Electricity Bill

[ViS]

It's ironic that I'm about to spend $5,000 on a new shed so I can save $100 a quarter on electricity

[Luckfish123]

Average bill for me is $300 per quarter,i always pay $40 per/week so when my bill arrives i'm always ahead & i like it when it says "No payment required"

Cheers

[couchy]

My bills are normally 300-350 and the one we just got was 630.. The wife hit the roof and rang the elec comp. and querried the bill the questions my wife was returned with were

1) Do you have fish tanks?

2) Do you use electric oil heaters?

She hung up and i took off to let her cool down.

Cheers Couchy

[OziOscar]

Mine is about $320 - 340 year round. It was about $220 - $260 pre-fish and pre-gf-moving-in. .

My gas bill fluctuates when it gets cold - changes from about $60 in the warm months to about $150 in the cold ones, per quarter. That is up because gf feels the cold (tiny woman, and I'm a fat b'stard) so the heater is on pretty much non-stop.

However, it's just two of us in a moderately sunny 1930s double brick apartment, and six tanks... about 1100W of heaters in total, 250W of fluoro and CF (10 hours per day), and about 1000W of pumps / cannisters (assuming rated power is output power and consumption is double that, at least).

During the past week, I've only noticed the heaters on after 03:00 for any reasonable amount of time. However, I have >2" of substrate in all tanks and lots of rocks in the Malawi tank. Am sure this helps stabilise the temps.

Cheers - OziOscar.

[fish breeder head]

My electricity bill was $750.00 and I live in Queensland, so don't bother moving north to save on your electricity bill, our winters are shorter but they are almost as cold.

Ways to save on your electricity bill:

This is only useful if you have a fish room or shed. Insulate the shed walls and ceiling with batts then place 20 mm polystyrene sheets over the batts and seal all joints with silicone including the door. Of a night place styrene sheets over all windows to prevent heat loss. At least here where wood is cheap slow combustion wood heaters with the assistance of ceiling fans will produce all the heat required.

We used this technique in breeding rooms very successfully creating summer like conditions. If your tanks run to a central filter you can use solar heating by placing

a metre square black plastic on the outside roof of the shed. Place about 100 mts of 19mm of black polypipe on top of it(in the circular form that it's bought in). Place a 250 litre mixing tank (rainwater tank) near the sump run 19mm polypipe from the mixing tank through the roof and connect to the polypipe outside one up one back into the mixing tank, using a King 6 fountain pump which can pump to a height of 5.5m so make your placements accordingly. Pump the water through the 100 m of poly pipe and back into the same tank, place the connections so the water stays in the pipe when the pump is turned off, time how long it takes for the water to do a complete run (out and back). Connect the pump to a timer, start the timer at about 11 am and run for one cycle then stop, allow about 20 min for the pipe on the roof to heat up then run another cycle, do this till about 3 pm or when the pipe no longer heats up in your area. Then run a pump from the sump to the mixing tank. The mixing tank should be filled to the overflow point. Run a pipe from the overflow back to the sump. So your pumping water from the sump to the mixing tank and quite warm water back to the sump which in turn goes to every tank. If you can't get enough heat increase the amount of poly pipe on the roof. If it gets too hot reduce the number of cycles on the pump.

VERY IMPORTANT!!!

Place two a shut off valves just above water level in the mixing tank (inlet and outlet) and turn them both off over night or you'll create a chilling cold water cycle as the outside poly pipe cools a great deal at night temperature. This won't work everywhere particually areas with snow, but if your days are warm enough it will work. We use this technique successfully in a fish hatchery, you will need back up heating as there are times, for example two weeks of rain where the sun is not strong enough to heat the pipes. But this process, when used in the right conditions can greatly reduce your electricity bill.

I don't have a central sump and can't use the technique hence the high electricity bill.

Hope It Can Help Somebody!!!

[OziOscar]

That's a great idea fish breeder head!

With a little messing around with a quality timer with short intervals that would work a treat.

If one is into some messing around with solenoid valves, then it would be possible to t-off a strong main pump so that the solenoids open and close during the optimal heating period only. It's much the same principle as a tube based pool solar water heater.

Great thinking 99!!

Cheers - OziOscar.

[Northy]

I am considering a 6kw split inverter system airconditioner in my garage. I have done a bit of research. Choice magazine have laboratory tests on split inverter system airconditioners and results say it costs around $300 per annum to run a split inverter conditioner for 6000 hours. 3000 heating and 3000 cooling.

If these numbers stack up this will be a significant money saver if I can turn off my dozen individual tank heaters. I have recently tested three different 300kw heaters with a Powermate which is an energy consumption measuring device which you put in the cost of electricity at say 15cents per Kwh and my results consistently tell me the annual cost of a 300w heater is over $100 and as much as $130 a year to run (in my set up and insulation level etc etc).

I hope it will be the right decision for me and was interested if there are any other views out there.

Cheers

Northy

[marrick2204]

Hi Northy,

Question I have for you is your current setup all individual. If so this would be a high factor in electricity bill.

Next is have you considered plumbing all your tanks to utilise a 1 sump system to reduce heaters and cost.

Also when individuals use different pumps, factor is power consumption.

I know that sub mersibe pumps use more power while power heads use a fraction in power.

hope this helps.

cheers

[Northy]

Yes my current set up is all individual tanks, one large room, no sump system, and individual heaters - in the room maybe 20 heaters and growing.

My last power bill hit 1k for the quarter. I estimate 300 is caused by fish because this same quarter last year I didn't have any fish !!!

My approach is to convert to sponge filters with central air system. DONE.

Turning off individual air pumps and canister filters. DONE.

Can't do sump system as all tanks currently non-drilled stand alone - so not going that way.

Insulated tanks back and sides with black (painted) polystyrene. DONE.

Today I just had a bad experience with Grays online auctions trying to buy a 6kw split system inverter airconditioner which I want to heat the room. I will try other avenues.

I'll let you know where this progresses to if you give me some slack if it all goes wrong.

[Colfish]

I am considering a 6kw split inverter system airconditioner in my garage. I have done a bit of research.

I hope it will be the right decision for me and was interested if there are any other views out there

although my room is heavily insulated, even under the floor, i've had the A/C for 2 winters now. i just leave it on cycle to hold the room at 28c in winter, and it cuts $300 off the winter bill.

i don't rely on it too much in the summer months, prefering to use ventilation, though the added comfort when the temp soars is a big safety back up

if you run 3 teir racks, keep an eye on the bottom row, they can be a little cooler, maybe a small fan in the ceiling area to force the warm down would do the trick, though i've not worried about yet.

[ClickedIt]

I am running 4 tanks in the garage which are 5ft by 2.5ft with glass in the middle of the tanks to split them into 2! I am also running a sump for them which is a 5ft by 2.5ft with 2 x 900 watt pumps and 3 x 300watt aqua one heaters as well as 4 fluro lights.

since setting this up my bill has gone up by approx 300 to 400 dollars.

we have sahki matting which covers the tanks at night but the jump in the bill is huge.

I also have 6 tanks in my house.

I pay around $700 to $800 per quarter

I am trying my best to keep my fish breeding always to make a small profit