Renting a property + expensive fridge

whowants2brich

PS Our electricity usage from 10am yesterday to 9:30am today is under 3.5kWh, so I guess that just tells me that everything seems to be working a lot better already... Considering I worked from home for a few hours yesterday morning (broadband/laptop etc), and I left the wireless router on all night, that's damn good going! All we have to do now is to work out if the food in the fridge is going off any quicker than it should...

espresso

whowants2brich wrote: »

because I left our wireless broadband router on. Calculating their rating, they should use 1kWh over 8 hours, ie the fridge would've used 0.2kWh in 8 hours,

What type of wireless router do you have? Miscalculation there I think!

And this morning, there's still a very thin layer of ice at the back of the fridge, which shows that it's still cold enough for that therefore the fridge must be cold enough for the food, right?

Fridges are supposed to be defrosted when ice builds up inside., so that they can work efficiently. A thermometer will tell you that it is working correctly, not a layer of ice.

I turned it down to just under 3, seems to be going ok... It's also now quite full (not bursting though, as I know that it's not good to over-fill fridges) from my shopping spree, so that should help to keep it colder, shouldn't it?

Filling it will not keep it colder, the compressor regulates the temperature to the setting on the thermostat.

Maybe tonight I'll empty the fridge, but I shall still keep an eye on the meter and see how things progress... Maybe due to the reset of the fridge, just like any other electrical appliances, it now seems to be working properly again - certainly sounds quieter, anyway...

..........................

whowants2brich

FYI, we have a wireless router and a normal broadband modem, two separate items, the wireless router is 35W, the broadband modem is 120W...

As for the fridge, we've got those coloured meters that change colour when it's too hot, they don't seem to be saying it's too hot, which is a start... Maybe we should stick a thermometer into the fridge and see what it says, the "too warm" indicator on one of the shelves is useless, by the manual's own admission - after seconds of opening the door, the reading's off and you have to wait several hours (or overnight) to get a better reading!

As for the overfilling theory, the more colder things in there, the more cold things there are, to keep the fridge cooler, therefore the less work the compressor has to do? Or is that total rubbish? I know if it's too full, the things at the back can freeze up, and the air can't circulate to the things at the front, right? Or wrong?

PS I've found our wine temperature cooler, a thermometer band which changes colour, just like those that are used in schools across foreheads to take kids' temperatures... It wraps round bottles and takes their temperature. I've just put him in the fridge, shouldn't take him too long, and I know it goes down to 4C, maybe 2C but I doubt it (wine'd be too cold!), if it hits 4C then that's great, anything more and I'll panic a bit.

PPS I just checked and the ice has gone from the back of the fridge, I didn't change anything, I promise! :D:D

Cardew

At 120W I hope you keep your broadband modem in the freezer or it would melt!!

I think you are getting confused with the consumption of your PC and laptop!

A modem/router will only take a couple of Watts. A desktop PC will take 120W
and a laptop 35W

How are you measuring 120W, 35W etc?

whowants2brich

The input readings on the plugs/adapters or on the back of the actual units. 230/240v, 0.5a, 0.15a, etc... my laptop adapter says 100v/1a-240v/0.4a, so I'd assume it's 100w for my laptop? The wireless router is 230v/0.15a, or 35w... The plug into the broadband modem is 240v, 0.5a, or 120w...

mute_posting

whowants2brich wrote: »

The input readings on the plugs/adapters or on the back of the actual units. 230/240v, 0.5a, 0.15a, etc... my laptop adapter says 100v/1a-240v/0.4a, so I'd assume it's 100w for my laptop? The wireless router is 230v/0.15a, or 35w... The plug into the broadband modem is 240v, 0.5a, or 120w...

Those figures are the maximum ratings of what the adapter is CAPABLE of supplying (not sure if it is sustained 24/7 or short periods) not what it WILL draw when in general use.

HTH

MP

whowants2brich

So if the actual units say the following figures then this is what they will be using?

wireless router: 3.3V / 2A = 6.6W
broadband modem: 12V / 1.5A = 18W

If I work on the output voltage/current, then would the same work for my laptop power adapter: 16V / 4.5A = 72W ?

