Wattage = Money

[sohal1025]

My system contains about 12 power cords for necessities in reef-keeping(from power heads to lighting etc). Is there a way I can figure out the power consumption of these units and convert it into $$$$amounts to get an idea of what I am spending on my monthly electric bill?

 

[useskaforevil]

unless you know the wattage of all your pumps and how often your heater runs its kinda impossible. you could buy a kill-a-watt which measures your energy usage. all you do is plug your powerstrip into that.

 

[Cove Beach]

Another option is to put an Amprobe on the circuit to give you total current draw(need to check it with everything running) then multiply the current by voltage to get total watts. The rest is plain math and your electric bill.

 

[sohal1025]

It's called a kill-a-watt... Can I find one at Home Depot cheap?

 

[sohal1025]

I don't pay my bills my wife does (less stressful) I just make the money...I don't know all that electricity jargin!!!!!

 

[itZme]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12038948#post12038948 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sohal1025
It's called a kill-a-watt... Can I find one at Home Depot cheap?

No, but you can find them at HarborFreight if there is one near you for $25.

If all of your equipment has the wattage listed and you have a current electricity bill with the cost per Kwh on it you can get an estimate by plugging all the info into the calculator located on the left side of the reefcentral front page. Here's a link in case you are feeling lazy

HTH
-- Kevin

 

[Treg]

Home Depot sells them but not for cheap.

You can order one online at Amazon or Newegg.

I just ordered one, it has several different readings and a setting where you enter your KW rate and it will tell you what the cost is.

If you take a reading like this one, mutiply it by the hours a day it runs then divide by 1000, that will tell you how many KW a day your using for that item.

Multiply that by your rate and the days in the month... monthly cost.

This reading was from my 2 400w MH bulbs, so:
963w x 6 hrs a day = 5778 watts or 5.778 KW
x .13 rate = .75 cents a day
x 30 days = $22.50 a month

 

[Steelslinger75]

I can help you figure out your amp draw on your circuits. I live in Amherst and with my ampprobe and some simple math we can figure it out. No need to pay for a device to do some simple math imo.

 

[t11t5]

I shut down my 150g and a 37g reeftanks and my electric bill went down $150.