aaron11 Posted July 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2012 2 adults here, in our little 2 bedroom unit in summer the power bill is about $140, and goes up to $200 for a couple of the coldest months over winter. I have the one tiny cube tank heated to 19 degrees in the garage, 2 little tanks in the house. We heat the bedroom at night and the computer room in the morning until the sun arrives. I dry as much washing on the line as I can throughout winter so only have to finish things off in the dryer most of the time. I'd really like to have a warmer house but it costs a lot. Gas was the best heater we had but I don't like the condensation and damp that followed using it. We are moving soon to a house with carpet, and lots more sun so I look forward to a warmer living room. :happy2: I use the 140 but one person. showers everyday, 3 tanks, tvs comptuer on all day and half the night, but I do cook two meals at once, dont use dyer dishwasher every second day, BUT i do try and save power since moving to power shop my power is a lot lower as i buy the specials and simple savers etc Be interesting to see next bill in a few days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 Biggest bill I have had was this time last year. $650 or something like that. Attributed to the fact I had multiple tanks throughout the house and garage and the first winter with my baby. I have since cut down to just a few tanks and am more wiser about what I leave switched on. Currently my bill is approx $200, but that was an estimate and the estimate was higher than what my meter said so expecting a cheap month this month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 Biggest bill I have had was this time last year. $650 or something like that. Attributed to the fact I had multiple tanks throughout the house and garage and the first winter with my baby. I have since cut down to just a few tanks and am more wiser about what I leave switched on. Currently my bill is approx $200, but that was an estimate and the estimate was higher than what my meter said so expecting a cheap month this month. Thats a big decrease. How many litres less are you heating now? Or was it the lights for the plants? I believe a lot of high power bills can be attributed to what is left running because we are just too lazy to turn it off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted July 22, 2012 Report Share Posted July 22, 2012 This topic got me re-testing one of my tanks as I've taken many steps to reduce power bills on other things. I've got a decent inline power meter that lets you program in the unit cost of power and it shows you how much it has cost you over time. I'm with Powershop (who are more expensive than others in winter and also include your daily charge, but cheaper in summer, plus you can get your power cheaper if you buy in advance etc). Anyway, at the time I plugged it in, my rate was 25.26c per kWh. The tank in question is a 400ish litre salt water tropical tank at 26 degrees with 2 x 300W heaters, 4 x 54W T5 HO's, 2 powerheads and a skimmer. 4 tubes are on from 7AM -> 7PM, 2 tubes until 10PM. It's quite a lot of light, but I like seeing my fish and corals. It has a lid but no insulation around it. It's a Juwel Rio 400 tank if anyone wants to look at it. I live in Christchurch and my home isn't very well insulated. We're spending a fortune keeping it heated as our internal doors don't shut etc and we only have a heatpump. Have to make do though and just wear the extra cost (would cost us more to find a different rental rather than pour money into heating). Anyway, we're home evenings and weekends, heat the house during those times to 26 on the heat pump. Tank I've measured is in the same room as the heat pump, but about 6m away on a diagonal. Overnight, the temp in the house drops to about 5 degrees on average and might climb to 10 or so during the day until we get home depending on the weather. I think all of those details are important, as the temps the tank is exposed to makes a huge difference on your water heating costs. Anyway, I've had the meter on for 171 hours and it says it has cost me $11.29. That's 6.6c / hour or $47.53 / 30 day month. Hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron11 Posted July 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 $132 for the next one. YAY when i get more ogranised and my guppies have more fry, that will pay for the power the tanks use !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron11 Posted July 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 This topic got me re-testing one of my tanks as I've taken many steps to reduce power bills on other things. I've got a decent inline power meter that lets you program in the unit cost of power and it shows you how much it has cost you over time. I'm with Powershop (who are more expensive than others in winter and also include your daily charge, but cheaper in summer, plus you can get your power cheaper if you buy in advance etc). Anyway, at the time I plugged it in, my rate was 25.26c per kWh. The tank in question is a 400ish litre salt water tropical tank at 26 degrees with 2 x 300W heaters, 4 x 54W T5 HO's, 2 powerheads and a skimmer. 4 tubes are on from 7AM -> 7PM, 2 tubes until 10PM. It's quite a lot of light, but I like seeing my fish and corals. It has a lid but no insulation around it. It's a Juwel Rio 400 tank if anyone wants to look at it. I live in Christchurch and my home isn't very well insulated. We're spending a fortune keeping it heated as our internal doors don't shut etc and we only have a heatpump. Have to make do though and just wear the extra cost (would cost us more to find a different rental rather than pour money into heating). Anyway, we're home evenings and weekends, heat the house during those times to 26 on the heat pump. Tank I've measured is in the same room as the heat pump, but about 6m away on a diagonal. Overnight, the temp in the house drops to about 5 degrees on average and might climb to 10 or so during the day until we get home depending on the weather. I think all of those details are important, as the temps the tank is exposed to makes a huge difference on your water heating costs. Anyway, I've had the meter on for 171 hours and it says it has cost me $11.29. That's 6.6c / hour or $47.53 / 30 day month. Hope that helps. Thanks for the info so my 3 must only use about 30 a month if that then???? House is warmish old but has pink batts and fluff in the roof, use fire and gas to keep it warm so gas 30 for 2 months Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted July 23, 2012 Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 Thanks for the info so my 3 must only use about 30 a month if that then???? House is warmish old but has pink batts and fluff in the roof, use fire and gas to keep it warm so gas 30 for 2 months Everyone's bill will be different because of ALOT of different factors man. Just because 1 person may pay a certain amount does not mean you will be paying the same even if you had the exact same tanks and equipment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron11 Posted July 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 Everyone's bill will be different because of ALOT of different factors man. Just because 1 person may pay a certain amount