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Thread ID: 119025	2011-07-01 07:53:00	Measuring the power usage of home appliances	braindead (1685)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1213829	2011-07-01 07:53:00	Hi all, We keep getting steep power bills from Mercury Energy but in fact we don't know which ones are the power hungry appliances. It's time to take the bull by the horns and gather some facts on household usage. How can I best go about this without spending a fortune? I know there are gizmos you can plug into a mains socket and the appliance then plugs into the gizmo. I've also heard of clamp meters but I don't know how and where these are used. For example, how would we measure the consumption of a hot water cylinder which has no mains socket? Any advice welcome! Thanks	braindead (1685)
1213830	2011-07-01 08:07:00	www.consumer.org.nz HWC? Switch it off, see how much your power meter drops by. But that's probably a bit silly - the things that use the most are electric heaters, driers etc.	pctek (84)
1213831	2011-07-01 08:10:00	A clamp meter clamps to your incoming feed next to the meter. There are devices that you just plug in then plug the device into fairly simple to use. We have managed to drop our consumption considerably by the simple measure of actually turn everything off at the wall when not in use. The TV, DVD extra are only ever on standby for maybe a couple of hours in the evening, when we walk away from the computer if its going to be for more than 30 minutes they get shut down. During the day the only things on are the fridge, the freezer and the 2 bedside clocks. It makes a huge difference oh and changing to Just energy as well	gary67 (56)
1213832	2011-07-01 11:19:00	www.consumer.org.nz HWC? Switch it off, see how much your power meter drops by. But that's probably a bit silly - the things that use the most are electric heaters, driers etc. Wow thanks for the link, very educational!!	Chilling_Silence (9)
1213833	2011-07-01 11:44:00	I think Jaycar sell those appliance checking meters. Make sure your HW cylinder has no leaks, in a lot of cases the electric hot water can be responsible for a third of your bill. You could try turning back your thermostat a notch or so, in a lot of cases you won't notice the difference in hot water required, but it will make a difference to those monthly bills. Another thing to watch for is an old fridge or freezer, they can be silent culprits for higher than normal bills. Try this trick...take your power bill and place it between door/lid of fridge or freezer and close. If you can pull the bill out easily, your seals need replacing. Gary67 is correct about being aware that everything that uses electricity, whether it is a large appliance or not, helps make a difference.	Marnie (4574)
1213834	2011-07-01 21:58:00	It is a real shame the consumer isnt free. Good link Pctek. Also a shame they dont have standby power consumtion EDIT: Braindead also how many people in your house? I live by my self and have my kids over on weekends and my power bill is $100 on average less in summer but more in winter due to gas heating :yuck:	Gobe1 (6290)
1213835	2011-07-02 01:05:00	Huge thanks for all the info. Useful stuff!	braindead (1685)
1213836	2011-07-02 03:12:00	I use a Mains wireless monitor - extremely useful. Jaycar Cat number MS 6160 $119.00 You won't regret buying it.	Peter H (220)
1213837	2011-07-02 04:51:00	Peter H - that's a great find and much more useful than the "one appliance at a time at a time" device. Thanks for that! The fusebox part looks like it needs to be wired in. Could you explain that a bit more? PS Then again, I'm not a total moron :) I can dig around for myself on Google on Watts Clever.	braindead (1685)
1213838	2011-07-02 08:26:00	Supermarkets has those devices around $25 I think .... You could also read the power meter est a baseline then use the appliance and note the difference :D	Nomad (952)
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