Bad news for TeamDFA

Due to electrical costs, starting tonight, when I go to bed I have to start turning my farm off That means while I'm sleeping, TeamDFA and Team 32 will be down around 16ghz. I've got an OS install problem with one rig and waiting to order a 2nd cpu for my dual rig so eventually we'll have a little over 4ghz coming but that just means we'll be down 18ghz : I'll have to do this for this whole month to see the difference in the electric bill so hopefully if it's not that much difference, I can start leaving them all on 24/7 again in october. Just thought I'd let you guys know what's going on so when you see us starting to drop down the list you'd know why.

Well I know how it is as I just lost a 2.3ghz folder 24\7 due to bill's. But 16ghz is a whole lot more.

Hey, just shut off half the comps and leave the other half running. Wouldn't it be easier that way?

It would be if I could. Unfortunately, I can only leave 3 running 24/7. I may leave a few extra lights on to try to make up for the computers not running so the electric bill doesn't vary much so they won't be suspect anymore

Time for power saveing measures!
Either that or secretelly keep useing power like you said to make parents think the bill will stay the same

I can relate to that. I just got my power bill for last month. During the heatwave I had my AC on all month on low and having my farm up (13Ghz total) 24/7, my power bill shot thru the roof! I live alone in an apartment and my power consumption rampped up to an unheard $180 from the normal 50-60ish range. I may have to shut down myself

i am lucky .. i live were its usely cold ..and plus canada is having an oddly cold summer

I have had ideas for running comps outside so they don't heat the room. Put them in a camping tent in the back yard, running an extension cable from the house.

OCn00b said:

It would be if I could. Unfortunately, I can only leave 3 running 24/7. I may leave a few extra lights on to try to make up for the computers not running so the electric bill doesn't vary much so they won't be suspect anymore

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Dont forget to vacum and blowdry your hair everyday.

Well, join the crowd..as I've done the same until mid October-November..just got my borgs, my game box and my wifes celey folding

paps

Nebulous said:

I can relate to that. I just got my power bill for last month. During the heatwave I had my AC on all month on low and having my farm up (13Ghz total) 24/7, my power bill shot thru the roof! I live alone in an apartment and my power consumption rampped up to an unheard $180 from the normal 50-60ish range. I may have to shut down myself

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180 bucks HAHA thats triffiel man...double that and then cry about it

oh and i only got 2 folding in this house @ the moment..been that way for a month. bill changed very little from 8 to 2 comps. Maybe it's the PSUs in use. from my understanding if they are switching type PSUs they only consume the power they need. If not lets say you have a 350 watt job running. and lets say it only really does 300 watt. if it is non-switching it's like haveing a 300 watt bulb running 24/7...you might should run get you a few 100 watters to plug into your lamps.....darken the shades so the pesky landlord won't see the midnight oil burning ...course non of this will owrk if they have one of those tools they clamp over your wires to see the flow of juice flowing..oh well best of luck to ya man!

Well I have a clamp on meter to check what amps my farms are pulling in....

SO with the clamp attched: 6.01a x 120v =721.2 watts
0.7212kW x 24 x 30 = 519.3 kWh/month x $0.0736 = $38.22/month to run the plexi unit or $2.31/GHz per month on electric bill IN MY area of Overland Park, Kansas with Kansas City Power and Light

In contrast my Kenmore 220v 14700 btu 14 yo window ac that cools the farm room reading was 7.2a x 220v = 1584 watts/1000 = 1.6kW x 24 x 30 x $0.0736 = $84.79 per month, SO the total summer cost of the plexi farm and cooling (I normally would not run the ac 24/7) = $38.22 + $84.79 = $123.01 for June thru late Sept......

