electricity bill...

boost creep

hi there people, first off i'm not sure if i'm posting this thread in the correct place? so anyway i started my own small engineering business last month. i found myself a small unit to rent and set to work. i am doing roll cages and miscellaneous fabrications for competition cars. i had two roll cages to start with so i was happy enough. the first one was basic enough and didn't take long, the second one was a bit more complicated and detailed.
now i should mention here that i am using 220v power for now and have an ESAB 140 amp mig welding plant, all modern and efficient, or so i thought...
there is no electricity usage meter for my place, so the landlord comes along the other day and says i now owe him €580 for the electric bill, he can't provide proof that i used this much electricity nor can i prove that i didn't.
so does anyone think it's possible that i would have used this much electricity? or is there a way that i could work out how much power i used? i could work out by counting the welds what distance i welded in a straight line if you know what i mean? perhaps it would be possible to work out by the ampage of the machine how much electricity i used this way...

wexie

I think you'd need to know how long it took you over all to do all the welding. The ESB rates are per unit where 1 unit = 1 kwh (1000 watts for 1 hour).

Your welder is 140 amps at 220 volts which works at at 30.8 KW (140 * 220 = 30800 watts).

Use the example below to work out roughly how much it should be (I think ESB rates are 0.18 euro per unit (might want to check this)).

So if you used the welder for lets say 20 hours it would be :

30.8 KW *
20 hours
__________________
616 KWH *
0.18 cents per KWH
__________________
110.88 euro

(think these numbers are roughly correct although not sure about leccy rates). Maybe someone will come along who's done this more recently.

Don't forget that of course there will be other things using power in the workshop, lights, radio and the all important kettle.

Hope this helps


Electric usage is measured in kilowatt-hours.
1 watt-hour is the equivalent of 1 watt of power used for 1 hour.
1 kilowatt-hour is the equivalent of 1000 watt-hours used for 1 hour.
Three values are needed to calculate the cost to use an appliance:
• The power rating or wattage of the appliance. This is found on the appliance e.g. 50W or 1800W.

• The time the appliance is switched on in hours (or minutes ÷ 60)

• The cost per KWh.
1. Appliance wattage ÷ 1000 = kilowatts (kW)
2. Kilowatts × (time appliance is switched on in hours) = kilowatt hours (kWh)
3. Kilowatt hours x cost per KWh is what you pay for that appliance to run.
Example 1: 100W light bulb on for 24 hours where the cost per KWh for electricity = 8.7¢ (.087)

(100 ÷ 1000) × 24 = 2.4 kWh used
2.4 kWh × 8.7¢ = 21¢

boost creep

thanks wexie, there's some very useful information there, i would guess that i used the welder for 12 hours maximum, i don't see he can come up with a figure of €580!!
thanks again.

wexie

maybe go around the other units and have a smell here and there. Maybe somebody been hitting the growlamps .

Nukem

One thing you may want to check on the bill however is the setup on the bill and things like the MIC (Max Import Capacity). If that was set at 35kVa and you were using over that for prolonged periods the cost incurred might be a contributing factor.

boost creep

wexie wrote: »

maybe go around the other units and have a smell here and there. Maybe somebody been hitting the growlamps .

the same thought had actually crossed my mind!!

boost creep

Nukem wrote: »

One thing you may want to check on the bill however is the setup on the bill and things like the MIC (Max Import Capacity). If that was set at 35kVa and you were using over that for prolonged periods the cost incurred might be a contributing factor.

must check that out, although i wasn't shown a bill for the period, one thing is for sure, i'm not paying a red cent until i see a bill from the supplier...

Capt'n Midnight

boost creep wrote: »

thanks wexie, there's some very useful information there, i would guess that i used the welder for 12 hours maximum, i don't see he can come up with a figure of €580!!
thanks again.

Don't forget the welder would only use power when you were actively welding, with the arc n' stuff

having it turned on and idle would only use a fraction of the power


Not directly relevant but..

One month = 744 hours

€580 = 2900 units (at 20c per unit - check the bill)

That's an average of 3.9 Kw continuously
so a pair of 2 bar heaters on constantly day / night / weekend


One month = 744 hours so a 2 bar heater (2000W) left (thermostat not clicking off) on all the time would use €297.60 over the month

107

boost creep wrote: »

i should mention here that i am using 220v power for now and have an ESAB 140 amp mig welding plant, all modern and efficient, or so i thought...

Is it like the one of these ?

http://host.colourweld.co.uk/ESAB MIGC141 TDS.pdf


it would be far from 140a@220v

boost creep

107 wrote: »

Is it like the one of these ?

http://host.colourweld.co.uk/ESAB MIGC141 TDS.pdf


it would be far from 140a@220v

actually now that i have checked it is actually a MIGC151, do you think this would make much difference though?

107

It probably uses about 150watts when on but not actually welding and say up to about 2400 when welding

If you were continuously welding for an hour it would be :

2.4 x 18c = ~ 43c per hour and so on

Since it would use varying amounts of power depending on settings etc , something like :

http://www.maplin.co.uk/plug-in-mains-power-and-energy-monitor-38343

should help give a more accurate answer

or

http://www.maplin.co.uk/efergy-elite-wireless-energy-saving-meter-225407

djpbarry

Moved from S&EI.