How many kilowatts per day do you use?

[AFKASAP]

Hi,

What size is your boat?
What significant appliances do you have running?
Is it winter or summer where you are?

How much electricity do you use per day while living aboard (Longterm, not weekenders).

I am talking about comfortable living...

[AFKASAP]

I would like to correct my question to "How many kilowatt hours do you use per day?"

[StuM]

Originally Posted by AFKASAP

I would like to correct my question to "How many kilowatt hours do you use per day?"

Thank you!

[valhalla360]

We vary between 0kw and around 2kw. Since we have a 30amp cord, we max out around 3.6kw.


During the summer or winter when we run the air-con or the electric heat, we tend to hang out near the upper end more as those are the big energy hogs but we also love our electric fry pan but we usually turn the air/con off before turning it on or we run a second cord from the dock and cook on the back deck to keep the interior from heating up.


Did you per chance mean kw-hr or amp-hr?
- In the summer with the air/con going most of the day, we might use 15-20 kw-hr per day.
- If you are talking DC battery consumption, you are unlikely to have more than 3-5kw-hr worth of usable storage even with a large battery bank. Running air-con or electric heat is pretty much impractical.


Hit send before seeing you updated your question.

[StuM]

43ft cat.

On shore power:
Fridge, freezer, microwave, toaster, multicooker, , water heater, 22 in TV and cable decoder, 2 x Laptops, wireless modem, inkjet printer, phone/tablet chargers

In the dry (cooler) season when we don't need aircon about 6 kWh per day.
In the wet (hotter) season, quite a bit more - it varies according to how much we use the aircon but could be up to 10 if the aircon is on a lot.

Away from the marina we use a lot less. 800W of solar and 1000 Ah of AGMs handle the load - so 4kWh at most

[StuM]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

We vary between 0kw and around 2kw. Since we have a 30amp cord, we max out around 3.6kw.

You must be on 110 V. I can draw 7.2kW on a 30 A plug

0-2kW puts you between 0 and 48 kWh per day.
Could you narrow that down a little for the OP.

Edit: Oops, just noticed that you did narrow it down to 15-20 later in your post.

[newhaul]

For me its 12 to 14 kWh per day in winter 1500 watt heater runs about 6 hours per day and a 1500 watt element in hot water heater turn on when needed at most 2 hours per day. The rest is 12 volt DC charged off solar. Forgot that's on a 120 volt ac 30 amp service in summer the usage goes down considerably to 0 kWh out of marina.

[Dockhead]

I have no idea, which I consider a certain measure of the success of our power system. We have a lot of AC electrical gear on board (micro, kettle, toaster, Nespresso machine, washer/dryer, electric oven, etc., etc.), and so when living on the hook or on my mid-river mooring, as we do for a considerable part of every year, the generator runs for a couple of hours, a couple times a day, for purposes other than battery charging. As a result, I don't really have to watch the batteries all that carefully. They're rarely in serious need of a charge when the generator is needed for something else anyway.

It is pleasant, not to have to be a power-miser, constantly counting amps (as my Dad was, before he had solar on his boat), and to not worry about it. A heavy-duty, low-speed generator is the easiest route to this blissful state, although a large solar array is even better (since it has no moving parts, and requires no fuel, is maintenance free, and makes no noise), if the daily output is enough greater than your consumption.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I have no idea, which I consider a certain measure of the success of our power system. We have a lot of AC electrical gear on board (micro, kettle, toaster, Nespresso machine, washer/dryer, electric oven, etc., etc.), and so when living on the hook or on my mid-river mooring, as we do for a considerable part of every year, the generator runs for a couple of hours, a couple times a day, for purposes other than battery charging. As a result, I don't really have to watch the batteries all that carefully. They're rarely in serious need of a charge when the generator is needed for something else anyway.

It is pleasant, not to have to be a power-miser, constantly counting amps (as my Dad was, before he had solar on his boat), and to not worry about it. A heavy-duty, low-speed generator is the easiest route to this blissful state, although a large solar array is even better (since it has no moving parts, and requires no fuel, is maintenance free, and makes no noise), if the daily output is enough greater than your consumption.

I would think running the generator, you would be more concerned. I also had no idea before answering this questions.

