Heating costs

For those that heat their rooms for tubs/racks how much do you spend a month?

Got our first PG&E bill back since I started heating the bedroom with a radiant oil heater and am not happy. Then again the boys are always opening the door and I'm always telling them to close it quickly behind them. And the apartment had no insulation in the walls. Tomorrow I'm going to stop by lowes and see about that widow plastic that you use the hairdryer to seal to stop window drafts.

Electric is about $250/month keeping the HVAC/heat pump t-stat at 65*F in the winter and the snake room at 75*F with it's own electric heater. BUT the house is 2600 sq ft and we run a gunsmithing business at the house, and some of the machinery runs off of 220V 3-phase so that really racks up the bill.

I run my 1100sqf apartment at 75-77 degrees all year round because I'm always cold. Along with my racks and my husband's lots of computers, we pay $130-150. Running back heat for ten snakes amounts to $3 to $8 of that total.

With my enclosures that have UTHs and heat bulbs all running 24/7. My elec is about $25 more a month that if I had nothing..

I'm using a ceramic heater with a thermostat in my snake room. The rest of the place is sitting around 70-72, and it's on the floor set to 75 (so really around 80 at chest/head height). The cost of running that has been so marginal I can't actually pick it out on the electric bill against the background noise of the hubby's varying playstation usage etc. Running two racks on a herpstat seems to average $8/month and the incubator is $4-ish.

if you go for full room heating, insulation really is everything. wall, floor, window, door, if you want low running cost with full room heating, you really need to find and fix the heat leaks.

the good news is that when you invest money in insulation, and your bills are lower month after month, it pays for itself after a while.

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Originally Posted by Pythonfriend

if you go for full room heating, insulation really is everything. wall, floor, window, door, if you want low running cost with full room heating, you really need to find and fix the heat leaks.

the good news is that when you invest money in insulation, and your bills are lower month after month, it pays for itself after a while.

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Yeah but not much I can do at present time. Trying to convince the roommates to spend a bit more so we can get a nicer place. For right now I added the plastic insulation and thick curtains to the window.

Thanks for the responses guys. Keep them coming.

For my snake room I got one of the electric heaters that looks like a fire place instead of running the heater. It's energy efficient and will save u in the long run. Takes less then running the house heater.

Still cheaper than a dog *cough cough* ;)

Geez, I'd take you guys heating bills any day!! My landlord just switched our apt building over to electric this year.... $585 was this months bill. My usual is $96 and that running filters and lights for 3 turtle tanks, filter and light for fish tank, and the snake room at 75-76, heat tape at 90.
There are sooo many drafts in this place it's ridiculous, can't wait for spring!

You and me both Crazymonkee. I upped our bill an extra 40 bucks by running the heat set at 75 (which gives the shelf the boa is on 79-81 temp). And that was only two weeks. I was hoping for 40 bucks a month not 80 for just the snakes. I upped us from tier 1 of PG&E to almost tier 4 with only two weeks of heating the room. Got my C Serpants rack set to ship any day now so I'll be moving the ball girls into my room and move the boa out to the T8. I just can't keep doing T8s for ball pythons. Way too expensive and too much room for snakes that aren't good display animals. I think I'll get that foam insulation sheets and put them around the rack so I can run the temps cooler.

I found a nicer apartment with good insulation, I've mapped my numbers out to demonstrate to the roomies that it isn't much more a month for a nice apartment instead of this dump (way too old and everything is falling apart, super drafty, and too small. I just need to go take a tour to make sure the master bedroom will be big enough for them.

Hey everyone,

So I'm new to owning a Ball and currently only heating one tank with UTH and heat light (Since my Ring Neck has been freed). In your experience does only heating one tank make a big difference on the electric bill? I have PG&E and my boyfriend, who is in charge of that bill, is a bit concerned about any increases.

- Ash

My power bill is normally $120- $150/month. This will be the first month I will have to see how much full room heating will cost me. I got a radiant oil heater from Lowes for $69 and it keeps 300sq/ft at 75F no problem. I am sure the cost of the heater and increase in my power bill will well more than offset even one RI due to cold temps had I not gone for the heater, as temps in the room got to 65F during a cold snap one night even with insulation. Finishing the drywall inside will help, but that is a spring project for now.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps08a18a0d.jpg

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...ps4f166b1e.jpg

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Originally Posted by ashley2534

Hey everyone,

So I'm new to owning a Ball and currently only heating one tank with UTH and heat light (Since my Ring Neck has been freed). In your experience does only heating one tank make a big difference on the electric bill? I have PG&E and my boyfriend, who is in charge of that bill, is a bit concerned about any increases.

