How much ???

[KoiBoy]

Hey guys, I know this kinda question may popped up somewhere before but I just wanna ask is there a way to calculate how much electricity we are using for each of our fish tank? Can't wait for this reply

Cheers

[marg]

I don't want to know !!!

[piranha-discus]

i dont wana know too!!

[mcloughlin2]

There was something about this in a thread in the amazon lounge ... someone worked out that if a 300watt heater ran constantly it would cost over a $100 a quarter or something ...

Check it out i cant remember the exact price and wat not ... it was the thread about how much ur electricity bill was....

HTH,

[endless]

no wonder my bill came out to be $800 last quarter

[wyldchyld01]

total wattage of equipment involved added to a total will give you one hrs total consumption when looking at lights so i think

multiply each wattage per piece of equipment by the number of hours it run's in a month then add totals together

divide this to get number of kilowatts then multiply this answer by what you pay per kilowatt (usually in cents in Aus)

now i'm shite at maths so please anyone step in and correct me

Brenton

[Stuart]

The only thing stopping it being worked out accurately is how long your heater is actually running each day - someone needs to sit watching it's little red light :-D

[G-1000]

I have to weigh in and say that my electricity bill has not increase at all since I have had two tanks each with 200w heaters on them. I guess in fairness, your heater will not need to be on ALL the time - maybe for 1/4 of the day at most (unless you live in a freezing cold area, or your fishroom isnt properly sealed.

Failing that maybe a power company is rorting you lol.

I havent seen a large increase, maybe its just me.

G

[spock]

Try

http://saver.energyaustralia.com.au/start.html

It is not all that great but with some playing around you can get the info

Another Elecr coy had one but took it down when i pointed out is was wrong

They never put it back up, a shame really

[Foz in Oz]

Hi All,
This comes back to that equation known as Ohm's Law, which states:
(Voltage) = (Resistance(ohms)) x (Current(amps)) or V = IxR. Which means that I=V/R and R=V/I.
First of all you need to know how many amps you are using but because we only know the wattage then the equation would be R=P/V. (p=watts)

E.G. 300w/240v=1.25amps so if V/I=R then 240/1.25=192(ohms)

ok, now we need to find kW used, so if, energy (kWh) = power (kW) × time (h) then:

300watts x 24hrs = 7.2kWh
Your kWh that you use are charged on your electricity bill @ approx. 10cents each.
So 7.2kWh x 10cents = 72cents

This means a 300w heater will cost you 72cents a day to run (if it was on 24hr) x 30days and thats $21.60/month x 365days and thats $262.80/year Nooooooooooooo!! I didn't want to know that, as Homer Simpson says, "Doe!!"

For more info on calculating electricity goto http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-ohm.htm This is a great calculator website. You just type in what you know to get what you want to know.

Hope this helps, Foz

[WrxAnt]

FozInOz,

BY your calcs if a 300W heater was on 24hrs straight it would consume 72c per day.

Thats an unlikely scenario, unless the heater is jammed on.

Cheers
Ant

[Ben]

Foz in Oz you are on the right track, but to accurately measure the usage cost, it needs to be worked out how long the heater stays on.

This can be estimated by working out what the normal temp of the water is and what the temp is to be maintained.

Let’s say the water temp is 20.c and we heat the water to 30.c that’s 10.c the heater needs to heat and maintain the heat.

So...

Hypothetically the heater takes 1 hour to raise the temp 10.c and goes on for 20 minutes per hour to maintain the temp.

A more accurate cost can be worked out this way.

Cheers
Ben

[WrxAnt]

Right on Ben.

The easiest items to measure power consumption on are the persistently on devices filters, pumps, powerheads, lights UV Strerilizers etc etc

Cheers
Ant

[Foz in Oz]

Yes alright, alright - I know the heater doesn't stay on all day, its just the calculation to work it out that I was more refering to as the Question posted asked. My heater generally doesn't turn on over the summer months because the room temp is over 28*. But all your other appliances can be worked out using this formular. Lights, filter, air pumps, UV sterilisers, as Ben mentioned, thats all.