Skipper
spending too much on rocks
Member since March 2003
Posts: 258
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Post by Skipper on Feb 5, 2005 21:03:16 GMT -5
Now that I have 5 tumblers and 7 barrels running, I'm beginning to wonder how much electricity I'm consuming every month as part of the "price" of this hobby. Does anybody know: 1. Whether these tumblers consume a lot of power? 2. How many tumblers you can safely plug into a powerbar on a single outlet?
Thanks!
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Post by sandsman1 on Feb 5, 2005 21:38:48 GMT -5
hi skip i dont know the exsact useage but i had three model B-s and 1 lortoneQT-66 and one QT-12 and a light pluged into a power strip and it never triped it --i shut them down when the aircondionting went on in the summer because i was gettin around 250.00 a month elect bill and im on a fixed income and that was way to much hahaha plus i was runnin a grinder and two saws when needed plus when i wake up i put the tv on and it dont go off till i lay down it keeps me company hahaha
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Post by BearCreekLapidary on Feb 5, 2005 23:40:05 GMT -5
Hello Skipper,
I can't really say either ... my monthly electric bill generally runs around 18.00 ... and at that price ... I am not even thinking about how much electricity I am using ;D
John
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AgateHunter
starting to spend too much on rocks
LAKE SUPERIOR AGATE Minnesota State Gemstone
Member since September 2004
Posts: 107
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Post by AgateHunter on Feb 5, 2005 23:47:06 GMT -5
Here are a few calculations for you.
If your circuit is 15 amps and your voltage is 120 volts then the circuit should handle 1800 watts
15 Amps X 120 Volts = 1800 Watts
If your circuit is 20 amps and your voltage is 120 volts then the circuit should handle 2400 watts
20 Amps X 120 Volts = 2400 Watts
If you are unsure what your volts are then use 110 volts in the calculation and you should be safe.
15 Amps X 110 Volts = 1650 Watts 20 Amps x 110 volts = 2200 Watts
If your tumblers have AMPS and not Watts on the lable then use the following calculations:
2.0 Amps x 110 Volts = 220 Watts 2.0 Amps X 120 Volts = 240 Watts
Hope this helps.
Chris
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rollingstone
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since July 2009
Posts: 236
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Post by rollingstone on Feb 6, 2005 2:52:34 GMT -5
Thanks for those equations Chris, electricity always messes me up.
Now for some fun with numbers....
I have a Lortone QT6, and the motor says it draws 0.86 amps at 115 volts. According to your equations, that means it draws 0.86 x 115 = 98.9 watts. Might as well round that to 100 watts. Wow, so it's only drawing as much energy as a 100 watt light bulb, interesting, I thought it would use more power.
In an hour it uses 100 watt-hours, or 0.1 kilowatt-hours of power. So in a day it uses 24 x 0.1 = 2.4 kwH of power. I think we pay something like 10 cents per kwH. So it costs 24 cents per day to run my tumbler. (Skipper -- this kind of number play should work for you too, since you are also in Alberta so should be paying similar prices for electricity.)
24 cents a day doesn't sound bad. Over a year of constant use, that adds up to $87.60 per year for my one tumbler. I don't know the specs on Skipper's tumblers, but if he's running 5 tumblers and 7 barrels, he's probably looking at roughly 5-7 times the cost, or $450-$650 per year in electricity. Substantial, but probably small in comparison to cost of rock and grit.
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WarrenA
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2003
Posts: 1,530
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Post by WarrenA on Feb 6, 2005 23:27:17 GMT -5
I have never given the cost of electricty much thought I figure it is worth the cost beats trying to figure out a way to tumble without using electricty
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Tellfamily
spending too much on rocks
Member since September 2004
Posts: 476
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Post by Tellfamily on Feb 6, 2005 23:53:09 GMT -5
Just think how many years and gallons of water it take for Mother Nature to tumble rocks.
I went around telling the kids to turn off the lights "it was wasting electricity".
I had one of the kids e-mail the Utah Power & Light and ask them how much electricty was wasted by leaving lights on. We thought this woudl be a good lession and somethign she could share with her 5th grade class.
When the power company answered back it costs 12 cents a day for her bedroom light to be left on all day. She was quick to remind us that half the day she was sleeping. So the light would only cost us 6 cents a day when she left it on while at school.
Since she does nto leave the light on every day. Just a couple of time a week the entire cost for a month was under 50 cents.
She then went aroud the house and started figuring out all the electricty costs. She was was very happy to find out (and tell me). That when I fall asleep witht he TV on, I waste more electricity in a month than her light does.
This whole "lesson" I wanted her to learn back fired.
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
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Post by stefan on Feb 7, 2005 10:20:40 GMT -5
I can see that the extra electricity consumed way offsets the therapy costs of not tumbling!
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Skipper
spending too much on rocks
Member since March 2003
Posts: 258
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Post by Skipper on Feb 7, 2005 18:30:53 GMT -5
Awesome answers! I'd been told electricity was cheap, so I figured this might be the answer. Good work on the calcs guys!
Thanks!
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