# Energy Costs - An experiment



## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

Like every other household our monthly electricity costs have almost doubled of late, and with just myself and my 20 year old daughter most of the electricity consumption is the heaters in the snakes vivarium's. So I'm running an experiment, mainly through out the summer in one of the stack units.

A few years ago I built the unit below seen here just before being kitted out with branches and fake plants










It is heated using 1x 150w CHE at the bottom, and 3x 100w CHE in each of the vivs above. I had to add 1/4" thick cork and another 18mm panel of melamine to the floor of the vivarium above to ensure the floor of the viv above didn't exceed 34c due to heat penetration. So the experiment is to turn off the CHE's in the top viv and the third for top and monitor the temperatures and humidity in them, mainly over the summer months. In doing so I'm predicting a saving of 2.4kw per day, which at the current price per kw/h would safe around £20.32 per month. Now with 10 vivs all heated with CHE's, most of which are 150w, the snakes are the primary cause of the amount of electricity we consume, so saving approximately 20% of that cost it's not to be sniffed at.

Now today the ambient room temperature is 23c (same as it is outside). Air temperature mid point in the 3rd viv from the top is 26.9c (and the royal in that enclosure typically spends the day at the cool end most days). The thermostat probe (seen in the image above) also confirm that same air temperature. The floor temp read between 31 and 34c. I'll leave the min/max thermometer in over night to see how low the temperature falls in relation to the ambient room temperatures. 

Now come winter when we will be reducing the time our central heating will be on, and thus the room will drop to 18c overnight I may have to re-enable the CHEs in these vivarium's, but for now saving £20 a month can't be wrong. I'm also going to do some experimentation with some heat mats to see if that statement about mats not heating the air is true, or if it's only applicable to free air situations and when used with tubs, the process of inducing heat into the plastic then causes the tubs to raise the air temperature as well. Back in the 90's I kept everything bar the boas on heatmats, but then the modern first floor maisonette we lived in at the time never got cold, even in winter. The snakes never experienced issues.

Anyway, not saying everyone needs to do the same, but in these days, needs must


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## CrazyFrog (Dec 19, 2021)

You sir, are a legend.


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## M1chelle (May 20, 2020)

Would love an update on this in future, sounds like a great idea 👍


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## MrsTim (Aug 20, 2012)

I would like to know this: is a bulb that is on a dimmer thermostat using more electricity when running dimmed ( something too with resistance) Or not? Any electricians out there?


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

MrsTim said:


> I would like to know this: is a bulb that is on a dimmer thermostat using more electricity when running dimmed ( something too with resistance) Or not? Any electricians out there?


As far as I know a dimmer stat is the same as a pulse proportional stat, only the pulses are a lot more frequent. So a dimmer stat running at 50% output would be on for 50% of the time and off for 50% of the time per cycle. 

So in theory running a 100w lamp on a dimmer stat would consume the same amount as a 100w CHE on a pulse proportional. The load is still the same, 100w, and if the output remained stable at 50% cycle then the consumption would be the same. In reality there are other variables at play, but the results would be close.


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## Malc (Oct 27, 2009)

M1chelle said:


> Would love an update on this in future, sounds like a great idea 👍


Well so far I've not seen any change in the snakes behaviour. The air temp 1" above the area of the heater below is 32c and this is confirmed by the laser thermometer. Air temp 8" above is 26.8c In the two vivs that have their heat turned off and the hot spot is heated by the heater in the viv below, one snake is on the hot spot, the other is right up the cold end. At night all four royals are active as soon as the lights go out.

Now we have had reasonable warm days of late, and with our lounge at 24.3c it's hard to see yet any impact this experiment may have. But it it means this is a workable solution in the summer months then its still a saving.


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## Hawkeye1866 (Jul 22, 2018)

I found a 38mm gap between the vivs made it easier to control the temps in the upper vivs. Has anyone priced a solar panel solely for the reptile room?


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