Looking for ways to cut operating costs???

[zachtos]

I'm a certified energy engineer and enjoy finding ways to lower my energy bill.

Buy a kill-a-watt meter for $25 and start monitoring

Winter tips:
-Heat your tank with natural gas instead of electricity (natural gas is usually cheaper then electricity right now for heating purposes)*diagram below

-insulate your plumbing and tank/sumps if possible

-use a Ranco controller for your electric heaters otherwise, they cycle on and off too frequently and waste LOTS energy, set at 77-78F

-Exhaust fish room air Indoors in the winter

- use DC pumps for water flow

-have your fish room on the same floor so you can run a smaller return pump and get a higher flow for less head loss

Summer tips:

-exhaust the fish room air outdoors in the summer

-sell your chiller away

-increase your evaporation rate w/ fans and top off more water to lower temperature if you can't get a reasonable temerature, this will increase humidity in the fish room though.

-run lights on a different schedule in the summer to keep the tank cooler during the hot parts of the day


Generic tips:

-run T5 lighting (more energy efficient then MH watt for watt)

-Insulate and seal your fish room air tight so no humidity or heat leaches back into the house unless you want it too.

-keep sumps covered to reduce evaporation and need for dehumidification.

-use the main tank recirculation pump to run as many devices as you can without losing too much head

-eductors are a great option for waterflow in large reefs if you can plumb up a high pressure recirculation pump. careful planning required.

-keep light bulbs and reflectors clear of salt creep to keep light intensity high.

-buy a LUX meter and measure the intensity of bulbs after the first week of burning. Record this number and replace the bulbs when they get to half that value. Don't just mindlessly replace them each year, that's wasteful, as is burning a bulb that's only putting out 25% light.

-Learn how to calculate energy costs.

Example: 20W maxijet pump running 24/7
= $0.10/kwh * (20W* 1kw/1000W * 24hour * 30day/month) = $1.44/month * 12month = $17.50/yr

You paid for the pump in one year in energy costs alone. Looking at numbers like this will help you realize that initial costs are not as high as you think for a DC pump. Use your kill-a-watt meter to determine actual running watts of devices. Modding things (maxis) may change the wattage on the meter.

Notes:

-avoid LED for a few more years, cost payback is not there yet and performance is a bit lacking unless you build it yourself.

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My energy hogs are not my T5 lights ($20/mo), but are caused by my failure to have a dedicated fish room. (didn't have room to design that way) so my sump is in the basement. I have TONS of humidity in the summer and have no efficient way to get it out of the house other then dual dehumidifiers sucking away $40-$60/month in energy. My 300W recirculator pump draws nearly $25/month. I lose almost $30/mo in energy wasted on my electric heaters for the tank in the cold months.

*

 

[BeanAnimal]

I am not going to comment line by line, as most of your line items are good ideas. But , a thought on a few of them...

-use a Ranco controller for your electric heaters otherwise, they cycle on and off too frequently and waste LOTS energy, set at 77-78F

Electric aquarium heaters are purely resistive. (Even if they were not, we don't pay for Power Factor losses on residential service). They are submerged in the tank and therefore are 100% efficient with regard to energy transfer to the water, in the form of HEAT. Frequent on/off cycles use no more energy than long cycles that allow hysteresis in the system. The only argument could be made is that the "long" on off cycles allow the systems temperature to drift up and down producing a slightly lower "average" system temperature and therefore using slightlhy less energy.

Also, for most modest applications, the "water heater" based setup has significant thermal losses and/or setup and maintenance costs that tend to make it a much less desirable setup that is likely to never reach ROI, let alone savings.

Sorry to nit-pik, but in todays world of "green" advice everywhere...

 

[zachtos]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14138981#post14138981 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
I am not going to comment line by line, as most of your line items are good ideas. But , a thought on a few of them...

Electric aquarium heaters are purely resistive. (Even if they were not, we don't pay for Power Factor losses on residential service). They are submerged in the tank and therefore are 100% efficient with regard to energy transfer to the water, in the form of HEAT. Frequent on/off cycles use no more energy than long cycles that allow hysteresis in the system. The only argument could be made is that the "long" on off cycles allow the systems temperature to drift up and down producing a slightly lower "average" system temperature and therefore using slightlhy less energy.

Also, for most modest applications, the "water heater" based setup has significant thermal losses and/or setup and maintenance costs that tend to make it a much less desirable setup that is likely to never reach ROI, let alone savings.

Sorry to nit-pik, but in todays world of "green" advice everywhere...

Sorry, to clarify, I found that the built in thermostats on ALL heaters are garbage. 6 out of 8 of mine failed within a year and all acted very different. I found out that several of them were staying in the on position FAR too long, even when turning the thermostat down. THAT is how I saved a huge chunk of money on my energy bill. Also, I'm not sure if the frequent blips do much to attribute to any heat produced or not. Anyways, I made a DIY ranco controller for $75, well worth it considering I could put all my 'broken' heaters back in service. Thanks for pointing that out.

