how much energy does a residential elevator consume?

[green_regards]

The details are as follows,

It is a Schindler elevator with 4 person capacity for a house with 2 floors. I have checked up on schindler's website, but there is no mention of any technical specifications.
Can anyone let me know how much energy this elevator consumes per day, assuming that the elevator is being used 5-6 times/day.

Also, how much energy does it consume when in idle state?


Thanks in advance for any information.

[Sunking]

There has to be electrical specs on it. You would have to know the voltage, LRA, FLA, and horse power ratings. Bu tI can tell you it will require more than a solar battery system can provide. I would imagine th emotor is in the ball park of 220 volts @ 5 hp. That would take an industrial 10 Kw inverter to operate.

[inetdog]

Also, how much energy does it consume when in idle state?

In the idle state, the only power consumption should be the power for lights, fan and control system. Holding the car in one place should not require power, using a mechanical braking mechanism, since it has to stay in one place with the power off too.

You can get a very rough idea of the in-use power consumption by figuring out what the weight imbalance is when the elevator is going up. At a guess, that will be somewhere from 1/2 to the full weight capacity of the elevator. Multiply the weight times the distance traveled, convert to horsepower, throw in a fudge factor for mechanical and motor inefficiency, and work from there.
If their specifications tell you the HP of the motor or if they tell you how large an electrical circuit you need to feed the elevator, you can get another boundary point from there. Figure out how long the elevator will be running for each trip up and the number of trips during each day.

As with any motor application, there will be a starting surge unless the elevator controller uses a VFD mechanism. There will still be a surge as the elevator accelerates in any case.

[green_regards]

Thanks for the prompt answers, Sunking and inetdog.

I will check with the user if they have the elevator manual with them. Iam not looking at solar to power it, but kind of doing an energy audit.

An acquaintance gets an electric bill of nearly 1100 units/month without the AC's being used and almost a 4 hrs power cut during daytime. They use a diesel generator to power the appliances during power cut.

The house has 6 bedrooms, and 4 servant rooms, in addition to the living room, dining and halls. They have installed 18W LED lights( 16 Nos of LEDs), about 6 of them per room. however the switches are wired such that they can use any 2 lights at a time and this is what they have been using. They have a fan in each of these rooms. However, during daytime, only the hall(s) is used and atmost TV and a fan. The house gets abundant sunlight during the day, so lights are never used.

The other appliances/devices are

• Schindler's elevator - 5-6 times a day
• water pressure booster pump - Grundfos
• 2 Nos of double door refrigerators
• a microwave oven that is used for about 5 mins a day
• a 3hp motor to pump water from a 500ft deep borewell to the overhead tank and also to water the plants
• a security control system
• a water softner an da water purifier
• there are more than 6 - 7 AC's varying between 1.5 tonnes to 3 tonnes -- however they have not been using these AC's
• the four servant rooms - each ahs a subenergy meter installed which has recorded a usuage of 50 units /month
  about 3 TV's - at night may be 2 Nos of TV's would be running at max

Oh yes there is a hometheatre system, which they use for 3 hrs every week. And the bathrooms have electronic control shower panels (digital).
They are using solar water heater and occasionally may require the back up electric water heater.

So, I was wondering if the elevator, water pressure booster pump, submersible pump and the projector ( in home theatre system) are the power guzzlers.

I did not get much help from the schindler's technician who "refused" to give the power consumption details. I guess he had no idea of that either!!

Just calculating,

considering the rooms have an occupancy, and I am running 2 LED lights per room and a fan, it would be 110 W or so per hour. suppose the lights are on from 6pm to 10pm - 4 hrs and the fans overnight, say 12 hrs - ( 20W per light X 2 Nos. X 4 hrs) +( 70 W per fan X 12 hours) = 1000Wh* 3 bedrooms = 3 KWh = 3 unit per day = 30 units per month.

Another couple of fans for about 6 hrs a day during daytime - 70 X 2X 6 = 840Wh = 0.8 units = about 3 units per month.

the double door refrigerators, say consume about 60 units each per month - 120 units per month for 2 refrigerators.

The 50 + inch LEDTV and set top box with recorder runs for say 10 hrs per day ( or may be 2 Tv's run for about 5 hrs each) - (180 + 20) X 10 hrs = 2000 Wh = 2KWh / day or 60 units per month

The servant rooms together consume 50 units per month

So, that is about about 260 units have been accounted for so far.

Now the power guzzlers remain,

so submersible pump, pressure booster pump and elevator are consuming the remaining 800 units or so.

a 3hp pump will consume about 3KW/ hour after accounting for the system efficiency ( correct me if iam wrong) - so, if this pump is running for 8 hrs daily - it is 3KW X 5 hrs = 15 units/day or 450 units per month.


so, 450 + 260 = 710 units

So, pressure booster pump and elevator are consuming the remaining 90 units or so?

