For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

We have mention Kwh meters on here before.

Here is an affordable one

Plugin KWH Meter

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

It costs nothing to read the meter once a week.

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

Jambutty , seriously you should stop wrecking threads!

Neil suggests something for people , to help them out and you have to come out with comments no-one wants to hear. Maybe people dont have the time like you to keep a record each week and just want to look at that and see how much they have used etc.

Why are most threads on accringtonweb wrecked by people like you , i really dont get it all. I think you should make your own Forum , and all the jambuttys of england can join and entertain each other by there constant negative posts, this tbh would save many people getting anoyed on forums throughout britain.

Oh and btw we have one of these and are extremely helpful! :) I would recommend people to buy them!

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

Cheers Neil. Been looking for something like that to measure the usage of one particular item in our house. Last time I looked cheapest I found was around the £20 mark.

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

hey fcstanley be careful, you be be accused of being in the clique.:rofl38::rofl38::rofl38:

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

I have one, they are difficult to set it up accurately, if you look at your last lecy bill, it shows so many units at one price & the remainder at another price.
I averaged them out and set the meter, thought it would be all my electronics, computers and such, it isn't, but when I plug the electronics in, it shows 20 watts, before I even switch any thing on, can't find the source of the 20 watts. Checked the TV, and Sat box they use more than my computers, kettle, wow, its cheaper to boil a mug of water in the microwave than in the kettle, after six weeks my computer corner had only used 12 quids worth of lecy, still don't know where the rest of the last lecy bill is being used. We have low energy bulbs throughout the house, during the night the only thing still plugged in re the fridge, freezer, burglar alarm and the electic alarm clock, every thing else is unplugged.
Retlaw.

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

yeah but jambuttys worked out exactly what every elecrical item costs per day to run.....Just in case the electric company try to rip him off

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

A bit of an obvious post that mate.

The idea of the unit is to monitor just one item, not the whole house. You could see how much electricity you use on your washing machine for a month then maybe try and change the way you wash. Wait till you have a full load or whatever. Then see over the next month if it made a difference.

Or Margaret R can see if her energy saving plug works on her fridge or not.

Work out the savings by unplugging you TV instead of using standby - is it really worth doing?

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

Seems like a good piece of kit and affordable, was going to look at the item again but the site is unavailable at the moment.

Will be looking around to get something similar to see if any savings can be made.

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

My first inclination was to just ignore your childish outburst like I have done on other recent digs and snide remarks by others in other topics.

However I do agree with you that many, if not most, threads are wrecked by someone dragging them off topic and ending up more like the script of a chat room than a discussion. I take it that you will now castigate those offenders as well and not just jump on the “slag off jambutty” bandwagon. I won’t hold my breath.

So as Neil suggests something it is OK but when I suggest something it is not. That does show your jumping on the bandwagon bias. To quote what has been quoted at me a number of times – GET A LIFE!

How do you know that no one wants to read what I write? Since when have you been empowered to speak for the rest of the forum members? If you don’t want to read what I write then don’t read it. It’s not rocket science.

Hmmmm! Let me see! “It costs nothing to read the meter once a week.” Nothing there about keeping a record.

In fact if more people read their meters regularly and understood their energy bills and how they were calculated there would be fewer ‘mistakes’ in favour of the energy companies.

Before anyone has a go at me for dragging this thread off topic I would like to remind them that I didn’t attack myself.

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

You’re darn tooting that I can and practically every quarterly bill that I get I can find some error to my disadvantage.

The most recent one being that the bill was calculated using the date that it was sent and not on the date of the meter reading two days previously. The cost to me would have been a few pounds.

How many other bills were calculated the same way?

How many other people noticed and forced E·ON to re-calculate their bills and put a refund on the next bill? E·ON stood to make an extra few million.

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

Go on, have an argument with yourself. Its fun you can really go to town with the insults and no one will complain except maybe yourself..

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

I have found this really useful site which advises you how much each of your appliances cost to run and even differentiates for your particular energy supplier
Saving energy at home, white goods, electrical entertainment

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

I am pig sick, after getting both gas and electric down .. just looked at my electric meter, and it has jumped up 90 kWh in 5 days !! Aaah! This roughly means in terms of per month around £100.

Can only be the blow heater (which won't go to top heat anyway .. faulty). Previous to that only used 114 kWh in 26 days. Trying to save energy by not putting my gas central heating on at the moment, and cutting down on the water heating.

Doesn't show blow heaters does it Margaret, know they use a lot, but this is excessive. A gadget as suggested by Neil would show me for sure if it is this.

