Electricity Bill

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seasonedbuck
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Re: Electricity Bill

Post by seasonedbuck » Fri Nov 30, 2012 6:48 pm

Shadow2 wrote:Hi just received my electricity bill, been on cpap for a few months now,and it has gone from $250 to $600.Only thing different is the cpap with supplemented O2, and I may have used the air conditioner a little but more. Does using cpap with an Oxygen concentrator make that much difference to your Electricity usage? Thanks
I had a 40 gallon hot water tank that the heat element in side it rusted completely off it ate hydro like candy ..there is a top element and bottum element and if one goes you still got hot water along with triple or more hydro use.. watch your meter and see if it spins any faster when your machine is pluged in using power,, you sure got some other hydro glutten at work loven that wattage.. goodluck

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Re: Electricity Bill

Post by BlackSpinner » Fri Nov 30, 2012 6:59 pm

seasonedbuck wrote: I had a 40 gallon hot water tank that the heat element in side it rusted completely off it ate hydro like candy ..there is a top element and bottum element and if one goes you still got hot water along with triple or more hydro use.. watch your meter and see if it spins any faster when your machine is pluged in using power,, you sure got some other hydro glutten at work loven that wattage.. goodluck
I had one of those too and a well pump that did the same. It finally died (which is how we found out) On New years eve. On new years day I had 4 plumbers standing crotch deep in the snow while a freezing rain storm was going on trying to dig it out and replace it down the 75 foot well.

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billbolton
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Re: Electricity Bill

Post by billbolton » Fri Nov 30, 2012 8:52 pm

archangle wrote:I don't know what the price/availability for these is in Oz.
Not available in Australia, but better devices are..... as previously indicated

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Todzo
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Re: Electricity Bill

Post by Todzo » Sat Dec 01, 2012 2:17 am

Shadow2 wrote:Hi just received my electricity bill, been on cpap for a few months now,and it has gone from $250 to $600.Only thing different is the cpap with supplemented O2, and I may have used the air conditioner a little but more. Does using cpap with an Oxygen concentrator make that much difference to your Electricity usage? Thanks
Hi Shadow2!

Doing some really really crude math - lets say the O2 concentrator uses 300 watts (from a scan of a data sheet) and the PAP uses 50 watts (probably more like less than 30 watts) and you run them full time 24 hours a day for a 30 day month. That comes to 252 kilowatt hours - which at the very expensive rate of a quarter per kilowatt hour (here it is less than half of that) comes to 63 dollars a month. If you drop the use to a more reasonable 8 hours a day the cost per 30 day month drops to 21 dollars. If you drop the rate by half it is 10 dollars a month.

To find the real power grabber look first at things that move heat (heater or cooler or stove) - second at older and very large lighting arrays and third at one tapping your supply or an accounting error or rate change. I think the PAP and concentrator is unlikely to be the cause of your power bill rise.

Have a great weekend!

Todzo
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Tino2You
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Re: Electricity Bill

Post by Tino2You » Sat Dec 01, 2012 9:30 am

Also check refrigerators and freezers. If the seal is compromised, it will use a lot electricity.

-tino

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Todzo
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Re: Electricity Bill

Post by Todzo » Sat Dec 01, 2012 5:09 pm

Tino2You wrote:Also check refrigerators and freezers. If the seal is compromised, it will use a lot electricity.

-tino
Hi tino!

You reminded me. When I first moved to my new place I had to uncover the water heater to get them to turn the gas on. I did the usual look up the device and read all about it. The relief valve needed to be exercised/tested. So I did. The thing leaked several hundreds of gallons by the time I figured out that it was leaking. After a lot more "exercise" - keeping the water off several days - watching several weeks - well it finally stopped leaking. Lots of power dumped in the mean time.

An electric hot water heater will have the same valve (prevents the water heater from taking off like a rocket through your roof!). The valve will go to pipe which will go to a drain (in my case simply outside the dwelling and into the flower bed - which - was amazingly well developed!!!). If it leaks - well - it takes a lot of energy to heat water!!! That could do your energy raise indeed!

Good Hunting!