I simply made some assumptions based on hot summer days when the air/con runs most of the day and added a bit for other misc items. Most summer slips we've had include power, so it doesn't impact us. We've ahd a couple where we pay but it's never been more than $50-60 for the month so it was never enough to bother with.

[wrwakefield]

Originally Posted by AFKASAP

Hi,

What size is your boat?
What significant appliances do you have running?
Is it winter or summer where you are?

How much electricity do you use per day while living aboard (Longterm, not weekenders).

I am talking about comfortable living...

An interesting question, AFKASAP.

I'm assuming you are asking only about shore power AC consumption when at a dock full time. We are not often at the dock full time, but sometimes spend weeks at a time during inclement weather in winter.

I generated some numbers by dividing my average electric meter bills by the KWH rates, so the are just estimates, and will be on the high side since I'm not subtracting fees and taxes also included on the bill.

Our worse-case usage is when we run electric heating at the dock in winter.

In winter [currently laying latitude 56N in Wrangell, Alaska, with average temps around freezing] we average about 36 KWH/day.

On our 3 cabin, 2 head 43ft pilothouse ketch with 2 adults this includes running the heating side of one or more of the 3 air conditioners [maintaining an ambient temp of 20°C; 68°F] clothes washer/dryer, multiple laptop computers, water heater, battery charger, etc. Everything for creature comfort. [We've already proved in times past we can live without all the comforts... now-a-days we have nothing to prove...]

This is facilitated with a 50A 220VAC shore power source. [We only use the 30A 110V cord in summer- mainly for hot water and battery charging/equalization during our brief visits to the marina.]

Away from shore power our AC electrical consumption goes down because we use a diesel fired heating system. I don't have direct comparison figures when away from shore power, but can say we get by in winter running our 10kw generator for about 6-12 hours/week [depending upon solar and wind generator contributions] to keep the 900AH battery bank happy, run the 12VDC watermaker, make hot water, and wash/dry loads of laundry, etc.

It might also be interesting for all of us to compare what we pay per KWH. [We have our own electric meters at our slips here... i.e., electricity is not included with slip fees, but water is...]

Following are our hydro-power rates [US$] for Wrangell, Alaska:

Residential: Base monthly rate $8.00
0-300 KWH $.126 per KWH
300 -1200 KWH $.102 per KWH
>1200 KWH $.08 per KWH

I hope this is helpful.

Cheers!

Bill

[ShaktiGurl]

Been at the dock since late May in South FL running AC, tv, cable box, 2-3 computers, microwave, induction plate, ice maker, outlets. Have been averaging 1200-1300kWh per month which is about 40/day @ .11 per kWh. Seems high to me and not at all sure the marina is measuring it correctly but that is what they tell me. Expecting it to be less if it ever cools off.

[a64pilot]

No, I think 40 KWH per day is pretty good, I bet it's right.
If your AC amp meter was always on 20, then you would go through 57 KWH per day.
20x120x24=57.6
So working that backwards your average load is 13.8 amps

[kas_1611]

51 amp/hrs sitting on anchor out of a 135amp/hr battery with 2x35watt solar panels topping up in summer. Gives us 2 to 3 days without having to run the lump.

No AC, no microwave, no TV or other "domestics" but then that is why we sail to get away from all that humdrum stuff. Biggest drain on the battery is the fridge which uses about 50% of our power but man can not live without beer!!

Keiron

[alctel]

I know this exactly, since I get an itemised electric bill

Around 100KWH a month in summer, which is just over 3 KWH a day. That's as a full time liveaboard.

No heating or air con, (or solar )but I have a hot water tank and pressure water. Most of that usage is probably the hot water tank and my battery charger. I have a fridge/freezer but it's an engel so uses very little power, and ALL my lights are LED.

[ShaktiGurl]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

No, I think 40 KWH per day is pretty good, I bet it's right.
If your AC amp meter was always on 20, then you would go through 57 KWH per day.
20x120x24=57.6
So working that backwards your average load is 13.8 amps

Ah yes I suppose that is about right. Using and paying for full time AC is new to me and I was a little surprised by the amount used. It's a small space! But not at all efficient or insulated.