Energy consumption

[MikeJuggles]

Do small UTH heaters and heat bulbs really use a ton of energy? The electricity bill went up $20 this month, and the only thing that is different is that I'm running 2 repti-therm uth pads, a 1-5 gallon and a 10-20 gallon, a 50 watt bulb buring the day in my leopard gecko's tank, and a 50 watt infrared in my ball python's tank at night.
I didn't realize that such a small setup could increase my utilities by that much.

[CuddlztheBP]

That seems really odd actually....my neighbour has 3 times that set up, plus 2 tvs, a computer and an xbox all running pretty well 24/7 and his bill is still about the same as mine every month, and i have conciderably less running.....

[nikitajane25]

Yea that doesn't seem like enough stuff to be raising your bill that high. Have you been running your heatr any higher?

[nesler]

If the UTHs are the ones I'm thinking of, where the small one takes 4 watts and the larger one takes 8, and you're running the daylight bulb for 12 hours a day and the night time bulb for 12 hours a night, I'm coming up with a total of 80.64 kilowatt-hours per month.

If you have more accurate information regarding your exact usage, that would help. But take a look at your power bill, and see what they charge you per kilowatt. In my area, due to my lower power usage, they charge me about 9.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. At that rate, your setup would cost me $7.66 per month. BUT, energy rates vary widely depending on where you're at. So take a look at your bill to see what your rate is.

[RichL]

The UTH's generally have pretty low wattage. I would say if it is indeed those items, that it would be the lamps. Also, have to account for the winter time. Maybe you have a drafty door or window(s). If you do think that it is these items, I would suggest the energy saving light bulbs from wal-mart. They only use about 13 watts, cost about 6-8 bucks for 4 of them, and put out the light of a 60w bulb.

My power bill doubled this past month. My normal bill is below $60. I have all energy efficient light bulbs in my 2 br apartment. Two computers with over 600w power supply's that run a good 16+ hours a day combined. Two 32" LCD monitors ( mine and my brothers ), an xbox that see about 3hrs a day play time, and 7 snakes with individual heat pads. I believe it was only high this time because my Central unit would kick on for 15 minutes and be off for 8 minutes before kicking back on again. I have that fixed now to where it runs for 15 minutes and off for 30-45 minutes before kicking back on. So next bill should be back to normal.

Sorry for getting side-tracked, but maybe my 'long-winded-ness' can still help out =)