Electrisave

dc

Apologies, withalj, having been reading the electrisave description more closely, I was editing my post to point out that difference, whilst you were posting the same, sorry for any confusion.:o
dc

withalj

dc wrote: »

Apologies, withalj,

Not a problem but thanks.

Cardew

withalj,
I am sorry to pour cold water on your device but it is nowhere near as effective in demonstrating savings as the £6 device.

Nearly all the devices that consume the major amount of electricity(Fridge, freezer, washing machine, dishwasher, cooker, iron, fan heater etc etc etc) are thermostatically controlled, or have variable power usage, so the Electrisave has no way of telling you how much electricity they use, except instantaneously and not over a period of time.

To give but one example. Take your freezer which when the compressor is running uses, say, 500 Watts(0.5kW or half a unit)

Switch off your freezer and the probability is that the electrisave will register no change at all. That is because most of the time it is using no electricity at all. This is because the compressor runs only for a small period of time.

However if you happen to switch it off and catch it during the short period of time when the compressor is running it will indicate that you are saving 5pence an hour.(set to 10p/kWh) Well you could deduce then that your freezer costs £36 a month to run.(or nothing) How do you know the cost of running your freezer? - You simply have no idea with the electrisave.

Plugging the freezer into a cheap £6 device and leave for a while and it will measure the exact consumption and cost which is probably in the region of £4 a month.

Take your washing machine. When the heater is on the electrisave will show it uses 30p an hour. If your machine runs for 1.5 hours you might deduce that it costs 45p for the cycle, the probability is that it uses less than 10p.

Put on everything on your cooker and you will have the electrisave telling you that it costs, say, £1.50 an hour. As everything(ovens/plates etc) are on a thermostat(and continually switch on and off) your consumption varies between zero and £1.50 and the electrisave has no idea how much it costs.

So the only thing that electrisave works for is something with a fixed consumption like light bulbs and you don't need to be an electrical engineer to work out that cost.


So as this is a money saving site it surely must good advice to tell people not to waste their money on a device like the Electrisave(costing £59 to £80) when a simple £6 or so device is much much more effective in showing power consumption and hence savings.

I am afraid I stand by my original statement that the electrisave is a gimmick.

withalj

Cardew wrote: »

withalj,
I am sorry to pour cold water on your device but it is nowhere near as effective in demonstrating savings as the £6 device.
...

So as this is a money saving site it surely must good advice to tell people not to waste their money on a device like the Electrisave(costing £59 to £80) when a simple £6 or so device is much much more effective in showing power consumption and hence savings.

I am afraid I stand by my original statement that the electrisave is a gimmick.

I understand what you're saying but for my purposes the electrisave is better. I'm not looking for an accurate cost, I'm trying to get my family motivated to save, so an indication of when something is costing money when it isn't doing anything useful, or a comparison of a lightbulb to a tumble dryer is good enough. I'm sensible enough to realise that it's an instant reading and isn't constant and anyone who read the instructions would know that too. On the other hand if I tried to get my teenagers to dive down far enough in their rooms to find the socket to plug a device into, I'd be beaten before I started.

By having us turn off certain appliances altogether and reduce usage of others, as in my example above, it's already paid back its cost. I don't need to know precisely how much but I can tell the average background cost because I have the device sitting next to me and I can watch whether it changes over time when nothing else is happening, so I can do a rough calculation. In addition, there's a reliable second-hand market so when it's done its job I expect to make a good proportion of the cost-price back.

Therefore at best I'm saving hundreds of pounds and at worst I'm out of pocket by the difference between the buying and selling cost. Money-saving isn't about price it's about value, so I have no hesitation in recommending it.

Equally if the job it's intended for is what you need then the plug-in ones are clearly they're the best buy, but for me they would be useless and so a waste of money.

dc

VFM for you, the word, teenager, made me realise you bought the right device for yourself. Good luck with its use.
If I had it it would be lit up, on the coffee table in front of the TV .

Maybe other folks, with a less urgent needs, could stick up to 10 of the "German" supermarket devices in their "worry" sockets for the same outlay, to see where the money goes.
Lets hope the green minded Germans come up with a sub £20 wi-fi device soon.

Cardew

withalj wrote: »

I'm sensible enough to realise that it's an instant reading and isn't constant and anyone who read the instructions would know that too. .

Agreed, but the purpose of my post(on a money saving site) was to point out to potential purchasers that IMO the £6 device is far better at demonstrating savings.

To discover that by reading the instructions of the electrisave is too late I fear.;)

withalj

Cardew wrote: »

Agreed, but the purpose of my post(on a money saving site) was to point out to potential purchasers that IMO the £6 device is far better at demonstrating savings.

To discover that by reading the instructions of the electrisave is too late I fear.;)

not if you look at them on their web-site... my point was that it's horses for courses, so you can't say one is better than another because they do different jobs, so it's up to the purchaser to decide what job they want done before buying otherwise they're potentially wasting their money either way.

You obviously feel strongly that the electrisave is a gimmick, and it's good that you point out the pitfalls for the unwary, but I don't think you can condemn it in such black and white terms. It can be good value for money in certain circumstances (mine are an example) and so I don't see why recommending it is bad.

Gal

No longer relevant.

Herbyme

You can rent one for a month for £19.99 (maybe + P&P) here:
http://www.electricity-monitor.com/index.php?gclid=CKKJu7n-kIsCFSoMQgod1VjDXA
because they say that you see the main ways to save very quickly. If you want to keep it after that it's £55 extra, so dearer than the £59.99 you can get them for on ebay here:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120101938671

Think I will rent one and see if it works, have wanted one like this for ages as I drive a Prius and can easily get mpg from about 50 to 60 by watching the monitor and driving so as to max the mpg. What gets measured can be changed - and vice versa!