I have a bathroom exhaust fan I installed in the basement to vent out the cat litter smell. I let this fan run 24/7. I'm debating if I should put it on a timer to only run a few hours a day. My question is, how much is it probably costing me a year in electricity to run the fan all day and all night as I have been? I understand rates vary by area, I'm just looking for a ballpark idea.
Hi, How much is your electricity where you are? Here in Calgary, Alberta I pay 7 cents per KWh. Fan may draw 1.0 amp or so whcih leads to ~100W You do the rest of math. Also that'll suck out some warm air from your house which may cause more heater run.
I don't think the cost of running the fan is the issue. It is, how much heat you are loosing due to exhausting 60 -
100 or more CFM of air. My plan for the cat box is a small 2 or 3" fan running 24/7. I've already proved that it works in the confined space of a motorhome. I built an enclosure under one of the kitchen table bench seats. The interior of the cat potty box is covered with plastic laminate for easy cleaning. The motorhome has an outside hatch which we use for cleaning the litter pan. There is a small 2" 12 volt fan in this hatch, which runs 24/7 when we are us> I have a bathroom exhaust fan I installed in the basement to vent out
I live in Los Angeles, so heat isn't too much of an issue. The basement where the fan is isn't even heated.
An N-watt thing running 24/7 costs about $N/year at 10 cents/kWh, eg $20/year for a 20 watt fan, but exhausting C cfm of house air adds
24hxCxDD Btu/year to your heating and cooling bills in a DD degree-day climate, eg 24x60(4954+1101) = 8.7 million Btu/year for a 60 cfm fan in Phila, with 4954 heating and 1101 cooling degree days per year (with a 65 F base temp), about 100 gallons of oil or 100 therms of gas or $256, with electric resistance heat.Nick
Or maybe try a different cat litter or clean it more often.
BTW you covered the bases well with your information in this and your reply so it appears that the electrical cost will not be all that much. Now add in the cost of replacing fans that are for the most part, not designed for 24 hour duty (that is if you are using standard bathroom exhaust fans.)
You do your own figures. What is the wattage of the fan? Multiply by
24 (hours). So if the fan uses 100W, thats 2.4 KW per day. Howw much is a KW of electric (look on your bill). Lets say that it's 10 cents per KW. Then it's costing you 24 cents per day. Multiply 24 cents times 365 (days per year). That's your answer. In this example it would cost $87.60 per year. Same as leaving a 100W lightbulb on 24/7 for a year. But like others said, you have to figure in the amount of heat or cooling loss, replacement fans, etc. You might be better off looking into a better litter box and litter. You might also check into wind drawn turbines on your roof, and hose them to the location of the cat box. They turn without electric and are pretty efficient when there is at least some wind. You could supplement an electric fan on days when there is no wind.Of course you have to modify the figures I did above to match the wattage of your fan and cost per KWH of your power.
Clean the cat litter, problem solved. Too expensive because of too many cats - get rid of the excess cats.
Say 1 amp. 1 amp x 120 volts = 100 watts. 100 watts times 24 hours = 2KWH.
At fifteen cents per KWH = $.30/day.
You don't need a fan, you need to either clean the box(es) more often or get more of them. You need one box per cat, and it should be cleaned at least once a day. Not just scooped, but the entire box needs strained for clumps daily. There is ABSOLUTELY no smell if you do that. Sure, when the cat(s) uses it there's the immediate smell, just like with human beings, but the cat(s) will bury the stuff and the smell evaporates, just like flushing. Sheesh.
That's disgusting! have you ever thought of just cleaning the litter box on a regular basis you damn slob?
It's not the cat litter that smells bad, ya dope. It's the cat p!$$ and cat $h!t that stinks. Clean the litter box more often and you won't have a problem.
You obviously either don't have a cat or you nose has become accustomed to litter box smell. You can clean it 3 times a day, and there will still be some smell. Also, I find that the oder of some brands of litter to be just as offensive and the cat smell itself.
The simple answer to your question is:
Roughly 25-30 cents a day for a small fan at typical electric rates.
A large blower in a very expensive electricity area of the country could cost maybe a dollar a day or so.
Smarty
Yes, clean the cat litter daily, plus feed the cat a quality food, then the litter box won't have such smelly deposits between cleanings.
I bought that scented litter ONCE. That stuff is horrid.
not sure but a burlap sack and a rock is a lot cheaper.
Do you have any IDEA what it costs to have someone come in once a day to clean the cat box?
Hey I missed your post about that heater switch. Did you post a reply as to a part number?
yeah. but it came back on by itself. I think it's the pressure to the switch. it does this some times when i change the valves to spa. it will act like it's not going to start up or like the switch is kicking on and off. it may be clogged up and the guy that replaced the switch last time didn't check it. i'm going to check it again today.
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