Energy Monitoring

**Mr Flibble** · Jun 22nd, 2009, 12:17 PM

Does anyone monitor/data log their home's power consumption?

You can get devices for about £20 to do it that clip onto the main feed to fuse box then have a wireless display. I bought a slightly prettier version second hand for about £60 a month or two back:

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It's useful for checking whether you've left something on - ours glows red in the living room if the oven/kettle/dishwasher/washing machine/microwave/hair drier etc is running.

Things I've found so far:

Cooking in the microwave (850W) uses far, far less power than our A rated oven.
When everything is turned off we still use 200-300W. I know that our home automation system uses about 50W, but there's somewhere other things using a lot more. The fridge is the only thing I can think of, but haven't done a proper test yet. The tv/home cinema gear uses a total of 4W in standby, as it's on X10.
The dishwasher and washing machine (both A rated) cost about 40-50p in electricity for one cycle. Running them at night (we're on Economy7) would save about 30p.
Things I thought were using more power than they should arent, such as cordless phone chargers.

Haven't gotten as far as using it to plot graphs of carbon usage yet.

**gogs67** · Jun 22nd, 2009, 12:36 PM

I do it the old fashioned way and check my gas and electricity meters every couple of days and write down the consumption!

**Gorilla** · Jun 22nd, 2009, 12:46 PM

i don't really see the point - i already try to use the minimum amount of electricity i need, and this would just make me paranoid.

**gogs67** · Jun 22nd, 2009, 12:58 PM

Gorilla

i don't really see the point - i already try to use the minimum amount of electricity i need, and this would just make me paranoid.

About 10 years ago i was just paying estimated bills for ages, then got hit with over a thousand pounds when the meter finally got read, it took me 2 years to pay off.
Ever since then i've checked my meter every few days and noted if there is an increase in consumption and what has caused it.
It's made me far more aware of how even turning the heating down slightly can save so much money, putting hot water into the kettle if the tap is alredy running so it boils quicker or having the bath with slightly less water in it saves a few pence. Sounds stingy i know, but it all adds up over the year!