The Energy Meter Just Helped Me Solve A Problem

[velvetfoot]

I have a Nyletherm that works in concert with an electric water heater. I set it to "bypass", since I was working in the basement near the unit. I also turned on the electric water heater after the winter. I noticed that the heater's breaker opened after a while and was a little warm. I looked at my TED (The Energy Detective) meter and it said something like 8000 watts! It should be half of that since an electric water heater only is supposed to use one element at a time. I had wired in the Nyletherm wrong. Fixed it, all's well.

Just thought I'd share. Those meters can be useful.

 

[iamlucky13]

I've been thinking about getting one. After moving from an apartment to a house, my summer electricity use has been moderately higher. It's obvious that winter use would change, having a larger volume to heat and no shared walls to reduce heat transfer exposure. I haven't yet figured out why summer use has been higher. Both places had all electric appliances.

The local PUD has also been up to some new shenanigans that have raised widespread suspicion of the accuracy of the smart meters they've been installing. I want my own data to compare to the bills.

For a while, Amazon had the previous model of TED on closeout for an insanely good price. I put off buying one because I wasn't sure I could fit the unit in my breaker box. Now they're gone, so I need to sit down and compare the various other models available.

 

[maple1]

There are other types/brands of monitors also. I have been quite happy with my E-Matic (a rebranded Effergy, I think). Install was easy - long as you're not queasy about taking the cover off you panel & getting your fingers in there around those big wires, lol. They are very handy - right now I am steady at 390 watts.

 

[velvetfoot]

When I said "those meters", I meant energy monitors in general. I'm not crazy about the power line carrier mode of data transmission on the TED-interference from just about anything.

 

[Highbeam]

The local PUD has also been up to some new shenanigans that have raised widespread suspicion of the accuracy of the smart meters they've been installing. I want my own data to compare to the bills.

You must be from Snohomish?!

I have had my effergy online for a few years now and really do like it. That said, it never matches perfectly to the utility billing for a couple of reasons.

First is the voltage, I measure and input 120 volts for the effergy setup. The effergy clamp on reads current flow flux so it uses a voltage multiplier to get to watts which is how we are billed. I expect a similar thing happens inside the smart meter but it might be set to 125 volts which would report lower consumption than my effergy at 120. Real voltage varies slightly as well. Sometimes 117. Yes, I'm a dork and have a sweet plug in LED digital voltage gauge that bought for use in my RV when on genset or questionable quality power hookups but when I'm home I put the meter on the wall.

Second is the mysterious inability to ever see zero watts being consumed unless the power is out. In fact some items cause my wattage consumption to rise when I shut them off. There seems to be a weird phenomenon at low current levels.

Despite this, when my effergy says I am up 20%, my bill goes up 20%. So the relative consumption is pretty correct.

 

[iamlucky13]

Yes, Snohomish County.

Thanks for the feedback on the Effergy. It's useful to know it doesn't have separate leads to measure voltage. I assume then it also doesn't account for power factor?

I assume any unofficial meter I install should be considered to have questionable accuracy. However, too large of a difference between meters raises questions about the PUD meter, too. The difference in summer usage we saw moving from the apartment to the house was about 25%. Same number of people, both homes use electric water heat, we do similar amounts of cooking and laundry, etc. More lights, but more of them are CFL's or LED's. We now have a septic pump, but my calculations show it should use a tiny amount of power overall.

I figure if I buy a meter that shows much more than 10% difference with the PUD meter, I inquire about having their meter re-calibrated. If they agree within 10%, I assume the increased usage at the house is real, and I start monitoring individual circuits to better understand my usage.