does not mean you will be paying the same even if you had the exact same tanks and equipment. Yes dude sure, im with power shop too like the above poster so I get their specials that knocks another ten bucks off the bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuri08 Posted July 23, 2012 Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 500 power bill for 3 adults one baby dont know how the heck we get it so high only 2 tanks running and no heater we have fire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron11 Posted July 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 500 power bill for 3 adults one baby dont know how the heck we get it so high only 2 tanks running and no heater we have fire Jesus Zuri thats a bit high, have you tried to save power mate I have and it works or what company are you with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuri08 Posted July 23, 2012 Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 yep tried alot to save power but to no avail im with contact energy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron11 Posted July 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 yep tried alot to save power but to no avail im with contact energy How many units did you use i can tel you what that bill will be with power shop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 Thats a big decrease. How many litres less are you heating now? Or was it the lights for the plants? I believe a lot of high power bills can be attributed to what is left running because we are just too lazy to turn it off. All of above. Lots of smaller tanks with individual heaters. Damn Apistos meant I had to seperate them. Approx 2 dozen tanks at the time. Then there were the plant tanks. And the filtration. Biggest problems was the heated tanks in the uninsulated garage. Add to that the heater running almost nonstop as well as a Dehum in Devins bedroom. We also have stupid downlights that are useless. Just turning the lights on was using 240w in the lounge. Removing some bulbs meant the room had dark spots as the downlights are useless at spreading the light. Switch everything I am not using off at the wall now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey Posted July 25, 2012 Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 yep tried alot to save power but to no avail im with contact energy You checked your hot water cylinder? My power bill starting hiking up late last year... couldn't work out why... did some investigation and found the hot water cylinder had a neoprene valve fail (due to old age) and it was pouring hot water literally down the drain 24/7. Fixed it up and viola, my power bills are back under control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted July 25, 2012 Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 500 power bill for 3 adults one baby dont know how the heck we get it so high only 2 tanks running and no heater we have fire is your hot water cylinder working properly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted July 25, 2012 Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 500 power bill for 3 adults one baby dont know how the heck we get it so high only 2 tanks running and no heater we have fire Check to make sure a neighbour isn't nicking your power! :slfg: You really need to get one of those meters to measure the power consumption of each device, or measure total energy being used. I can't see one water cylinder using $500 a month. Do you have energy saving lighting? Is this $500 every month or just in winter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamBro Posted July 25, 2012 Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 im sure that come winter the power companies secretly charge more! thats the only logical explanation i can think of, i recently moved house from living in a 5 bedroom house with 5 other people between us we had 5 fish tanks running and now at the new house there is 3 of us here and our power bill is higher then it was with 5 people, we have 3 fish tanks and are still with the same power company! what the?! and i know power recently went up but still it doesnt make much sense to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron11 Posted July 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2012 im sure that come winter the power companies secretly charge more! thats the only logical explanation i can think of, i recently moved house from living in a 5 bedroom house with 5 other people between us we had 5 fish tanks running and now at the new house there is 3 of us here and our power bill is higher then it was with 5 people, we have 3 fish tanks and are still with the same power company! what the?! and i know power recently went up but still it doesnt make much sense to me Power shop put their prices up in the winter.. but its lots cheaper in the summer so works out ok. Dunno about the others wouldnt suprise me mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 I saw this segment on TV where people were sticking bubble wrap over their windows as temporary double glazing over the winter. Anyone tried this with their tanks? ( Another $400+ power bill arrived today and spouse is blaming me ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 it wasn't you Graham, it was the fish tanks :happy2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 try and get that foil lined bubble wrap and do 3 sides and a sheet for the top. Graham don't listen to her, My G/F is trying to blame my Clearview 200 hang on filter for our power usage nothing to do with her hair dryer, foot spa, 20 minute showers, hair straigtners, coffee machine etc..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted August 3, 2012 Report Share Posted August 3, 2012 I suspect it's the gas heater I've got going all the time to reduce the electricity use ! :slfg: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glenda.ayla Posted August 4, 2012 Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 Pop down to your local supermarkets and get the old fish poly boxes. Your saving them getting rid of them, and cut them up with a craft knife (so that you have flat pieces) and tape them to your tanks. Easy cheap insulation (cost of knife, tape, and maybe petrol? to the supermarket). Some people at Woolies may try to sell them to you, come back later when that person's shift has ended :thup: We get big sheets of poly from the applience shops, they have large flat sheets from the fridges etc, great for big tanks. We have 20 plus tanks up and running at the mo, 4 of which are 200l plus and have a power bill of around $600 a month during winter so am slowly insolating to cut down costs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted August 4, 2012 Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 even with that load $600 sounds high... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glenda.ayla Posted August 4, 2012 Report Share Posted August 4, 2012 We have 5 of us in a large house, using a eco heater for heating and 2 of the childen have vpap "breathing" machines that run all night, we rent a big uninsulated house, so assume that that would all hike it up. I think it was about $350 in summer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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