cookie extreme Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 just a dumb question but how insulated are your houses? my powerbill in the summer wich includes gas for hot water is around $220 and goes up in the winter to $270 max due to more gas use to heat the water and also for the tank heaters. the house has polystyrene as floor insulation and pink bats in the walls. i could not imagine having a powerbill of 350-400 bucks. next to heating and lighting the tank what does it get used for? heating the outside due to poor insulation? might be worth while to look at and save some dosh in the long run. another thing is how well is the sump covered / insulated in paticular as many now have it outside or under the house? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 The power bill for our shop is around $250-$300 per month Includes 18 Tropical Tanks (200 watt heaters) 12 Cold Water Tanks 2 Marine Tanks with Metal Halide's skimmers, streams etc This includes all tank and shop lighting etc The power bill has gone up $25-$35 dollars since marine tanks have been installed So not really that expensive to have the marines running /Bruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puttputt Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 my tanks in a uninsulated ply shed, no choice in that matter - will change in future. run a business from home with large chiller, another tropical fresh tank, computers, 2 deep freezers, fridge, water pumps for house and irrigation (tank water), pumps for draining water tank pits, large amount of lights since renovation, air conditioner in fish room tank - 750 watt metal halides (11 hrs) 130 watt PC (13hrs), 3 x 6100 streams on controller, 2 seios and 2 power heads behind rock, 1 laguna 6 - 1 laguna 7, 902 deltec skimmer, pumps for calcium reactor, pumps and heater for pre mixed salt 50% of time, 500 watt heater, lights above refugium (24hrs), pump in refugium, top up unit with pump, ......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puttputt Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 don't heat the house with power, use a freestanding fire :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted June 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 gonna insulate the sump room this weekend, i reckon thats where one of the largest power bills is - heating the tank! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kermit Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Hmmm nothing at all cos it's at work 2x 150watts DE Halides, 2x 36watt Actinics, 600watts of heating and about 100watts of pumps and all free, but when i had it at home it was costing about $30 a month not bad i thought for a 4' tank at about 360Ltrs i thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippy Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Puttputt, I hope you have shares in the power co Its lucky you have a freestanding fire. :lol: To give you a heads up our power rate is 21.174 and 22.315 cent per kWh (for some reason we have two rates not too sure why) Also have a meter continuous charge of 64.680 cents per day. How does that compare with what you pay now? BTW, our $300 a month doesn't include hot water or heating (both bottle gas) but does include for the water pump supplying the house and also the wastewater treatment system Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 My power bills is $300 - estimation only because of my 2 x boxer dogs. I need to do a reading now my new tank is running but I expect $360+ 700w lights 600w heaters (on 20/7 at the moment) L7 plus other pumps and streams (24/7) My sump is under the house and the 600w heaters are always on. I have 30mm polystyrene around the sump including the top and struggle to maintain heat on cold nights. I am looking at insulating the overflow pipe and return pipe as these will be working like a heat exchange. I have a friend in the refrigeration business who has recommended the black foam pipe cover used on large refrigeration sites. With his discount it will cost about $120 to do 5m of 54mm and 5m of 29mm. I expect this to make a big difference as I can get quite a breeze under my house. Let me know if anyone else is interested in this stuff as I can do a bulk order at staff price, there are many sizes and it comes in 2m lengths so sorting out an order will be easy. I will post sizes and prices if anyone is interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDM Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 mine is around $160 per month during winter, and $120 during summer, my tank has 550w of heating, 372w lighting (300w 10hrs 72w 12hrs) 3xseio 1100 redsea wave controller, luguna 7, 2x power heads behind rocks, deltec 1250 skimmer. man with the money im not spending on power think of all the extra stuff for my tank i can buy :bounce: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puttputt Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 yeah skippy it's ridiculous really. One of the main users I'm sure is hot water. We are pretty hopeless at conserving hot water. We are mains pressure, and have good high volum/pressure and showers. The girls have hot baths.... Gas hot water is something we definitely should have invested in when we renovated the house. Mind you, a power bill of $250 without the tank I'd consider ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippy Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Yeah, there is advantages with building a house - you can set it up as you want. Our place has a fully self contained granny flat that Dad lives in and we set it up with its own power, gas hot water system, sky TV, etc. Fortunately he has the pool and workshop on his power meter otherwise our power bill would be through the roof oh, we have the spa on our meter though and that is on all the time. I'll blame the spa for the high bill rather than the fishtank :lol: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 I saw the other day that you can now buy hotwater heaters that use a heat pump. They reckon they cost 75% less to run. I'm guess the down side is the cost to buy. On a similar subject a friend in Melbourne just got a 17kw ducted heat pump for his house! Think it will go from the coldest house in the street to the warmest. But glad I'm no paying the power bill for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrek Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 heat pump water cyclinders not that dare but are very big and ugly gas rinnai infinitys way to go only pay for what u use, solar dont bother wasting your money , have turtle tank small marine tank about 80 to 100 per month just setting up 4 foot tank so will see what happens house is 100 years old heater goes nearly all day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted August 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2006 feck, $519 power bill for last month... i hate winter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tel Posted August 18, 2006 Report Share Posted August 18, 2006 $450 last month. no tank last year so easy to see my 1500 tank costs @ $120 per month. laguna, 2x 1250 skimmers, 2x 250w halides, 900 w heating, 2 streams... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tang Posted August 19, 2006 Report Share Posted August 19, 2006 try living in central otago in winter $1000 amonth for deisel, power $300 plus solar water heating :evil: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetskisteve Posted August 19, 2006 Report Share Posted August 19, 2006 900w of heating is WAY to much for yr setup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie extreme Posted August 19, 2006 Report Share Posted August 19, 2006 $519 power bill for last month... i hate winter may i suggest you throw the cloth dryer away. bulid a place where the laundry can dry and it will save you heaps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tel Posted August 19, 2006 Report Share Posted August 19, 2006 900w of heating is WAY to much for yr setup some of that is for my other tank......where i keep my astrea breeding population Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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