- Ash

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For one tank nope. I've never noticed a real difference when I just add an UTH or heat lamp or both. Even my T8s with two RHPs each don't take much.

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Originally Posted by ashley2534

Hey everyone,

So I'm new to owning a Ball and currently only heating one tank with UTH and heat light (Since my Ring Neck has been freed). In your experience does only heating one tank make a big difference on the electric bill? I have PG&E and my boyfriend, who is in charge of that bill, is a bit concerned about any increases.

- Ash

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With the setup you mentioned in your thread, you're running about the same wattage as a couple light bulbs. At most, you're adding a few bucks a year to your electricity bill.

Thanks, that's really good to know. It took me awhile to convince him to let me get one (once he realized it wasn't going to be 10 feet long), so I definitely don't want to have electricty being a problem. That's great to know that having one tank (maybe two in the future ;) won't be to much. Thanks!

- Ash

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Originally Posted by ashley2534

Thanks, that's really good to know. It took me awhile to convince him to let me get one (once he realized it wasn't going to be 10 feet long), so I definitely don't want to have electricty being a problem. That's great to know that having one tank (maybe two in the future ;) won't be to much. Thanks!

- Ash

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Oh plan on having more than two tanks rather quickly. ;)

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Originally Posted by Crazymonkee

Geez, I'd take you guys heating bills any day!! My landlord just switched our apt building over to electric this year.... $585 was this months bill. My usual is $96 and that running filters and lights for 3 turtle tanks, filter and light for fish tank, and the snake room at 75-76, heat tape at 90.
There are sooo many drafts in this place it's ridiculous, can't wait for spring!

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:O:O:O
That is insane!!! I will remember this in six months when I want to whine about the A/C bill, because it's bad, but no where near that bad!

I should have caveated that I can't tell much difference because I never actually turn the house heater on here, and the ambient temp is never more than 4-6 degress off the room heater's target temp anyway.

You can always find out what you payer Kwh, and factor in how many watts you are pulling. Heating a room will be much more variable though--it really comes down to doing what you need to do. I have found that the plastic shrink wrap type window insulators work wonders for drafty single pane windows.

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Originally Posted by Badgemash

:O:O:O
That is insane!!! I will remember this in six months when I want to whine about the A/C bill, because it's bad, but no where near that bad!

I should have caveated that I can't tell much difference because I never actually turn the house heater on here, and the ambient temp is never more than 4-6 degress off the room heater's target temp anyway.

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Hey Badge! Another Phoenician here. Ah, yes.. Soon it will be AC time, when my bill goes >200 a month for my apartment just to keep it at 78. Lol.

I have my heater set to 72-74, that way my ambient temps in my tubs stay ~76-78. A little cool, but it'll be plenty warm soon.

We are on tier 4 with PG&E so we pay $0.38/KwH which is insane. Our bill is about $560/mo with the heated snake room, and 2 enclosures outside of the room for QT. That also includes a 135g fish tank running an FX5, two 300w heaters, and a 50g sump with return pump, a 90g fish tank with 300w heater and 2 filters, and also a 20g baby red ear slider tank, AND two beardie enclosures with UV bulbs and heat lamps.

We just got a new HVAC unit and a gas clothes dryer, and that helped out a ton. Bill was over $1200/mo.


I like my Dubstep to go Wop Wop Wop Wop

I wish it was hot...I would rather cool to 86 when its 110 than heat to 86 when it is 0 LOL

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Originally Posted by KING JAMES

I wish it was hot...I would rather cool to 86 when its 110 than heat to 86 when it is 0 LOL

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This, my summer AC bill looks great b/c I take the house down to 80. Winter... UGH!

And Expensive Hobby your utility bill was more than my mortgage!

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Originally Posted by bcr229

This, my summer AC bill looks great b/c I take the house down to 80. Winter... UGH!

And Expensive Hobby your utility bill was more than my mortgage!

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Lol it has been as high as $1500 but that's when I was breeding fish haha.
Snakes are much cheaper.


I like my Dubstep to go Wop Wop Wop Wop