Heating

I have a work in progress fish room.
I'm now wondering weather I should heat the room or have heaters in each tank.
The room is carpeted and has one window.
I currently have :
Setup : 1*6ft 2*3ft 1*2ft
Empty : 1*2ft 1*1.5ft

Can someone please advise me
I was thinking of adding those wall mounted panel heaters as I think this is the most economic heater
Need advise on electricity usage

 

Slayer.... putting the panel heaters in is definately the most cost effecive way of heating the room. I would also still consider keeping heaters in the tanks.

ANother option you could look at doing is if you are not wanting the light to come in through the window, you could "board" the window up with some polystyrene. 75% of heat loss is due to the window (CLOSED) and 85% through windows open. The polystyrene would instulate very well.

What is cmmonly not know about polystyrene... a high density polystyrene 40mm thick, insulates as well as a wall of 1000mm (1 m) thick solid concrete! If you do the calculations, 8.8mm of polystyrene would then be just as effective as a normal 220mm thick brick wall... and South African's WONDER why we are the most ineffecient when it comes to electricity???

If we all built our houses with a SIMPLE 10mm polystyrene board IN our walls, and changed all our windows to double glazing, we will be 1000X more effecient in heating and cooling, and save a WHACK on electricity costs!

 

I agree with Zoom that heating the room is a far more economical option especially when you have a large number of tanks in the room. We have pretty much sorted out the heating of the room in Winter but I'm really concerned as to how I am going to cool it down in Summer with the temps we are currently having.....

 

I am thinking of doing the same thing to my fish room because the electrical bill is getting out of hand now... I think I am going to consider this as a option as well.

 

Would use wall heaters for winter and polystyrene the windows close .. for summer when it gets to hot put the wall heaters on timers so they are on for shorter periods and remove the polystyrene to drop the temp as well. Maybe a small ceiling fan to help with condensation.

 

Thanks guys just wanted to make sure I'm doing the correct thing

 

Slayer if it works let me know so I can try it...lol

 

This would be a bit off the chart but solar panel on roof to preheat water which is then circulated to all tanks in the fish room but might be a problem with disease spreading from tank to tank.

 

IT would be a problem with the diseases and the cost for the installation will not be worth it .

 

Technically you could use the solar heated water and run it through a set of pipes that are in the tanks, that way it's heat exchange and you keep the water separate. It would be a difficult system to design though. You'd need to have some sort of controller that can stop the water flowing through the tanks when they're at the right temperature, and at night you'd need a different source of heat. You could also mod the system so that you have a radiator that you can run the water through if the temperature gets too high...

I've seen some guys on the marine forum talking about a heat pump, and it being the most efficient heating and cooling mechanism around, so maybe do some research on that.

As for the polystyrene, why stop at the windows? If the walls are that bad at insulation you could easily cover the walls and ceiling with big panels as well, and it could help quite a bit.

 

hi all
the solar route does not have to be expensive to preheat water and use that heat. A length or two of 15 mm irrigation pipe on the roof and, ones filled with water, will through thermo syphoning circulate the water as soon as it gets hot. The two ends in a big tank or barrel /drum will get you depending on the length of pipe quickly 40-50 C hot water. This "container" can be used to warm a secondary circuet to heat the room or the tanks. no solution for winter though

 

Fish room heating

Hi

I Converted my back room into a fish room - Insulated the ceiling and the walls with 50mm x 1800 x 600 polistyrene sheets.

Room is now heated day and night with a 7 fin oil heater. Temp stays between 25 and 28 deg sumer and winter.:blink1:

Only major problem is condensation.

Cheers

T.J

 

Thanks thus far

I don't have a wall panel heater and would like to know if it can keep the temp consistant say at 26 - 27'
Will the heater switch off when the room is warm enough
Can I set the desired temp

 

Hi

The tipical oil heater has a thermostat that is setable - hotter or colder - the wall heaters dont -so I dont know - maybe iff you build a thermostat in? - seems dificult - I sugest buy a small oil heater

T.j

 

Think I'm going to get both. Will set the wall heater on a timer and the oil heater will regulate the temp. This system will also save electricity.

Keep the ideas coming

 

Cost of running this heater is 8 - 14 cents per hour

http://www.econo-heat.com/topten.html

 

So on worst case of 14c / hour the total average to run this heater in is around R105.00 p/m ??

 

I have a heater just like that in my room.
It's a 425watt unit, and the room has tiled floors. It only changes the temperature very slightly, and that's with 25mm polystyrene on the windows

So your best bet for economy is really to up the insulation of the room as much as you possibly can. Is your ceiling over this room insulated? Does your door seal nice and tight? Unfortunately every little place where the heat can escape, it will. And that will cost you money. But at the same time you've got creatures using up the oxygen, so you can't seal it up entirely...

 

yes will polystyrene the windows
floor is carpeted

Can someone advise me on how much electricity will cost me on my aquarium heaters of a total of 900 - 1000wts for a month

 

Take your electricity bill...

See how many units of electricity you use, and divide that by the rand amount. (Check that VAT is added to that amount). That figure you get is the amount you pay per unit... which is 1.0kW. In my area we pay 0.62c per unit.

The 900-1000 watts is PER HOUR... therefor 1.0kW = 0.62c per hour.
Thus 0.62 x 24 (hours per day) x 31 (days per month) = R461.28 per month!