Anyone have an Idea how to estimate the monthly cost of an electric Tank Heater?

[RSC]

I am trying to figure out how much it would cost to use an electric tank heater!  I have some cows on cornfields by my Dads and he breaks ice every day!  Trying to figure out what to offer the landlord to help make it easier for the Days Dad helps water the cows!  Any ideas?

Tony

 

[CAB]

  The REC does. It's cheap they say!! Your Dad probably loves helping you out Tony. Gives him something to look forward to. I know that my Dad loved it when he could help anyone out.

 

[Reinken Cattle Co.]

dont know where my dad comes up with things sometimes but he seemed to think the other day that the tank heaters we have run about the same as 60 100 watt bulbs would...?! true or not I think my dads going crazy ???

 

[GoWyo]

The ones I have been using are 1500 watts, so they should be pulling about 12 or 13 amps when they are on.  A 100 watt bulb only pulls 1/15 of the juice that a tank heater does.  Tank heater may not stay on all the time if water temp is reaching 40 degrees or so.  I set mine on timers to kick on at about 4 AM and shut off around 10 AM and then kick on again from 4 PM til 8 PM unless it is below zero or the tank size is kinda big for the heater.

 

[RSC]

  The REC does. It's cheap they say!! Your Dad probably loves helping you out Tony. Gives him something to look forward to. I know that my Dad loved it when he could help anyone out.

Ya, probably right!  He has to water them daily anyway, just wanted to make it a little easier!

Thanks all for the help!

Tony

 

[cpubarn]

Calculating cost of appliance if my math is right...



watts / 1000 x $/kwh x hrs on/ month


example...

1500watts/1000 x $.11 x .33 (running 1/3 of the time) x 720 hours in a month = $39/month


So, if it runs constantly  $118/month


GoWyo's suggestion of 10 hrs a day,assuming it runs constantly to catch up...   $49.5

 

[Jill]

I don't know how you came up with that estimate, but I can tell you ours have never cost that much to run, that's like 3/4 of the electric bill for my whole house and barn with fans and heater running.  I don't know how much they are, but your power company should be able to tell you, it is worth whatever it would cost in my opinion.

 

[CAB]

We used to say a dollar per day per tank. That's been awhile ago though. I have chopped water the last 10 years in a 500 gallon tank. Last year I bought an electric submersible heater and sunk it in the tank. It worked well, but you need to keep it placed so that the cattle can't get to the cord. I also put in a new "energy-free water this fall. It is a Cobett water. I did run a wire with it in case I want to put a 60 watt bulb under it later.  used to have the mirafont waters and on the worst days they would freeze. All you need on a bad day is frozen waters. The valve on the Cobett water is on the  bottom of the tank submerged in the water. The valve was on top of the Mirafonts and that's where they always froze.

 

[ELBEE]

You'll be pretty close at 1 dollar per day on 1500 watt heaters. Most are 1500 watt, and that goes for block heaters on tractors and trucks too. And that's also assuming they are running half the time.

 

[frostback]

Not sure how much and honestly dont care. But if you flip the breaker off for it please tell the wife. I am now hauling water for 3 horses and a big bull with fence crawling girlfriend. Baby its cold outside.

 

[RSC]

We used to say a dollar per day per tank. That's been awhile ago though. I have chopped water the last 10 years in a 500 gallon tank. Last year I bought an electric submersible heater and sunk it in the tank. It worked well, but you need to keep it placed so that the cattle can't get to the cord. I also put in a new "energy-free water this fall. It is a Cobett water. I did run a wire with it in case I want to put a 60 watt bulb under it later.  used to have the mirafont waters and on the worst days they would freeze. All you need on a bad day is frozen waters. The valve on the Cobett water is on the  bottom of the tank submerged in the water. The valve was on top of the Mirafonts and that's where they always froze.

Thanks to everyone!  Good info!

Tony

 

[cpubarn]

I don't have one of these to know how much it takes, it appears the question is how much it runs and my math...

To answer the second question, I looked up an online calculator, here are two  I used...

http://www.paystolivegreen.com/2008/09/energy-savings-calculator , or http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/howmuch.html  they both came up with the same answers depending on hours per day/week/month

The remaining question is how much it will run in Nebraska,  I bet today it runs alot.  Those of you with experience would know how much of the time it runs.  I still like the timer idea, and a much warmer day than this blizzard.

 

[GoWyo]

The last few days I have been running two tanks off a single circuit (one in the steer pen and the other in the horse pen because I did not get a Cobett drinker shipped in and installed yet) by rotating the when each is on.  I have two 1500 watt heaters, so they cannot run at the same time on a 20 amp circuit without tripping the breaker.  The horse tank is  plugged it in at 8 AM and unplugged at 5 PM or so and the steer tank is left plugged in the rest of the time.  We have been between -15 deg and 15 deg since Sunday and this has worked great.  Worst part is hooking up hoses and draining them even with a 75 foot run.  Had I known it was going to get this cold this early, I would have gotten this project done a couple of weeks ago.  We are supposed to warm up Saturday, so will have to see how far down the frost went and whether digging a water line in this year is out of the question.  Really hate dealing with winter water issues, but who likes it?

 

[braunvieh]

Is there anything out there in a tank heater that runs on battery? I don't have electricity at my tank and boy oh boy is the ice getting thick when its -5 outside!

 

[Okie Boy]

have you looked into propane? The heaters cost over $100 but they can last for many years and you could use the same fuel tank as your cooker.

 

[GoWyo]

The propane ones are best for remote sites -- have used a diesel drip one that is basically a metal box with 2 stove pipe holes.  This thing works sometimes, but mostly is a real PITA so only gets used in an emergency.

 

[CAB]

The Cobett water was froze over this morning with an ice snow mixture, about 2 inches thick,  but took less than a minute to break with a hammer and throw out of the drinking area. The valve did not freeze of coarse and stayed open all day. I ran it full B4 dark and we'll see how thick the ice is in the morning. The wind chill was -15 to -20 here today. Suppose to hit -5 tonight without the wind.

 

[Shady Lane]

Ive had some good experience with the propane fired ones, I'm sure it's more costly than electric but as mentioned they were excellent in remote areas withought power.

  On a ranch where I used to work we had one in a pasture about 10 miles from home that heated a tank that was fed by a solar powered pump, very neat setup and worked very well.

 

[simtal]

We had this thing we rigged up when I was kid that was a modified 55 gallon drum  attached to the tank. Put wood inside and get a fire going inside it with a pipe coming out of the top for smoke. Kept the ice down good for a big tank.