Just ran the numbers on my shop's air compressor setup and I'm honestly mad at myself

I finally added up what I spent on electricity running a 5 hp piston compressor for 3 years. It came out to over $1,800 just in power costs. I found out because I installed a kill-a-watt meter on the circuit last month out of curiosity. Now I'm looking at a screw compressor that supposedly cuts that in half, but the upfront cost hurts. Has anyone else done the math on their shop air and switched?

3 comments

3 Comments

terry_lewis2125d agoMost Upvoted

Man that's rough, I feel your pain on this one. @ray189's point about checking what else is sucking power is spot on, I learned that lesson the hard way too with my old compressor. It's one of those things you just never think about until you actually see the numbers, and then it's like getting punched in the gut. The screw compressor upfront cost is brutal but if the math actually works out like they say, you'll probably save money in the long run. I'd be curious how long you're thinking it'll take to break even on that switch.

sam179d ago

Buddy of mine ran the numbers on his shop compressor and found out he was basically powering a small apartment with the thing. He swapped to a screw compressor three years back and said the payout came faster than he figured because his electric bill dropped more than the manufacturer claimed. Still stung writing that check for the new unit though, he told me it took a solid year before he stopped feeling like he'd made a mistake.

ray18925d ago

Ran a kill a watt on my old fridge one time and about fell out of my chair. It was pulling damn near 200 bucks a year just to keep a few beers cold and some leftovers from turning into science projects. Nobody ever told me how much these things eat up when you just plug them in and forget about them. I ended up getting one of those newer energy star models and it paid itself off in about 14 months. But yeah air compressors are a whole different beast especially if you're running them every day like I do with mine. Makes you wonder what else is sucking power in the shop that you never thought to check.