There is this glass enclosed device called an electric meter generally
on the outside of your house where the electric wires come into your
house. It often has a 4 or 5 inch diameter wheel inside that spins
around based on the amount of electric you are using at that moment.
The faster it spins the more current (power) you are using.

Additionally there are also 4 or 5 pointers on the unit that display
the number of amp/hours used since the meter was installed.
If you write down the numbers the pointer is pointing to (always the
smaller number) and compare it to the positions in an hour or week,
the difference is how many amp-hours you have use it that time frame.

If you have a digital meter, just write down the number and compare


On Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:51:41 GMT, "peter" wrote:

I'd like to be more aware of the current draw in my house. This could help
me locate appliances I forgot to turn off, or device that draw large current
even when turned off, or hidden current leakage.

The easiest way is probably to add some sort of meter to the main electrical
panel. However I don't feel like rewiring the panel for this.

Are there circuit breaker with built-in amp meter? I guess the meter would
have to be very small. If such thing exists it would be the simplest
solution. Or it could transmit the reading via powerline (x10 or insteon)
that can be read with a PC interface.