Where can I buy one of those electricity monitor plugs?

roses

Does anyone know where you can buy these electricity monitor plugs from?

I want to see how much power a 2kw electric heater is. I got a new lodger & she is always cold (but only wears a thin jumper in the house!). I put a clause in the contract about using electric heaters as I've been badly burnt in the past (lol) when the bills were triple when it was cold because the guy I used to live with used his a lot. I told her she can only use an electric heater if she buys a plug to monitor usage & she pays the extra cost each month.

The only place I could find was Maplin & they cost about £30 there.

jennifernil

Tchibo had them, and Lidl get them occasionally.

Cardew

You don't need one of those devices to tell you what a 2 kW heater uses.

It is 2kWh (2 electricity units) an hour. So just check what you are paying for each unit.(normally 8p to 11p)

If the electric heater has a thermostat(i.e. switches on and off when the room is up to temperature) it will be less than 2 units an hour.

The Maplin monitor does not have a facility to tell you the cost of the electric used(the Lidl one does). It does have a facility to monitor the cumulative kWh but if the unit is switch off at the plug(or there is a power cut) that information is lost.

tim_n

It does depend on the honesty of the user - but a flat charge will make the lodger want to use it more to get 'value' and a monitor may involve cheating.

Put a wooden box round the plug fixed to the wall, run the plug into it (lockable) and any old cheap recorder will do.

If you know how much you usually spend during this month, you could always charge her a reasonable chunk that it goes over it.

roses

Well i think that making all bills inclusive in the rent and putting a cap in the contract covers me better than sharing utilities. If we were splitting the bill each time then i would have had to pay so she could keep her room warm. i want to keep things amicable and building a box round the plug wont help! she does seem trustworthy as she did ask permission about using the electric heater. tchibo & lidl dont have them at the moment. anyone else know who sells them?

country_girl_4

Hi
I was looking at these in B&Q the other day but I think they were about £20-£25.

roses

thanks country girl. she ordered one off amazon last night as that was the cheapest place to find them.