I’ve finally got my hands on a Kill-a-Watt to track my energy usage. Of course the first thing I plugged in was my Volcano Classic!
I tracked its power usage over 40 days. It gets used 3 times daily by two adults.
Usage:
- Heat Element Only – Draws .82 Amp or 100 Watts
- Fan Only – Draws .12 Amp or 11 Watts
- Fan and Heat Element – Draw .94 Amp or 111 Watts
Based on average residential electricity price for 2009 our Volcano costs us in electricity:
- $2.89 per Year
- $0.23 per Month
- $0.05 per Week
- Less than one penny per day!
[…] about 141 kilowatt-hours (kWh) to grow an ounce of dank — enough electric energy to keep a volcano vaporizer blazing buddha for nearly two months […]
I did this too, my results were very close to yours- ie, uses next to nothing in power. Yet another reason to love the Volcano!
i’ve had mine for 6 years and its been on the whole time. it works great
Wow – are you serious – you’ve never turned it off? Classic or digital?
its probably the digital one, when you have it plugged in the numbers are displayed. I just got mine today and play to have it plugged in indefinitely… is that a bad thing?
No, leaving it plugged in is just fine. Leaving the heating element on eternally – bad idea.
Why is it a bad thing? I mean, I wouldn’t do it neither on purpose, but sometimes I forget to turn it off, and was wondering if it actually harmed the device and if so, why.
The heating element will burn out quicker if you leave it turned on 24×7. I use a mechincal timer and it works great!
There’s an auto off on my digital volcano
I’ve had my classic for a long time now (about 3 years) and I typically leave it on from 6pm until I hit the sack at 10pm almost every night, with no ill effects. I’m also in the school of thought that it uses less energy (and is less stressful on the elements) to just leave it on rather than turn it on/off four or five times per evening. Our usage is about 4-5 baggies per night. So we basically fill another up each hour.
Just FYI – it does not seem to damage the device to leave it on. In fact, I’d say if you use it similar to me, then I would actually just leave it on to prevent wear/tear on the heating elements.
I of course, have ZERO proof that any of that makes logical sense so this is simply my experience/opinion.
I personally think it is far less stressful on the element to leave it on than to be constantly warming it up and cooling it off, also i imagine it would use quite a bit more energy preheating it rather than maintaining a constant temperature. I could be wrong, just my opinion.
To arrive at your figure of $2.89 what did you conclude that your average time of use must be to keep this projected cost. Specifically what was the total draw in kw/hr per day?
I figured it was used an average of 1 hour per day. Some of that time warming up, some of that time filling bags. You can use the current draw numbers to extrapolate your consumption based on usage.
We have a habit of leaving it on the entire evening. I wondered if you were diligent about turning it right off after usage? Or if you’re like us and use it slowly as needed :o)
I try not to leave it on unless I’m actively using it. I figure the less hours of use, the longer it’ll last. That being said, I’ve certainly spaced out and left it on for long periods of time with no ill effects.