Yeah, I created a thread on the water heater idea, and my calculations only give me a $15/mo savings on my 500G water volume setup. About a year payoff for myself, not quite worth it to me w/ the added room for equipment failure. LARGE systems, I can see the savings. But some states have much higher electric rates then here in michigan, so it may payoff for others in less then a year.

 

[wet reefer]

Something to think about. Any heat lost from the system, either by a heater, lights or a pump eventually goes into the room it is in. So if you are heating a room the "lost" heat or energy isn't really lost, it is just transferred into the room.

I use a DIY geothermal chiller in the summer. Very simple to make if you have access to a backhoe or trencher. I have a 150ft loop (75ft trench) of 1" flexable PVC (smurf tube) running underground about 5ft down on a controller. The corrigation on the pipe makes a great heat sink. I use a mag 5 to run it. I think they are 55 watts. The water coming from the loop comes out about 60 degrees in the summer and this cools a 500 gallon system with no problem. I'm in Ohio so depending on where you live the output temp will vary. I'm really surprised that geo chillers are not used more often when you consider all the things reefers go through to improve their system and save tons of money. Yea, it's a lot of work to install but think of the cost of a chiller to buy and run. Most loops would not have to be as long as mine. I took a guess years ago and it worked.

 

[BeanAnimal]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14140726#post14140726 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wet reefer
Something to think about. Any heat lost from the system, either by a heater, lights or a pump eventually goes into the room it is in. So if you are heating a room the "lost" heat or energy isn't really lost, it is just transferred into the room.

Exactly. Fot that same reason, I run the portable dehumidifier as a heater in the winter months instead of the portable heater. I get the benefit of less condensation on the windows AND a warm office.

 

[wet reefer]

I run two dehumidifiers in my basement in the winter. That's where my 100g sump, fuge, two frag tanks and a 135 reef are. Without them my windows sweat like they do in a LFS. Sure they cost money to run but I don't have to heat my basement at all and the cost is offset by not having the furnace run as much. Convection will move the heat up into the rest of the house eventually. So if my dehumidifier is 1200 watts it is no different than running a 1200 watt heater. A BTU is a BTU no matter how it is generated unless heat is lost outside somehow. My furnace is gas so it does cost a bit more to "heat" my basement with dehumidifiers. So by keeping the basement warm(er), I don't have to directly heat the tanks as much. People need to consider all these things when trying to save money to make their setups more efficient. They may be saving a little money running the tank but when it comes to heat, they will be paying for it somewhere else. If you consider equipment, whatever that may be to make things more efficient, some may be surprised to find they are actually spending more than they save.

I have great respect for Randy and probably have learned more from him than anybody else on RC but using submerged pumps to heat the tank more really doesn't accomplish much as far as overall costs. The heat being generated by an external pump will be passed on to the tank by creating more heat in the room. It's just not done directly. Sure, it will cost less to heat the tank but in the big picture the cost is roughly the same. If I had the pumps I might do it but I would not buy pumps for that purpose.

Keep in mind I'm referring to overall costs to heat a house and tanks when the gas and electric bills come in. This also doesn't take into account motor efficiency which is a a whole other subject.

Now in the summer, when the AC is turned on, all bets are off.

 

[BeanAnimal]

So if my dehumidifier is 1200 watts it is no different than running a 1200 watt heater. A BTU is a BTU no matter how it is generated unless heat is lost outside somehow

Exactly

but using submerged pumps to heat the tank more really doesn't accomplish much as far as overall costs. The heat being generated by an external pump will be passed on to the tank by creating more heat in the room. It's just not done directly. Sure, it will cost less to heat the tank but in the big picture the cost is roughly the same. If I had the pumps I might do it but I would not buy pumps for that purpose.

Well not really Directly heating the tank is MUCH more efficient than heating the room to keep the tank warm. The tank does lose ALL of its heat to the room, as does the external pump. The difference is that the room gain/loses are not linearwith respect to the tank

 

[dendro982]

Can anyone show the photo of covered sump?
Thanks.

 

[zachtos]

My dehumidifiers helpe keep the house warm in october and early november, but they are useless to me in the winter months here in Michigan. The humidity in my house in the winter with my tank is about 40%, perfect. But they are super inefficient in the summer months when the central air can't keep up with the humidity, and has to work harder to remove the heat given off by the tank lights and dehumidifiers... Hence, the importance of making a sealed off tank room. An in-wall design with sealed off tank room behind the wall and good ventilation for that room could save me about $100/month for the summer months and make the house much more comfortable.