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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jan 17, 2012 6:21:48 GMT -5
has anyone figured out what there elecricity consumption is running a 1/3 hp motor 24 hrs a day on a tumbler? I knew when we built ours that 1/3 hp was probably overkill but it was free and works great but it sure seems like the electric bill spiked way more then we expected. I think the label on our dayton motor says 7.2 amps. We are currently only running (4) 3lb barrels on it and when I checked the specs for a lortone 12lb tumbler there motor is only using 1.4 amps.
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Peter
having dreams about rocks
Member since May 2009
Posts: 51
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Post by Peter on Jan 17, 2012 7:20:16 GMT -5
I would guess, + - .35 cents/day
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jan 17, 2012 8:16:25 GMT -5
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Post by johnjsgems on Jan 17, 2012 9:00:19 GMT -5
I ran a 40 lb. HP with a 1/3 hp motor and I think my electric bill went up $30. This was 5-6 years ago though. Watts can be found by multiplying the amps times voltage. For exact figures you need to measure both the actual voltage and the amperage of the motor running under a load.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jan 17, 2012 9:26:52 GMT -5
Thanks John. I think I might go the hardware store and buy one of those gadgets that tells hom much electricity an appliance uses and get a more accurate figure. I was hoping it would only cost $30 a month. I will still look for a smaller motor that draws less amps in the meantime since we are tumbling less then 20lbs total.
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Post by johnjsgems on Jan 17, 2012 10:24:14 GMT -5
I bought a $10 amp meter at Harbor Freight. If you clamp the jaws around one wire going to your motor it tells you the amp draw. It also has a volt meter to measure the voltage. Probably not as accurate as the meters I used when working but good enough.
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juzwuz
has rocks in the head
Member since April 2010
Posts: 526
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Post by juzwuz on Jan 17, 2012 15:16:30 GMT -5
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shermlock
has rocks in the head
Member since August 2011
Posts: 612
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Post by shermlock on Jan 17, 2012 16:07:21 GMT -5
I've got one of those Kill-a-Watts. It works really well and it will definitely surprise you in terms of what device draw the most energy. Scott
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Jan 17, 2012 18:49:14 GMT -5
Thanks for the help, I was looking into buying a kill-a-watt meter. They are around $25 at the local hardware store I just didnt get there today. I am going to switch the motor from 1/3 hp down to at least 1/4 hp and maybe even 1/6 hp if I can find one with the right specs. I'll update when I get an accurate reading. It sure is nice to have a place to bounce ideas around and get such good advice!
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,341
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Post by quartz on Jan 17, 2012 21:45:40 GMT -5
In Oregon, libraries are stocking load meters [kill-a-watt is a load meter] for people to check out like a book. You might look into it.
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Post by johnjsgems on Jan 18, 2012 14:51:54 GMT -5
Unless your motor is really oversized you may be disappointed. A 1/3 hp motor turning a given load will use the same amps as a 1/4 hp.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Feb 21, 2012 21:16:19 GMT -5
Does anyone know how much a small Lortone or Lot-O uses? I have a Lortone 33B.
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sdgoldpanner
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2006
Posts: 226
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Post by sdgoldpanner on Feb 21, 2012 21:44:39 GMT -5
Does anyone know how much a small Lortone or Lot-O uses? I have a Lortone 33B. I always thought if electricity was used to make rocks pretty, it don't matter how much it costs! At least that what I tell the wifey.
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Post by Jugglerguy on Feb 21, 2012 22:37:12 GMT -5
I usually lose arguments like that with my wifey. Actually, I usually lose all arguments with my wifey. I was just curious, she hasn't mentioned the power bill yet.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Feb 22, 2012 13:05:58 GMT -5
I bought one of the "Kill a Watt" devices awhile ago and its been a great little gadget. I programmed in the cost per KWH from our electric bill and ran the homemade tumbler with (4) 3lb barrels on it for a month and it said it costed $22.00 for the electricity (thats with the 1/3 hp motor). I am not using it for anything else right now so I will plug my lortone 3A into it and report back. The 3A and 3B use the exact same motor. It only takes a couple days to get a good average cost.
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Feb 23, 2012 20:35:09 GMT -5
ok, I used the "kill a watt" gadget for 2 days on my lortone 3A single 3lb barrel to check the electricity usage and with our rates here in the metro detroit area and it says it will cost $2.40 per month and that amount should be real close to the same for the lortone 3B with (2) barrels since it uses the same motor. Thats means its 10 times cheaper than my homemade tumbler running (4) lb barrels with a 1/3 motor. I still would never give up the homemade one because its just too darn cool, lol.
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Post by johnjsgems on Feb 23, 2012 20:49:38 GMT -5
The meter you bought sounds like the way to go. I recently bought a commercial air compressor and was worried about the circuit to run it. Motor is rated at 15 amps, breaker choice was 20 or 30. My $10 meter from Harbor Freight read almost 19 amps. Motor runs nice and cool so meter is obviously not accurate at all. That much overload would cause motor to run hot and likely trip the manual reset. Sorry I recommended it.
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