With the rising cost of electricity in the UK I purchased a meter that
tells me how must electricity I am using. I have found this very
useful and have managed to reduce my usage (mainly just removing and
switching off things) what I looked at today as the house was empty
was to try and get the reading as low as possible, What appears to be
happening is that I can not get it below 100Watts buy turning
everything off I can find. If I switch the two ring mains (plug
sockets) off I can get it to zero. I believe the unit is accurate any
ideas where the 100Watts are being used, can there be a leakage?

Thanks
gazz

In article , wrote:
With the rising cost of electricity in the UK I purchased a meter that
tells me how must electricity I am using. I have found this very
useful and have managed to reduce my usage (mainly just removing and
switching off things) what I looked at today as the house was empty
was to try and get the reading as low as possible, What appears to be
happening is that I can not get it below 100Watts buy turning
everything off I can find. If I switch the two ring mains (plug
sockets) off I can get it to zero. I believe the unit is accurate any
ideas where the 100Watts are being used, can there be a leakage?

Thanks
gazz


Any transformers on devices like furnaces, etc. ?
You should be able to track it down with the breakers.

greg

wrote in message
...
With the rising cost of electricity in the UK I purchased a meter that
tells me how must electricity I am using. I have found this very
useful and have managed to reduce my usage (mainly just removing and
switching off things) what I looked at today as the house was empty
was to try and get the reading as low as possible, What appears to be
happening is that I can not get it below 100Watts buy turning
everything off I can find. If I switch the two ring mains (plug
sockets) off I can get it to zero. I believe the unit is accurate any
ideas where the 100Watts are being used, can there be a leakage?

Thanks
gazz

Fridge ? Freezer ? Central Heating ? Stuff with clocks on - cooker,
microwave etc ? Sat receiver ? VCR ? DVD player ?

If you genuinely had 100 watts of leakage on your household mains wiring, I
would treat that as cause for huge concern ...

Be aware also that although you believe your power meter to be accurate,
they are mostly designed for reading nice symmetrical draws like you would
get from a light bulb and so on. Many modern devices employ switchmode power
supplies, and in standby mode, these often operate in a power saving 'burst'
mode. Some cheap power meters can't cope with this highly asymmetric draw,
and will give an erroneous reading. Also be aware that although shutting off
equipment that has a standby mode seems like a good juice-saving plan,
standby modes often mask important housekeeping tasks that need to go on in
the background - keeping your Sky box updated, and keeping the modem live to
comply with the terms of your contract, for instance, especially if you have
Sky MultiRoom option.

Arfa

On Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:33:43 GMT, GregS wrote:
wrote:

With the rising cost of electricity in the UK I purchased a meter that
tells me how must electricity I am using. I have found this very
useful and have managed to reduce my usage (mainly just removing and
switching off things) what I looked at today as the house was empty
was to try and get the reading as low as possible, What appears to be
happening is that I can not get it below 100Watts buy turning
everything off I can find. If I switch the two ring mains (plug
sockets) off I can get it to zero. I believe the unit is accurate any
ideas where the 100Watts are being used, can there be a leakage?

Any transformers on devices like furnaces, etc. ?
You should be able to track it down with the breakers.

Doorbell transformers are on all the time (in the U.S.) and usually out
of sight in the attic rafters somewhere.

And, if what you mean by "buy (sic) turning everything off" does not
also include unplugging all the wall-warts that power the "off" things,
then that's a power sink, too.

Motion-activated exterior lights?

Jonesy
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