If so, then me working at home uses 96W an hour, or 1kWh of electricity for every 10 hours working at home, which is a lot less than the 250W I previously calculated...

If that is the case, then based on my meter readings this morning, I've used 0.35kWh in 3.5h, or 100W per hour this morning. As my internet connection uses 96W an hour, the fridge has used 4W an hour this morning, which is scarily little, but at least more feasible than what I'd originally calculated (ie that my appliances should be using more electricity than I'd actually used)!

Thanks for the lesson, I'll now go round and calculate the output voltage/current on all my plug adapters, not the input - as I assume that this is what you're implying I need to work with when making these calculations?

mute_posting

whowants2brich wrote: »

So if the actual units say the following figures then this is what they will be using?

wireless router: 3.3V / 2A = 6.6W
broadband modem: 12V / 1.5A = 18W

If I work on the output voltage/current, then would the same work for my laptop power adapter: 16V / 4.5A = 72W ?

If so, then me working at home uses 96W an hour, or 1kWh of electricity for every 10 hours working at home, which is a lot less than the 250W I previously calculated...

If that is the case, then based on my meter readings this morning, I've used 0.35kWh in 3.5h, or 100W per hour this morning. As my internet connection uses 96W an hour, the fridge has used 4W an hour this morning, which is scarily little, but at least more feasible than what I'd originally calculated (ie that my appliances should be using more electricity than I'd actually used)!

Thanks for the lesson, I'll now go round and calculate the output voltage/current on all my plug adapters, not the input - as I assume that this is what you're implying I need to work with when making these calculations?

That is (a lot) closer but NOT exact...

This is because the adaptors aren't 100% efficient, there are certain "losses" (heat being one of them) that don't go to provide "useful" energy to the device being powered.

However, I would be surprised if the "losses" were more than about 10%..

I'm sure you get the idea though - 18 Watts for a modem is a lot more realistic than 120 Watts (Imagine how much heat a 100W light bulb produces - like somebody else said, it would melt)

Regarding calculating the output you'll still have the same problem (I think) - that is just what the adaptor is rated at - not what it will use constantly.

MP

Cardew

The only way to know the consumption of most items is to measure them with the cheap power meter I used earlier.

Some appliances like your fridge at 150W do draw what it states on their rating plate; however they have a thermostatic control so draw 150W for a while then nothing.

That applies to the majority of items that draw the most power, cooker, Immersion, w/machine heater, etc etc.

For instance I have a 3kW immersion heater. Leave it on for 24 hours and it uses approx 6kWh instead of 72kWh.

Lots of other items have a maximum rating. For instance most Desktop PCs have a 600W or 750W rating. However a typical consumption might be in the order of 150W. I have tried to get mine above 200W with everything running and failed. 3 laptops in the house rated at 60W(for 2) and 100W they rarely use more than 30W.

So your 96W which I assume is (72 + 18 + 6.6W) is still way too high.

I doubt your laptop uses more than 30W and your modems only a couple of watts.

whowants2brich

So having initially started by saying that my fridge has been using too much electricity, it seems that everything else is using even less than I initially thought...

When my laptop is on battery, it uses about 20W, I can see that from the way the battery drains. It would obviously use a bit more than that when charging from the mains, so as to charge the battery as well as to run the laptop...

PS I cleaned the fridge, wiped it all down after turning it off for a few minutes and seeing that there was no ice or anything inside the fridge, and turned it back on again after refilling it. There's a nice thin layer of ice again... We shall see if it disappears shortly, or if the fridge keeps going, thus preventing the ice from defrosting, ie that there's a problem with the thermostat regulation... When I finished clearing the fridge and put back all the items, the wine cooler said it was 18C, I checked an hour later and it was down to 14C. Before I started, it was at about 8C, but hadn't been in al lthat long. One of those smelly fresh fridge things has a colour-changing feature, and that's been in for a while and says it was cold enough though.

My concern is that the fridge is in the kitchen, which gets quite warm during the morning and up until about now, when the sun moves round past the kitchen window, which probably won't help the consumption/power/efficiency of the fridge freezer... But as we're renting and it's a smaller flat/kitchen, there's nowhere else we could move it to.

Thanks for your help, I'm probably gonna go and invest in one of those electricity meter thingies...