Monitoring Electricity Use...

[Grisu]

I'm still not sure who made Grisu the one to decide what another's thread should be about, but if we go back to the OP

It was not me who said to leave the politics out of the thread:

Please stay on topic which is monitoring home energy usage.

 

[maple1]

I also asked for that.

And to add, please leave the arguing out also - observations & feedback only please.

Now back to the thread.

I will be putting up our 15' temporary pool this weekend, if all goes well. Missed a couple summers because we were too busy - kids are howling for it again. I will be revisiting my Effergy to double check on its install & initial programming, then be watching the pools use. Something else I never paid much attention to in the past - anybody have a handle on how much their pool pump uses? That would vary with how much you run it - I only ran ours a few hours each day to keep up on the filtering.

 

[Where2]

Please stay on topic which is monitoring home energy usage.

Speaking of energy monitoring, I recently picked up a little digital meter made by a company called "Peacefair". The unit I bought has an external current transformer, measures a single 120v or 240v AC circuit, and has a backlit LCD digital readout that displays: Volts, Amps, kWh, W, and time elapsed since reset (one display unit at a time, cycle through them with the buttons). It comes as a faceplate intended to front mount in the panel or box of your choice. I mounted mine in a small electronic project box. For those of you who have always wanted something like a kill-a-watt meter that could measure 240v circuits, this seems to fit your wish. However, it does require hardwiring, and access to the wiring in the circuit you want to monitor. It does not have all the functions of a Kill-A-Watt (no power factor), but it has the basics. Supposedly, using the external current transformer this meter will measure up to 100A. The maximum diameter wire the current transformer (doughnut, not split CT) will accept is 0.625". The main display updates at roughly 1hz for all measurements, other than the elapsed time. You will need to provide a case, and appropriate fuse holders and fuses for the wiring you choose to power it with. I have no documentation indicating it is UL approved, but it sure beats hanging your clamp ammeter on a cable all afternoon and keeping track of energy use with a stop watch. The maximum wire size the rear screw terminals will accept is 12AWG stranded. However, I suggest you go through an appropriate fuse(s) and run wire that is more conformable. 12AWG will try to push the meter where it wants to go. At just under $13 shipped on eBay, I thought I would mention it for those who have a single 240V, or a 20A 120V circuit they wish to keep tabs on. For 15A 120V AC circuits, stick to the easy to use kill-a-watt.

 

[Brian26]

Installed my Efergy E2 monitor a few months ago. First thing I did after monitoring was install a clothes line. Electric dryer was costing around $1.50 a load with one of the highest electric rates in the nation. ( .25 kwh here in CT) . Was surprised that it was using almost 5kwh when it was running. Cut my bill down huge from running a clothesline from my deck to my corner fence post.