Odd electricity Usage

[martyn21]

Good Morning all,

Great forums

I have a problem with my electricity usage. I moved in to a new house on Dec 20th About the same size as my old place both with gas CH. However the meter readings at my new place seem to be very high?

I done a test last night and from 18:30 - 6:30 (12hrs Overnight) we had used 10 Units! (10,000w?) All that was on was a fridge freezer and a light in the bathroom for the kids (60w) Any ideas?

Does 10 units over night seem alot?

Thanks for any help and advice. I am in talks with my supplier but I would like info from other people to understand average usage etc.

Thanks,

Martyn

 

[1974stephen]

I can't remember what the problem was, but I recall a customer who had a problem with their meter charging them for electricity not used, even when there were no circuits switched on!

Turn off all circuits and check that your meter doesn't budge. Bring each circuit on individually. If you know what's on each one, then see if there's one circuit that sends it dizzy and what's causing it to do it. Do you have a more powerful electric shower here? They eat electricity up, particulaly the 10kW+ ones.

 

[1974stephen]

Just looked at my elec bills. Doesn't seem out of the ordinary - unless I've got a faulty meter too!

We seem to average between 20 - 30 units a day of electricity.

We have a four bed house, fridge, two freezers, 9.5kW electric shower - used twice a day. No kids and we both work full time, so aren't in during the day. My wife does like leaving lights on EVERYWHERE when she's in the house though!

 

[martyn21]

Hi Thanks for the reply,

I did try that when I flick the mains switch nothing flashes on the meter. I did tried the turn them all off then one by one swith them on but nothing. It seems that with them all on the light flashes about every 10 seconds.

We do have a shower but that was not switched on in this 12 hour period. I also checked check and the pull switch for the shower wasnt on either.

I may have to try going throught the one by one process again. But I cant think why we would use 10 Units over night any ideas? its a 3 bed EOT and the usual appliances plugged in, TV on stand by I think. Fridge freezer, Clock on oven and Microwave. Alarm clock oh and have the bathroom light on for the kids 60w bulb.

Any ideas? Does anyone agree that 10 units over night is alot?

thanks for you info.

 

[johnny_t]

Bear in mind that 10 units is 10kWh. In other words, mutliply the average consumption by the time left on for to give that figure. (1kW for 10 hrs, 10 kW for 1 hr, and so on)

Your 60W bulb, left on for 12 hours is 720Wh, or 0.72kWh. Which leave 9.28kWh for your fridge/freezer, or in other words constantly consuming just under 800W. I have no idea whether that's about right or not, but is there any rating info on the FF to say whether that is a likely figure ??

 

[martyn21]

Bear in mind that 10 units is 10kWh. In other words, mutliply the average consumption by the time left on for to give that figure. (1kW for 10 hrs, 10 kW for 1 hr, and so on)

Your 60W bulb, left on for 12 hours is 720Wh, or 0.72kWh. Which leave 9.28kWh for your fridge/freezer, or in other words constantly consuming just under 800W. I have no idea whether that's about right or not, but is there any rating info on the FF to say whether that is a likely figure ??

Not at home at the moment, But FF turn on and off when needed so the usage would not be on constantly! I can't see how my Bill could go from a monthly charge of £30 to what looks like on our currnent daily usage could be £120!!!! no new appliances in the new house other than a shower!

Thanks for your comments.

 

[big-all]

i have a fridge freezer and freezer in the kitchen the fridge freezer is 135w and assuming the freezer is about 200w and they both run for an average 1 hr in 3 or 33%off 335w that =110w
so assuming your fridge freezer consumes the same or less your talking 170wx12= 2 units

your average telly consumes around 100w and 10 to 35% on standby
so if you have say 5 tellies on standby at the average consumption of 25%thats 125w x12=1.5kw 1.5 units

so all that lot = only 3.5 units

do you have any safety light in your garden!!!!!!!
one of these set wrongly and going off a lot could easily consume 3 or four units

any form off heater left on to keep the garage or kids room warm for example even if it says fantasticly low consumtion"only" 300w will burn through 3.5 units a night!!!!!

and finaly do you have an electric emertion heater cos they love electricity

 

[andy]

emertion

immersion

 

[big-all]

thanks for that correction andy

i am still learning

 

[HDRW]

Hi Thanks for the reply,

I did try that when I flick the mains switch nothing flashes on the meter. I did tried the turn them all off then one by one swith them on but nothing. It seems that with them all on the light flashes about every 10 seconds.

We do have a shower but that was not switched on in this 12 hour period. I also checked check and the pull switch for the shower wasnt on either.

I may have to try going throught the one by one process again. But I cant think why we would use 10 Units over night any ideas? its a 3 bed EOT and the usual appliances plugged in, TV on stand by I think. Fridge freezer, Clock on oven and Microwave. Alarm clock oh and have the bathroom light on for the kids 60w bulb.

Any ideas? Does anyone agree that 10 units over night is alot?

That does sound a lot, but you must have had some other lights on during that time (low voltage halogens can take a surprising amount). You don't mention computers, VCRs, central heating - these all take something, although it shouldn't be much, but it does add up. If it's a big fridge/freezer and it's "Frost Free" it might be using more than you'd think.

You can't get much of an idea just flicking the MCBs on for a couple of minutes, unless there's a big load. My meter flashes its light 800 times per kWh, and your 10kWh per 12 hours is only 11 flashes a minute, so I think you need to leave each circuit on individually for say 10 minutes at a time and read the meter before and after, and even then it would only read 0.13kWh if you find the culprit!

To check individual appliances you can get a plug-in "energy meter" that tells you what's being drawn from its socket, such as this one from Maplin - they used to do a cheaper one, but that seems to have gone

Good luck!

Howard

 

[Chris.J]

Don't think they ever did a cheaper one; this one is often on offer at around half price, bargain (even, IMHO, at full price).

Fridge's compressors often run for a greater % of the time after a few years when some of the gas has escaped, often not noticed.

 

[martyn21]

Excellent help and advice thanks

I didnt have any VCR's etc plugged in. It is a frost free FF however we did not see this sort of comsumption at our old house!

We do have an outside light so i will switch this off tonight and then get a reading in the morning to see if it is this.

Thanks again for all your help and advice.

 

[JohnD]

If you're using a lot, I wouldn't worry about lights and videos, it's more likely to be a heating device. Think how quickly a 2kw kettle boils a couple of pints, or a 3kw heater warms a room and uses as much power as 30 or more lightbulbs. Maybe someone has a concealed electric heater for these cold night, or an anti-frost heater in loft, garage or shed. If not that, check the immersion heater - if the thermostat is faulty or a hot tap running it could be permanently on.

Electric heaters/dishwasher/washing machine/tumble drier/oven are the power-hungry ones.

 

[HDRW]

they used to do a cheaper one, but that seems to have gone

Don't think they ever did a cheaper one; this one is often on offer at around half price, bargain (even, IMHO, at full price).

They did do a different one, honest! I have a couple, made by Brennenstuhl. They are grey rather than white, and have the display below the plug rather than above it. Which is stupid, because the lead runs over the display and the buttons... I think the price was about £12, but as you say that may have been on special offer for a limited time, as Maplin often does.

Another possibile cause of phantom consumption occurred to me: a "background" heater in the airing cupboard. With these days of combination boilers and/or good hot tank insulation airing cupboards might need some help to get reasonably warm, and some people install them. It seems to me that the unaccounted-for consumption is about 500W, and a heater like that would be about right.

Cheers,

Howard

 

[Chris.J]

They did do a different one, honest! I have a couple, made by Brennenstuhl.


Howard

I stand corrected.