What is sucking my kWh ????

Carolinerc

Hi,

I have a 2 bedroom flat, no immersion or central heating.

I use a halogen heater in the living room and an electric blanket at night.

I have an efergy energy meter and am sitting here showing:

Energy Now: 3.01 kW
Daily Average: 62.7kWh

Is this really high?

Thanks

SilverSaloon

Carolinerc wrote: »

Energy Now: 3.01 kW

Turn off the electric heater. What does it change to

Turn off the electric blanket. what does it change to

you'll have your answer! I bets are on the heater.

If its still showing a high figure 500w+ after that then you'll have something else on which is a high user...

Carolinerc

Blanket & Heater off. Has now dropped to 0.78kW

Is 3.01 especially high?

penrhyn

3Kw is typical for a room heater, electric kettle or immersion heater.

It will consume 3 units of electricity an hour when on, typical cost say 45 pence an hour.

I imagine your halogen heater does not have a thermostat. I'd swap it for something that does.

macman

Your heater (and every other electrcial device you own) has a plate on it showing the rating: yours is presumably a 3kW heater.
If that heater is full on for 18 hours then it will use 54kWh of electricity, so that's the bulk of your daily usage. How do you heat your hot water though? That's the other major user of power.
These portable monitors are not at all accurate, especially at low readings-your electricity meter will give you a far more accurate reading.
What matters is your annual kWh usage, not a daily snapshot.

vacheron

Our detached 4 bed house with lots of permanently running appliances,

• 2x virgin media TIVO recorders,
• alarm system,
• 3x cordless phones on base stations
• 5x routers and access points
• PC based media server running 24/7
• Large American style fridge freezer
• CCTV PVR in the loft connected to 4 cameras

....consumes about 470w with all the lights, heaters and other obvious stuff off turned off, so 780w does seem a bit on the high side.

A fridge/freezer can consume 200-300W when the condenser and pump are running, also (not in your case I appreciate) a central heating boiler can need 20-30W too, and a central heating pump can take 40-60W.

Best way is to switch everything off at the consumer unit and then bring each circuit up one by one and record the results. It is surprising how lots of tiny things can add up.

lstar337

vacheron wrote: »

Our detached 4 bed house with lots of permanently running appliances,

• 2x virgin media TIVO recorders,
• alarm system,
• 3x cordless phones on base stations
• 5x routers and access points
• PC based media server running 24/7
• Large American style fridge freezer
• CCTV PVR in the loft connected to 4 cameras

....consumes about 470w with all the lights, heaters and other obvious stuff off turned off, so 780w does seem a bit on the high side.

A fridge/freezer can consume 200-300W when the condenser and pump are running, also (not in your case I appreciate) a central heating boiler can need 20-30W too, and a central heating pump can take 40-60W.

Best way is to switch everything off at the consumer unit and then bring each circuit up one by one and record the results. It is surprising how lots of tiny things can add up.

Why would you need 5 access points?

molerat

I am amazed at the pictures on the tv of the old folk sitting in front of the electric fire because "they can't afford to have the gas central heating on". My antique boilered gas CH uses about 6kWh when sub zero outside keeping the whole house at 20 deg 24/7 with as much hot water as I can use. This costs about 22p per hour, less than one 2 bar electric fire !!

vacheron

lstar337 wrote: »

Why would you need 5 access points?

A Virgin superhub router for the incoming broadband and wifi for the bedrooms and living room.

Netgear router to cover the blackspots in the kitchen, garage and master bedroom (the house is shallow and wide, so no convenient central mounting position).

3x apple airport express devices dotted around the house to provide airplay audio and wired access to smart TV's etc in the kitchen, conservatory and under the TV.

rogerblack

molerat wrote: »

I am amazed at the pictures on the tv of the old folk sitting in front of the electric fire because "they can't afford to have the gas central heating on". My antique boilered gas CH uses about 6kWh when sub zero outside keeping the whole house at 20 deg 24/7 with as much hot water as I can use. This costs about 22p per hour, less than one 2 bar electric fire !!

You are fortunate to have a well insulated house.

I have a 20*5m single story house.
The attic is fully insulated.
Other than that, there is no insulation, and there are no cavities.

It takes approximately 12kW to keep it at 20C when it's 0 out.

lstar337

rogerblack wrote: »

It takes approximately 12kW to keep it at 20C when it's 0 out.

Ouch!

.