Compressor motor rating

This is the motor shaft (output) power. You can find this on the nameplate of the motor.
Usually, for a ‘6 hp’ air compressor for example, you will need to enter ‘6’ here and select
‘hp’.

Motor electrical efficiency

You can find this on the motor nameplate. This is basically the ratio between power output
and power input.

If you divide the output power by the electrical efficiency, you will get the electrical input
power.

The electrical input power is always higher then the shaft output power, since a little is lost
in the motor (mainly to heat).

For example. A motor with 6 kW output and an efficiency of 0.8 will use 6/0.8 = 7.5 kW of
electrical power.

Running hours

Enter the running hours per day and the number of days per week this compressor is in
operation.

These are the actual working running hours of the compressor, not your shops opening
hours. You will need to make a best estimate.

For example: if you know that your compressors runs about half of the time and is stopped
the other half of the time (on-off-on-off every 10 minutes for example), and you work 8 hours
per day, enter ‘4’ here.

Electricity cost

Enter your cost of electricity here. This varies widely per country, area and type of
consumer that you are.

Find this value on your electricity bill. Make sure to select the right currency (Usd or Eur).

Calculations / output

The total running hours that this calculator gives you is simply hours per day * days per
week * 52.

The total kW used is calculated as follows:

If you entered HP as compressor motor power, the value is converted to kW first. 1 HP =
0.7457 kW

The kW output of your compressor motor is divided by the electrical efficiency to give the
electrical input power that your compressor uses.

If we multiply the total yearly running hours by the electrical power input of the compressor,
we get the total energy used per year, in kWh (kilo-watt-hour).

kW vs kWh

What’s the difference between kW (kilo-watt) and kWh (kilo-watt-hour).

a kW is a measure of power, like horse power.

a kWh is a measure of energy. 1 kWh means you use 1 kW for 1 hour.

Another unit to measure energy is the joule. 1 kWh equals 3.6 megajoules.

Electricity costs

Now we have the kWh used by your compressor, we can simply multiply it by your energy
cost (in Eur or Usd per kWh) to get the total cost of energy in a year.