Heat Tape VS Cable - Electricity Bill

Hello, I was wondering if anybody noticed a difference with their electricity bill when using heat tape and/or cable? Somebody (one person) said that heat tape will save you $ than cable. Have any of you experienced or noticed the difference? Thanks.

M

All I know is I have bulbs running all day and one heat pad and my bill seems to be about $10-$15 more a month.

I notice perhaps a couple dollar increase in my bill. I use heat tape.

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Maybe I should have asked how many snakes you own. I have about 45 and have noticed about $125 increase in my monthly electric bill.

I use both, tape and cable.

I have 11 snakes and 6 geckos all on heat tape. I don't think there should be that big of an increase.

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It all depends on the size and the run.

You can figure it out mathematically.

Each heat tape size has a watt per section/foot associated with it, just add up your total wattage and figure how often it's actually running full blast(if you are running on/off T-stats) and multiply the watts used in an hour and figure that to your power companies cost per kilowatt hr.

I did that with my AC and showed the figures to my landlord. The end result was a power bill that dropped $780/month after a new central heat and air unit was installed.


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Originally Posted by digizure

Hello, I was wondering if anybody noticed a difference with their electricity bill when using heat tape and/or cable? Somebody (one person) said that heat tape will save you $ than cable. Have any of you experienced or noticed the difference? Thanks.

M

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If you are using a thermostat, there shouldn't be much of a different between heat tape and cable. Both are pretty damn efficient at making heat. Even if the heat tape is 10 watts per foot and the heat cable is 20 watts per foot, the heat cable won't have to run at it's full power to maintain the same temp as the heat tape. The difference wouldn't be noticed in your bill.

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Originally Posted by OhhWatALoser

If you are using a thermostat, there shouldn't be much of a different between heat tape and cable. Both are pretty damn efficient at making heat. Even if the heat tape is 10 watts per foot and the heat cable is 20 watts per foot, the heat cable won't have to run at it's full power to maintain the same temp as the heat tape. The difference wouldn't be noticed in your bill.

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That's what I was thinking! There's a guy who insists that heat tape saves electricity than heat cable. I use Herpstat for all of my racks.

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Originally Posted by digizure

That's what I was thinking! There's a guy who insists that heat tape saves electricity than heat cable. I use Herpstat for all of my racks.

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I mean if I wanted to play devils advocate I could say tape is laminate where cable is normally jacketed and insulated, which laminate will pass heat better, tape comes in lower wattages than cable I use at work, which would be fractionally more efficient, but I don't know if cable comes in low wattages also. But those still won't be a difference to show up on your bill. I think the difference between the initial cost (assuming one is higher priced than the other per foot) would save more money than the cost of running of it on a thermostat, but I have no idea what cable costs. They are both efficient, just running electricity through heating elements.

I was just researching and here's what I came up with (by no means I am an electrician).

I have a home made adult rack with two 39ft heat cables, both 100 watts each, plugged into a Herpstat 2. If I were to replace the heat cable with an 11" flexwatt, I'd need 25 feet and they're 20 watts per foot so that's 500 watts and I'd probably hook it up to a Herpstat 1.

Is it safe to assume that the heat cable will save on the electricity bill?

As was mentioned, of its in the herpstat then the herpstat is relaying the same amount of electricity to both assuming they heat exactly the same way.


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Originally Posted by digizure

I was just researching and here's what I came up with (by no means I am an electrician).

I have a home made adult rack with two 39ft heat cables, both 100 watts each, plugged into a Herpstat 2. If I were to replace the heat cable with an 11" flexwatt, I'd need 25 feet and they're 20 watts per foot so that's 500 watts and I'd probably hook it up to a Herpstat 1.

Is it safe to assume that the heat cable will save on the electricity bill?

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Nope because you don't pay for kilowatts you pay for kilowatt-hours, so your bill depends on how efficiently the tape versus cable transfers heat to the tub, and how long each has to run to maintain the temperature in the tub.

here i can give a good answer, since this is basically a physics question.

if you want to turn electricity into heat, your energy conversion efficiency will be close to 100%. no matter what system you use.

in contrast, if you want to use electricity to pump water up a mountain, you will have losses in the form of heat, and not all of the energy will actually end up moving water upwards.

but what losses could there be in this case? it gets warm, but it doesnt produce light or sound or radiation or mechanical energy or anything else.

so if the setup is the same and you heat to the same target temperature, electricity cost should be the same. it could only be different if, for example, one method heats more air surrounding the enclosure, or also heats a wall of your room, and the other method is better at delivering the energy to the underside of the tub.

I think I'm just gonna make the move to whole room heating instead. Just got a new heater last night for the snake room that's being setup, and it stays 82° with no fluctuation. It has it's own thermostat which seems incredibly accurate for what it is, but I'm thinking of doing an "in tub" probe for an external controller to make sure the temps in the tubs stay where I want them.

Hopefully no more lights, heat tape, UTH's, CHE's or anything. Only flexwatt as a backup.


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I was thinking of building a "cabinet" and use one source of heat - maybe a flexwatt on the bottom and a fan on top to circulate the air. Pretty much similar to an incubator.

I wish I could heat up the room but I'm in San Diego and the insulation here SUCKS.

I did the math once, and I pay under $10 a month for three racks consisting of about 9.3 feet of heat tape. I also use back heat since my house stays pretty warm. Less feet, less watts, less kilowatt hours.

I will need a total of 59 feet of flexwatt for both racks (combined) and I have another rack that has about 15 feet of flexwatt already installed. All of these racks are in my office. I also have 16 feet of flexwatt running under Animal Plastics in the living room.

M

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Originally Posted by digizure

I will need a total of 59 feet of flexwatt for both racks (combined) and I have another rack that has about 15 feet of flexwatt already installed. All of these racks are in my office. I also have 16 feet of flexwatt running under Animal Plastics in the living room.

M

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Sounds like you need a heated snake room ;)


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Yeah, I wish I could but the room I have my racks in isn't insulated. Actually, my entire place isn't insulated so I wouldn't be able to heat the room very well.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Nope because you don't pay for kilowatts you pay for kilowatt-hours, so your bill depends on how efficiently the tape versus cable transfers heat to the tub, and how long each has to run to maintain the temperature in the tub.

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^^^ That right there.
The 500W tape will likely only run at 40%(assuming proportional control is used) if your heat cable is sufficient right now giving you approximately the same heat output.
Where the tape wins for me is the larger surface area to transfer heat to the enclosure more evenly.

For heating cost saving keeping the heat in the enclosure should be your concern. i.e. insulation and draft reduction. It could also be possibly that ambient temperature adjustment might save a buck or two as well.

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Originally Posted by digizure

Yeah, I wish I could but the room I have my racks in isn't insulated. Actually, my entire place isn't insulated so I wouldn't be able to heat the room very well.

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Just read this. Can you insulate and enclose the rack? You may have to add air holes to keep air flowing nicely through the racks though.

I guess I'll replace the heat cable with the flexwatt and I'll add the back panels to the racks (they have side panels but no back.

Thanks for the inputs guys. *crossing fingers*