Cost to run your shop

[mike klein]

We built a new shop here last year and wanted to know just exactly how much it cost to run not only the entire area but also each piece of equipment.
I installed one of these TED Energy Detective systems and now I know right down to the penny what it is costing me to run everything. At any time I can bring
it up on the screen to look at current kw usage or cost of operation along with several hitorical data charts. Pretty handy tool for a couple hundred bucks.


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[Tim Bateson]

I opted for a less expensive option for $29.95 at most hardware stores is a "Kill A Watt EZ":

• Calculates cost and forecasts by Week, Month, and Year

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Note: It doesn't do everything the $$$ model does, but if the appliance plugs into a 110 outlet, this puppy will monitor it. I use this and it's sister, the original "Kill A Watt" to check Amp & Watt usage for my massive Christmas display. These are very handy & inexpensive tools to insure you are not overloading a circuit & the former to calculate costs.

[Joe Pelonio]

At our rate of about $0.07/KWH it turns out to cost very little to run the laser, air pump fan, lights and computer. I also have the Kill a Watt and used it on all but the fluorescent lights that are hard wired and it comes out to under $5/day for the rest. In the summer on the rare hot days when I fire up the window AC that probably doubles it.

[Ryan Mooney]

Being able to plot the usage over time was pretty handy with the kill-o-watt. We found that around 25% of our houses baseline[1] energy was being used by the laser printer in the office. Somewhere around 50% of the baseline was random vampiric draw from all the other electronics.

[1] baseline was "continuous background use" not counting demand loads like fridges, freezers, lights, etc.. and was surprisingly high

[David Somers]

Ryan,

A number of years ago I came across a great device for dealing with Vampire power. It is a surge suppressor that has a master plug on it, with a bunch of plugs controlled by the master. Plus a few plugs that are uncontrolled and always on. It works great for computers and peripherals, or TV and all the toys that can accompany that. Basically, you plug a device like your TV into the master controller. It continues to get power all the time and so it is on and ready to be controlled by its remote. The devices like your DVD, receiver, Roku, etc, all plug into the controlled plugs and are fully powered off. If you use your remote to turn on the TV that triggers the unit to now provide power to all the devices plugged into the controlled plugs and now you can turn them on by remote as well. The uncontrolled plugs might have always on devices like your cable modem/wireless router in it.

It is nice since you still have the ability to use your remote to get everything going but when that one device is off all others are off as well and there is no vampire draw from them. I was in Hawaii at the time where power was running about .38/kwh so vampire power was a big deal.

The device is called a Smart Strip by Bits Limited. Not sure if they are still made, but I have seen other brands doing the same thing.

I also use a Kilowatt meter. They are very handy and an inexpensive tool that can give you some surprising info.

For things like my desk area I use a smart strip with a motion sensor that plugs into it. Again, it has controlled plugs and uncontrolled/always on plugs. I plug things like my desk lamp, computer monitor, and other devices into the controlled plugs and if there is no movement in the room for an amount of time that i have set those plugs get powered off until there is movement again. The computer and UPS are on the uncontrolled/always on plugs. That is helpful.

With those things, and having slowly switched over to all LED lighting I have a monthly power bill that maxes at $40/mo in winter. Including my shop. That seems pretty good. I am in the same basic rate area as Joe Pelonio.

Dave

[Ryan Mooney]

It is nice since you still have the ability to use your remote to get everything going but when that one device is off all others are off as well and there is no vampire draw from them. I was in Hawaii at the time where power was running about .38/kwh so vampire power was a big deal.

Yeah this was with a "new" laser printer which was nominally "low power mode and green" - hah. We lived in Maui for a few years and the first couple months we were there (from AZ where power was cheap) we had an old HP laser plugged in. Man that thing was power hungry, when we replaced it with a newer Brother (still beastly) it paid for itself in power costs in a couple months (even when turned off at night when it wasn't in use).

All the uncontrolled "things" around the house like the clock radio, the stove background draw (clock, etc..) the microwave (same), etc.. adds up to a surprising amount. Even leaving a battery charger plugged in seems to usually have a small background draw.

$40/mo is darn good in any rate schedule, congrats at that!

[Mike Lysov]

At our rate of about $0.07/KWH

Wow! that's expensive! is that a real rate?
We are paying AU$0.022 per Kwh here in Australia. And it's a rate without extra 15-30% discount we can get.
I would estimate power consumption for my laser cutting business as $300-400 per three months. I am running two lasers (100W and 280W). However I do not use both at the same time and I do not think total running time per day is more than 5 hours for both combined.

[David Somers]

Mike,

That is actually a good rate in the States. WA state is heavy on Hydro Power so our rates are lower than many places here. Hawaii was so much higher because most of the power was generated from diesel generators and the Diesel all had to be shipped in. Among the worst I have encounter was Saipan. That was up close to .60. Also a diesel system. But not well managed with high equipment costs.

Dave

[matthew knott]

Wow! that's expensive! is that a real rate?
We are paying AU$0.022 per Kwh here in Australia. And it's a rate without extra 15-30% discount we can get.
I would estimate power consumption for my laser cutting business as $300-400 per three months. I am running two lasers (100W and 280W). However I do not use both at the same time and I do not think total running time per day is more than 5 hours for both combined.

thats cheap compared to the UK, we pay about $0.20, But Mike your figures dont add up are you sure 0.022, thats practically nothing, and according to the internet your average is higher than ours at $0.22us ,
Our YAG laser are 3phase and pull a massive 6kw each, we have 3 of them running some days, BIG bills

[Mike Lysov]

Sorry guys, I was looking at my contract for gas. They are identical from the same supplier expect a few words. I am paying much more than $0.07/kwh for electricity.
It is actually four times more. It seems we make electricity from gold here in Australia. Otherwise nobody can explain why we are paying $0.31/Kwh

[Gary Hair]

The device is called a Smart Strip by Bits Limited. Not sure if they are still made, but I have seen other brands doing the same thing.

Search Amazon for this - "Smart Strip LCG3 Energy Saving Surge Protector with Autoswitching Technology, 10-Outlet"

[Rodne Gold]

Electricity here in south Africa is quite expensive as it has tripled in price from 4 years ago or so. We pay $0.16 kw/h.
Costs me around $200 a month for my house and around $500 a month to run my factory.

[Kev Williams]

If I want to know how much power I'm using I just use the power meter, my surveillance cameras in night vision mode and a little math. Did you know your digital power meter has an infrared light that blinks once every 1/800th of a kilowatt? I'm not exactly sure why it's 1/800 and not 1/1000...? Anyway, count the blinks per minute, figure out the blinks per hour then multiply x 1.25 to = watts being used. When I have several machines running with most or all of the air blowers on,the air compressor, the hot tub heater,, the 2 coffee pots on and the centeral AC going, I've seen it at faster than 4 blinks per second! (4 blinks per second is 18,000 watts... !)

[matthew knott]

It's only going to get worse here, our energy prices keep going up, one big factor is environmental taxes, we give massive subsides to green energy providers like solar and wind farms. Luckily running a laser still only cost cents an hour, try making aluminium or something heavy on juice!

[Tim Bateson]

Search Amazon for this - "Smart Strip LCG3 Energy Saving Surge Protector with Auto-switching Technology, 10-Outlet"

APC makes one as well. Originally bought a couple for our laptops, however a laptop doesn't draw enough from the Master to activate the other plugs. Works well for my shop PC though.