Even if I knock off 30 units/month, the pressure booster pump and elevator are consuming the remaining 120 units or so per month. And then there is the projector ( maybe 12 hrs per month).

Am I right or am I missing something.

is the submersible pump causing an issue?

It is a real long post, sorry for that.

Thanks in advance for any information,

[green_regards]

You can get a very rough idea of the in-use power consumption by figuring out what the weight imbalance is when the elevator is going up. At a guess, that will be somewhere from 1/2 to the full weight capacity of the elevator. Multiply the weight times the distance traveled, convert to horsepower, throw in a fudge factor for mechanical and motor inefficiency, and work from there.
If their specifications tell you the HP of the motor or if they tell you how large an electrical circuit you need to feed the elevator, you can get another boundary point from there. Figure out how long the elevator will be running for each trip up and the number of trips during each day.

I will look up for the above details from the manual and do the calculations. Thanks for the help.

[SunEagle]

Depending if the elevator only has a couple of floors it may be a hydraulic type and not a cable type.

Usually the hydraulic type don't need as much horsepower since the fluid is doing the most work. The motor drives a pump to keep the fluid pressure up. Then it is just opening or closing valves to move the cylinders which move the elevator.

[Naptown]

Depending if the elevator only has a couple of floors it may be a hydraulic type and not a cable type.

Usually the hydraulic type don't need as much horsepower since the fluid is doing the most work. The motor drives a pump to keep the fluid pressure up. Then it is just opening or closing valves to move the cylinders which move the elevator.

And the pump only operates to raise. Most I have seen are a cable driven by a hydraulic ram. Cable wraps around a couple of pulleys and the ram spreads the pullys out to raise and lets them close to lower. Most also in the event of a black out will have a battery back up to lower the elevator to the lowest level and open the door so no one is stuck in there.

[Sunking]

Most also in the event of a black out will have a battery back up to lower the elevator to the lowest level and open the door so no one is stuck in there.

Required for any commercial or industrial applications.

[inetdog]

ork. The motor drives a pump to keep the fluid pressure up. Then it is just opening or closing valves to move the cylinders which move the elevator.

When the elevator is going up, the amount of work done by the pump "keeping the pressure up" is exactly the same as the amount of work done by a motor turning a cable drum. The efficiencies may be different, that's all.
On the other hand, a pure hydraulic ram elevator (similar to a car lift) will typically not have a counterweight, so the entire weight of the elevator and piston are being raised, not just the imbalance between the elevator and the counterweight.
For the piston/cable combination, it would be possible to have a counterweight in the system somewhere.

Really need to know more about the design of the elevator in question.
If the elevator is already installed, just use a clamp-on ammeter to measure current and make a guess as to the power factor.

[SunEagle]

When the elevator is going up, the amount of work done by the pump "keeping the pressure up" is exactly the same as the amount of work done by a motor turning a cable drum. The efficiencies may be different, that's all.
On the other hand, a pure hydraulic ram elevator (similar to a car lift) will typically not have a counterweight, so the entire weight of the elevator and piston are being raised, not just the imbalance between the elevator and the counterweight.
For the piston/cable combination, it would be possible to have a counterweight in the system somewhere.

Really need to know more about the design of the elevator in question.
If the elevator is already installed, just use a clamp-on ammeter to measure current and make a guess as to the power factor.

In most hydraulic elevator systems the are check valves that help maintain the pressure to keep the cylinder extended. This way if the pump or motor should stop the elevator won't just come back down due to lack of pump pressure. The check valves and lack of compression of the fluid keep the elevator from coming back down. Opening the check valve is what lowers the elevator.

[russ]

In most hydraulic elevator systems the are check valves that help maintain the pressure to keep the cylinder extended. This way if the pump or motor should stop the elevator won't just come back down due to lack of pump pressure. The check valves and lack of compression of the fluid keep the elevator from coming back down. Opening the check valve is what lowers the elevator.

That is the system I have though a large control panel in the basement is full of electronics goodies that take care of it all.

[SunEagle]

That is the system I have though a large control panel in the basement is full of electronics goodies that take care of it all.

Nice. Beats having to walk up a flight of stairs with your arms full.

[russ]

Nice. Beats having to walk up a flight of stairs with your arms full.

I refrain from using the thing unless I am moving something quite heavy - then I do appreciate it tough.

[FloridaSun]

I refrain from using the thing unless I am moving something quite heavy - then I do appreciate it tough.

after a 20 mile bike run you need to use the stairs for some exercise