Sciencemadness Discussion Board - How much have you spent on your lab?

How much have you spent on your lab?

Chisholm - 21-5-2017 at 08:48

Quote:

Poll Guidelines
For the purposes of this poll, "spent on your lab" refers specifically to equipment, reagents, storage space, or real estate that you bought for use in laboratory science experiments, and NOT utilities such as electricity or water. Don't include lost wages or other opportunity costs.

If you somehow make money from your lab (tutoring, making products, etc.), do NOT deduct that from your total.

Existing things that you commandeered or cannibalized for lab use don't count, unless you had to buy another item to replace it. For example, if you gave up coffee and repurposed your grinder, it doesn't count unless you later had to buy another coffee grinder for non-lab use.

Even if you don't know for sure, try to make an estimate.

Hello, everyone! It's time we helped give each other a better picture of our community. If you have the time, please tell us about your lab and the financial aspects of setting it up and running it.

One obvious issue with this poll is that it doesn't capture how long you've operated your lab, which of course can vastly impact the results. An expensive but new lab and a cheap but long-running one can give the same results, which is why it's a good idea to tell us about how long you've been doing science.

Sulaiman - 21-5-2017 at 09:01

3 years,
£621.57 on chemicals
£739.75 on equipment

Starting costs were high but average monthly now much less (usually)

JJay - 21-5-2017 at 09:13

I think between $2000 and $3000. I have only spent maybe $500 tops on chemicals. I typically spend between $100-200/month on new equipment.

I had a pretty decent lab in college... I think I spent about $4000 on it. My current lab has started to move beyond the capabilities of my college lab, but I still don't have an inert gas setup.

[Edited on 21-5-2017 by JJay]

elementcollector1 - 21-5-2017 at 10:56

I've been focusing on being as cheap as reasonably possible (with respect to equipment and glassware). Therefore, I think my total expenses, after about 6 years, lie in the range of $500.

violet sin - 21-5-2017 at 12:09

Think in the 2-3k $US. Maybe into the next bracket, it's been a while. Not all purchases were strictly chemistry as some work for a few hobbies. But things like 8' hood, immersion cooler, desktop furnace, ground glass distillation set, chems and all manner of materials for building other usefull contraptions are deffinitely chemistry expenses.

The saddest part is 93% (give or take) is in storage and NOT in my work space. Need an actual stand-alone shed or building for that, and a few less neighbors couldn't hurt. In other words I wish I lived in the country as opposed to in town, be WAY more active if I could actually use my hard won supplies. Patients is a virtue

[Edited on 21-5-2017 by violet sin]

mayko - 21-5-2017 at 15:03

Figure 1: Me, looking back and trying to reckon this sum...

j_sum1 - 21-5-2017 at 16:28

Really hard one to estimate.
I inherited a bunch of chemicals from a throw-out pile at my work. I have maintained a steady trickle of OTC chemicals and equipment over the past three years. And I have also spent a few hundred on proper glassware and chemicals online.
At the moment I am constructing my lab space. It is part of another building project and has probably added about $1000 to the cost of that project. I clicked $2000-3000 -- estimating in USD since that is what I think most people will be using for comparison. It is probably at the higher end of that range. And has been spread over three years. Good storage is a surprisingly big part of the cost.

Realistically, I expect that my expenditure will drop significantly once the new lab space is up and running. But there is still the expense of a camera and PC and video editing gear to come.

As far as hobbies go it is not really all that expensive. People pay much more than that for a single bicycle or 4WD gear or for rock climbing or for football injuries or for just about anything. I saw a lego display on the weekend. The smallest investments that I saw would have been in the region of tens of thousands of dollars for plastic bricks.

Phosphor-ing - 22-5-2017 at 15:28

Real hard one to put a price on. I have been at this so long that I really guessed at how much I have spent.

grammar edit

[Edited on 22-5-2017 by Phosphor-ing]

j_sum1 - 22-5-2017 at 16:06

Oh, come on. Who spent over a million?
If that was remotely serious it would only be to cover legal expenses and environmental clean up.

