cutting down on electric bill

shimmer · Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 6:01 pm Post subject: cutting down on electric bill

Anyone know a way to cut down on the electric bill? With all the heating and lights I need a way to cut down the cost.

meanah · Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 6:20 pm Post subject:

dont use anything else?
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0.1.0 Colombian Tegu
1.0.0 Arg. Tegu
0.1.4 Bearded Dragon
0.1.0 Royal Python
1.0.0 Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Kingsnake
0.0.1 Painted Turtle
0.1.1 Spotted Pythons
1.2.0 Tokay Geckos
2.3.0 Leopard Geckos

worldeater · Respected Member Joined: Mar 06, 2008 Posts: 578

the new megaray metal halides will only be 70 watts, plus 75 watts for a halogen flood. 150 watts. megaray recommends a second basking site with no uvb, so 50 more for another smaller halogen flood.

so 200 watts, that works to heat most the year, plus it's only on 12 hours.

i think in the winter i'll have to use a 200 watt ceramic heat emitter so 200 watts on 24/7

not really that bad, deffinatly not as bad as a fishtank with pumps lights heaters ect...

at .10 kilawatts per hour, that breaks down to about 175 bucks a year.
_________________
1.1.0 Arg B/W Tegu Joker n Groxy
1.0.0 Australian Water Dragon "Spyro"
1.0.0 Red Eared Slider "Turdy"
0.1.0 White Dwarf Hamster "MiMi"
1.1.0 Black&Albino Kingsnakes "Pearl & Hannibal"

laurarfl · Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:13 am Post subject:

I don't know...I try to keep what I can in the garage to cut down on electricity. The cost of heating and lighting drives my husband nuts. I heat the cages, heat up the room, then turn the A/C on to cool it off, LOL!

My tegus are in the garage where I can use lower wattage bulbs, same with a few beardies. I also have some corns that don't need any heat out there. The ig goes outside during the day. I have a warm room which stay about 83 most of the year where my frogs, Colombian, gator, another beardie, bugs live. For the big snakes, I use thermostats and radiant heat panels to try and regulate the energy used.

For the rest of the house, I try to be extra careful about keeping the A/C at 78-79, turning off things that aren't in use, etc.
_________________
Laura R (FL)
0.1.0 Colombian Tegu
0.2.0 Argentine B&W Tegu
1.0.0 Red Tegu
1.0.0 Green Amevia (yet another teiid)
8 other lizards
1 little gator
13 snakes
4 frogs
some bugs
and a partridge in a pear tree

worldeater · Respected Member Joined: Mar 06, 2008 Posts: 578

yea, and replacing every lighting light bulb in the house with low-energy cfl's saves a bundle too. you can get 14 watt cfl's much better than the 60 watt incandesint bulbs.

then if you have a fireplace you could burn most your trash. their is heating there as well as a possibility to get a smaller garbage can costing you less on the garbage bill.

also, california has assistance packages that allmost anyone can sign up for giving a % discount on electricity.

turn down the cooling temp in your fridge and freezer

hook your electronics to a power strip and power them off instead of just turning em off with a button. that way they don't go into standby mode and still use some power.

lol, i live in the land where al gore is god. i get to hear about all the stupid ways to "flex my power"
_________________
1.1.0 Arg B/W Tegu Joker n Groxy
1.0.0 Australian Water Dragon "Spyro"
1.0.0 Red Eared Slider "Turdy"
0.1.0 White Dwarf Hamster "MiMi"
1.1.0 Black&Albino Kingsnakes "Pearl & Hannibal"

laurarfl · Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 1:07 pm Post subject:

Al Gore is God?!...poor thing...just kidding!

Here we pay for garbage regardless of how much of it you actually produce or if you have the people take it away or not. I do try to switch to those coil light thingies. We have gas stove/oven, dryer, hot water heater. The power compnay has an incentive program but they can switch off your A/c and hot water heater at odd times of the day...no thanks!
_________________
Laura R (FL)
0.1.0 Colombian Tegu
0.2.0 Argentine B&W Tegu
1.0.0 Red Tegu
1.0.0 Green Amevia (yet another teiid)
8 other lizards
1 little gator
13 snakes
4 frogs
some bugs
and a partridge in a pear tree

gyrotech · New Member Joined: Feb 17, 2008 Posts: 9

One thing i considered about my cage is heat transfer. If a cage is heating up your house then too much heat is transfering out of the cage into the house. The only problem with being too efficient is you wont have enough fresh air in the cage...... Its a "dilly of a pickle"

greentriple · Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2008 11:41 pm Post subject:

Fewer animals.

