Humidifier & Computer Electricity Costs?

lollipop111

Hi

I wonder if anybody can help me. I suffer from extremely dry eyes and have just purchased a home cold mist humidifier. Now Ive got it I am worried about how much electricity it is using! Does anybody have an idea of how much it costs?

Also a computer. I would like to know how much it costs to run a computer say for 3 to 4 hours a day.

Sorry if I sound a bit tight :-) Im a single mum and every penny counts, as with everybody

Many thanks

BargainGalore

No ideal about a cold mist humidifier but my de-humidifier is about 200w when on but its not on 24/7 pc well that can vary depending on what you do with it like playing games or surfing the net and how big your monitor is and or lcd or crt. Too many variables to give accurate could be 150w to 300w or more

Also depends on your utility company around 10 -16p per 1kw. 1 KW is 1000W

This may help in telling you how much energy a appliance uses

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=38343

lollipop111

Thanks for that

How many hours a day do you have your humidifier on and is it a large one?
My pc monitor size no idea, its an old one though.

Ill deffo purchase one of those gizmo's that measure consumption

Premier_2

I'm not sure about the humidifier as it depends on how exactly it works. I used to have one which simply was a low powered fan that blew air over water soaked up by some filters. As such it would be very low power (about 20w I guess). If you look on the appliance it should give the power rating which isn't always a good method to check comsumption, but would give the worst case scenario. In the case of it being a simple fan as I described above, it probably is a constant power usage (as opposed to a dehumidifer that may work like a fridge & cut in and out)

The computer will probably use about 120 - 180w on average.

To calculate the cost, well you need to take your unit cost for electricity e.g. about 10p - 12p per kWh for single rate.
That means it will cost 10p-12p for every 1000W used every hour

So a 20W appliance on for 5 hours would cost 1 - 1.2p.

Better still get one of the power meters that allows you to plug in appliances to see how much power (and so how much money) they use.
Aldi & lidl used top sell them for £6.99 ish, but I think they've all gone
Maplin used to do one for about £9.99
Wilkinsons sell them (and are in stock) for £12.99

What surprised me was that my computer used 20W of power even when I thought it was turned off i.e. computer shut down and monitor turned off!
(and that didn't include the speakers)
That would equate to almost 0.5kWh per day even when I thought the computer was off!
That could equate to about £5.00 per quarter even if I never used it.

Now it uses nothing when its off as I disconnect it from the wall.

BargainGalore

I dont have it on much now as we dont get much of a problem with condensation but I have measured it in a similar meter

I also use a owl monitor which given you a guide how much everything costs at any one time

A old CRT monitor uses more energy than a modern LCD but its not worth buying one just to save energy unless you need one

Its very hard to give a exact figure on use on these board because it can vary so widely on each PC and what you are doing. However even a top end PC probably wont be using no more than 500w including monitor so that's about 6-8p per hour

Its high end appliances you can make a big difference like electric heating, cooking, electric showers, electric to heat your home tends to be 2/3rd more than using Gas

Meters are a good way of knowing how much a appliances uses and it can make you think.

BargainGalore

Oh some libraries now offer these meters for free for a while so why not ask saves teh costs of buying

Premier_2

BargainGalore wrote: »

I dont have it on much now as we dont get much of a problem with condensation but I have measured it in a similar meter....

Are you therefore not referring to a de-humidifier?

This is the more common appliance for people in the UK, whereas a humidifier actually loads the air with more moisture. If you had a problem with condensation, a humidifier would only make the matters worse.

Joyful

A colleague of mine tested her new dehumidifier and found it cost 2pence an hour. Don't know if it's the same for a humidifier though.

BargainGalore

Yes I am I made a slight typo now corrected I did say in post 5 that I didnt get much condensation obviously the two are totally opposite

Perhaps the Op can check instruction manual on how much energy it uses

Premier wrote: »

Are you therefore not referring to a de-humidifier?