Phantom power usage even with nothing plugged in?

wormzer

I've been working for years trying to whittle down our power usage with much success, and now I've received a new smart meter, which means I can get even more accuracy in my home power usage audits. SO. My house rests at about 120w power usage, and I've tracked down every watt with some surprises.

The biggest surprise is that I have one breaker named "SPA" that is constantly using 10w. I can NOT figure out where these 10w are going. The breaker includes our master bath spa (unplugged) and outlets at the sink (nothing plugged in) and still I see a 10w jump every time I flip this breaker on.

What might I be missing? 10w in the bathroom somewhere? Or some other hidden home item? What else might be on this breaker? It's a newish home, built in 2001. Thanks for any advice here. I was not able to find anything else online but it might just be hard to search for.

matt

bobmedley

I'd chill out, it's only around a tenner per year, not worth the stress:)

But it could be the burglar alarm, central heating controller, TV aerial amp in the loft, front door bell transformer etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc:D

BargainGalore

Not all smart meters are accurate especially the ones you fit yourself

bengasman

Plenty of stuff hardwired in.

wormzer

Thanks for the feedback.

First off, 10w works out to $3 per month, which is enough to annoy me

And we have no alarm, the aerial amp is elsewhere... but I need to check on the rest of those. Is there a list of these "hardwired in" items somewhere that I can look into? I've already accounted for the furnace and other items I know of. Thanks!

snowcat53

Mate, you are sounding a little obsessional....

shegar

A few ideas where we leave stuff plugged in ;. Shave adaptor,electric toothbrush,electric alarm clock, mobile phone charges,clock on cooker,fan in bathroom, and probaly hundreds of other things that you use everyday but forget they are plugged in.......

wormzer

I know that there's 10w on this single breaker, which is from our master bath, and nothing is plugged in. The lights and fans are on another breaker. It's upstairs, so it might be wired to something in the attic, but there's nothing plugged into any sockets.

It's a technical mystery, and I'm an engineer, and I have a hard time letting such things go unsolved.

bengasman

wormzer wrote: »

It's a technical mystery, and I'm an engineer, and I have a hard time letting such things go unsolved.

Bump from a startup capacitor getting charged, control light of something, permanent shaver socket, capacitive or inductive leak, low quality or damaged insulation in part of the wiring, ulv lighting, strip light starter or transformer getting charged to name but a few.

shegar

wormzer wrote: »

I know that there's 10w on this single breaker, which is from our master bath, and nothing is plugged in. The lights and fans are on another breaker. It's upstairs, so it might be wired to something in the attic, but there's nothing plugged into any sockets.

It's a technical mystery, and I'm an engineer, and I have a hard time letting such things go unsolved.

Your got me guessing now, whats the prize if I hit the nail on the head.?....The wifes hair straitners, hairdryer,tv arial socket up in the loft,an outside light switch wired straight into the loft,?something to do with the shower??.Go up and have another look and let us know please,I wont be able to sleep now..!!:D

victor2

wormzer wrote: »

The biggest surprise is that I have one breaker named "SPA" that is constantly using 10w. I can NOT figure out where these 10w are going. The breaker includes our master bath spa (unplugged) and outlets at the sink (nothing plugged in) and still I see a 10w jump every time I flip this breaker on.

Switch it off and leave it off. Then see what you're missing, if anything.