OK, this is going to get a little complicated, but I just need to know if everything I am writing makes sense. I am considering a switch to electric and am just trying to see how long it would take to pay for itself in # of batches. Bear with me here.
OK, so I currently use high pressure propane in 20lb tanks. I buy the propane at a gas station which charges $2.19/gal. 20lb propane tanks would hold a 4.71gal of propane. This means the propane tank costs about $10.31 to fill. How much propane I use depends on season, weather, etc, but on average I use about 1/3 of the tank for a 10gal brew session, or about $3.43. I also use my hot water heater to heat the water if this number seems low, but that would be the case for either system.
Since the tank has about 400,000 BTUs in it, that means I use about 133,333 BTU/session. At 25% efficiency, which I think is common for burners, that means I get 33333.25 BTUs to the wort. To achieve that many BTU's with electric, I would need 9.7kW (3412BTU/kW). I pay about $.13/kW around here, or $1.26/session.
$3.43 (propane) - 1.26 (electric) = $2.17 savings/session.
I figure to wire a 240V outlet and get a system from brewmation to handle the HLT and BK would be around $1000, with some misc costs that we will call $100.
$1100 / $2.17 = 506 brew sessions.
Does anyone see an error here? Do my calculations seem biased somewhere? I realize the benefits of automation are not accounted for, but anything else?
Thanks for any help you can give,
DK
OK, so I currently use high pressure propane in 20lb tanks. I buy the propane at a gas station which charges $2.19/gal. 20lb propane tanks would hold a 4.71gal of propane. This means the propane tank costs about $10.31 to fill. How much propane I use depends on season, weather, etc, but on average I use about 1/3 of the tank for a 10gal brew session, or about $3.43. I also use my hot water heater to heat the water if this number seems low, but that would be the case for either system.
Since the tank has about 400,000 BTUs in it, that means I use about 133,333 BTU/session. At 25% efficiency, which I think is common for burners, that means I get 33333.25 BTUs to the wort. To achieve that many BTU's with electric, I would need 9.7kW (3412BTU/kW). I pay about $.13/kW around here, or $1.26/session.
$3.43 (propane) - 1.26 (electric) = $2.17 savings/session.
I figure to wire a 240V outlet and get a system from brewmation to handle the HLT and BK would be around $1000, with some misc costs that we will call $100.
$1100 / $2.17 = 506 brew sessions.
Does anyone see an error here? Do my calculations seem biased somewhere? I realize the benefits of automation are not accounted for, but anything else?
Thanks for any help you can give,
DK