Electric
treadmill consumption: how much electricity does a treadmill use?
A
treadmill is a significant financial investment. However, spending is
not over after buying the equipment. Perhaps you considered the cost
of maintenance and repairs, but did you think about the electrical
consumption of your treadmill?
It
will cost you from 50p to £1 if you use a treadmill an hour a day -
if electricity costs 17-25p per kilowatt hour (KWh) given by the
British media - taxes and incidental charges included.
Watts
- kilowatts and how much does the treadmill consume
All
electrical appliances, including the motorized treadmill, have a
nominal power. This is the amount of energy consumed by the
appliance. The most commonly used appliance is a microwave oven. The
length of time it takes to cook a food depends on the wattage of your
microwave oven. If you make the most of it, it consumes more but
bakes quickly. Wattage on the treadmill depends on the type and size
of the engine, among other factors. For all information, look for
wattage on the label, on your machine, or in the user manual.
Sometimes the watts are not expressed, but the rated voltage (V) and
amperage (A) are expressed. By multiplying V x A, you’ll get the
nominal value in W. Starting from the engine, a similar calculation
could be made, considering 746 watts per each motor HP. Sometimes,
however, on the engines are written too high (unrealistic) HP values
and therefore the calculation could be totally wrong. Suffice
it to think that some engines have written 5 HP (peak), which
correspond to more than 3.7 KWh, a value so high that the domestic
power network would not be able to withstand!
Most
household appliances show a nominal consumption of 1500 to 2500W.
This means 1.5 / 2 KWh per hour of use.
Use
of treadmill and consumption
The
more you use the treadmill, the more energy it consumes. If an hour
is 1.5 KWh, two hours are 3 KWh, and so on. However, depending on how
much and how the treadmill is used, it also determines the amount of
energy consumption. The treadmill engine (main power source) does not
always use the maximum power. Contrary to what you might think, for
DC motors, DC needs more power when you walk (and "drag"
from the belt) rather than when running. In practice, max.
consumption is at its maximum speed, then it drops regularly to about
¾ of its maximum speed, around 10/12 km / h. So real consumption
depends on the speed of treadmill, friction between the moving parts
of the equipment (and especially between the belt and the deck) and
the weight of the user.
How
to calculate the electrical consumption and the cost of using the
treadmill?
You
can calculate the amount of "theoretical" energy that the
treadmill consumes and how much it costs. You can not calculate
realistically how often you use the full-capacity treadmill, so the
following calculations are based on the full wattage. Multiply the
power of your machine by the number of hours of use in a given month.
Divide this number for 1,000 to get the total amount of kilowatt per
month. Take an electric bill to calculate the total cost, an
approximate system is dividing the total bill for n. of kilowatts
billed. This will take into account some fixed costs but is a good
approximation. Then multiply the cost of electricity obtained for KWh
to calculate the monthly cost.
How
to reduce the consumption and therefore the cost of using a
treadmill?
Preventivemaintenance is the safest way to save. You have to think that ruined
or worn components (deck, belt) or incorrect lubrication (excessive
or insufficient) can double the friction factor between the belt and
the deck. This is very important parameter and it’s directly
proportional to the amount of energy used by the equipment and
therefore power consumption. An old belt can therefore have a double
friction factor and this results in a double consumption compared to
a new low friction belt. In the case of time per day this may mean
spending 1£ instead of 50p a day, or about 180 pounds per year. In
addition, forgetting lubricating or replacing the belt, can lead to
failure of the treadmill controller and engine, with significant
recovery costs.
Some
numbers - sample ratings on treadmill consumption
Intertek,
an important American research lab, has conducted an energy
consumption analysis of treadmills. The study was carried out on a
gym treadmill sample, as of course exercise in the gym is continuous
and involves very high energy costs. Evaluation process: Each
treadmill has been used for a 15 minutes heating period at a speed of
3.5km/h before recording all the values. The same user, 100kg weight,
on the various treadmills throughout the testing process.
The
energy consumption of each of the treadmills was evaluated at four
different speeds:
• 3.5
miles per hour (about 5km/h)
• 5
miles per hour (about 8km/h)
• 7
miles per hour (about 11km/h)
• 9
miles per hour (about 14km/h)
It should be specified that it is a professional
treadmill, with AC type motor. The treadmills evaluated were Life
Fitness Elevation Series 95T Engage Treadmill, Technogym Excite Run
900E, Star Trac P Series, Precor 932i and Matrix T7xe. The actual
observed consumption was between 300W/h (0.3 KWh) at 1100W/h (1.1
KWh) according to the conditions of use.
