electricity usage for appliances

joesan

Not sure if this has been asked be4!! Is there a way to tell how much actual electricity an appliance actually uses? on some things it will tell you how many watts it is but is there a way to measure exactly how much electricity it uses?

With the rises in electricity prices of late just trying to find ways around the house to save....

the only way i have of measuring actual usage is turn everything off and say put the air conditioner on for say 30 mins and check meter again to see the diff....

anyone help?

mancitychick

You could always follow my Aunty, she rang up her leccy supplier to find how much it costs to run a fan as she wanted to leave it on all night! Probably spent more on the phone call but she is strange like that.

Seriously though if you contact your supplier they will probably be able to give you a list of cost of running standard applicances. Think I have had something like this in the leaflets they send with the bills.

joesan

thanks mancitychick from the wattage you can work out the costs quite easily but i think quite often an appliance may use more or less then stated!!!

Cardew

The problem is you cannot work out the consumption for most appliances from the wattage: anything with a thermostat for instance or a PC.

A washing machine might be rated at 3 kW and a cycle take, say, 1 hour. Arithmetic would suggest it uses 3 kWh however it will use just a fraction of that. This is because it is rated at 3 kW for the heater which will only be on for a short time.

For plug-in appliances you can buy a device from firms like Maplin for £13 or so that will show their consumption.