Cost to run a fan in a kegerator

[johnon]

I did a calculation on cost to run a tower cooler (or air cirulator) using a
12VDC
.14amp
80mm cpu fan.

My math should be good, but let me know if you see if I screwed anything else!

amps x volts = watts
.14 x 12 = 1.68 watts

watts x hours used / 1000 watts in kwh * price per kilowatt hour kwh = total cost to operate per month

1.68 x 730 / 1000 * $0.12 = $0.15 a month or $1.77 a year

Hours used - there are 730 hours in a month
kwh = .12 cents an hour in Northern California (your state is probably cheaper - socialism is expensive here, look on your bill)
1000 = 1 kwh has 1000 watts

Disclaimer - No circuit is 100% efficient. The wasted energy is dissipated as heat (power).

Blower Fans (for tower cooling) like this one
Blower Fan Image!

These have a higher amp of 2.1 and watts of 25 and as such would cost $26.50 a year. I was surprised these fans cost this much to operate, now I am questioning myself...

If you put a timer on your fan and didn't run it at say night, then it could be even less. My kegerator is outside so makes sense for me to a point.

Important to note:
Having a fan blowing on the cooling plate could actually lower the electricity bill on the kegerator itself. Not sure by how much though.
Also, I haven't figure out yet how much it costs to run my kegerator a month. I am going to say it is $4-6a month possibly even higher in summer months. If anyone has cost of a kegerator to run would be interesting to see.

[psychodad]

You will find that if you measure the current on the fan, it is likely less than the amp rating on the fan. There are a few mechanical factors that influence the actual current draw. Even at the worst case you describe, 7 cents a day to cool the beer line shouldn't break too many budgets.

[mattnad]

The bigger cost of a kegerator is the refrigeration. It's one more appliance going in a home. An offset is the cost savings for beer vs. bottles or cans. If you're a homebrewer, then it's even larger.

I've also had some thoughts about carbon footprint as well. As a home brewer, I figure we're saving the planet a bundle of the costs and energy related to packaging and distributing water that I can draw from my well (the other ingredients are much lighter and smaller to move around, esp. with dry malt extracts).

[djc]

Does anyone have any insight into the minimum cfm's needed for a tower cooler to be effective? My kegerator is in the garage so there is no heat near it, and the ambient is probably 55-60 on the hottest of days, and down to around 34 on the coldest days.

[cubby_swans]

Does anyone have any insight into the minimum cfm's needed for a tower cooler to be effective? My kegerator is in the garage so there is no heat near it, and the ambient is probably 55-60 on the hottest of days, and down to around 34 on the coldest days.

Even 1 CFM would be adequate. You just need cold air moving in constantly to push out the old air. ANY fan you use is going to be more than enough.