Power saving tips and ways to save money!?

[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?

[mike31154]

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?

Depends on the components I suppose, but a heater is purpose built to do just that, heat something up. So my guess would be that in most cases a heater will be more efficient. A pump's primary purpose is to provide some manner of mechanical function, with heat being a by product. Most pump designers will try to maximize the mechanical efficiency & minimize the heat. In your case, the 100 watt pump will be using most of that power to pump.

However, this doesn't mean we can't use the heat by product of our pumps to an advantage during the colder months. While I don't have a sump on my system yet, I do have plans for a basement sump at some point & have already acquired two different pumps, a Panworld & a Poseidon. Although both are external pumps, I understand the Poseidon produces a lot of heat which is xferred to the water while it's pumping. My plan is to use the Panworld in the summer, the Poseidon in the winter. I'll also insulate the sump in the basement with plenty of styrofoam.

[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.