Total boxen farm plus the above....$40 + 123.01 = $163.01/month on the electric bill......that is the cost for electricity of my farms or roughly $4.83/GHz to fold 24/7/365 at my house....... MY TOTAL ELECTRIC BILL WAS $476 of which $163 is do to my farms.....so right now.....I cannot justify an additional $160-180 per month folding addition to my electrical bill....ie my wife is at the point of (1) you turn them off or (2) you turn them off and sell them (3) there are no other options [I still have NIB's MSI 865PE-Neo2-P mobo, P4C 2.8, 650w psu and 256MB PC2700 that I was going to add as another layer which of course would add more cost/month] or as my wife would say more fuel for the fire to get rid of the damn things! I've now begun to work almost 7 days a week and am able to pull in OT (actually premium time hours) so hopefully once the cash flow begins to fill the tank, the farms can go back online.......

The Moral of this.....folding does cost $$$$/month especially when you get in the +30GHz range....

paps

Hey hey, papsomax, maybe you could sell some farm to some fellow folders.

How many layers is your farm, paps?

Hmm, based on paps' formula, my little farm should only be using around 19 dollars a month. Maybe taking some time off this month will prove that it's not using that much juice so I can start leaving it on again.

This is the meter I used to calculate my power draw.

For example, my plexi farm (7 layes soon to be 8) has all the psu's drawing power from a 10 port power strip which is plugged into the wall. You take an exacto knife and make about a 2" slit in the power cord and expose the black or white power wires (do not remove the insulation on the wires as the meter can read through the insulation)...the reading on the meter is current power draw in amps....you can do this to your boxen unit by doing the same to the psu power cord....

You can get these meters at Home Depot, etc but there they run $60 this is the same meter but for $19.99......

All ocers and farmers should have one of these....

paps

so from your calculations it's the AC unit driving up the power the most. Being 14 years old it might not be the most effeciant. You also state that it's a 14700 BTU unit...surely this isn't just cooling 1 room? I have a small lab and i run a 5800 BTU unit. Maybe upgradeing the AC unit or even turning it up a bit would help some too. Nobody here said Folding didn't cost...heck why do you think Standford is asking for our help? is that hte power drain for just them farm? what about monitors? how many of those do you have running? i suspect they aren't on 24/7 themselves. Hmm man I dunno but your power bill is high as crap. during the dead of winter my power bill may hit 250 and that is a family of 4, but I have a heatpump. Here in Winston Salem North Carolina it gets HOT and COLD so heating and cooling is always going to cost. I can't afford to build a farm so I can't really worry about the power consumption. I am wondering though if maybe a farm could be ran a bit more effeciantly than useing several PSUs...maybe we can find like a massive PSU unit that could handle them all...although thinking about that i realise the wireing on one would be a nightmare...seems you have reached your limit a while back....it was suggested to sale off your farm....it could be donated as well to the team. there are plenty of people who would be willing to run it for you..not sure about under your name though

best of luck man hope you can sort something soon...maybe buy a boat and see what that cost you a month

The window ac unit is 14yo...and can be used as a secondary means to cool the upstairs...though until the farms came to life..it was not used that often......my house is a 3000sqft 2 story colonial...not including the basement area which adds another 800sqft so you take a 14yo window unit and a 14yo central ac unit...plus normal electricity (2 refrigerators, 2 freezers, all electric kitchen, 3 x30" tv, a 62" big screen/surround sound tv room, etc, etc) add to KC heat index and/or cold index and there you go..and we keep the central ac in the summer at 78 deg and in the winter 69 deg....

It's not just the fact it adds up to $180 to the elecetric bill....when you are married have responsibilities to the family, bills, etc....and a wife that does not nor will never believe in folding, and would rather see the extra charge folding costs go to let's say dinner out with the family, a weekend away with her, applied to another bill....what are you going to do.....

paps

amen brother! I feel ya! hey how cool is the basement? maybe move the farm to the cooler end of the house...wish we could figure how to bottle winter air LOL. Good luck with this man hope it sorts out for you soon enough

Well, actually I am cleaning out the basement and building a small room to house all boxen and the plexi farms (except my two gaming/benchmarking boxes)......so hopefully by October...I won't have to worry about the window ac as the basement stays fairly cool......and I plan to take a conduct from the main central ac distro junction to feed directly into the new room during summer and for winter a direct outside conduct for air vent.....

paps