Kinda OT: Question for Anyone running several Incubators 24/7

[NoSkiveez]

I'm wondering if your electric bill has shot thru the roof. In the last month or so, I've had a hatching obligation that requires me to run several incubators non stop and my electric bill has gone up drastically and im wondering if it is the heating element.

I'm running:

1 Sportman
1 Forced Air Hovabator
1 Forced Air Little Giant
1 Still Air Little Giant
1 Forced Air TX6
1 Brower Stacking Brooder

Would these be effecting my electric bill the way it is? It went from $180 to $325 when we went from the one forced air little giant to all of the others.

If I'm not mistaken, wafer style incubators and brooders are water heater elements? Am I wrong?

 

[teamroper]

I have found that it's all the brooder lamps that bumped up my electric bill.

 

[gryeyes]

I totally agree with teamroper.

It's one reason why I have purchased and am using a Brinsea EcoGlow brooder, and am buying a second to replace the other brooder lamps.

 

[NoSkiveez]

I do have quite a few brooder lamps running too.

 

[horseyjess]

Oh boy i dont need help with the electric bill lol. I have 2 bators and 2 lights running right now OH NO LOL

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
X2 I have a HB and 2 homemade bators running the bill did not change but when you turn on 250 watt heat lamps I met a old fellow who uses smaller brooders ( cardboard boxes) and 40-100 watt regular bulbs after I started doing this the bill went back down

 

[Gypsy07]

Quote:
X2 I have a HB and 2 homemade bators running the bill did not change but when you turn on 250 watt heat lamps I met a old fellow who uses smaller brooders ( cardboard boxes) and 40-100 watt regular bulbs after I started doing this the bill went back down

x10!!! 250W heat lamps cost a FORTUNE to run 24/7. The electricity used by incubators is negligible in comparison.

Brinsea's Ecoglow is a fabulous product, but only for up to 20 chicks at a time.

And yes, large cardboard boxes are fantastic for brooding smaller numbers of chicks.

 

[duckyfromoz]

Quote:
Just out of interest...what the maximum egg capacity of them all?? Maximum I have had going is three incubators- and two brooders. I had an electrician friend calculate my usage from the incubators and brooders which only accounted for around 5% of total usage. The calculation was based on 2 incubators and 2 brooders though.

 

[NoSkiveez]

They all run at full capacity all the time. There is never really a time that they are not running. I have a buyer that buys pretty much everything I hatch. I'm collecting almost 125 eggs a day so it keeps them full.

 

[booker81]

Isn't there a dohickey you can plug things into and then plug into the socket to see what the usage is? Might be helpful to determine the biggest culprit