i hate pg&e electrical cost....

[mrpet]

well tank has been up a month and my pg&e bill went from 300.00
to 580.00 ran the ac a few days as well not sure how much of it was the ac that's crazy i knew it was going to go up but more than double it sucks bought everything as energy efficient as poss guess im going to have to live with it solar here i come...was thinking of just getting enough solar to run the tank i have looked into it a bit going to really look into it now so any suggestions on what i can do to save some bucks will help...

 

[Robgixxer]

580.00!!!!! jeez! what do you have on that tank?

 

[Robgixxer]

i have a newly remodeled home. everything in it is completely brand new. my old electric bill was around 280.00 the house was very poorly insulated and the a/c was not very efficient. so now i got my new last month and it was 121.00!!! i was like wow. i was in the middle of setting up my tank then so there was no big power demand from the lights and equiptment yet. well i just recieved my newest bill this week and now it is down again to 92.00!!! thats keeping my house at 73 degrees 24/7 and with the tank running! i'm sure it will go up as it gets hotter here in florida but wow what a difference in price. more fish money

 

[tbittner]

Instead of solar, check into getting a geothermal heat pump (it does AC too). Those are like 97% efficient. Most states AND the Fed give huge tax breaks for buying these units too.

If you're running MH's, they add a LOT of heat to the room, which causes your AC to run more.

And no, I'm not a reseller for heat pumps or anything of the sort.

 

[mrpet]

nope just t5s 1200 watts though tank is in wall and in the garage
the house is brand new the best of the best as far as energy efficient as it can be i have 2 darts i cuda a geo kalk reactor a euro reef rc500 2 heaters proly forgetting something tbittner can you explain to me what a geothermal heat pump does? and what do they cost? oh and a h&S calcium reactor. its ca man i tell ya we are getting screwed...

 

[Fiziksgeek]

Have you done a rough estimate of the cost to run your tank..? I just used the rated power (ie I assumed a 250 watt MH used exactly 250 watts).

my 210 cost me about $125/month in electricity here in CT. being in CA, its pretty safe to assume your electric rates are higher, and you seem to have more equipment than I did...Sooo....a $200 increase due to your tank might not be out of the question....and then a little more for running the AC.....you get to $580 from $300 real quick...

 

[tbittner]

Here is a pretty good site that talks about geothermal heat pumps.

http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/home/heating_cooling/geothermal.html

 

[BigJay]

Last month I finally replaced one of my large, old, inefficient AC system with a new, smaller, and more efficient unit (3.5 ton to 2 ton). I don't know if it helped, but I also replaced every incandescent bulb and flood lamp in the house with an 8-10 watt CF. I also kept all of the ceiling fans on in my house, the new AC unit doesn't turn itself on nearly as often as the old unit and it runs for very short periods of time. The house is much more comfortable.

My bill went from over $400.00 to $200.00 and some change in one month. My jaw hit the floor.

You can figure out roughly what your tank's monthly cost will be here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/tank_elec_calc.php

Of course that doesn't take into account the additional home air conditioner and de-humidifier work caused by 200+ gallons of 80 degree salt water in your home.

PS: Im surprised by how many people that I know and work with who would rather sit and complain about (and PAY) a large utility bill than do something about it.

 

[BigJay]

Someone I know recently made a change to his tank lighting so that each individual lamp only runs for 6 hours.

i.e.

250 watt(left) 400 watt(center) 250 watt(right)

The "sun" rises in six hour intervals from the left and sets to the right (east to west). It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but all of the corals get the light that they need and less power is used.

I've also heard of Cali people that run their lights and most of their pumps at night when electricity rates are cheaper.

I hope my posts help you out some with your electricity problem.

 

[mrpet]

ya i already run everything at night and i just changed out all the bulbs in the house to the flour twist bulbs might stagger the the time on the bulbs might help a little will look into the ac unit its new only 2 years old see if that can be changed good idea on the fans i have 4 in my house will keep them all on see if that helps as well...

 

[BigJay]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12492209#post12492209 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mrpet
ya i already run everything at night and i just changed out all the bulbs in the house to the flour twist bulbs might stagger the the time on the bulbs might help a little will look into the ac unit its new only 2 years old see if that can be changed good idea on the fans i have 4 in my house will keep them all on see if that helps as well...

What kind of reflectors do you have? The new lumenarc/lumenbright reflectors can be mounted up higher (less heat) and put out more PAR in a shorter period of time.

 

[R.W.]

what about when you run the air conditioning. Try closing all the vents in the house except for the upper level. It will actually make the house more efficient with the cooling. Also a bonus if your bedroom is on the second level. That is assuming you are living in a 2 story home.

 

[mrpet]

the reflectors are miro? from reef geek said they were as good as the slrs they are about 8" above the water now was going to drop them a couple of inches... house is a one story....

 

[Fiziksgeek]

I'll mention it again. Have you done as estimate of what your tank will cost to operate?? This will really help you find areas where you can make changes to save money.

And on the flip side, before you start thinking about changing to more efficient equipment, do a cost analysis on how long the pay back will be. My general rule has been that if the break even point is greater than 3 years, its not worth it.