Power saving tips and ways to save money!?

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

How efficient are in-sump pumps for heating water? For example, if I have a 100 watt pump running in my sump vs a 100 watt heater in my tank. Will both heat my tank equally? I assume not, but for sure the pump does produce a fair bit of heat as well.

In my specific case, I have 2 sumps, each with 2 pumps. One tank needs to be supplemented with a heater, while the other has bigger pumps and needs to be cooled with a chiller. And yes, I know some of the heating comes from the lights.

But just curious, what is the difference in heating efficiency between pumps and heaters?

Mike already explained that well enough. I will just add some footnotes :P

Typically, heaters are considered to be the MOST EFFICIENT device you can put in your tank; because they use the loss as the utility - heat! So typically, you are getting 300W heat (or a little bit more since the filaments changes resistance a bit with heat or maybe a little less depending on how much the thermistor is taking away; and the small LED ) from a 300W heater.

On the other hand, for a 300W pump, you will probably get around 150W of heat (loss) and the rest will go to the mechanical components.