How to decide which pond pump Is Better To Save Money

The cost of a pond is not just about the initial installation costs it's about the ongoing operating costs. As you've heard me mention many times a pond pump must run 27/7/365 otherwise pond filter bacteria can die through lack of oxygen. The power to run one or more pond pumps is therefore a significant operating cost and normally the lowest cost pond pump is not he cheapest when you take running costs into account.

First check Electrical power consumed by each pond pump

Let's go back first to check how we work out the running cost of a pond pump assuming you know the Wattage of the pond pump (you will see this wattage number on the pond pump box ... if you only see Amps multiply the Amps by your Voltage to calculate WATTS the pump will use approximately).

I know how many Watts my pond pump uses ... How do I calculate running cost?

In this case calculating the annual running cost for your pond pump is quite simple. Of course you need to know how much a unit of electricity costs in your area and this number changes as energy prices worldwide change.

However first you need to find out how much a unit of electricity costs in your area (and it can vary a lot by area). A unit of electricity is normally expressed as a kWattHour or kWhr and it the amount of money required to run an item consuming 1,000 Watts for 1 hour or 60 minutes. This information can be obtained by reading your utility account (electric bill). In USA it varies between about 6c per kWhr and 20c per kWhr. In my country it rarely costs more than 6c per kWhr.

Pacific States USA typical costs in 2004 ... for other states click this link to website about water heaters and you will see cost of electric power for each state in USA

  • Alaska state electricity cost c/kWhr 12.75

  • Hawaii state electricity cost c/kWhr 16.59

  • California state electricity cost c/kWhr 15.23

  • Oregon 7.06 state electricity cost c/kWhr 

  • Washington state electricity cost c/kWhr  6.24

You can see therefore that the running cost of a pond pump in Hawaii is far more important in economic terms than the same pump running in Oregon. In fact let's do a comparison over a period of 1 year and remember a good pond pump will last for about 6 years so total cost of running a pond pump over 6 years is significant. For this exercise assume the pond pump rated power is 90 Watts ... such a pond pump would cost about $90 to $120

Hourly power used = 90 Watts = 0.09 kWhr

A complete day's consumption for this pond pump = 24*0.09 = 2.16 kWhrs

After running non-stop for 1 year the pond pump has consumed 2.16 * 365 = 788 kWhr

In Hawaii this would cost 788 * $0.1659 = $130.80 whilst the same pond pump doing exactly the same job in Oregon would only cost 788 * 0.0706 = $55.66

Over 6 years the same pond pump could cost anything between $785 and $334 ... this is a big difference and especially when you consider the pump cost about $90 only

If I live in Oregon and can choose between 2 pumps that will do the job I want what do I do to make best decision?

Here we will consider only price and running cost for the alternative pond pumps ... we will assume everything else is identical eg guarantee

  • Pump1 costs $100 and is rated at 100 Watts

  • Pump2 cost $135 and is rated at 65 Watts

Assume both pumps will last at least 3 years.

Total cost of pond pump 1 over 3 yrs is $100 + $( 0.1 * 24 * 365 * 0.0706 * 3yrs) = $285.53

Total cost of pond pump 2 over 3 yrs is $135 + $( 0.065 * 24 * 365 * 0.0706 * 3yrs) = $255.60

Even though pond pump 2 costs 35% more than pond pump 1 the total cost over 3 years is about 7% less (a saving of about $30).

In Hawaii the saving would be far more on the pump costing $35 more.

How To Convert Different Measurement Units

  • To convert gallons to litres multiply by 4.54

  • To convert gallons to US gallons multiply by 1.2

  • To convert US gallons to litres multiply by 3.78

  • To convert cu.feet to gallons multiply by 6.23

  • To convert cu.feet to US gallons multiply by 7.48

  • To convert inches to cm multiply by 2.54

  • To convert feet to metres multiply by 0.305

  • To convert pounds to kilograms multiply by 2.2

  • To convert sq. feet to sq. Metres multiply by 0.093

  • To convert cu metres to litres multiply by 1000

Of course to convert in the other direction you divide by the factor. For example to convert litres to gallons you would divide by 4.54

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