Help with electric rail heat cost

[motefam]

I have noticed my electric bills at my iba/ss washes go way, way up in the winter, even though we wash fewer cars. I wonder if the biggest part of it is my 12-gallon electric rail and trough heaters? I have one location with gas rail heat, and the electric bills there don't go up so much in the winter. Has anyone studied this?

 

[Waxman]

why not just add the rail heat line into your floor heat manifold? that's how mine works.

 

[wash4me]

Read the watts off of the water heater.....likely 1200 so 1.2 kw per hour x .11 cents per kwh is 13.2 cents per hour so $95 per month if it ran constantly. Then you have to guess how often the heater is calling for heat? There are a number of ways to do this....the simplest is probably to plug an old clock in with the heater and see how many hours it runs in a given day. You can also buy a kill-a-watt device that plugs in and plug it into that if it's 120 volt. It will vary with the weather, wind etc. Is it on an outdoor thermostat? If not install a thermostat so it the pump and the water heater only comes on if it's below 35 degrees. Utility rates vary so check your own rates. Like waxman said if it's hot enough use the boiler loop or you can also just circulate water from your gas hot water heater if you get a flatplate heat exchanger and circulate water on one side and antifreeze on the other. You should probably install an expansion tank. Any way you can heat with gas is going to be substantially less costly than electric. (I am not a professional in any trade and you shouldn't rely on my advice...this is my personal biased opinion)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Flat-Plate-...423?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item418e6eec87

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Taco-007-F7.../251758626057?pt=BI_Pumps&hash=item3a9dfbc509

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Gallon-Ho...948?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cfe35c01c

 

[motefam]

sound like good advice. Thanks.

Read the watts off of the water heater.....likely 1200 so 1.2 kw per hour x .11 cents per kwh is 13.2 cents per hour so $95 per month if it ran constantly. Then you have to guess how often the heater is calling for heat? There are a number of ways to do this....the simplest is probably to plug an old clock in with the heater and see how many hours it runs in a given day. You can also buy a kill-a-watt device that plugs in and plug it into that if it's 120 volt. It will vary with the weather, wind etc. Is it on an outdoor thermostat? If not install a thermostat so it the pump and the water heater only comes on if it's below 35 degrees. Utility rates vary so check your own rates. Like waxman said if it's hot enough use the boiler loop or you can also just circulate water from your gas hot water heater if you get a flatplate heat exchanger and circulate water on one side and antifreeze on the other. You should probably install an expansion tank. Any way you can heat with gas is going to be substantially less costly than electric. (I am not a professional in any trade and you shouldn't rely on my advice...this is my personal biased opinion)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Flat-Plate-...423?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item418e6eec87

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Taco-007-F7.../251758626057?pt=BI_Pumps&hash=item3a9dfbc509

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Gallon-Ho...948?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cfe35c01c