How to figure out Energy Consumption Cost

Ok I was going to put this in a thread I just saw but felt it was better served on its' own if only on the front page for a short time before it's buried with the real important stuff.



Anyway Here's the formula for the cost of running a 250W appliance per month

Formula
(Watts X Hours a Day x days a year) divide by 1000= Z
Z mulitplied by what your rate of kWh= Cost

(250watts X 12hrs/day x 60days*) 180,000
180,000 Divided by 1000=180
180 X .15(cents) kWh=$27 for a 250W *note 60 days.

So a light costs 27 dollars if just in flower for 60 days. $13.50 a month. Not bad
Now check your bill for things like delivery charges and assorted fees. I don't think the consumer is privy to the calculators that they use for that.



































Also here is a link with a calculator that makes it easy, I know some people won't click links here. Sometimes links die so it's good to have the formula stored away or written down somewhere too. Now go add all that gear together and find out what your est. cost consumption is for your endeavours!
http://www.maximintegrated.com/design/tools/calculators/general-engineering/energy-cost.cfm

Word I'm gonna keep this written down, thank you!

Thank you so much. What are the normal limits for a hobbyist gardener? Private home. 5 bedrooms.

get to know an electrician

GandalfdaGreen said:

Thank you so much. What are the normal limits for a hobbyist gardener? Private home. 5 bedrooms.

Click to expand...

5 Bedrooms is one SERIOUS hobby mate haw haw haw... Out where I'm at using 240 volt 3-phase power I can run 3 600w lamps without REALLY noticing a difference. Current flower room sucks 15 Ampere constantly and I've managed to offset most of that by placing my water heater on a timed circuit. Those are bloody wasteful devices. A timer and a thermal blanket can be all you need to keep your bills the same. Mate of mine ended up paying LESS on power than pre-grow, but that was a tiny op.

So over hewre I'd say you'd need to be kickin' 4000 watts before it looks even slightly suspicious or starts costing too much...

One last bump before the march into RIU oblivion

One big gotcha that I did not see mentioned is the discrepancy between rated bulb/tube wattage and actual consumed wattage. A 1000W HPS bulb draws 1000W, but the ballast is not included in that. From the numbers I've seen, they usually add 15-20% at that size, so you're looking at another 150-200W. It seems that the smaller the light, the larger the ballast percentage. A Kill-A-Watt is handy for measuring the actual wattage draw of any appliance under 1875W. I got one so I knew how much I needed to offset regular usage to compensate for a light and fan.

KushKrew said:

5 Bedrooms is one SERIOUS hobby mate haw haw haw... Out where I'm at using 240 volt 3-phase power I can run 3 600w lamps without REALLY noticing a difference. Current flower room sucks 15 Ampere constantly and I've managed to offset most of that by placing my water heater on a timed circuit. Those are bloody wasteful devices. A timer and a thermal blanket can be all you need to keep your bills the same. Mate of mine ended up paying LESS on power than pre-grow, but that was a tiny op.

So over hewre I'd say you'd need to be kickin' 4000 watts before it looks even slightly suspicious or starts costing too much...

Click to expand...

Im only using 2200 watts max. Personal grow. I meant that I live in a five bedroom home. I dont use the bedrooms for growing.