Electrical coast of your tank.

Wolfw28 · Oct 9, 2022

One way for some to reduce electrical coast. I’m a 50 year old native Floridian grow up with AC in our homes, who works outside, and hates cold weather. So I keep my AC at 78 which is fine when it 85 to 95 degrees outside. I used the evaporation method and a temp control fan over my tank and sump. The first month I had my system setup my electric bill was almost double compared to last years at the same price per kilowatt. So I bought a P3 P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor and plug my whole system into in. I ran it for a month base on the kilowatts reading for that month my tank coast me 8.00 to run that everything light pumps UV etc..My bill was 90.00 dollars higher than previous year the highest bill ever. As losing just under a gallon of water every day and to make rodi water coast we a small amount of electricity because I’m on a well. Figured out all the additional electric was been used buy me AC as it was dehumidifying all the excess moisture in the air caused by the evaporation which I was using to cool my tank. I just happened to have an old chiller from my old system I shut down 25 year ago. Did the calculations on its wattage and if it ran 24/7 for a month would coast 10.00. So I in stalled it built a glass to for the tank and sump sealing off as much as possible. Ran a air line from out side to my skimmer. Now I lose a gallon of water in about a month half out that is water collected in skimmer cup. My electric bill has dropped dramatically now it averages around 12.00 higher than previous years big difference. Actually works out backwards than what you think. Now for people with heater one thing you can do is buy a UV that’s 2-3 time bigger than your tank requires and reduce the flow by 2-3 the manufacturer recommended flow rate. This will this will allow the water longer exposure to the UV increasing the efficiency and work as a continuous heater consulting way less power than a standard heater.The things With UV and flow rate are based on the size of your system and turn over per hour. Double the size at half the flow produces the same basic turn over as right size UV for your system at higher flow.

jsker · Oct 9, 2022

Good post.

At Present I spend about $25 per month on the system. I work in the heat and really do not like the heat. We run our air at 73 at night and 78 during the day. The heat hardly ever kicks in in the winter. We upgraded our AC and ductwork, new windows, insulation, gas stove and a tankless water heater. We have managed to cut our electric bill by 50% and spend $200 on propane per year.

Sasquatchv · Nov 27, 2022

Best way to readuce heating bill is to cover the tank/sump and insulate back of the tank(if facing the wall)
After that use reversible chiller, the type that also heats using 2-5 less electricity than heat output. For larger tank(over 300g) pool heat pupms may be cheaper alternative to aquarium gear, most also use titanium heat exchanger and 4kW heater/chiller(enough for 1000g ) cost 1/4 of aquarium chiller rated at 500g.

Using UV to heat your tank is just shifting cost from heater to uv, not reducing usage at all.

Wolfw28 · Dec 8, 2022

Sasquatchv said:
Best way to readuce heating bill is to cover the tank/sump and insulate back of the tank(if facing the wall)
After that use reversible chiller, the type that also heats using 2-5 less electricity than heat output. For larger tank(over 300g) pool heat pupms may be cheaper alternative to aquarium gear, most also use titanium heat exchanger and 4kW heater/chiller(enough for 1000g ) cost 1/4 of aquarium chiller rated at 500g.

Using UV to heat your tank is just shifting cost from heater to uv, not reducing usage at all.

Yes using a UV to heat a tank is shifting the coast but is also serving a dual purpose.