Let your parents pay the bill.

Pirate off the neighbors.

Fewer animals.
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1.0.0 B&W
0.0.1 CA Horned Lizard
0.0.1 Savannah Monitors
2.0.0 Cats
0.1.0 Wife
1.0.0 Child

Ben3233 · Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 7:54 pm Post subject:

I do use Halogen floodlight lamp instead of the typical "petshop" heating lamp. A 75watt halogen lamp has the same power than a 150watt bulb bought in a Petshop.It's less expensive and can be good for 50 000 hours. The only kind of light I bought in a Petshop is the UVA/UVB tube.
_________________
Ben
0.0.1 Bearded Dragon (Uresaii)

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mistery, but today is a gift...that is why we call it the present". -Tortoise Oogway

Loudog760 · Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 1:58 am Post subject:

I live in the hot desert and my room usually in 80 or high 70's. what wattage bulbs should I used for my tegu when I get one?

worldeater · Respected Member Joined: Mar 06, 2008 Posts: 578

a 50watt halogen for surface temps and a 20wat uvb flourecent tube,

or a 160 watt megaray mercury vapor.
_________________
1.1.0 Arg B/W Tegu Joker n Groxy
1.0.0 Australian Water Dragon "Spyro"
1.0.0 Red Eared Slider "Turdy"
0.1.0 White Dwarf Hamster "MiMi"
1.1.0 Black&Albino Kingsnakes "Pearl & Hannibal"

aandfsoccr04 · Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 4:50 pm Post subject: what if

the tank that i have my tegu in is a wood enclosure with only two fourteen inch by fourteen inch places for lighting on top so we cant use the tube lights but only the lights that you screw the bulb into. then what should we use for the uva uvb?

jor71 · Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 4:59 pm Post subject: Re: what if

aandfsoccr04 · Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 5:51 pm Post subject: i have

the enclosure is a six foot by two foot deep by three foot tall approximately. and there is about five or six inches of cypress mulchi nt he bottom and then i have bricks stacked on top of each other under the uv bulb that i ahve which is like one of the coil ones that i believe is about 13 watts and i paid like ten bucks for it. and thats one side. then i have a semi big water dish approximately seven inches by seven inches which is just a tupperwear container. and then i have a small dinner plate which i have been putting ground turkey on for him to eat but he doesnt eat it. i havent seen him in like four or five days. i just got him a week from yesterday and i held hin the first day and second day i got him but then left him alone. and i have on the other side a 100 watt red heat light wich keeps the basking side at 90-95 degrees F. the cool spot is at 78.6 and the humidity which i know is too low is at 43% yes my probe is on the ground in the mulch on the hot side. i have two large boulders from outside on the hot side that he can climb on if he wants with a piece of wood going across the top of the two rocks making a little bridge. now what do i need to fix? this is my first tegu. he is a hatchling born in May and is probably about a foot long and a red tegu from varnyard.

aandfsoccr04 · Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 5:51 pm Post subject: i have

the enclosure is a six foot by two foot deep by three foot tall approximately. and there is about five or six inches of cypress mulchi nt he bottom and then i have bricks stacked on top of each other under the uv bulb that i ahve which is like one of the coil ones that i believe is about 13 watts and i paid like ten bucks for it. and thats one side. then i have a semi big water dish approximately seven inches by seven inches which is just a tupperwear container. and then i have a small dinner plate which i have been putting ground turkey on for him to eat but he doesnt eat it. i havent seen him in like four or five days. i just got him a week from yesterday and i held hin the first day and second day i got him but then left him alone. and i have on the other side a 100 watt red heat light wich keeps the basking side at 90-95 degrees F. the cool spot is at 78.6 and the humidity which i know is too low is at 43% yes my probe is on the ground in the mulch on the hot side. i have two large boulders from outside on the hot side that he can climb on if he wants with a piece of wood going across the top of the two rocks making a little bridge. now what do i need to fix? this is my first tegu. he is a hatchling born in May and is probably about a foot long and a red tegu from varnyard.