Cost of running the blower

[jkupcha]

I was always curious about what the blower on my zc fireplace was costing me to run. My blower is pretty big. Moves a lot of air. Anyway I bought one of those TED's (energy detectives) and it lets me see how much my electric bill is at any moment based on my current utility rates. So anyway, each KWh cost me .145 here in Southern Jersey and the blower cost me about .03/hr to run. Pretty efficient when you consider how much heat that baby is pumping out. Recommend those energy monitors to anyone interested in keeping a lid on total energy usage. I installed it myself. Thanks - Joe

 

[stockdoct]

You're exactly right. As long as you don't want to create heat (like a space heater, oven or hair dryer) its amazing how inexpensive it is to use electricity. For instance, I have an eMax electric scooter --- it runs almost 30 miles per charge at roughly 30 mph for only 25cents of electricity. Amazing! For a motorized scooter it would cost 5x that in gasoline costs. Plug-in hybrids (Ford Escape, Prius) will travel 30 miles for less than a buck of electricity

On the flip side, however, is the crappy way we store electricity in batteries. I just bought a duracell battery-pack to power my blower (in the event of a power outage I want that blower to blow) Its large, about 25 pounds, almost as large as a car battery ......... and it only holds about 15 cents worth of electricity. Enough to power my blower for 4-5 hours or light a 100 W lightbulb for an 80 minutes.

We need new battery technology, for sure ......

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I bought an inverter to hook directly to my car battery in an outage. Run the car- self recharging.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

You're exactly right. As long as you don't want to create heat (like a space heater, oven or hair dryer) its amazing how inexpensive it is to use electricity. For instance, I have an eMax electric scooter --- it runs almost 30 miles per charge at roughly 30 mph for only 25cents of electricity. Amazing! For a motorized scooter it would cost 5x that in gasoline costs. Plug-in hybrids (Ford Escape, Prius) will travel 30 miles for less than a buck of electricity

On the flip side, however, is the crappy way we store electricity in batteries. I just bought a duracell battery-pack to power my blower (in the event of a power outage I want that blower to blow) Its large, about 25 pounds, almost as large as a car battery ......... and it only holds about 15 cents worth of electricity. Enough to power my blower for 4-5 hours or light a 100 W lightbulb for an 80 minutes.

We need new battery technology, for sure ......

Stockdoct...you have a link to the backup supply you bought?
Also, have you ran it full and found it will give you 4-5 hours?

 

[stockdoct]

.

http://www.amazon.com/Duracell-DPP-..._2?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1226113561&sr=8-2


Pretty sleek, has a radio and a flashlight. You can charge it in your AC home outlet, or from your DC car plug-in. I think it'll be pretty handy in a power outage. As others have said on this board, you can rig your own with a car battery and an inverter for less....... but I'm an idiot in electronics and I like this package. Yes, I tried it with the blower --- 4.6 hours, with the blower on 75% power.