Central heating not working (don't ask!), so the wife puts on a couple of fan heaters as well as the washing machine and oven. I decide to take a (40A) shower. I'd taken my Owl upstairs for some reason and as I emerged from the shower, it was showing over 75A usage. I whipped down to the meter to see if my main 60A fuse was in meltdown and it wasn't even warm. It's labelled 60A, but I suspect it's more. Is there any way of checking?
Owl monitor saves the day!
- Thread starter Vicario
- Start date
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Not sure about taking an owl into a shower - it just doesn't sound right!!
One which can also read an ammeter - thats good. Service fuse will take something like 1.45x its rated current for long time without popping.
One which can also read an ammeter - thats good. Service fuse will take something like 1.45x its rated current for long time without popping.
I'd left it on the landing actually. Didn't want to get its feathers wet! They are very useful little devices and really show up where the heavy usage is. My 4 spotlights in the kitchen take over 2A and we used to leave them on almost permanently - not any more thanks to my Owl.
Well I could have told you that.
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Its frightening when you turn everything off that you normally do and still see 300W still being consumed, especially overnight and through the day whilst you're at work.
That'll be the HID lamp and fans in your loft mate.
I t's a device that you clip to one of the cables coming out of the CU (live, I think) which then sends a signal via wireless to a monitor that shows how many amps you are using at any one time. I was a bit sceptical, but it has been recommended in several reviews I read so I went ahead and bought it (£50). It has shown up quite a few heavy usage appliances and is very useful to see a baseline reading of what your house is using last thing at night (if you've left anything on etc.) and individual anomalies. My settop box and tv on standby were 2A and the spotlights the same. By careful monitoring we're able to cut consumption considerably and spot when things have been left on - oven 12A is easily detected, for example.
2 Amp for a set-top box and TV on standby? I very much doubt that as they probably wouldn't consume that when switched on.
If it is then you need to get them looked at or replaced.
T
toasty
Well I could have told you that.
Really? Over 2amps is over 460watts... Are they really over 100w each? I suspect the meter is innaccurate, or you had other stuff on too.
Assuming that they are (more likely) 50watts each, they will be using slightly less that one amp
Even ~230 watts is very high for a TV and set-top box on standby.
Par 38 downlighters
With 120 watt lamps in each
maybe.
With 120 watt lamps in each
maybe.
Those owl things don't seem to be very accurate.
We had one and it was still reading usage of over 1A whilst we were having our meter changed, the tails were disconnected from the meter, so guessing it was 1A of fresh air...
My parents also had one, which gave a reading of ~350W when it wasn't even clipped to *any* cable.
We had one and it was still reading usage of over 1A whilst we were having our meter changed, the tails were disconnected from the meter, so guessing it was 1A of fresh air...
My parents also had one, which gave a reading of ~350W when it wasn't even clipped to *any* cable.
I have an Efergy energy monitor which goes to 0.000kW when I switch off my consumer units.
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