Where is the electric going?

ericmark · 12 Jun 2019

I removed the Scottish Power monitor from old house, renewed the batteries, and fitted to new house, some items are auto switching off/on so 230 to 400 watt, but not seen it hit anywhere near zero.

OK TV standby and Sky box and phone chargers but still seems high, can't access fuses so don't know which circuit and clearly switch off all power and monitor stops working.

Working through items, Sky Q repeater box 9W main Sky Q 12W to 21W trying to think what could use around 200W which I have missed.

foxhole · 12 Jun 2019

Fridge? Freezer ? And heated towel rads etc?

SimonH2 · 12 Jun 2019

Is this something that clips around one of the main cables ? If so, then it only measures current - and in the presence of non-linear loads (low power factor), can significantly over-read. Not to mention that the device itself may (probably has) limited accuracy at low power levels.

big-all · 12 Jun 2019

monitors are wildly inaccurate at low consumption levels at perhaps 200w with a stray 40-80w that isnts being consumed but registering

JohnD · 12 Jun 2019

I have some of them. They usually read around 250-350W as a minimum, when there is stuff on standby, porch light, fridge and freezer, PC sleeping. I don't believe they are accurate at low numbers.

However, when I turn the kettle on, and/or other such appliances, the figure increases pretty accurately by 3000W, or whatever the other appliance is, so I think it is pretty accurate at higher numbers.

JohnD · 12 Jun 2019

Mine was reading 537W. I just turned off the cooker hood and kitchen LED lights and it now reads 400W

i put the kettle on and it changed to 3240

JohnW2 · 12 Jun 2019

JohnD said:
I have some of them. They usually read around 250-350W as a minimum, when there is stuff on standby, porch light, fridge and freezer, PC sleeping. I don't believe they are accurate at low numbers.

That's what I would have thought. However, like you, I have a few, and I've been amazed at how reasonable they are seem to be even with very low loads (i.e. 10W or less).

Kind Regards, John

ericmark · 12 Jun 2019

Thank you all, had not considered them as being inaccurate, the idea was when issued it linked to Scottish Power and they adjusted bill according to your use, correcting each time meter read, however not long after fitting the supplier was changed so the internet part become redundant.

However the monitor still works, well it did once batteries were changed, I was going to compare immersion heater use with oil central heating, however no found an accurate way to measure oil used.

Last owners do not seem to be energy aware, there was not a LED lamp to be found, all quartz halogen, most now changed, and there was no thermostat on central heating, so wonder if some thing running I have not found, can hear freezer start and anything large would use more than 200 watt. Could easy be two bulbs running, the fuse box is in the ceiling so what else is hidden?

big-all · 13 Jun 2019

as an aside
i only use around 200w an hour [5kw a day ] day in day out for many years
total lighting around 35-50w lighting whole house like an xmass tree all leds
most other daily consumption a tv/laptop foreman grill /kettle/micro ff/seperate freezer
with washing machine and tumble around 2 or 3 times a month
also have 3 freevview boxes and often charge several high powered power tool batts [18/6ah typical] randomly but all these mean virtually no difference at perhaps a 2 or 3 %+ or- to overall consumption

and the point i am making is clamp on consumption meters can be very pointless
i dont have a clamp on meter but when they can over read by perhaps 60w and you are perhaps using 10w with 15 items on standby [eu/uk maximum permitted consumption 1w on standby]
so should be reading say sub 10w but actually reading 70-80w so can scewe consumption calculations

ericmark · 13 Jun 2019

Found it, central heating pumps 100W each.

securespark · 13 Jun 2019

big-all said:
with washing machine and tumble around 2 or 3 times a month

That's where we're going wrong...
I put the washing machine on twice a day at least....

big-all · 13 Jun 2019

securespark said:
That's where we're going wrong...
I put the washing machine on twice a day at least....

theres only me me and i am a "clatty bugger"

spend most off the summer in boxers in the garden enjoying the sun
only wear t shirts jeans socks and pants and wash full loads but do tumble dry and worked out it cost about 30p [2.5 units]to wash and tumble at about 1/3 to wash 2/3 to tumble

foxhole · 13 Jun 2019

big-all said:
theres only me me and i am a "clatty bugger"
spend most off the summer in boxers in the garden enjoying the sun
only wear t shirts jeans socks and pants and wash full loads but do tumble dry and worked out it cost about 30p [2.5 units]to wash and tumble at about 1/3 to wash 2/3 to tumble

When my daughters were at home wife did 5 loads a day in WM 6-7 days a week.Changing the motor brushes was a yearly event.

seasickstevie · 13 Jun 2019

Surely you don't use a tumble dryer in the summer?

seasickstevie · 13 Jun 2019

foxhole said:
When my daughters were at home wife did 5 loads a day in WM 6-7 days a week.Changing the motor brushes was a yearly event.

Blimey! How many daughters have you got?

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Where is the electric going?

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