- Joined
- 6 Jul 2004
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I have been conducting an electricity audit in my house as my bills are too high. I replaced two halogen bars (4 x 50 W each) of lighting in the kitchen for 4 x 36W fluorescent tubes and 6 x 60W candle bulbs with 6 x 11W cfls in the lounge.
I have a portable energy meter so I can walk round switching things on and off and seeing what everything is consuming.
Well interestingly my meter shows that on switch on the 6 x 11W cfls are only consuming 38W total (not 66W). This may increase as they warm up, but its difficult to tell without switching off everything as fridges and freezers can switch on over a period and confuse the readings.
Now here's the interesting bit. One of the 36 W tubes in the kitchen has failed so there are only 3 x 36W tubes working. My energy meter shows these tubes are consuming 261W! i.e. nearly 90W each! I though that maybe one was faulty and using most of the power so I took them out one by one and behold each one is consuming about 90W acccording to my meter.
Can any one explain this?
I have a portable energy meter so I can walk round switching things on and off and seeing what everything is consuming.
Well interestingly my meter shows that on switch on the 6 x 11W cfls are only consuming 38W total (not 66W). This may increase as they warm up, but its difficult to tell without switching off everything as fridges and freezers can switch on over a period and confuse the readings.
Now here's the interesting bit. One of the 36 W tubes in the kitchen has failed so there are only 3 x 36W tubes working. My energy meter shows these tubes are consuming 261W! i.e. nearly 90W each! I though that maybe one was faulty and using most of the power so I took them out one by one and behold each one is consuming about 90W acccording to my meter.
Can any one explain this?