About to abandon my basement sump

ReeferBen · May 22, 2016

Always wanted a basement sump. The tank is quiet, the equipment has plenty of room, my sump is much bigger and I get more water volume that way to help stability.

What I didnt account on was the electric bill. My thought was my basement is cold so in the summer months my chiller wont run as much and my electric bill will be lower even tho I am using a much bigger return pump. I got a reeflo pump and a rubbermaid 100 gal tub and moved my sump to the basement. My tank is only 110 gal. I was right that the chiller almost never had to run over two summers, but for two spring fall and winters I had exorbitant electric bills usually in the $250-$350 range. In the summer it would drop to the $180-$220 range but only until the A/C went on.

I think the combo of the two heater that nearly run around the clock and the large reeflo pump I use for my return and to feed my manifold for chiller/fuge/filters is just eatting up a ton of my electric.

Is this a common problem with basement sumps? Large electric bills from heating and larger pumps?

JOKER · May 22, 2016

I would say the consumption is the pump. I had a mag 18 on my tank , and switched to a smaller pump and my bill really dropped. I am now running DC and even better.

azbigjohn · May 22, 2016

Do you have a controller that can track the amp usage? That would help you narrow down where the electricity is going. If the amperage went up and down, you would know it was the heaters, if it stayed fairly constant, it is the pump.

I have no experience with large pumps in basements, but I would assume the larger pump would be more responsible than the heater as Joker said above.

reef_junkie · May 22, 2016

To the OP, I had the same issue. Had a basement 100 gal sump feeding a 300 gal tank. Went old school with halides, Reeflo super gold dart, multiple 300 watt heaters, standard pump for every peripheral appliance like skimmer. Media reactors and such. That tank consumed $200 in utilities per month. I've now downsized to running DC almost everything and leds. Also I use my return pump to power media reactors as well. Brushless DC Pumps are coming out now better than the gen 1's a couple of years ago, that's the route I would go now. For heat loss you can do several things like insulating the sump, wrapping drain and return lines in plumbing insulation. Hope you figure it out.

Bdog4u2 · May 22, 2016

Insulate everything and get the vectra L1. I switched to led and a vectra pump when i upgraded from a 75 gallon to a 150 gallon and my bill dropped $60. I was using metal halide and a little giant pump. I would wrap sump and pipes and maybe add a register to give room more heat in the winter

Breadman03 · May 22, 2016

Bdog4u2 said:
Insulate everything and get the vectra L1. I switched to led and a vectra pump when i upgraded from a 75 gallon to a 150 gallon and my bill dropped $60. I was using metal halide and a little giant pump. I would wrap sump and pipes and maybe add a register to give room more heat in the winter

Insulating my sump did wonders for my electric bill. I just cut foam board to fit the tank and use packing tape to hold it in place during the cold season.

AZDesertRat · May 22, 2016

Pick up a Kill A Watt meter. Best $25 or so you will ever spend when trying to monitor and cut power consumption. I have two of them and they really helped me find the most efficient pieces of equipment for my needs. Cut my bills $60-$75 a month with more efficient pump, powerheads, LED lighting and dumping the chiller.

mcarroll · Oct 2, 2016

@ReeferBen What did you end up doing?

I'm late, but the heaters are the issue. That and it just sounds like a high-power tank in general.

There's a huge waste in heat getting the water up to the display. Insulating the return plumbing may help.

As a result the sump water has to be the display temp + the loss factor – i.e. warmer.

Warmer water evaporates more quickly, which cools the water more rapidly.

As a result the heaters have to run even more.............

You want the heaters upstairs...just get the right watts for a 180 gallon tank. At least two or three smaller heaters that total the correct watts, IMO.

Going sump-less is definitely a legitimate option too, so I'm curious to hear what happened!