Chisholm - 23-5-2017 at 05:42

Quote: Originally posted by j_sum1

Oh, come on. Who spent over a million?
If that was remotely serious it would only be to cover legal expenses and environmental clean up.

You never know. Maybe someone has a catalytic hydrogenator, an SO3 generator, argon atmosphere glovebox setup, supercritical CO2 setup, a cryogenic cooling apparatus, a GC-MS, an NMR, an HPLC, and a cyclotron for radioisotope experiments, on top of several dozen grams of every platinum-, rhodium-, osmium-, and iridium-based catalyst known to man and a few gallons of deuterated solvents of nearly every kind.

EDIT: Not me. I'm in the lower end of the 10,000-20,000 range. If you have spent over 100,000 on your lab, please tell us about it!

EDIT 2: Only 30 responses and we already have a pretty nice normal distribution. Interesting

[Edited on 5-23-2017 by Chisholm]

MrHomeScientist - 23-5-2017 at 06:07

I just completed an $8,000 renovation of my lab space, for new furniture, tile, and storage cabinets. Counting all the equipment and chemicals I already had, it's probably mid-range in the $10k - $20 bracket. Yikes.

The new lab looks NICE though. Once I get it cleaned up and organized I'll post something in the 'tour my lab' thread and a reveal video on my channel.

Crowfjord - 23-5-2017 at 07:23

It's a rough estimate, but I think I've spent between $3000 and $5000 on chemicals and equipment over the nine years since I started the hobby. Glassware alone has probably cost me around $2000 over that timeframe.

Magpie - 23-5-2017 at 09:12

I built my hood early on at an estimate of $2000 right after I retired.
I made a rough estimate of $5000 -10,000 but might be low. Fo r a 13 yr span I consider this a relatively low cost hobby compared to golf, boating, etc.

[Edited on 23-5-2017 by Magpie]

Praxichys - 23-5-2017 at 11:41

I'm in the $10k-$20k range.

My stock sheet keeps track of a lot of it.

I built the lab itself for about $1800.
I have $3141 in reagents.
I bought $3200 in mercury but sold a lot to buy some of the other stuff.
I have around $2300 worth of glass

That's $10,441 plus 7000lbs of ion exchange resin I'm gearing up to sell.

j_sum1 - 23-5-2017 at 14:25

Quote: Originally posted by Chisholm

EDIT 2: Only 30 responses and we already have a pretty nice normal distribution. Interesting
[Edited on 5-23-2017 by Chisholm]

Correction. Lognormal.
Which is not terribly surprising for this kind of economic data.

cabal - 2-7-2017 at 05:52

I should be located somewhere right in the upper sector of the $3000-$5000 department. However, that number is a bit misleading because I've made a hobby out of gradually reselling my used lab equipment at a profit as I buy new stuff, so taking that into consideration my lab is currently worth something like $2000-3000.

Also I second the demand to see the million-dollar lab.

Sir M - 3-10-2017 at 11:25

I actually haven't spend much money on my lab - I inherited most of the glassware or got it as a gift :cool:

Only spend money on chemicals, even though I got most of them when they were discarded from school. It is quite cheap, when you have some support.

Vosoryx - 3-10-2017 at 15:33

I'm in the 750-1000 range, but that's for a few reasons. Firstly, I'm assuming this is in USD, so I had to convert from CAD first. I'm also not counting the electricity or water costs, or the roughly $750 of equipment I've gotten for free. Also, my lab building was already built and already on my property, so there was no building costs or space rental fees. I also have only been doing this for about a year, so I'm sure that number will increase with time.

If the million dollar lab wasn't a troll, I would kill to see that.

Mesa - 3-10-2017 at 16:02

I voted $2000-3000 because that's how much my current lab cost me. Though I had a slightly more expensive setup that I had to leave behind when I moved back from mexico to australia a few years ago.

Turns out that much glassware doesn't fit in a hiking pack

.

(But seriously, border security in both countries convinced me transporting it was a no-go. I was naive and they were everyday chemophobic assholes.)

