View Full Version : It sucks, but I have no choice.
I've got to shut these babies down, unfortunately. Electric bill is getting way out of hand and is causing some problems in the homestead.
I know all of you will understand but this has to come first and it's not at all worth causing a problem in my home.
We'll be moving into a new place in a couple of months and it might be possible to get back into my "present" contribution form but as of now I just need to pull the reigns. I might decide to keep the two AMD rigs up and running since they make the most of their time but everything else has to go for now.
You can still count me in on being active with the team...would take more than this to stop that.
Crunch on!!!
Godfodda
12-29-01, 11:45 PM
Sorry to hear of the trouble, but glad to hear you're making out okay. Good luck.
What all are you running? You know how many computers I have at home and they account for about $10 worth of my monthly power bill.
3 Intel duallies, 2 AMD rigs, Celeron 600 and a P3 933.
Power bill has gone from around $60 to over $200 since I moved in. Don't know where else it would come from since no heat or A/C is ever used. Matter of fact, none of us are really even home all that much so we don't use anything other than a couple of lights and a couple TVs when we are here.
Monitors are turned completely off when not in use and I really can't see what else would be causing the drain. They're the only things constantly running.
All those PCs and they only account for $10? I'd like to know your secret.
I've seen this mentioned on other boards and I have not understood it. With all that I run computer wise I think it has added maybe $20 - $25 to my monthly bill which is right now about $75 or so. My wife and I use a lot of electric devices along with the computers like lights, tv, stereo, etc. The few systems you mention, especially with monitors turned off, should not be adding $140 per month to your bill. Just seems weird to me...
Sorry to hear about your trouble, glad to hear you are dealing with it and won't lose all production. :)
Cy
rogerdugans
12-30-01, 12:26 AM
Sorry to hear that, Jon, but if I was adding that much to MY bill I'd do the same.
Doesn't seem right though: when I started running 3 pcs 24/7 I couldn't even see the difference on my bill, and when I added 3 more it was another small jump. Hopefully thats the problem, and you can save a few $$
But even MORE hopefully, it ISN'T and you find out what is!
Then you could have it fixed and get the farm back online!:D
Well, if anyone has any ideas as to what could be causing this much drain on my meter, I'm all ears. My girlfriend's brother thought it strange it was that high as well. He runs about as many as I do and barely has half our power bill.
Overloading a circuit have anything to do with it maybe? About everyyhing I have is run between two outlets in the same room (Most of that on only one outlet).
Love to keep them running but if there is no solution, shutting them down is my only option.
Godfodda
12-30-01, 12:37 AM
Something the rest of us might have missed is that you're in Cali... home of the overpriced everything! :) Maybe it's "just" rising electrical prices again. Better to shut them down for a month and see, rather than cause home trouble by not even trying.
rogerdugans
12-30-01, 12:42 AM
Originally posted by Godfodda
Something the rest of us might have missed is that you're in Cali... home of the overpriced everything! :) Maybe it's "just" rising electrical prices again. Better to shut them down for a month and see, rather than cause home trouble by not even trying.
Ditto!
AND: I moved 4 of my rigs into my cellar a while back: power down there sucks. I only have one outlet and that is on the same breaker as two rooms on the second floor (60 year old house).
I HAVE to keep that monitor turned off because even in "sleep" mode it adds just enough power to blow the breaker if a blow dryer is used! So I don't think its an overload thing.
No doubt I'll be taking 5 of them offline tonight and then we'll see next billing cycle. It did strike me odd that it costs nearly $20 per PC average month though.
Ah well, it won't kill me to save a few bucks the next couple of months...maybe free up a little extra for another cruncher or two in the future when I do get the power problem under control, haha.
rogerdugans
12-30-01, 12:46 AM
Thats the spirit!:D
Fingers will be crossed that it is not pcs, but is easily rectified!
Well, I've been doing some research on this and came across a very interesting bit of info.
BOTTOM LINE: According to Intel, it costs $70 per year to power a typical home PC left on 24/7 without power management.
This was taken from an article I came across and seems the most direct of several similar ones I came across. If this is even remotely true, my 7 PCs (6 of which are on 24/7...other about average of 4 hours a day) should only add an additional $40+ a month to the original bill. As a sidenote, this figure was produced using CA (San Francisco to be exact) numbers and is a recent article.
Something is screwy somewhere.
I worked out roughly what the cost of running machines 24/7 was in my own home. In the UK we can read our own electricity meters and I compared the number of units used in a year to a time when I had no machines running and the cost was about US$120 a year for 5 pcs.
Lancelot
12-30-01, 08:04 AM
Did you ever read carefully what the Input is on the label of your PSU? My Generic 300Watt ATX PSU draws 6.3 Amps. And my second PC's 200W AT PSU draws 5.5 Amps. This is quite something 24/7 even when you have monitors turned off. I run SETI whenever I use my PC (which is quite a lot, lol!) but nothing more, every CPU cycle helps right?!
It sounds to me like you have an electrical problem of some sort somewhere in your home. I moved into a new house October of last year and at the time I only had 2 desktops and a laptop. Looking back at my power bill history I see that it increased approximately $25 over last year for the same period. Not only do I have all these computers now, but we have some other appliances that run continuously such as a chest freezer. Take that into account and the new computers are not even responsible for the extra $25 - perhaps $20 at most. There are a couple things you can do. The obvious is turn them off and see what happens to your power bill. Second, our local power company can put a digital meter on the main power feed. This can analyze power usage and possibly help track down what the problem is. Maybe that would be possible in your area too. Anyway I hope you're able to find a happy resolution.
LandShark
12-30-01, 11:05 AM
call ur company and talk to them. u know, i've heard more than once that the meter is misreading!! and also, w/ any doubt, u could ask if they could send a tech over to check ur power line.
Do you have a clamp on amp meter?
RedDeathDrinker
12-30-01, 12:45 PM
I'd check with your power company - sounds more like a faulty meter to me.....
Going to try shutting them down for a bit and see what happens. Also going to try turning everything off in the house and see if there is still a good-sized draw on the meter.
If both of those turn up nothing we're definately calling the power company. I stayed up way late last night digging up all I could and my bill should only be at most $120...and that's pushing the high limit.
Thanks for all the ideas.
Originally posted by Jon
Going to try shutting them down for a bit and see what happens. Also going to try turning everything off in the house and see if there is still a good-sized draw on the meter.Good idea. If you can shut most everything off and you're still pulling current at the meter then chances are you've got a wiring problem and/or a faulty appliance or something in that ballpark. I don't know what all you have around your house, but keep this in mind too - when electric motors start to go bad or are put under abnormal load they will draw more and more current until they burn up. A failing refrigerator compressor or other similar piece of equipment can start to draw quite a hefty load before it goes out. You could also have a wiring problem leading to feedback and current "leak" that can add to your bill.
vBulletin® v3.8.7, Copyright ©2000-2012, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.