zeebee Posted April 11, 2012 Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 We are all trying to save money and electricity (well most of us) Does anyone have a formula to work out energy consumption for an aquarium? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkLB Posted April 11, 2012 Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 Hi. You can get these handy gadgets.... http://reviews.dse.co.nz/8465-en_nz/M7319/reviews.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeebee Posted April 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 Cool thanks :thup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted April 11, 2012 Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 Here's a rough stab at it. I run a 100Watt ( or 0.1 kW) heater in one of my tanks, and it seems to be on at night, and off during the day ( near a window with sun ). Assuming that it runs all night, that's about 12 hours. An average charge for electricity is 20c per kWh ie. 1000 Watts over an hour. Assuming 30 days, then 30 * 12 * 0.1 * $0.20 = $7.20 per month to run my 100W heater half of every day for a month. Now all you have to do is add up the other things like lighting, and filters. And in winter, some of that heating is going into the room as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hovmoller Posted April 11, 2012 Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 Try this: It's designed to give you a rough idea of how big a heater you need for a tank but also you can use it to see how much energy you can save by insulating your tank http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=48031&hilit=heatloss+calculator Any questions please jusk ask Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueether Posted April 11, 2012 Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 Hi. You can get these handy gadgets.... http://reviews.dse.co.nz/8465-en_nz/M7319/reviews.htm/quote:32i07qjy Many of these dont handle mixed usage well. eg one thing with a power factor of 1 and another with a power factor of .33 This can be seen sometimes when an induction device (pump/motor/etc) is in use and then a heating device (heater/lights/etc) is turned on, the displayed draw might drop. The best thing is to measure things by themself or with like for like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted April 11, 2012 Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 I used hovmuller's calculator just now to estimate my power consumption for the heating, and it came to $6.90 which is pretty close to my ball park guess of $7.20 How about adding a switch for those using Fahrenheit ( USA )? And also some formulae for lighting, filtration and pumps to get a total power consumption calculator? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted April 11, 2012 Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 How about buying a meter and getting the power consumption 100% correct. That calculator is to give an indication of the size of heater you will require. The same info is pretty well displayed on most heater packaging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted April 11, 2012 Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 My suggestion was for those who are less adept at math. I have a wireless meter that wraps around the main power cable to my mains meter which gives me instantaneous power consumption for my household. I bought it a few years ago now. See http://www.centameter.co.nz/ I presume to work out the consumption for a tank, I'd wrap the sensor around the lead to my trailing socket. But as far as I recall, it won't tell you monthly power usage, just instantaneous. So, something that can integrate over a whole month might be better. The centameter is useful for telling you if you have a load in the house that you weren't expecting. It's good enough so that I can see if someone is using the microwave in the kitchen while I am in the living room. Or, if someone left a heater on somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted April 11, 2012 Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 In a previous life when I had a fish house I had a meter which was basically a spare meter like in the house and it measured the number of units used for the power coming in to the building. I think in those days it cost 10 or 15 dollars. Don't know how much those ones from Dick Smiths are but they would do the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkLB Posted April 11, 2012 Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 Don't know how much those ones from Dick Smiths are but they would do the job. $25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted April 11, 2012 Report Share Posted April 11, 2012 A good investment I would think---might have to follow up on that later (when house has been done up and normality returns a bit) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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