Reef Electricity Calculator... how much is your reef using?

[poolkeeper1]

I would like to borrow your Kill-O-watt If you don't mind, I want to find out how much juice my Dart/Pinwheel pump Is drawing with new pinwheel on It.
Maybe you can bring It to the meeting at Andy's house?
Thanks In advance, Bill

 

[MVlk]

Bill, No problem. I will be happy to bring it to the meeting for you. In actuality, it is not something you use very often, so I would be happy to donate it to the club.

 

[poolkeeper1]

Cool, Just let someone like Rhett or Wayne know and I'll give It to them when I'm done.
Thanks Bill

 

[NeveSSL]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15145567#post15145567 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shirley386
Brandon - question regarding the electrical usage.

I understand that it would be hard to estimate the additional burden on the air conditioner to remove all the excess heat generated by the lights. Has anyone come up with an estimate on how much trade-off you would get in the winter for the heating effect of those same lights?

Additionally, I hear mentioned about removing the humidity being generated. I'm curious about how the humidity affects the cooling capacity of an air conditioner. It seems like the cold coils are simply sweating and the water is draining away by gravity. Does excess humidity place an additional burden on an air conditioner?

Thanx

As far as I can tell, this is something that would be hard to even estimate without knowing specifics. There are a LOT of variables.

Brandon

 

[andywe]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15147532#post15147532 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NeveSSL
As far as I can tell, this is something that would be hard to even estimate without knowing specifics. There are a LOT of variables.

Brandon

Cooling is measured in TONS.

You break Tonnage of cooling down to watts per square foot. Sadly it is not a linear number..as other factors, such as sunlight, how often the doors are open and closed, ect..all play a part.

But if you really want to know, most houses 2000-3500 sq ft have a 5 ton capacity AC unit. Check yours for it's load rating.

Once you have a constant for your watts per square foot, you can at least loosely estimate the amount of cooling required by your tank in terms of household air conditioning.

You cannot factor a chiller this way as it is an in-line process (refrigerant coefficient) rather than an air capacity measurement.

I learnt alot about this having built 2 world class datacenters, and all I can tell you is that I had the HVAC engineers do the calculation LOL

 

[NeveSSL]

So, in other words, there are a LOT of variables.



Brandon

 

[MVlk]

Andy, Correct me if I am wrong, but extra humidity will not really change how hard the AC needs to work. The thermostat will call for cooling to the set temp, regardless if it is still humid. The extra humidity will just effect how good the same temp feels to us.