Cost of Power?

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Lester615

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Need to find out how to determine cost of 40 watts for 1hr. in Md. BGE power co. How to determine cost of power? .10 per kilowatt-hr. Can someone help me understand this better.;) Have a neighbor who wants to be paid for using his elect to pump out my basement. Anything would be appreciated. Sincerely, Brian White.
 
I'd probably let my neighbor use my electric and my pump, and I'd probably help get it all set up and not even think twice about it. I sure wouldn't ask to be paid. That's the sort of stuff neighbors are just supposed to do. Heck, I painted my 90-odd year old WWII vet neighbor's shed and I don't even like to paint.
 
Lester615 said:
Need to find out how to determine cost of 40 watts for 1hr. in Md. BGE power co. How to determine cost of power? .10 per kilowatt-hr. Can someone help me understand this better.;) Have a neighbor who wants to be paid for using his elect to pump out my basement. Anything would be appreciated. Sincerely, Brian White.
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wow tell him he owes you 3 cents for the "juice " left in the cord
:grin:
 
New construction and no elect. there yet. Belongs to a friend who is 90 and a long interesting story of can of worms in a border dispute. I am actually trying to buy the prop next to him and wondering if the neighbors are nice people and trying to learn as much as I can. Like to know more about elect.
 
I am the same way with helping others. Just wanted a little backup amunition to acually make him an offer if he didn't respond nicely. :grin: Make a game of it so he can see it in the mirror. Don't want to come accross as a wimp either.
 
May I make sure I have this correct. If I use 1000 watts for 1hr. it will cost me $.10? Is this correct. If so, why does is seem like when I get my elect. bill it seems more like $5.00 for that same 1kwatt for 1hr.? Can someone get me in the right direction so I am sure? $100. mth. Have the min. basics. Sincerely
 
080610-225 EST

Lester615:

It is going to take much more than a 40 W motor to pump out a basement of any substantial amount of water in any reasonable time.

Suppose the basement is 2000 sq-ft and you have 1 foot of water in the basement. That is 2000 cubic feet. One cubic foot = 62.4 #. Thus, there is 124,800 # of water to raise maybe 10 ft, or 1,248,000 foot-pounds of work to do.

One horsepower = 33,000 foot-pounds per minute. It will take 37.8 minutes of time of 1 horsepower into raising this amount of water. Assume the efficiency is 25%, then the time is actually 4 * 37.8 = 151.3 minutes @ 746 watts of input AC power. This is (151.3/60)*0.746 = 1.88 KWH. Or about $0.20 per foot of water.

Did I make any mistakes? I might be way off on the efficiency value. But whatever it is not much money.

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Lester615 said:
May I make sure I have this correct. If I use 1000 watts for 1hr. it will cost me $.10? Is this correct. If so, why does is seem like when I get my elect. bill it seems more like $5.00 for that same 1kwatt for 1hr.? Can someone get me in the right direction so I am sure? $100. mth. Have the min. basics. Sincerely
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Take a look at your electric bill. There are other charges beside the kilowatt hour charge:
Fuel surcharge, taxes, etc.
Bottom line is that the power for an individual item is very cheap, it is when it is all added together (air conditioning, heat, water heater, dishwasher, TV, lights, etc., etc.) that it gets expensive. Even a 4500 watt water heater would only cost 45 cents per hour to run at 10 cents per kilowatt/hour. No matter what you offer this guy, he will probably think he is being ripped off. $5 would be a VERY generous offer, but he probably won't think so. Ask him what he thinks is fair. If it is anywhere near reasonable and you want to be a good guy, pay him. Otherwise, give him 5 bucks and consider it done. You will know you did the right thing.
 
I have a boat bilge pump which will pump about 500 GPH using about 3 amps at 12 V, which is close to the 40 W. Take the 12800#/64# = 1950 gal of water at 500 GPH that means 3.9 hrs. That's 10 watt-hours. Still paltry. Not sure how far up (Head) it can pump.
 
gar said:
080610-225 EST

Lester615:

It is going to take much more than a 40 W motor to pump out a basement of any substantial amount of water in any reasonable time.

Suppose the basement is 2000 sq-ft and you have 1 foot of water in the basement. That is 2000 cubic feet. ...
.
Click to expand...
Easier way to look at this.

A 40W garden fountain pump I found on-line is rated to pump 600GPH (Gallons Per Hour) at 6.3ft of head. (Link)
So assuming 6.3ft is adequate:
  • 2000 cu.ft. of water; 1 cubic foot = 7.48051945 US gallons
  • So you have roughly 15,000 gallons of water
  • Divided by 600GPH = 25 hours of continuous operation.
  • So 25 hrs x $0.10 per kWh x .04kW = 10 cents worth of electricity
.

You neighbor is a horse's patoot.
 
080611-1958 EST

Jraef:

Looks like the fountain pump has an efficiency of about:

8.34 #/gallon
600 * 8.34 / 60 = 83.4 #/minute
83.4 * 6.3 = 525 ft-#/minute
525/33,000 = 0.016 HP = 11.9 W
efficiency = 11.9/40 = 30 %

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