How can I find out how much power appliances use?

peachespeaches

http://www.cse.org.uk/advice/advice-and-support/how-much-electricity-am-i-using

If you dont want to scrabble about looking for the rating plate, average values are shown above.

nigelpm

http://www.omnitron.co.uk/energy-monitor-p-604.html?gclid=CKKQkKWz_L0CFSf4wgod6TUAvA

tunnel

peachespeaches wrote: »

http://www.cse.org.uk/advice/advice-and-support/how-much-electricity-am-i-using

If you dont want to scrabble about looking for the rating plate, average values are shown above.

Yeah, good list but not really comprehensive. My kettle for one is 1000W and the list doesn't include such as a George Foreman(doesn't everyone have one) and also aircon/ASH units. Better to look on the appliance me thinks!!

peachespeaches

nigelpm wrote: »

http://www.omnitron.co.uk/energy-monitor-p-604.html?gclid=CKKQkKWz_L0CFSf4wgod6TUAvA

Thanks, thats what I wanted but I didnt know how to ask for it!

peachespeaches

I have looked at a few energy monitors in the last half hour or so. I cant decide if its better to get an Owl that monitors the total we are using, or one of those Omni ones that monitors each appliance individually.

I have a lot of power guzzling fish tanks and know there wont be any good news there, but this means I cant turn everything off except the fridge at night. Whilst it might be nice to have both, I am trying not to fall into the usual "money saving expert" trap. When I come on this forum I always end up spending more than I save because people tell me about useful stuff and I rather stupidly buy it!

groovyf

I'd definitely recommend getting one of those plug-in wall socket ones to get an idea of what each appliance sucks electricity-wise. Bit of a pain going round all your items plugging/unplugging but it's good knowledge to have about them.

Dave_Fowler

groovyf wrote: »

I'd definitely recommend getting one of those plug-in wall socket ones to get an idea of what each appliance sucks electricity-wise. Bit of a pain going round all your items plugging/unplugging but it's good knowledge to have about them.

I agree with you about measuring each appliance separately. I've had one of the plug-in monitors for some time.

Checking the chest freezer recently (it's about 15 years old) I found it was taking 165Watts and, checking the total usage over several days, found the compressor was working for 75% of the time. That's about 3kWh per day!

Went out immediately and bought a new one (same size, 250l). I'm using the same temperature setting as the old one. This one takes 65W and so far has used 0.46 kWh per day.

Dave F

mickyduck

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-Plug-Energy-Meter-Wattage-Voltage-Current-Frequency-Monitor-Analyzer-LCD-230V-/131161655985

Scary Freezer stats from Dave F.. mine is probably the same must be 25 years old..:eek:

Martyn1981

Dave_Fowler wrote: »

I agree with you about measuring each appliance separately. I've had one of the plug-in monitors for some time.

Checking the chest freezer recently (it's about 15 years old) I found it was taking 165Watts and, checking the total usage over several days, found the compressor was working for 75% of the time. That's about 3kWh per day!

Went out immediately and bought a new one (same size, 250l). I'm using the same temperature setting as the old one. This one takes 65W and so far has used 0.46 kWh per day.

Dave F

I know we live in a wasteful, throw away world, but people often forget energy consumption when proudly referring to their 20 year old telly, boiler, fridge or freezer. Especially when fridges/freezers start to run too much, or continuously.

That looks like a 'saving' of 2.5kWhs per day, or about £100 to £150 pa. Wowza. There won't be much left for your PV to do!

[Edit: Just remembered somebody on Navitron once saying that they'd had their leccy meter taken away for checking because their consumption had suddenly increased dramatically, for no reason. The meter was fine, and they finally traced it to a faulty freezer that was running 24/7. M.]

Mart.

Dave_Fowler

mickyduck wrote: »

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-Plug-Energy-Meter-Wattage-Voltage-Current-Frequency-Monitor-Analyzer-LCD-230V-/131161655985

Scary Freezer stats from Dave F.. mine is probably the same must be 25 years old..:eek:

It's not like my meter; not much detail in the ad. so can't really comment on that model. My monitor is like this http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/15a-plug-in-energy-saving-monitor-l61aq

It has readings of Watts, Volt/amps, Volts, Amps, frequency, on-time and total kWh.

Dave F

zeupater

Hi

My plug-in energy monitor is pretty similar to Dave's, it's quite a few years old but looks like it's still in production .... (http://www.philex.com/catalogue/product/?id=481&cat=1046) ... I think it does a good job, the only problem really being the size of the LCD display when it's being used in a 'dark' place, which is the case for quite a few sockets !

I agree that it's the best way to go. If you try to use something like an Owl to measure the specific load of an appliance you'll just get really confused. I suggest you do a little research into 'power factor' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_factor), it's something which causes most whole house monitors to be inaccurate, usually for low-load appliances or appliances with standby or clock/timer switching circuits, something which is important when you're looking into the consumption of all of the devices in your house. (Example - See previous post ... http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=63482957&postcount=4 )

Get a plug-in monitor, but ensure that it takes 'power factor' into consideration and displays/monitors/meters 'real power'.

HTH
Z