Regarding electricity usage:
I went back and looked at the meter reading from the barn meter in Sept 2008. I paid $73.11. Other than some overhead Mercury Vapor lights, there is nothing in the barn that consumes electricity in the summer. I'm pretty sure that I didn't leave any lights on for extended periods of time. ergo - the Kasco used most of that juice. I'm not positive but I think it is a 3/4 HP pump which in theory should pull 560 watts. If I ran it 24/7 for the month of August (I did) I should have pulled 416 KWH at $0.115 comes out to $48. So maybe I did leave a light on...
We'll go with $48 to run the circulator.
The new pump is on the house current for now but I have one of those plug-in energy devices (Kill-a-watt) which accurately measures "real" power (as well as apparent power) and are the figures I quoted before.
I'll digress for just a moment and point out that a pump (water, air, hydraulic) actually consumes LESS power as it is loaded up with back pressure. This only makes sense - you are paying for the WORK done. So when I put my finger over the outlet of my pump and "stall" it - the draw drops to 44 watts. That is the base "inefficiency" of the pump and that 44 watts would go into heat in the pump if I did that for any amount of time. On the other end, when I run the pump with nothing connected it draws ~150 watts. It is pumping the maximum amount of air possible - the maximum amount of work.
OK - back to the original question... Assume (and that is a big "ASS" out of "U" and "ME") my new setup is as or more efficient than the old circulator at moving water, I would expect my electricty cost to be ~$10 a month or a 79% savings on electricity. (Before everyone gets all excited - remember my pond is only 5' deep. This would change dramatically if my pond was just 8' deep - I'm using a linear air pump which does not like working at high PSI.)
The pump cost me $411 including shipping.
The diffusers cost me $112 including shipping and I have a spare disc, so call it $93
The hose cost me $129 from Ted at Forever Green (right from the website.)
The plumbing cost me ~$20 (elbows and tees were around $0.60 a piece and I think 10' of Sched40 was ~$3 which was the original $10 that I quoted. But I needed a couple of unions and barb fittings for the 3/4" poly that is coming up.)
I had the cleaner, glue and zip strips.
To cut the fish-mouths on the support pipes, I bored a 1 1/8" hole about 4" deep into a 2x4. Then drilled at 90 degrees to that bore with the same bit. Slide pipe in and drill down. Could have done it on my drill press - but in 2 years, I haven't managed to unpack my shop tools... (LOW MAINTENANCE FISH!!!)
No enclosure needed as I will put the pump in the barn furnace room.
I bought 200' of poly 3/4" pipe to get the air from the barn to the pond (probably only 150' needed) at $24.
My time - well, I hate to put a dollar figure on my time. If I did, I should spend more time at work...
So $411 + $93 + $129 + $20 + $24 = $677
No enclosure, no pressure gage or manifold, no valves (switching or check).
One of the vendors
WHO SUPPORT THIS BOARD (and should be patronized whenever possible!) could have probably set me up with a nice system for ~$1000 (maybe even less).
For me, I got to have fun, save a "small" amount of material cost and hopefully get a pump that will save me significant $$$ on maintenance and operation costs over the course of the next 5 years. (say $2K in electricity and $200 in pump rebuild/maintenance).
Or I could be full of it and find out that I wasted $677 on a lark. That is what "homebuilding" is all about!!!
