Big Red Switches off on the Consumer Unit, but still 85W being used?

[JohnTee111]

In an effort to try and save what we can on these energy prices I just spent an hour or so going around the house and the consumer unit switching things on and off after attaching one of those clamp meter things to the supply. This is what I found..

Turning off everything we could find in the house including the fridge and even the central heating panel etc.. We're still showing ~140W of usage.

Take meter into shed and turn off every switch on the consumer unit except for shed one and still showing ~105W.

Drive truck up to shed, plug meter power supply into truck and turn off the big red switch on the consumer unit.. Still showing ~85W.

The shed has one of those emergency lights with a green hue to it, which come on when the MCB trips so you can see to reset it. Surely that can't idle at 85W?

Any ideas? Thank you!

 

[mattylad]

Disconnect the emergency light and try it again.

 

[JohnTee111]

Disconnect the emergency light and try it again.

I did wonder that, but it would require opening it up and removing presumably live wiring. I'm not an electrician, but confident with tools. Seems a bit dodgy though.. Hence the question on here before doing anything drastic.

 

[mattylad]

Is there no fuse for it?

 

[JohnTee111]

Nope. Indeed it comes on when you turn off the main switch. I think it's supposed to do that so that you can see what's going on to fix a problem, but I'd guess the light in that case is running on a battery?

That light might be a red herring of course. Essentially the query could probably be shortened to... With the consumer unit switched off with the big red switches... There's still an 85W draw on the line from the meter to the consumer unit according to the (admittedly consumer grade) clamp meter.

Thank you for help

 

[plugwash]

You talk about a "clamp meter" but you talk about it having a power supply which you plug into your truck and you talk about readings in watts. Is this some sort of "energy monitor" device? Have you tried unclamping it from the tails? if so did the reading go to zero when you unclamped it?

Can you post a photo of the consumer unit.

 

[JohnTee111]

You talk about a "clamp meter" but you talk about it having a power supply which you plug into your truck and you talk about readings in watts. Is this some sort of "energy monitor" device? Have you tried unclamping it from the tails? if so did the reading go to zero when you unclamped it?

Can you post a photo of the consumer unit.

Yes just a relatively cheap energy monitor thing which you clamp around a cable and it feeds a little screen which plugs into a usb socket. Will grab a pic of the setup.

 

[JohnTee111]

Yes the meter goes to zero when the clamp is removed. Attached picture of meter with big red switches (There has to be a proper name for them) in the off position. Also picture of full installation. Also included the light in case that's a factor. It does appear that the light is powering spider webs..

Thank you!!

 

[winston1]

Those clamp meters do not measure watts. To do that you need to measure current (which it does), voltage, and phase angle, neither of which it does. They are missold and should be banned in my opinion. Luckily you have something that does measure watts, your suppliers electricity meter. Take readings over an hour and learn how to interpret them.

Having said that one does wonder where the current is coming from that your clamp is indicating.

 

[JohnTee111]

Those clamp meters do not measure watts. To do that you need to measure current (which it does), voltage, and phase angle, neither of which it does. They are missold and should be banned in my opinion. Luckily you have something that does measure watts, your suppliers electricity meter. Take readings over an hour and learn how to interpret them.

Having said that one does wonder where the current is coming from that your clamp is indicating.

That's very interesting, thank you.

So the Watts figure is the measured amps, and then an assumption of ~240V? That would make sense. I have a different plug in gadget which purports to show all those figures separately, https://amzn.eu/d/i7EqE9P I ran around the house plugging it in between the wall and various things to work out where the bulk is going. Our ageing fridge is the worst culprit of course.

I noticed when I did that last test of removing the clamp that after a minute or so the light on the electricity meter which blinks came on as a static red light. I hadn't noticed that before, but I'm guessing that might mean that there is nothing being drawn from it? I can switch off the whole thing again when I go out for a bit tomorrow and take a before and after reading.

 

[JohnTee111]

Hmm, looking at my own picture and the info above, could it be something to do with the live and neutral feeds being so close, so the clamp is over the wire but the other wire is very close to the clamp? I haven't tried moving them apart further. Something else to try tomorrow, it all adds to annoying the missus at having to reprogram clocks on things

 

[SUNRAY]

Easy to achieve by fitting it here:

Without disturbing the tails too much

 

[JohnTee111]

That seems sensible, thank you. Be interesting to see if that changes the reading when the consumer unit is switched off. Not going to get away with doing that now that she's installed on the sofa for the evening!

 

[ericmark]

I have just been watching a U tube video, which documented the difference in power used by type AC and type A RCD's until that I had not considered it. but basically the more electronics in the protective devices the more it costs to run.

I have all type AC, until watching the video I was considering changing to type A with AFDD, but after watching I have decided to stick with type AC.

So is it wasting power? I have 16 RCBO's and with all switched off, still using power, or am I? I have clamped on my meter, and measured the DC amps, AC amps and of course volts, I record 19 mA leakage, and 10 mA DC, but what can I in real terms do?

I love being able to go to foot of our stairs and say "hey google turn on landing lights" and to be able to see up the stairs, this option does not come for free.

 

[JohnTee111]

Plot twist, for investigation tomorrow. Someone said in another forum. You don't have any barking mad old electro damp proofing like they put in in the 70s or 80s do you? Funny they should say that... See pic. I have no idea if it that was actively powered, google is struggling, or why it would still be wired in and not isolating when the red switches are flipped, but if it is...