On Tue, 7 Oct 2003 10:14:57 -0400, "Jerry G."

The cable TV amplifier is drawing current. The meter you used probably
cannot measure it because of its load characteristics. A simple DVM or home
type Amp meter is not sophisticated to take accurate readings on devices
that are very reactive, or non linear in their power consumption rate. But,
you have a very good idea of what is going on, according to your
descriptions.

It was probably below the current I could measure with the clamp on.
I wound a 25 turn coil for the clamp on, and routed one side of the
power line to it. The most sensitive range is 6 amps full scale, and
..6 amps is the first full hash mark. 1.44 was about the minimum
calculated power I could see that way.

I had a few things that would be below that Like the aquarium air
pump, LED night light, etc.

Your cable TV amplifier should be drawing about 0.8 to about 1.5 Watts on
the average. If your GE TV is an old set without remote control operation,
then it would be using a hard power switch, and draw no power when off. It
would normally be pulling about 3 to 6 Watts on the average in the OFF mode,
if it is a modern set. Due to the characteristics of the power supply, your
meter is not measuring it properly. Check the specifications in the user
booklet that came with the set. Usually for most models they will indicate
the power off, power consumption.

The GE TV is an old set WITH a remote control.

You can put external power switches to devices, but their internal
processors will stop working. If you have pre-set memories and etc, these
will be lost after some time. Some units will loose these in about 20
minutes or so. Others with backup batteries will hold it much longer, but
you will be changing the batteries from time to time. This has an added
cost. If these units are using internal batteries on the circuit boards,
you will be in for some extra maintenance work, that will also be more
costly in the end.

Only my scanner has a volatile memory that requires batteries. In the
case of the word processing typewriter - shutting the power off
eliminated a problem that would occasionally crop up. The typewriter
has no batteries. Cable box looses the parental guidance programming,
but that isn't a problem for me. I use the scanner infrequently so
pulled the battery out.

In a home that we tested we have a number of devices that are pulling
current when off. We have done a number of homes for power consumption
evaluation. This is a typical family home. We have about 7 months a year
where heating is required, and about 3 months a year where a lot of air
conditioning is required. There is about 2 months of the year where the
temperatures are moderate, and heating and air conditioning costs are low.
We have been doing power evaluations for homes, and below is a typical
medium family home. You would be surprised with all the modern type
appliances, what the actual power consumption is. If you add up the whole
country, this is a very large number for all the devices when turned off!
Maybe we should go back to the 1960's type design without the computer
controlled options...

4 TV sets 20 Watts
3 Computer monitors 15 Watts
1 Short wave radio 3 Watts
2 Cable TV amplifiers 2 Watts
3 Computers 30 Watts
5 Electric Clocks 12 Watts
1 Microwave Oven 6 Watts
1 Electric Stove 6 Watts
1 Fax Machine 5 Watts
1 Alarm System 15 Watts
4 Cordless Telephones 15 Watts
1 Sound System 20 Watts ( all units together )
1 Cable TV Decoder 40 Watts
2 VCR's 16 Watts
1 DVD Player 10 Watts

Wow! that's a big waste of power.

This list does not cover the cost of cooking, freezers, refrigerators, air
conditioning, lighting, washing machine, dryer, and heating. The
refrigerator, freezer, air conditioners, furnace, and washing machine, are
the most costly devices in the home when evaluated over a long duration.
Since the freezer, furnace, air conditioner, and refrigerator use
microcomputer controlled electronic thermostats instead of the mechanical
ones (like 20 years ago), they each also pull about 5 Watts of power on the
average when in the standby mode.

I did measure all the useful loads to see where to save money. I
figure these aren't "vampire" loads since they do useful work.

The list above, not including the major appliances, heating, air
conditioning, and lighting, gives a total of 215 Watts for standby power
devices. The rate is about $0.05 US Kw/Hr, pro-rated to $0.07 US Kw/Hr. In
our area, this evaluation example would cost $0.0129 US per hour average.
This is $0.31 US per day, or $9.28 per month average. At this rate, nothing
has been turned on yet.

It would be good to know what the power meter bias is doing to your
minimum load. From what I understand (from talking to the woman at
the customer service desk of the power company) my 200 amp service has
its meter calibrated at 30 amps and 5 amps. They use a traceable
calibrated standard, but the meters themselves are not 100% linear.

This household has an average power bill of about $130 US per month when
including the usage of all the utilities. This is $1560.00 US per year. In
relation to running a complete household, I would not complain about the
standby costs.

I can see your point. Living alone with time away from home, and a
really frugal lifestyle, my bill averages ~$18/mo winter and ~$24
summer. I got up to ~$48/mo before deciding to do something about it.

Called the power company, learned how to read the meter and went
around adding switches and changing my lifestyle. Every day I read
the meter and plug the number into a spreadsheet and notebook. Things
like leaving the fridge door ajar, a long hot soak in the tub, making
beer or baking bread show up the next day. Feedback.

We found that using compact florescent lamps give a big cost savings for
power consumption. Some people do not like the type of light they give off.
They are more expensive to purchase, but they do make up in the final cost
over their lifespan. The best buys are the ones that go on sale from time to
time. In the fall we generally see them reduced in purchase price by about
30%. This is the time to stock up on them. The brand name does not make
much difference, since it is only a few companies producing them, and they
all must meet the UL and CSA standards.

A 12 Watt compact florescent will give off nearly the same amount of light
as a 60 or 70 Watt incandescent lamp. This gives about a 4 times savings in
the power consumption. The only drawback with these is that most types
cannot be used on a dimmer, if you want dimmers. The dimmer type models are
much more expensive, and then there will be a much less cost savings. In
areas where the lights are left on very often, such as the kitchen,
hallways, outdoor address box, and other similar places where there are no
dimmers installed, are the ideal places for these types of lamps.

I'm a believer in the compact florescent lamps.

The only incandescent lamps I have, are in places where the lights
don't stay on for very long. I even replaced one of my "circle line"
florescent lamps with a pair of compact high frequency florescents
(the circular replacements were costing $24 each and the 12W compacts
cost $4 each)

One of my biggest cost savers was to turn off the hot water to the
kitchen faucet and add a power switch to the water heater. I turn it
on for 5-10 minutes a day in winter (very low flow shower head) and
heat dishwashing water in a large stainless "bain marie" on the stove.

Power saving number two was to start cleaning the compressor coils on
the fridge once a year.


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