• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

I made 9000... and then... I got a powerbill of 330$ OUCH!

Estimated computer electrical consumption, let's say 200W average

0.200kW x 24hr = 4.8kW-hr per day per computer

4.8 x 10 computers x 30 days = 1350 kW-hrs per month for all 10 computers combined

1350 kW-hrs x 10 cents per kW-hour? = 13500 cents per month = $135 per month

If you ordinarily heat with electricity... well... let's just say now you have a furnace that happens to crunch WU's. 😀 If you don't... well, now your "other" furnace runs that much less.
 
Damn that is quite high..

Maybe it's not always the computers.. i know hot water systems definately crunch on the power 🙂
 
I had a larger electric bill than usual, and with fewer PCs. I think it was the hot, dry summer that did it, or some rate hike I missed. We'll see what the next one will be, as MrFluffy moved out and took quite a few PCs with him.
 
Instead of having 3 PC's in the house, like I used to. I only have 2. The bills seem to be average, for your average household. 😛

most of my WU crunching is at work. 😀
 
It's worth noting that my estimate of 200W is probably too high unless the monitor is also on. 100W to 150W seems more likely, and I don't know what electricity costs there so I tried for the high side.
 
>200W is probably too high unless the monitor is also on

I would agree more like 80W/per

>1350 kW-hrs x 10 cents per kW-hour?

well don't forget that the price is not 24/hrs, here the price is lower for non-peak times. and the price is also lower if you are under a certain kW-hr if you go over the price will me more. Meaning that the more you do things at night the less expensive it is. Also people don't really realize how much they hydro they waste.

To make matters worst here in Ontario Canada we have to pay extra for an Enron type scandle at Ontario Hydro. In the U.S. when something like this happens they prosecute, it's called mismanagement and fraud which brings on criminal charges. Here in Ontario it's normal government operations and procedure and the consumer has to pay for it. In Canada were used to Billion dollar boondogles except that for our government, it's legal.
 
ouch... that's gotta hurt.

I know that two PCs make a difference here to the powerbill - in the vicinity of $20 US per month. Don't forget that since SETI uses the CPU at 100% all the time, you are getting about 50-60 Watts consumption JUST from the CPU!! :Q:Q Not to mention fans, the Hard Drives, the motherboard, RAM, video, (even if the monitor is off, the internal peripherals still draw power) as well as power loss through the PSU.

It really comes quite past 100 Watts no problem. So you're easily on about 1-1.2 Kilowatts per hour just from the PCs!!!
 
Once I borrowed some rather cheap, eh, device to test how much electricity my stuff takes:

all measured while booting in the first few seconds (after hdd has spinned up)
60,7 for the whole system (except monitor), its a Celeron 366@458, 1x32 MB, 1x128 MB, 1x256 MB
59,8 without keyboard
54,3 without " - gf2mx
53,7 without " - " - dsl nic (realtek 8139)
49,4 without " - " - " - other nic
50,7 without " - " - " - " + with another nic
47,7 without " - " - " - " - only 32 MB RAM
43,5 without " - " - " - " - " - 1 Seagate Barracuda 13,6 GB and Maxtor DiamondMax 13 GB
22,8 without " - " - " - " - " - Celeron 366@458
51,7 without " - " - " - " - " + with SB16

starting from the full system
- stands for without
+ stands for with

If you want you can calculated which component takes how much electricity.

Computer off: 2,6. Standby: 34,8. Idle: 54,8. grabbing: 59. MP3 Encoding: 70,4. moving files: 60.

Monitor 17": 40-55
Monitor 15": 30-40

old big TV: 60-70 Watt

hair dryer took over 800 watt.

Continued with testing and noticed that my 2 P1 boards differed alot. Like 10 watt the standard board took more than the station board (with everything on board).
 
Originally posted by: Karsten
Well... what do you guys think. Can 10 Computer really use that much power?
Click to expand...

Don't know about 10...but what about 12? I know you bought two more Dell's yesterday! :Q

hehe! 😛

My bill runs 150ish lately...not bad considering....and with 4 to 5 cents per kWH.....5th cheapest power in the country....I can't complain! 😀

 

i would guess at the most $20 to $30 of that is the computers.

well in my house i have the following running.