[Edited on 4-10-2017 by Mesa]

CLaS - 20-11-2017 at 00:02

Quote: Originally posted by Mesa

I voted $2000-3000 because that's how much my current lab cost me. Though I had a slightly more expensive setup that I had to leave behind when I moved back from mexico to australia a few years ago.

Turns out that much glassware doesn't fit in a hiking pack

.

(But seriously, border security in both countries convinced me transporting it was a no-go. I was naive and they were everyday chemophobic assholes.)

[Edited on 4-10-2017 by Mesa]

did you consider shipping it?

NEMO-Chemistry - 20-11-2017 at 19:08

I dont know what I spent, i got some given to me, i have brought alot of bulk glassware, it soon adds up though. Chemical wise I have spent what seems like a fortune. Solvents always seem to cost alot and dont last long.

I am about to order my next batch of chems, with the plant experiments and general stuff i buy every month, i expect the cost to be around £450 this time. Then the machine for electro fusion i ordered, that comes in at around £500.

Then the new dissimulation rig so I had all the same size joints, thats £220............ So before i wrote all that I would of said £2000 ish, but thats got to be way off! Actually thats really scary what this hobby costs!

LearnedAmateur - 21-11-2017 at 03:43

I don't have a lab as such, just a small area in which I can conduct small scale procedures so that cost me exactly zip to set up. Most of my glassware (14/23 or 19/26) is from job lots, not much I might add, and a few other odd bits. When I was in my last year of high school, I managed to get my hands on some old glassware they would've thrown out, just some test/boiling tubes, bungs, and beakers, nothing special but definitely useful for the amounts I deal with. At least half of my expenditure would have to be on reagents, I don't spend more than £20 at a time but I do have a wide variety of solids and liquids that have been collected over the past few years, a couple of hundred grams/millilitres here and there. So yeah, it would have to be in the $250-$400 range for me since it is purely a hobby and I certainly don't want it turning into a money pit.

karlos³ - 23-11-2017 at 14:34

It would be easier for me if the question would be "how much do you spent on your lab monthly?", which can be answered with estimated 100-400 dollars each month.
But I don´t really know, neither do I want to, what I´ve spent over all my active time...
including every mistake-buy, every fucked up synthesis, etc...

Because then I would have to realise, the largest expense in my activities are fuck-ups, which means my incompetence costs me my money

Nobody said it was a cheap hobby, anyway

Vosoryx - 23-11-2017 at 14:49

Im not sure i like the "monthly" though.
For that to be honest, for me, id have to take all the money ive spent and divide that by how many months - neither of which i really know.
In september, i didn't spend a dime, but i bought 100 bucks of stuff last month.
But to each their own.

aga - 23-11-2017 at 15:15

Quote: Originally posted by karlos³

... I don´t really know, neither do I want to, what I´ve spent over all my active time...

I like that answer the best.

Me too.

karlos³ - 23-11-2017 at 15:40

Yeah I am not saying I spent every month this amount, this is just an overall estimation.
Like you said, there are months I don´t spend a cent on chemistry, while other times get me to my limit.

Maybe a "what do are your yearly expenses" would fit better?
Surprisingly, this is a consistent quantity, never below or above a certain budget, but I estimate maybe 2k/year(definitely not avobe 2,5k, in dollar), of course after having stocked glass, electronic equipment and a stock of long-lasting reagents useful just for me.

Which is the quantity I chose in the poll, even if it is not the real and complete budget I spent(since it´s ever-growing of course).

I don´t need to buy stuff for the hobby always, but I have a monthly budget put aside and when I discover something of interest, I´ll go and get it. And if not, even better, the budget increases for the next buy

This is the reason while I estimated to spent at least 100 dollars per month(new filter papers, some beakers etc, stuff that broke etc), but sometimes not even near that amount.
Honestly, my yearly expense on chemistry can be quite variable depending on my activities.
One year it might not even be more than a few hundred, the next year some few thousands, because of a difficult produced substance and me being a stubborn personality.

