months.

 

[gasman059]

3x400- $550-700

 

[ankor253]

3 400w MH on a fully equiped 350g system with all the bells and whistle with all energy star appliance in the home. All I can say is my power bill was around 80-$120 every 2 months prior to this system and now my power bill more than doubled.

 

[reefsic]

I was running 2x400w MH in California and my bill was consistently $450-$500/month.

 

[Ralph ATL]

2 bills or less except summer.

 

[saltn07]

3-400 my tank runs 100 to 120 a month and my house runs about the same, im in the midwest and electricity is cheap here, .07 a KW hr i think...

 

[panic]

I find it cheaper to run the a/c 3 degrees cooler in the summer rather than let the chiller run all day long. My electric bill was $480 in the summer, down to $400 when I lowered the a/c in the whole house. The chiller is a hog

 

[ReefTECK]

I live in the midwest also, but in urban/suburban areas of Iowa (like Iowa City) electricity is 12 cents per kilowatt hour. (2x400 watts) x (10hrs/day) /(1000watts/kw) x (30days/mth)= approx $28/mth. On top of the rest of the energy use of the system runs about 55 dollars a month for the tank. 4000 square foot home with only two adults (couple of 1000watt computers, all compact florescant lighting throughout, 42" plasma tv, dryer, fridge etc.) I'm at about $160/mth.

An appropriately sized chiller will make alot of difference, I was using a 1/5hp (about 500watts) unit on this system and it ran all day. Now I have a 1/3hp (about 800watts) that runs once every hour for about 20 minutes (as shown by my RK2 charts). Mathematically: (500watts) x (10hrs/day) x (30days/mth) / (1000watt/kwh) = $18

The larger chiller now: ((10hrs x 20min/hr) = (200minutes/day) / (60min/hr))= (3.3hrs/day) (800watts) x (30days/mth) / (1000watt/kw)= $9.6

 

[Dejavu]

3-400w bulbs, 2 for 6 hrs and 1 for 5hrs. My electric bill is $160