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Speedy Jim[_2_]

wrote:
What's a low-cost way to add a meter to an 110V electrical circuit?
This circuit runs from my service panel to our well pump. I want to
know how much electricity the well pump uses. Are there replacement
circuit breaker blocks that have meter functionality built into
them? ...or would a vampire a meter onto the circuit cable so that
it's sitting on the circuit between the service panel and the pump?
If so, what product? Is this something I can do myself? (I'm
comfortable wiring light fixtures, outlets, switches, etc.)

I know there are neat meters for $100 that plug into a standard
household outlet and then you plug your device into the meter and it
meters and compiles data until you reset it. Then you plug the meter
into a USB connection on your computer and dump the data into a
software that comes with the meter. ...but again all I have to work
with is a service panel, a pump, and a circuit that connects them, so
there is no outlet to plug into.

And by the way, I know the amount of electricity the pump uses is
negligible, and I'm not concerned about the cost of the electricity.
It's mostly an academic exercise. I'm just curious how much juice the
pump uses because on one has been able to tell me. It would be
interesting to know.

Please advise.

Let's assume the pump is indeed 110V.
Jury rig a recept to the pump wires.
Plug in an old-time analog clock.
The clock will record the hours of use
during 24 hrs, for example.

Get the pump Amps or assume some figure
for the experiment. mult X 110V = watts (approx.)

Pump use may not be trivial; a lot depends...

(If the pump turns out to be 240V instead,
connect the clock from one side to Neutral.)
If you're not versed in how-to-do stuff like this,
then don't. Disclaimer required by Usenet lawyers...