Do tredmills consume a lot of power?

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simon14

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#100947 21-Apr-2012 07:10

My wife is looking at buying a treadmill and wanted to know what the running costs were like in terms of power consumption?

Obviously this will vary depending on type of treadmill but in general, do they consume a lot of power?

The salesman advised they are considered an appliance, so use more power than a light bulb but not as much as a heater.

marmel

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#612713 21-Apr-2012 07:57

Every treadmill is going to be slightly different but I would say they use a reasonable amount of power, pushing a 2hp motor must use up a bit of juice.

On the other hand how often is it going to get used? 3-4 runs a week at no more than an hour a time? Power probably not going to be a deal breaker.

gzt

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#612753 21-Apr-2012 10:23

Less than a gym membership

Depends a lot on how it is used but my guess is less than 1kwh.

The maximum allowed draw from a domestic power point is 10A/2400W = 2.4kwh. If you take that as that as the absolute worst case whatever the brand - that would work out to $0.72c an hour if you are paying your power company $0.30c per kwh.

In reality it will be far less than that. My 1kwh guess works out at $0.30c per hour if you are paying your power company $0.30c per kwh.

If you want to know for sure grab one of the cheap ($25) EMA-1 power meters from the Warehouse and go through a typical
workout cycle in the showroom. Efficiency could vary a lot by brand even where both have the same motor rating.

Also, many treadmills will have a very small 'standby' usage when they are plugged in but not actively in use. The simplest fix for that is switching off at the wall when you are finished. If it is a complex model which stores user history and you are using custom programs, there might be battery backup available if losing that info is a problem when power is turned off. In any case, the actual standby power use is probably small and about the same as an EE light bulb, and that could be checked.

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Azzura

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#612784 21-Apr-2012 12:48

Our treadmill pulls about 1600-1800Watts. Seems to draw more when using the incline.

coffeebaron

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#612789 21-Apr-2012 13:08

Shouldn't the runner be doing all the work? :-)

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cyril7

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#612802 21-Apr-2012 13:37

Hi, I recently was involved in putting in new treadmills in a gym, (they have builtin TV's hence my involvement) but they all required dedicated 2.5mm circuits each on their own MCB and a 15A socket, I seem to remember they could draw up to 3kW on max and quite large starting currents. These were pretty top end machines ($17k each as I remember) so a domestic machine will be less, obviously cant be more than 2.5kW on a domestic 10A socket.

Cyril

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#612835 21-Apr-2012 15:00

coffeebaron: Shouldn't the runner be doing all the work? :-)

Reverse wire it and put some power back into the grid!

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

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gzt

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#612844 21-Apr-2012 15:26

eracode:
coffeebaron: Shouldn't the runner be doing all the work? :-)

Reverse wire it and put some power back into the grid!

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This one charges an ipod: http://www.woodway.com/fitness/ecomill.html

Reviews are very positive. Professional gym grade equipment around US$9K.

old3eyes

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#612853 21-Apr-2012 16:01

simon14: My wife is looking at buying a treadmill and wanted to know what the running costs were like in terms of power consumption?

Obviously this will vary depending on type of treadmill but in general, do they consume a lot of power?

The salesman advised they are considered an appliance, so use more power than a light bulb but not as much as a heater.

If she's worried about the running cost she may as well forget buying one.. My wife went and bought one today for $1600 and power consuption was the last thing on her mind. It had to be comfortable and easy to use ..

Regards,

Old3eyes

simon14

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#612930 21-Apr-2012 19:41

Thanks guys for all the feedback, very useful!!

rayonline

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#614054 23-Apr-2012 23:22

Oops - wrong thread :)

But bro bought one. If you buy one that is just one machine. You will find that there are cheaper walking ones and more $$ running ones. They are not cheap and one could just buy a years gym subscription and get access to more equipment and a advisor as well ..

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#614060 23-Apr-2012 23:43

Couldn't you talk her into pushing the lawn mower for exercise? :)

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rayonline

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#614062 23-Apr-2012 23:46

We even got a push lawn mower as well as the Flymo. You know the one you push with your foot ........

SteveON

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#614063 24-Apr-2012 00:05

Get a cycle, they use next to nothing, if at all.

Genfres

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#614075 24-Apr-2012 02:58

SteveON: Get a cycle, they use next to nothing, if at all.

A number of exercycles are self powered.

I'm sure that power consumption is not a big issue in the purchase of treadmills. If you are worried about power consumption I suggest looking at non power consuming ways to exercise.

Ramjet007

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#614076 24-Apr-2012 06:00

My one uses no power. Just sits in the the room gathering dust.