Help with aquarium running costs
- Thread starter Pond9
- Start date
There is a thing for seeing how much power something plugged in uses. Here is a link to one.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...196386&usg=AFQjCNGQUkGIoe6jawtErAJeurBToxVWFQ
I don't know what these are called, but I got one free, and it really helped find out a) how much power my tanks use and b) what the power hogs where so I could eliminate them.
Some things use a lot more power than they say they do, and some use a lot less. Adding insulation, lowering temps, putting filters and airstones on timers, or even eliminating them and heaters that are not needed (on a goldfish, NNA, guppy, or CA tank they may not be needed) can cut your power by half or more.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...c1.htm&usg=AFQjCNG0FKcrNISnu6Hl2g4lQR4sWoVpIw
The condensation is a side effect of the cooling. I don't see how it could increase power consumption.
Someone forgetting an oven on for half a day in my house costs more than a month of my 2 tanks
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...196386&usg=AFQjCNGQUkGIoe6jawtErAJeurBToxVWFQ
I don't know what these are called, but I got one free, and it really helped find out a) how much power my tanks use and b) what the power hogs where so I could eliminate them.
Some things use a lot more power than they say they do, and some use a lot less. Adding insulation, lowering temps, putting filters and airstones on timers, or even eliminating them and heaters that are not needed (on a goldfish, NNA, guppy, or CA tank they may not be needed) can cut your power by half or more.
Here is a link to how AC works.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...c1.htm&usg=AFQjCNG0FKcrNISnu6Hl2g4lQR4sWoVpIw
The condensation is a side effect of the cooling. I don't see how it could increase power consumption.
Someone forgetting an oven on for half a day in my house costs more than a month of my 2 tanks
My missus tried this one on me when i set up my second tank, "it's costing us a fortune, blah blah blah". I worked out that she drinks over £3000 a year in wine and threw that back at her and wifey has been as quiet as a mouse since. Even more so when i started making my own wine. She is absolute putty in my hands now..........but she still wont let me have another big tank, ah well.
To start off, I'm not a HVAC specialist, but as a home owner I try to keep my bills down for AC. Here's the sort of stuff that I read:
Air Conditioning Systems and Humidity
In theory, an air conditioning system should be able to remove moisture from the air. When humidity levels spike, however, most systems can’t cope. Humidity affects air conditioning negatively because it cancels out the cooling effect. When the humidity is too high, your home will feel warmer than it actually is. You’ll have to keep your air conditioning system running but won’t derive nearly as many benefits from using it. In other words, you’ll pay more to cool your home but won’t actually cool it that effectively.
http://byrdheatingandair.com/articles/how-does-humidity-affect-air-conditioning-and-heating
How humidity affects your Air Conditioning System
In all the coastal regions of the United States our buildings struggle with far greater levels of moisture in the air. This moisture laden air enters our homes and businesses causing our HVAC systems to run much longer. The increased run times cause our utility bills to also increase significantly.
http://www.advancedinsulationla.com/humidity-and-air-conditioning.html
PRINCIPLES OF AIR CONDITIONING
Dehumidifying equipment for air conditioning usually consists of cooling coils within the air conditioner. As warm, humid air passes over the cooling coils, its temperature drops below the dew point and some of its moisture condenses into water on the surface of the coils. The condensing moisture gives up latent heat that creates a part of the cooling load that must be overcome by the air-conditioning unit. For this reason, the relative humidity of the air entering the air conditioner has a definite bearing on the total cooling load. The amount of water vapor that can be removed from the air depends upon the air over the coils and the temperature of the coils.
http://www.free-ed.net/free-ed/Courses/05 Building and Contruction/050207 HVAC AC/AC_Fund00.asp?iNum=01
I ran about 1200-1500 gallons of tanks in my fish house in Wisconsin, and I would unplug almost all heaters starting in mid May thru early Oct.
My energy (electric bill) for the fish house would hang around $150 per month during the warm months because of pumps, but in January and Feb with the heaters running constantly, the energy bill would be around $300 per month and occasionally hit $400 in the cold months.
I learned that putting styrofoam panels on the bottom and 3 sides helped a bit.
I did not light 50% of the tanks, but used 4 pumps running at least 2400 gph each, because tanks were on 4 separate sumps depending on the temp needs of each group of fish.
Some fish (on one sum, the Uruguayan cichlids did not require heating at all).
My energy (electric bill) for the fish house would hang around $150 per month during the warm months because of pumps, but in January and Feb with the heaters running constantly, the energy bill would be around $300 per month and occasionally hit $400 in the cold months.
I learned that putting styrofoam panels on the bottom and 3 sides helped a bit.
I did not light 50% of the tanks, but used 4 pumps running at least 2400 gph each, because tanks were on 4 separate sumps depending on the temp needs of each group of fish.
Some fish (on one sum, the Uruguayan cichlids did not require heating at all).
I'm tired and may have missed something, but from reading you r post and links I understand that increased humidity decreases our ability to sweat and makes us feel hot, which makes us lower the temperature and spend more on AC.
The only other issue I could see is thespecific heat of the air rising with the humidity, which does not seem to be an issue.
Floating plastic sheets (aka plastic plates
) on top of your tank(s) will cut down on evap and therefore humidity. It will also cut down on surface area and therefore DI levels, but from what I understand, the important bit is circulation, (and maybe agitation) not surface area.