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Shadow2
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Re: Electricity Bill

Post by Shadow2 » Sun Dec 02, 2012 5:40 am

Thanks Bill, I am in Sydney, will look into that power plug , Thanks
billbolton wrote::idea:
Shadow2 wrote:Does using cpap with an Oxygen concentrator make that much difference to your Electricity usage? Thanks
Even running every xPAP Setting at maximum, you would be pushhed to add more than about AUD $20 a quarter to your electricity bill. I have no direct experience with the cost of running an oxygen concentrator, but this site.....

http://www.copd-international.com/COPD- ... rchives/66

... suggests that their energy comumption is a LOT higher than for a contemporary xPAP machine.

AIr conditioning also consumes a lot of energy, so that could also be a significant component of the increase. If you want to know how much energy any individual electric applicance in your home with a power plug is consuming, you can buy one of these....

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=MS6115

... for AUD $20 and see for yourself.

Lastly, depending on which state you live in, you may have had an increase in the regulated energy rates due to "poles and wires" network reinvestment by your energy supplier. In some states you can get some lebevl of energy subsidy for some types of medical devices. The level of subsidy varies depending on which state you are in and also the type of device, so you should ask your energy supplier about what may be available for you

Cheers,

Bill

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Todzo
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Re: Electricity Bill

Post by Todzo » Sun Dec 02, 2012 12:27 pm

Shadow2 wrote:Hi just received my electricity bill, been on cpap for a few months now,and it has gone from $250 to $600.Only thing different is the cpap with supplemented O2, and I may have used the air conditioner a little but more. Does using cpap with an Oxygen concentrator make that much difference to your Electricity usage? Thanks
Hi Shadow2!

If your hot water heater is electric check that the relief valve is not leaking. Also check the faucets.

Again – very crude math but – a leak of a a bit over half a gallon per minute would use the amount of water and heat used in over 3500 showers in a month and at ten cents per kilowatt hour burn your $350.00 change.

Good Hunting!

Todzo
May any shills trolls sockpuppets or astroturfers at cpaptalk.com be like chaff before the wind!

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billbolton
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Re: Electricity Bill

Post by billbolton » Sun Dec 02, 2012 5:01 pm

Shadow2 wrote:Thanks Bill, I am in Sydney
In that case, see here.....

http://www.trade.nsw.gov.au/energy/cust ... -questions

... for information on the life support system electricity rebates available in NSW. Note that the oxygen concentrator rebate is about 5 times higher than the xPAP rebate.

The total of xPAP and oxygen concentrator rebates together is about AUD $89 a quarter, which is definitely worthwhile having

Cheers,

Bill

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carojae
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Re: Electricity Bill

Post by carojae » Mon Dec 03, 2012 11:43 am

Thought I'd add my 2 cents.

During the summer months I use my machine while out at sea commercial fishing. I run my machine (then) with 12 volt "battery" power and have no problems. From this I would conclude that the cpap machine is no threat as far as using too much electricity.
I would add though that if I turn the humidifier up too high that I have had fuses burn out on me so maybe that may add to excess power consumption if fuses were an indicator. I have learned to leave my humidifier on a 1 or 2 setting.

Jim

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Journeyman
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Re: Electricity Bill

Post by Journeyman » Mon Dec 03, 2012 2:20 pm

There are all kinds of calculators to be found on the net for figuring out stuff for the DIY people. Also web sites for suggestions for DIY issues. Here is one I found awhile back that has some information on several different topics. He might be a little out there for some, but he has information thats useful. Do a search for michaelbluejay.com.

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Shadow2
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Re: Electricity Bill

Post by Shadow2 » Mon Dec 03, 2012 7:03 pm

Thankyou Everyone, Have looked into a rebate and yes I am entitled to one, which will cut my Electricity bill down a little, also checking my air conditioner too, and i will invest in one of those gadgets to check my consumption... Cheers

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lisacaice
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Re: Electricity Bill

Post by lisacaice » Tue Dec 04, 2012 1:21 pm

My Brother uses oxygen and his bill has been a lot higher since he started last year. He went to his case manager and she helped him qualify for the discount with our electric company.

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archangle
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Re: Electricity Bill

Post by archangle » Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:03 pm

lisacaice wrote:My Brother uses oxygen and his bill has been a lot higher since he started last year. He went to his case manager and she helped him qualify for the discount with our electric company.
I believe O2 concentrators use a lot more power than most CPAPs.

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