Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm not sure about all of you.. But Have you made a plan to have a system that runs efficiently on a low a power rating as you can..

- I'm not Sure about what your new charges are going to be in the new year but I got a Shock..
Service charge from $71/qtr to 88/qtr
kwH from .21 to .25 Not a happy camper here..

So in the Long run have you sat down and calculated what your system draws in the way of power..

Here are a few simple Calculation to help you out in what you are being charged..
- A quarter is 90days on average..

So here goes..
For a 24/7 system..

24 * 90[Days] * [watts/1000] * your kwH rate = cost per Quarter..


So do you have an efficient system..
- On my current system.. I have 60w/6000lt pump and a 60w/80lt/hr air-pump
- over all of 120w @ about .21 kwh
About $55 per quarter 24/7..

some one said they found a pump @ 200w/6000lt [$60+ shipping]so the cost of Running just that pump is..

Their Pump -- $90.72 per Quarter.. or $362.88 per year.. [ Purchase Price of $60] Over all cost $422.88

My Pump ----$27.21 per Quarter... or $108.86 per year.. [Purchase Price of $180] Over all cost $288.86 [Currently cycling my water]

Over all I save $132.02 Because I bought the more expensive pump..



So overall What are you looking for in a Pump...

Me I go for efficiency[Power usage per litre pumped] over cost.. yes I do give myself an upper limit budget for what I will run..
for example if in my own situation I found that the current pump I have selected does not suit the demands on system to get a good cycle going I will change the pump out for something better..

http://www.rockaroundtheblock.com.au/pr ... 913&cID=83
This is what I plan to try to run with my system my system..

If this fails I'm going with this..
http://www.ingslane.com/Sequence-Pumps- ... c-178.html
The 12,000lt/h is my pump of choice.. $400 landed here.. so a Good Price..

So..
Have you Looked at the economics of running your system..??


Juergen

I know my current power consumption

60watt 6000 lph pump
35watt 4000Lph air pump

95 x 24 = 2.28kw per day

2.28kw x .1712 = 0.39 per day x 365 = $142.47 per year

aswell to this I have grid connected solar so in a sense I don't pay anything for my ap system? lol I do agree electricity prices are getting radiculous..

hey matt who is your power company.. I want to change your already 4c cheaper than me..

juergen

Hey Juergen,

Those Aqua Nova pumps are re-badged Jebo pumps... Can't say im a fan of their quality and we steer clear of them in the aquarium hobby...you may save power, but it will probably end up costing you your fish

Just my 2 cents worth..

Greg

Just got my electric bill today, saw this post and thought I'd double check my charges (probably not of interest to many on here as I'm in Thailand, but wth, someone might find it useful one day!)
100w/5000LPH pump (on/off 50%)
100x12=1.2kw/day
1.2kw*365*3.28(Thai Baht) = 1436.64 Baht/Yr
Or 44.90 AUD (at 32THB-AUD)

Your service charge is a lot though, 41baht/month here, just over 1 AUD.

My power is through power direct but I found there deal through Edit admin: A crap company called switchwise has requested that I remove their link that was here..
I could barely believe it myself because I was in exactly the same boat paying 21cents a kw

Good old Perth, with no competition and no choice with providers...

We pay 21.87c/kw, and if you dont like it, you can stay with Synergy and keep paying 21.87c/kw

My two 75w water pumps and one 85w air pump cost 111 a quarter

Been meaning to do this for some time...
Turned off all the breakers in the house except the one for the AP system.
Checked that the wheel on the meter wasn't moving and then turned my "100W" pump on.
Result:
38 seconds for 1 rev, 400 revs = 1 kw/h
So, 4.22 hours for 1kW
Or 237W for the pump.
Nearly 2.5 times what it says on the label...

The 100W is probably for 0m head.
Perhaps when I move the system around I'll test again at 0m head.

Food for thought.

see if you can get your hand on a kill o watt meter..

To see what your pump is actually using..

Juergen

I have a DVM that does AC amps, but I feel that the meter used to calculate the bill should be pretty accurate.
There would be riots at the electric company office if that was wrong, hehe.

Our total quarterly bill here at the shop is around $800-900...

The biggest question is Power Factor....
The power factor is what throws out the reading every time..

And I feel for the $800-$900 per Quarter We have something like $500-$600 per..
- 2 fridges 1 freezer
- 3 computers..
about 15+ down-lights[with a 19w transformer]

2 pond system, 1 running at about 40w/hr and the second at about 35w/h
New system at 120w/h


Juergen

well we got smart power so we can run our heavy using power equipment at night, only 10c a kw and in summer still clock up $1200 bucks, $600 in winter.
what we run? at night pool8hrs and bore12hrs. the bore is a small price to pay considering we have 3 hectares of green around the house, food for the animals and the bigest pluss its a fairly safe area when a fire comes through, last fire that went through we just put the sprinklers on and went straight to the niebours to help them, the extra $600 is a small price for the piece of mind we have

Took the DVM out to the garden.
228VAC
0.98 Amps
223W for a 100W pump (Timing the wheel on the kWh meter came out at 237)
So both pretty much agree.

32W Baby pump was 38W when measured.
Didn't time this one, CBA to wait for the wheel to do one rev hehe.

So the moral of the story is:
Your pump _is_ costing you more than you think it is.