8 cpu diskless pent 3 linux cluster.
dual cpu linux server
unixware server.
and 3 machines running windows.
all on 24 hrs a day.
(thats 14 cpus)
also 4 or 5 network hubs plus a firewall box
and a dsl modem and a wireless access point.
i also have 8 outdoor cameras on 24 hours a day
a few have pan and tilt.
(4 on the internet and 4 mapped to channels along
with a 4 into 1 quad channel) a couple of 3 channel video
modulators and a 8way powered sat multiswitch
i also have a directv tivo box and
3 other directv recvs running and a
stereo recv than runs 2 rooms that
all never get turned off.

add to that all the other things like 4 ups units
and all my x10 stuff, fridge, elec range, sump pump.
4 tv's plus a large projection setup and another
a/v system.
and my bill last month was only $96
and i just turned the a/c off today.
(i live in MN)

the air cond is what really eats the power.
but since i replaced the ac this spring my
power bills have dropped. and most of the a/c was
to combat the heat created by all the computers
 
Measured power consumption for 2 dual p-3 500/1meg xeons, dual P-133, dual P-3 866, and dual PPro 200/1meg, was 504 watts. That is with no monitor and all running Seti, so 100 watts average, and that is with all dual cpu computers. Course, if you are running all dual Athlons, then I suspect your power usage would be a lot more 🙂
 
I bought a new Carrier Puron central air/heat system and new Whirlpool double door frig that knocked my electric bill down greatly being far more energy efficent appliances than what I had, and now even with the PCs running 24/7 my bill is still substantially lower 😉 even here in Florida with the heat we have my highest bill was for August@130$ and I have approx. 2450 sq.ft. under air.
 
From what I've picked up over the years from others measuring power draw,a PIII rig will comsune about 100-120w under full cpu load & an Athlon rig will consume about 125-150w.
Here in SE UK a PC drawing 120w 24/7 will cost about £7/mth
 
Thanks for all the input guys. I talked to the apartment managment this morning and they did cut power on my breaker box to see if anything else outside of my unit is drawing power. The meter stoped when they disconected. So now my only hope is that the power company will find a defect in the meter itself when they come out mid- end week to check on that. Even if you calculate everything very generously... there is no way in the world I could have had 330$ of power. The Computers have not been on all the time and I didn't run the air for almost 2 weeks last month.
Question for me now is what else can I do... they say I owe... I say that's impossible. Luckely I move out shortly!

As a side not... the Dell Computer I ordered (3 acctually) only going to help. Since I am going from custom AMD's which I sell for almost the same price to these P4's.
All in all I will add 3 dells and sell 4 computers. One of them my trusty dual PIII450 and a PIII500.
Next I need to sell are my Athlons 1600+. Two identical units.

I'll keep you up to date. Thanks!
 
Karsten,

This is probably what the power company will say after they "verify" their meter is working properly. Most likely they did some KW estimates on a previous bill or two, then they took an actual reading and you get zinged for the shortfall of the previous estimates. Usually there is something on the bill that says estimated reading or actual reading though. Also sometimes the meter is read wrong on a previous bill and the effect is you still get zinged once they get it right 🙁 :disgust:
rolleye.gif
 
Actually cutting power to the breaker box did not prove that someone else is/was using electricity through your meter. Do you know what every breaker in your box controls? One of them could be for hallway lights, or someone elses outlets(with an airconditioner on them?) Then again, unless the meter/breaker box area is locked and watched someone could have tapped into your meter. One other test you could do, short of tracing all the wiring, is to unplug everything in your apartment, and see if the meter still turns. You might have to do this at different times of the day, to catch usage. This combined with turning off every breaker in your box to see if someone/something is wired in to your box may turn up the culprit.

Good Luck.

PS reading the meter daily will tell you if this is a constant or sporadic drain. When the power company is there to check out their meter you might be able to get them to do an instant reading with and without your computers (and refigerator, freezer, air conditioner ...) to see what gives. My bet is that when you are watching it your usage will be low, unless the building was (mis)wired so that you are providing power for other than your apartment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top