Flexwatt cost to run ????

[Jeff Krupa]

For all you smart people. If you have a piece of 4 inch flexwatt 4 feet long how much will that cost per month to run at a temp of 94.... price per kw in Connecticut is roughly 11 cents. flexwatt runs at 8 watts per foot.. thanks

[Jenn]

There are too many variables to solve for. What is the room temp? If it's cold the flexwatt will run all the time to maintain the 94. Is the room temp steady? How much bedding between the temp probe and the flexwatt? I added about 30 feet of three inch and my bill only went up a few bucks a month.

[anendeloflorien]

It's hard to say. I have 3 racks all running 4" flexwatt that's pretty much on constantly. I'd have to say it's still pretty efficient, I haven't seen that there's been any spike in the energy bill or anything. But yeah, like Jenn said there's way too many variables to say what the actual cost would be to run it. It depends on what type of thermostat you are using also. IMO a proportional t-stat would give you much better efficiency as instead of running full on to the correct temp and then shutting off it only runs the heating element at the required temperature.

[simplechamp]

8 watts per foot * 4 feet = 32 watts power consumption when on

That is equal to 0.032 kW

Assume it's running half of the time:

12 hrs a day * 30 days a month = 360 hrs per month

0.032 kW * 360 hrs = 11.52 kWh per month

11.52 kWh * $0.11 per kWh = $1.27 per month to run the flexwatt

If it is on 16 hours a day (2/3 of the day) it will cost $1.69 per month

If it is on 24 hours a day (on at all times) it will cost $2.53 per month