How much does a Heat Light REALLY Cost??

Okay, so I got to wondering about it today... The Red heat bulbs are usually sold for around $8/ea, but, how much do they Really cost? How much energy does just ONE of those lights use a month, is it enough to make a very noticable difference on your electricity bill?

Anyone have a guess?

It's early (and dark) here right now so I can't go out to the garage and look at my bulb. Look at the wattage of the bulb. That should tell you the amount of energy it uses. I have a couple of thoughts however. Be very careful of heat lamps. Many a coop has burned to the ground because of them. Our neighbors had ten fire departments there just yesterday and lost all their chickens, a boat, tractor and their whole barn. I have not spoken to them yet but my guess is that they had a heat lamp.
I do not use any added heat unless it goes below zero. Here in the Syracuse area it can get quite cold but I find that my red stars get along quite well. Make sure there is a guard over the bulb so it won't break. Per haps do a search here on heat lamps. We had alot of discussion here last season about safety. Good luck.

David

When I raised my chicks in June, I had a red 250 watt lite on them 24/7 for the entire month. The electric bill for my shop (separate meter) was $30 higher than a normal June.
mrkep

Quote:
Sounds about right to me. I wasn't able to compare it this well, but bottom line is, I couldn't tell that it changed the bill more than a very few dollars.

I have 6 lamps running down in my barn and shed with about 300 baby chicks. None are over 125 wts but still this last month when I left them all on 24/7 because of the cold weather my bill was up $50. I cut back in other ways but still those lights will make the electric bill jump. If our power goes out I have a feeling the generator will only be used on the chickies!

The $20 tab sounds about right to me. Another option (except for baby chicks) would be to get a thermostat or timer for the light. Mor Electric makes a nice inline thermostat. That may help with the cost of running the lamp(s).

you can find out exactly how much it will cost you by first checking your electric bill and finding out how much you are charged per kilowatt hour (kwh). Everyone's charge will be different, depending on your location, electric company and your usage. Many higher usage customers are penalized with charges in tiers. What this means is that the more kwh you use per month, the higher the rate charged. They claim it's supposed to be a deterrent for high usage, what it actually is is price gouging lol.
Anyways, for the sake of discussion, let's say your rate is $.10/kwh. a 1000W appliance running for 1 hour = 1 kwh. So, if your bulb is 250W, it uses 1 kwh in 4 hours (250 x 4 = 1000).
based on 24 hour lighting, and every 4 hours is 1 kwh, the energy used will be 6 kwh/day. So, at $.10/kwh, your daily energy usage for that bulb will be $.60.
In a 30 day month, your usage will be $18.00
That is how you figure it out, now you just need to check your bill to see what your rate is. And make sure you read the charge rate carefully, sometimes there is a rate of charge and also a usage fee or something like that lol. There are high usage customers that pay about $.45/kwh for their higher tiered usage here in CA. Base rate is around $.11 or so