It seems, I rather burn a few hundred dollars(not literally) than accept me being incapable or just very bad at a certain reaction.
I also won´t admit easily that I fucked something up due to my own fault.
There are examples of reactions I got interested in decades ago, but failed many times, the most outstanding being a synthesis I wanted to try for like eight years, but never got enough of both precursors purely enough to try it finally right...and succeeded.
Lost my interestet instantly afterwards, typical :

Oh, and by the way, for those interested: I spent at least half the money on reagents and have the connection to get the most exotic stuff(plus fee), so that my expenses are justified due to the price of fine chemicals.
The remainder is spent on what else is needed at the moment, but I can assure you I am definitely buying too little glassware and too much reagents.

Texium - 24-11-2017 at 15:35

I've been tracking all of my expenses on a spreadsheet since the beginning of this year. Here's a graph of the chemistry sector for this year:

Screen Shot 2017-11-24 at 5.29.58 PM.png - 67kB

The leap in September was due to dropping $500 on a rotovap...
YTD chemistry expense this year was $923, so more than half was that rotovap

Edit: I see I never actually replied to this thread previously, but I'm pretty sure I voted for the $3000-$5000 bracket, and I think I'm still in there. I've been into it for four years now! Time flies.

[Edited on 11-24-2017 by zts16]

WangleSpong5000 - 28-11-2017 at 23:04

I'm in the $250 - $400 range though this is increasing steadily. It seems to be the largest distribution until you hit a grand. This makes sense I think as this is about the cost of distillation glassware with accessories, (cheap) heating apparatus and a few chemicals.

Almost ready to go!

Sandman3232 - 29-11-2017 at 06:03

R4500 ~ in about 3 weeks. There seems to be always one last thing that would make life much easier.

R4500 = $330

[Edited on 29-11-2017 by Sandman3232]

CouchHatter - 29-11-2017 at 21:31

I have been experimenting for 2 years now. Only in the last 6 months did i start setting up an actual lab space, but all that has done is make it easier to spend! Just kidding. It helps to have a place to put stuff though. I have spent about $1000 on chemicals and now a bit over $2300 on equipment.

I've got a fume hood, flammable storage cabinet, deep freezer, hotplate stirrer/probe, vacuum pump, distillation set, and a foam-filled filing cabinet for all my glassware. All housed in a 10'x13' shed with electricity and running water. I got a commercial u-shaped stainless sink/table to act as a bench top, it fits really nicely in my shed. It's cost me much more time than money up until this point, insulating the space and running utilities to the shed. Probably another $500.

Now I only spend about 15 hours a month in it currently so overhead and upkeep aren't really a consideration. Discovering SM made me take more pride in, and have a lot more fun with, what used to be a fleeting interest.

KiWiki - 1-12-2017 at 20:36

Between 2000 and 5000 USD.

800 USD - inverter/special gel batttery with high voltage charger
800 USD - 2 vacuum controllers
> 1500 USD - oiless vacuum pump
> 800 USD - between 100 - 200 chemicals
700 USD - glasswork
Magnetic stirrer with heating
Complete distillation set
Electrochemical cell
All kinds of glassware

I spend about 500 USD/year on chemicals and replacement of broken glassware. I started when I was a teenager. Right now I’m 33yr if you do a quick calculation it have to be somewhere in that direction.

NEMO-Chemistry - 2-12-2017 at 12:08

Ouch another £1000 on a few bits

NEMO-Chemistry - 13-12-2017 at 17:05

Quote: Originally posted by zts16

I've been tracking all of my expenses on a spreadsheet since the beginning of this year. Here's a graph of the chemistry sector for this year:

The leap in September was due to dropping $500 on a rotovap...
YTD chemistry expense this year was $923, so more than half was that rotovap

I love this!! What other hobby does someone graph what they spend??

LOL, top award to serious home chemist must goto....ZTS

Shame i didnt see it before, i wish i had done one now. You better hope that dosnt correlate to a drug increase in your area

[Edited on 14-12-2017 by NEMO-Chemistry]