Need Advice: Electrical bill increasing due to heating tanks during winter

[Red_Belly_Pacu]

Just got my electric bill today. During the past month, I added a 60 gallon tank. Well that cost me about $140 more per month. Guess, I got to take it down now. I had 110 gallon, 80 gallon, 60 gallon, and a 55 gallon running.

California, the eletricity is expensive here.

 

[12 Volt Man]

damn. now I understand why all the good deals for setups for sale are from california it seems..it costs a fortune to keep fish there

 

[I<3fish]

Just got my electric bill today. During the past month, I added a 60 gallon tank. Well that cost me about $140 more per month. Guess, I got to take it down now. I had 110 gallon, 80 gallon, 60 gallon, and a 55 gallon running.

California, the eletricity is expensive here.

A 60 gallon tank would never cost $140 more a month to run... I would imagine that extra $$ was from the xmas lights.

 

[Red_Belly_Pacu]

A 60 gallon tank would never cost $140 more a month to run... I would imagine that extra $$ was from the xmas lights.

Owning a home and the electricity bill, it cost more money on the electricity. Also, if a person uses a lot of electricity, it is from .11 per Kwh to .40 per kwh. I now pay the .40 per kwh because of so much electricity I use with all my tanks. The more electricity you use, the higher the electricity rate. And plus PG and E starting this year has raised the rates very high on people who use a lot of electricity. Adding a tank, has caused my electricty bill to go up 50 %. The electricity bill came out to $330.00, the most it has ever been.

No more new tanks for me now.

 

[I<3fish]

Owning a home and the electricity bill, it cost more money on the electricity. Also, if a person uses a lot of electricity, it is from .11 per Kwh to .40 per kwh. I now pay the .40 per kwh because of so much electricity I use with all my tanks. The more electricity you use, the higher the electricity rate. And plus PG and E starting this year has raised the rates very high on people who use a lot of electricity. Adding a tank, has caused my electricty bill to go up 40-50 %. The electricity bill came out to $330.00, the most it has ever been.

No more new tanks for me now.

I am lol'ing at all the people complaining about their "high" electric bill. My last bill was $400 and we didn't even go off on christmas lights. I am suspecting the power company is doing something ridiculous as even at $.1154 per kwh there are only 3 people living in my household and we rarely ever have lights on, tv rarely on, and I only have a 140 and 30 gallon set up till I get my 300 up and running. My house is like 1700 sq ft and the temp is set at 66, it was like 40 at nights. I just don't get why the hell our usage would be anywhere close to 3000 kwh... Maybe it's our dinosaur fridge, but it really isn't even that old... Hell, my 2600 sw ft home costed half of what my current one does and we had lights on all the damn time, and it was cold as hell!

Sorry for the rant, but this fricking sucks.

 

[henria86]

Since you asked I would insulate the garage well and float rigid insulation on all the walls you can and install draft uards, Then I would run a heat supply duct out there. I really don't care how educated you think your friend is it doesnt mean jack as far as this thread is concerned.

YUP..
just insulate the whole garage. an tap into the house heating. you will not really notice a big increase o the heating bill u will lower the electrial bill if its hydronics..

 

[fishyreview]

Everyone who has mysteriously high electric bills needs to spend the $25 on a Kill-A-Watt meter. (avail many places including drsfostersmith). Run everything on your suspect tank through it for a week then do the math.

In a used house, you should also look for hidden goodies, like yards and yards of heat tape on poorly insulated pipes.

.40/kwh would absolutely shut down my hatchery. And they are supposed to be raising the .13 by 30% and maybe doubling over the next few years. I don't make money as it is.

I think a 60 gal could cause that kind of a bill or at least a large percentage of it, assuming stupid .40+/kwh rates. (I'd move) Does it have a 250W metal halide light? Is the house temp kept cool to "save on heating costs"? Keeping your house at 62 with gas heat makes little sense if you have a few or many large aquariums with electric heat. You may as well run up the thermostat and be comfortable while you are paying that much....the cost will be about a wash in many cases.

 

[Dan F]

Like Bud8fan said on the first page, insulate. At those rates you could spend a lot of money on insulation and still come out ahead after only a few months!

I have a 90 gallon tank in my garage that stays at temperature with only a single 250W heater. I used 1" pink foam board and some aluminum bubble-wrap type insulation. If you have an external filter be sure to insulate it as well. I can't imagine it gets near as cold down there as here in Oregon, so I'm sure you can make this work.

That is too bad power rates are so high, you need to look into alternatives. Do you have a gas water heater? You could set up a heat exchange coil, but it would probably end up costing several hundred dollars once you bought a controller, pump, and fittings. If you get enough sun in winter you could do supplemental solar heating.

 

[12 Volt Man]

re the 60g tank that raised the bill by $140:

exactly what equipment are you running on it? metal halides? a chiller?

is it a reef tank? I too find it strange because even with high rates, the total wattage on a single 60g tank isn't that much..especially considering lights are not on 24/7, neither is the heater etc etc.

can you give us more info?

 

[Red_Belly_Pacu]

re the 60g tank that raised the bill by $140:

exactly what equipment are you running on it? metal halides? a chiller?

is it a reef tank? I too find it strange because even with high rates, the total wattage on a single 60g tank isn't that much..especially considering lights are not on 24/7, neither is the heater etc etc.

can you give us more info?

It should be right, because California at this time is very cold overnight and in the morning. So the heaters on all my tanks are always on. Like I said, in California, the more electricity a person uses, the rates going higher and it is not a flat rate per Kwh. If I take out the 60 gallon, that heater will not be there and also the other stuff running will not be there. It does not have any expensive lights. I guess a person has to live in California to notice the high electricity rates here.