What is using 300 watts all the time? -Mystery solved (see post #36)!

bonzer

Got anything in the garage? Mine's on a separate set of fuses/breakers from the house.

It's quite possible the Wattson is reading wrong at the low end. First thing would be to follow the above advice to check it against the main house meter reading.

closed

Are you unplugging things/turning off at the wall when testing, particularly pc's?

Accuracy of the gadget can be checked by looking at the meter

ChiefGrasscutter

Check things always on 24/7 like......
Fridge/freezer
Electric doorbell
clocks wherever (including oven) & electric/mains alarm clocks
Radios even when "off" ie the transformers etc inside them will be taking power.
chargers of any form- mobile phone,
permenetely installed shaver sockets have transformer in them and will take power -not much a few watts maybe.
Electric towel rails
house 'Dect' phone & remotes/chargers
Computer stuff left on like broadband router,
Hi-fi
Any UPS on computer - they take 20W or so idle


It all adds up even if if only a few watts each
You need to go round house checking "everything" socket by socket.
Outside supplies should be off a seperate circuit within the CCB - so that when they fuse due to damp they don't take out all the sockets etc inside.

Switch off every ccb at the consumer unit and check the reading is near to zero - those things are not accurate to miliwatts! and work from there swtiching each ccb on at a time an monitoring the 'thing'.
Remember it may only sample the usage every minute (not every second) so wait until it has settled before turning on next ccb.....etc...etc.

S0litaire

Only thing i can suggest is flipping the main circuit breaker and then resetting each breaker and see what the Watts read at each step..

Also make sure you power off your computer/electronic devices at the socket (not just powering them off, since they can still use power)

Are your smoke alarms battery powered or linked in to your mains supply??
I know more modern smoke alarms are hard wired into the main ring with a battery backup.

stevemcol

Yes, as above, the only way you'll bottom is to swtich off all the breakers, unplug everything portable then bring the breakers up one at a time.
Background load is usually fridges, boiler, oven clocks, burglar alarm, then stuff that's always plugged in like aquariums, TVs, DVDs, hifi, chargers etc.

spud17

I have the NPower meter, and I also have doubts about it's accuracy.

I have tomorrow lined up to do as suggested above i.e. turn everything off.

Normally it's 145 watts, this morning 180, and I know exactly what's running in my house.

I also have a plug in meter, which seems to tally with what's on an appliance label, however the main NPower meter will often show a much larger increase.

Farway

Do you, maybe without you knowing it, have a "sump pump" installed under the floor?

For areas liable to slight flooding builders installed these to keep under floor area dry, normally operated by a float switch, but maybe the float switch is now permanently on?

beedeedee

Electric toothbrushes, pond filters/pump? Anything in the garage using some sort of charging?

A.Penny.Saved

I don't think those meters are anywhere near accurate and pretty much worthless.

If you switch everything off and the spinning dial on your electric meter has stopped then you know that it's just a crap meter giving false information.

I have a plug in meter that fits between the socket and electrical device and it seems fairly accurate, tying in with quoted figures for devices and my PC in standby. It's very close to being correct IMO.

HappyMJ

A.Penny.Saved wrote: »

I don't think those meters are anywhere near accurate and pretty much worthless.

If you switch everything off and the spinning dial on your electric meter has stopped then you know that it's just a crap meter giving false information.

I have a plug in meter that fits between the socket and electrical device and it seems fairly accurate, tying in with quoted figures for devices and my PC in standby. It's very close to being correct IMO.

I agree that they aren't particularly accurate but they are worth it. It allows you to see at a glance what the house is using and prompts you to think about switching stuff off. My base line is 115W and with the fridge running it jumps to 180W. Any other reading means something else is left on and needs to be turned off.