Data logging equipment

[Rusty18]

I know data logging is used and presented on here in various places but I can’t find anywhere anyone spelled out what exactly they are using. From what I’ve found searching the web there are some temp/humidity collection modules out there reasonably priced. Anyone have any suggestions for run time of equipment? For example a heat pump, furnace coils, fridge. At the moment I’m think $ for $ getting a $30 temp module over WiFi and just clamping it on the lines coming from outside coil to inside coil will be my cheapest way to log when/how much my heat pump is running.
Would like to set this up to be pc based for customization/diy than a complete stand alone system like say a whole house current monitoring system.

 

[woodgeek]

I just run my HP on an ecobee and get all the logging I need, in a cloud and my phone.

 

[Rusty18]

I don’t have WiFi at the house.
I did find this thread though, a little more diy that what I was planning but looks like the patch I may need to go to get what I want.

Thread 'More: temperature sensors and digital readout/data logger'
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/more-temperature-sensors-and-digital-readout-data-logger.160667/

 

[peakbagger]

Hobo systems are plug in play and most have bluetooth capability `for wireless connection.

 

[Brian26]

I know data logging is used and presented on here in various places but I can’t find anywhere anyone spelled out what exactly they are using. From what I’ve found searching the web there are some temp/humidity collection modules out there reasonably priced. Anyone have any suggestions for run time of equipment? For example a heat pump, furnace coils, fridge. At the moment I’m think $ for $ getting a $30 temp module over WiFi and just clamping it on the lines coming from outside coil to inside coil will be my cheapest way to log when/how much my heat pump is running.
Would like to set this up to be pc based for customization/diy than a complete stand alone system like say a whole house current monitoring system.

You would want an electricity monitor. You could use it to monitor the usage and runtime of anything electrical.

I use a Efergy Engage electricity monitor. I have the standalone desktop display and online hub. I monitor 5 circuits with mine. The standalone unit is $79 and can connect to a pc to view the data.

You can get insanely accurate heating and cooling/heat loss numbers by measuring the runtime and comparing it to outdoor temps.

I just so happen to have run my oil furnace on Christmas as I had many guests over. I run heat pumps 95% of most winters. Here is the electricity chart below where you can see my forced air furnace cycling about once every hour or so. Zooming in you can see exactly how many minutes it ran. Let's say it ran 15 mins every hour when it was 20 degrees out. My oil furnace is around 80k btu so a 15 min run time is around 20k btu delivered. So a rough heat loss of around 20k/btu/hr at 5 degrees. The chart looks identical except a higher spike for the compressor load when cooling.

The smaller spikes like the one before 5 is my fridge cycling.

 

[sloeffle]

I've had the Efergy Classic for about 5 or so years now. It came in very handy when I was trying to figure out what the "engergy hogs" were in my house. It doesn't require Wi-Fi or any kind of internet connection.

The Efergy Engage definitely looks like a much better data logger than what I have.