How much damage is this red 250w bulb going to do to my electric bill?

[teach1rusl]

This past winter I used a heat lamp in my coop anytime it got really cold (generally 100-150W, but did break out the 250 on a few nights) for my girls, and they weren't even chicks anymore...lol. I think maybe it raised our winter bill around $10.00 a month. When they were using the 250 full time last fall (as chicks), it was probably about $15 for the month. Electricity in our area is fairly reasonable. We did compare bills to last years, and they weren't much different, even though last winter was much milder than this year????

 

[NonnasBabies]

I had 2 250 watts going from December to March.. Never turned them off and I truly never noticed a increase in out bill!! My bill is always around $70-$80 a month in the winter since I have gas heater and the highest bill I had was $78...

Missi

 

[LauraCTChick]

Yeah, I got 'tude toda from DH when he looked in the back of the truck and saw the supplies from Tr@ctor $upply. Hope the bill ain't bad. Although, he would never be able to tell. He never sees the bills.

 

[fastpat]

Quote:
According to this site South Carolina rates average 9.6¢ per kilowatt hour (other states are listed there), so your bill shouldn't have gone up more than $18.00 per month (which you hit at $15-20), slightly less actually. Since we've cut off the heat here, and only run the AC a bit, our bill should be a lot less from that perspective. Just a guess, we'll see soon.

 

[Tala]

Well I use a 75watt floodlight inside, really a 60watt bulb would work but they don't come in red. I can get 75watt floodlights in several colors, but for chickens I use red.

I only use the 250watt if I have extremely young chicks outdoors.

Honestly I didn't notice them when we had the heat on. This past winter was absolutely horrid, so I didn't notice the heat lamps in combination with the heater working overtime. However, this time of year when I have the heat and a/c completely OFF and my bill is slightly higher, yeah it's got to be the heat lamps because nothing else is on.
My mom's saying is that "if it makes heat, it costs to run"

 

[chickenlittle32]

I have an incubator running (with 1 250W and 1 150W) 2 brooders going...each with a 250W bulb...(for the older chicks...the light isn't on during the day because its up to 80*) and haven't reallly noticed a difference at all...(the incubator hasn't shut off for months now...)

 

[silkiechicken]

Cost per kwh around here is about 10 cents.

(250w x 24 hrs) /1000 = 6kw per day = 60 cents per day

$0.6/day * 7 days a week = $4.2 a week in heating if you use the bulb full power.

Figure about 4 weeks in a month and that's about $16.8. At home, if I am running 250W, with everything from heating/cooling to cooking is on electricity, an extra 16.8 isn't that much of an increase in the 300+ monthly power bill. However, running that one heat bulb in the apartment, raises our $50 bill to $70 just like that.

However inside, you don't need a 250W bulb. I've brooded chicks in snow outside in a plywood brooder with just two 100W bulbs. On a normal day, two 60W are fine outside. Inside, a single 100W is plenty for a dozen chicks, and they only need it full force for the first few days. Put it on a dimmer and that will help out.

You can calculate it yourself by just (wattage of bulb) x (hours you run it) / (1000 watts to get kw) x $ per kwh of electricity. In most places you can figure a heat lamp to run about $15+- about 5 bucks to run a month.

 

[OrpingtonManor]

that site say my region pays $.15 per kwh, but I just checked my bill and it's *only* $.118 per kwh. somebody somewhere is really paying a lot to make that regional avg. I will only use a 100W bulb in the brooder, even from the start. small space, slightly warmer climate. if we have a cold snap, I will just bring the little ones inside.

 

[silkiechicken]

It says about 7 cents for back home... but it's 10... I'd check your bill to really see what the cost is in one's area.

 

[MissJenny]

Surely no more than an entire day of non-stop Large screen TV viewing...