Rent Energy Monitor for free S Yorks

kittycatface

I was too poor to buy one and missed the free offers for these. Greener solution is to rent one from my local library in Sheffield, for 3 weeks, and see which appliances use the most energy.

Here's the link if anyone's interested - maybe worth finding out if other councils do a similar scheme?
http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/in-your-area/housing-services/environmental-sustainability/smart-meter-loans

rogerblack

This sort of 'whole house' monitor is great, but it's a bit limited, and is ideally combined with one such as this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Energenie-Energy-Saving-Power-Meter-/320503970289?pt=UK_ConsumerElectronics_PowerAdaptors_SM&hash=item4a9f8679f1 - this is a plug in monitor, which you can measure each individual appliance.

While good, even if you switch off every appliance in the house, the whole-house meter will have trouble measuring small loads - for example mobile phone chargers.
And of course it's very inconvenient.

Going round every single appliance can rapidly pay off!

victor2

I agree with rogerblack about combining monitors to get a more accurate picture. The plug-in units are great for individual sockets, but cannot tell you about things with dedicated circuits, such as cookers, electric showers and immersion heaters, or even your lighting circuits.
The "whole house" monitors are notoriously inaccurate, but do give a good indication of when something is using significant amounts of electricity and an idea of how much is being used.
Read your electricity meter regularly (daily if you want) to get an idea of how much your house is using. The individual plug-in monitors can then be used to track down certain individual appliances. Worth putting one on your TV when it is on standby to see how little it uses (particularly if a modern one). Those stupid ads saying you should switch off your TV at the socket really bug me - mine costs about 20p a YEAR on standby, which I've decided I can afford for that little convenience.

kittycatface

thank you you two I had no idea these monitors were such a minefield! I'm particularly strapped for cash at the moment but will definitely put my beer money aside for the ebay one rogerblack. sounds like it will be definitely worth the £9! Do any of you know which ones the government will be fitting to houses as part of the compulsory scheme? I hope it isn't the inaccurate ones!!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/30/smart-meter-uk-household-saving

Richie-from-the-Boro

kittycatface wrote: »

thank you you two I had no idea these monitors were such a minefield! I'm particularly strapped for cash at the moment but will definitely put my beer money aside for the ebay one rogerblack. sounds like it will be definitely worth the £9! Do any of you know which ones the government will be fitting to houses as part of the compulsory scheme? I hope it isn't the inaccurate ones!!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/30/smart-meter-uk-household-saving

- we will have had another two [ or more ] governments elected before that could ever happen .. .. if it ever did

macman

Why do you need a monitor to tell you how much power a device uses?. The wattage is clearly marked on the rating plate of every electrical appliance.

victor2

macman wrote: »

Why do you need a monitor to tell you how much power a device uses?. The wattage is clearly marked on the rating plate of every electrical appliance.

The rating plates tend to show the maximum the device will normally use. Plus, for appliances like fridges, which switch on and off, it's good to see what it uses over a longer period, like a day, which many of the plug-in devices let you do easily.
Then again, maybe I'm just sad and obsessive with how much electricity everything uses. OH thinks so!

macman

Since a fridge is one of the (few) essential electrical devices, I'd have thought that it's usage is immaterial. Try testing the 50" plasma TV instead .