Anyone using a home energy monitor?

Prophet · 12 Jan 2009 at 16:10

I've been looking at the OWL range of products as I'm interested in seeing what my real energy consumption is. These devices fix directly to the main power supply on your meter so get a good reading on exactly whats going on.

Seen them for around £25 delivered.

Does anyone use these? Any comments about them would be appreciated

rsatd · 12 Jan 2009 at 16:22

Ohh I would like to know about this as well.

J.B · 12 Jan 2009 at 16:24

My dad has one hooked up. its quite interesting to see the energy usage when everyones up and doing stuff and how it changes.

Prophet · 12 Jan 2009 at 16:27

That's the main reason I want one. Will be good to know just how much my house uses at idle and when I'm on the PC, watching a film on the plasma while charging my mobile lol.

Bennie-Mac · 12 Jan 2009 at 16:35

My home energy monitor is my bill. If its too high then i make sure i turn stuff off more for next month. Saves £25 buying the meter anyway

Prophet · 12 Jan 2009 at 16:38

Bennie-Mac said:
My home energy monitor is my bill. If its too high then i make sure i turn stuff off more for next month. Saves £25 buying the meter anyway

So you wait for a bill, turn something off then wait for the next to see what the power usage is.

Now that's dedication

Bennie-Mac · 12 Jan 2009 at 16:41

Orange Peel said:
So you wait for a bill, turn something off then wait for the next to see what the power usage is.

Now that's dedication

Not really my bills are generally pretty low, had one a couple of months back that was a bit higher than usual so just turned my pc off at night and made sure i didnt leave lights on in other rooms. brought it back down to normal

Its common sense really, when electrical goods are on, they cost you money. When they are off, they dont.

kinetic747 · 12 Jan 2009 at 16:44

We've had one a few weeks now and it is pretty useful. You can quickly learn what your energy hungry appliances are actually costing you to run i.e tumble drier, cooker etc. and then punish your wife accordingly if said appliances are over used.

Bennie-Mac · 12 Jan 2009 at 16:45

kinetic747 said:
We've had one a few weeks now and it is pretty useful. You can quickly learn what your energy hungry appliances are actually costing you to run i.e tumble drier, cooker etc. and then punish your wife accordingly if said appliances are over used.

Or under used

Wheres my steak woman!

Prophet · 12 Jan 2009 at 16:48

Bennie-Mac said:
Not really my bills are generally pretty low, had one a couple of months back that was a bit higher than usual so just turned my pc off at night and made sure i didnt leave lights on in other rooms. brought it back down to normal Its common sense really, when electrical goods are on, they cost you money. When they are off, they dont.

My bills are fairly low too but I'm interested in knowing what uses what power. It would also help with faulty equipment that's draining too much power. A friend had a heater in his garage that was only used on cold days when working there. It was using enough energy to power all the lights in the house, when switched off! 2 years without knowing and the £25 is a small price to pay IMHO.

Bennie-Mac · 12 Jan 2009 at 16:53

Orange Peel said:
My bills are fairly low too but I'm interested in knowing what uses what power. It would also help with faulty equipment that's draining too much power. A friend had a heater in his garage that was only used on cold days when working there. It was using enough energy to power all the lights in the house, when switched off! 2 years without knowing and the £25 is a small price to pay IMHO.

Well when you put it that way then i withdraw my previous arguement, that is a valid point. All i know is kettles are one of the worst applianced to have on.

Prophet · 12 Jan 2009 at 16:55

Bennie-Mac said:
Well when you put it that way then i withdraw my previous arguement, that is a valid point. All i know is kettles are one of the worst applianced to have on.

Yeah, anything electrical that heats is a git for sucking power.

Another good example was another mate who had 2 air con units in his house. He wouldn't belive me about the power they use unitl I borrowed a meter. Almost £10 a day just to keep cool. I advised that he switch them off and wear shorts lol.

Tony Williams · 12 Jan 2009 at 17:39

I got something like this from B&Q for <10gbp. How come when you charge something like a phone they don't show any wattage?

Prophet · 12 Jan 2009 at 17:50

Tony Williams said:
I got something like this from B&Q for <10gbp. How come when you charge something like a phone they don't show any wattage?

The device may not been sensitive enough to pick the power usage up.

SimonCHere · 13 Jan 2009 at 09:27

I got one for Xmas. Great things.
Watch out though, you get paranoid. You may end up running round the house trying to work out what just made it jump up.

I was pleasently surprised to find how little my PC used when idleing.

Passive cooling has it's benifits.

Simon

4T5 · 13 Jan 2009 at 09:33

I have a Pre payment meter.
Best thing I ever did concerning house bills was to get the meter even though it costs a tad more per unit. Since having the meter my usage is constantly monitored as I put in a couple of times a week. I reckon I save a tenner a week easy since getting the meter & that is 120 quids a quarter to spend on Fun/Toys etc
I advise Everybody to monitor there leccy as Quarterly bills put you in a bad state of mind when it comes to usage.

Happy · 13 Jan 2009 at 09:35

Orange Peel said:
I've been looking at the OWL range of products as I'm interested in seeing what my real energy consumption is. These devices fix directly to the main power supply on your meter so get a good reading on exactly whats going on.

Seen them for around £25 delivered.

Does anyone use these? Any comments about them would be appreciated

They are very good, and a bit of an eye opener