Ok here is the situation. My family's electric bill comes every month and it has been pretty high. I have 4 tanks(10,55,40,125), four 300 Watt heaters at 82 degrees, two canisters and two hanging filters. The heaters are probably on 15 hours a day because I live in a relatively warm area. How much should my dad be spending for the tanks running? He keeps blaming the high costs on the tanks. Thanks for your info.
Tank cost per month
- Thread starter flowerhornguy
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I have a 90 gallon with a 300 watt heater... A emperor 400 filter and they are always going and also the light on sometimes. Maybe for me a $4-5 difference that I notice... Not much at all... So maybe with your 4 tanks It could be tops $20... Probably around $15 though maybe
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The one no guess way is to plug the tank into a power strip, then the power strip into a kill-a-watt device.
The kill-a-watt will tell you how many watts exactly is being drawn as well as how many watts were used for the period its been on.
So hook it up, wait 24hours using tank as normal, then just multiply the number by the days in a month then by the price on your electric bill and you'll know to the penny what it costs.
The kill-a-watt can be bought these days from the likes of Walmart and target for $15-$25 bucks.
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The kill-a-watt will tell you how many watts exactly is being drawn as well as how many watts were used for the period its been on.
So hook it up, wait 24hours using tank as normal, then just multiply the number by the days in a month then by the price on your electric bill and you'll know to the penny what it costs.
The kill-a-watt can be bought these days from the likes of Walmart and target for $15-$25 bucks.
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No. The most wattage used in tanks is from heaters by a landslide. If your in a warm area and tanks are inside you can get way with running less wattage on tanks. I am in a cold winter area and have a total of 600 watts heating a 300 gallon including during the winter and its in a garage that is not insulated.
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I am also in California and our rates even in the lowest tier is $.14/ kWH. (Yours could be different if you aren't the same utility.) If you are under PG&E, your rates could be 2-2.5 x that rate.
Assuming you are running 4x300 watt heaters 15 hours non stop (that's 18,000 WH per day) and use 200 watts non stop for your canisters / hob filters (that's 4,800 WH per day.) That's 22.8 kWH x 31 days x $.14 = ~$98/month. I'd say yes: the canister did add around that much.
Reducing the temps or insulating or cutting down on evaporation can reduce the usage a lot. It's hard to compare to others unless you have their bill and their actual usage.
Assuming you are running 4x300 watt heaters 15 hours non stop (that's 18,000 WH per day) and use 200 watts non stop for your canisters / hob filters (that's 4,800 WH per day.) That's 22.8 kWH x 31 days x $.14 = ~$98/month. I'd say yes: the canister did add around that much.
Reducing the temps or insulating or cutting down on evaporation can reduce the usage a lot. It's hard to compare to others unless you have their bill and their actual usage.
Currently using 47 watts
Used 15.88 kwh in the sample period
Period is 487 hours.
So, 15.88/487 is .0326 kwh ( per hour ) * 24 in a day * 31 in a month = 24.26 kwh per bill.
According to my last electric bill, it costs me $0.138160 per kwh.
So, tanks costs me $3.35 per month.
Now mind you, thats a small little 35 gallon bow front with a cascade 700 and no active heater..
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No, your dad is not right. The cost of running a small tank (under 100 gallons with filter, heater, and lights) is $5.00 or less per tank unless you keep your tanks in a cold area. A Larger tank (over 100 gallons) will cost a bit more depending upon what you are running in it.
