Electrical question How much will this cost to run?

[Clarence Martin]

60 Foot roof deicer cable. Says it uses 7 Watts per Foot. If I have it running for 4 to 6 hours each day or night, how much will this cost to run in a month ? Electric rate is approx 9 Cents a Kilowatt.

[Malcolm McLeod]

Between $4.54 & $6.80

Edit: I'd probably allow twice that, to make up for power sags, power factors, and other such trivia - - like vendor exaggeration & optimism.

[Adam Herman]

60 feet x 7 W/ft = 420 W

.420 KW * .09 /KW = $.0378 / hr

6 hrs per day for 30 days will cost about $6.80

[Mike Henderson]

Wow, I wish we had electricity at $0.09 per kWh. I don't know exactly what it is now because we put in solar but it was over $0.30 per kWh in the higher tiers.

Mike

[Rick Moyer]

Just a question: Is the wire 60' or does it cover 60lf of roof? Aren't those things usually installed in a V pattern?(which would be longer wire to cover 60" of roof).
If 60' of wire the calculation are close, assuming the 7 watts is accurate. I don't know much about heat cable, but 7 watts doesn't seem like much heat to me....

[Art Mann]

According to National Public Radio, the average price of electricity across the country is $0.12. I pay about $0.09. I say wow when I hear what Californians have to pay. So far as I know, there are only two tiers of rates where I live - commercial and residential. California must have a complex billing system.


Wow, I wish we had electricity at $0.09 per kWh. I don't know exactly what it is now because we put in solar but it was over $0.30 per kWh in the higher tiers.

Mike

[Clarence Martin]

Just read this Month's electric bill. When I add togther the supply charges and the delivery charges, the electric rate for this Month worked out to almost 4.76 Cents a KiloWatt.

[Steve Peterson]

60 feet of cable at 7 watts per foot would be 420 watts of electricity. Each hour running at a cost of 4.76 cents per kWh times 0.42kWh equals just under 2 cents per hour. I used the actual electric cost, not the fixed cost for delivery charges that you would pay even if you don't use the heater. This is only 12 cents per 6 hours or $3.60 per month.

California does have much higher electric costs. The first tier where I am at using Pacific Gas and Electric is around $0.16 per kWh. The next tier is around $0.25 and the third tier is around $0.40. We were always into the third tier running the AC during the summer, so it makes a lot of sense to add solar.

Steve