P.S. May I borrow yer fur coat.

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

I know you are waiting but I am not saying it :p

I suspect your fan heater will use a lot of power. Probably rated at between 2Kw to 3Kw thats 2 or 3 units per hour.

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

That makes sense Neil .. have probably had it on for about 5 hours per day over the last 5 days. Practically just live in the back now, and no need, at the moment, for heating in the rest of the house. Ok. heater getting chucked .. back to the drawing board.

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

Do you have a combi boiler and thermostatic valves?

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

Niels right about combi boilers and thermo valves.
trouble is most people dont use the timer on the boiler & the thermo valves properly, why does your bathroom need to be the same temp as the living room all the time, same for the other rooms in the house you don't use much, they only need to be kept aired. As for electric heaters they realy burn leccy, wouldn't have one given.

Retlaw

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

Understand where you are heading here Neil.. no, don't have Combi .. not viable to buy one .. probably wouldn't live long enough to reap any savings.:D

As to thermostatic valves on radiators .. only one has (in the back) Has been discussed as would just keep the other rooms just aired when the Central Heating is on. However, the radiators in the back, although hot, don't give me enough warmth without any type of direct heat. I'm soft.

Another nuisance, as I found out recently when British Gas fitted a new timer, is that the heating will not work without the water being on ! All those years I presumed it did, as this is the facility that the timer appeared to have .. they say definitely not .. not wired up for that. Wished they'd told me that years ago !

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

Kate, how old is your heating system/boiler. If the heating worked without the hot water being on it should still do the same.
Could you run the heating on its own before BG fitted a new timer?
The boiler is not a combi, so you must have a cylinder, has that cylinder a thermostat on it, half/three quarters way down the cylinder?

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

Thanks for your interest Park ... yes, is a cylinder and no the cylinder does not have a thermostat. Boiler at least 12 years old. Present cylinder about 10 years, but most of wiring/radiator system been in 34 years.

I always thought the heating ran without the water on, because the facade of the timer said I could.. but the BG fitter told me couldn't possibly have done in the past because not wired up to do so. There again, did used to run the hot water constantly with the heating anyway, so never knew all those years .. :rolleyes:

Brother had arranged with a Plumber to fit thermostats on radiators, ah ! that was last year; rang up to remind him, he had forgotten, but would put me at the top of his list ... that was a month ago ! Am now going to contact a certain Gas Engineer to see if he wants a job.

Thanks for this thread Neil, has helped me tremendously. Brother actually had one of these devices, and showed me how it works, particularly on fan heaters ... gulp.

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

Kate, you could also turn the radiators to almost off in the room you only want aired. Turn the valve all the way off. Then turn it on 1/4 turn. If this is not warm enough try another 1/4 turn until you get the desired effect. Not as good as a thermo valve but better than the heating being full on in rooms you don't want.

As for the heating not working without the water on it will not matter that much. Once the water is as hot as it can be it will only take heat from the boiler as the water in the cylinder cools. With a good insulation jacket this won't be too much. When you have a thermostat on the hot water cylinder you can set the hot water temp so save energy by not having the water hoter than you need it to be. In your case you probably set the hot water temp by adjusting the temperature on the boiler itself.

I think turning the boiler temp down will use less gas overall but it may take a little longer to warm the house up ( and your hot water will not be as hot )

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Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

If anyone uses E-on for both gas & electric then I have sorted a little spread sheet that will give you some idea of the cost of energy used. I say E-on because I know what they charge for primary, and secondary units. All you need is the previous meter readings from the last energy bill. and a current reading which you take yourself.
PM me if you want a copy of the spread sheet

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

I doubt Kate has gravity hot water. It is more than likely fully pumped with either a single pipe flow return like mine is or seperate flow and return pipes running around the house. I have all TRV's and no bypass because it is a single pipe system.

It all depends on the plumber at the time and 35 years ago when it was first installed it could have been done a few ways. My hot water coil comes of my single pipe just like a radiator does. I fitted a 2 port valve and thermostat to the cylinder so I could run the boiler at a high temp to heat the house without the water being dangerously hot for the kids.

Looking at my heating circuit i think Stevie Wonder did it.

I actually think the hot water was originally heated by a back boiler behind a coal fire and modified several times long the way. I have 1/2" 3/4" 15mm and 22mm copper in the house and a small amount of 15mm plastic.

Do I want to rip it all out and start again so it works properly - Yes. Do I want to remove floorboards and carpets in every room with a wife and 3 kids running about - No thanks. So it will stay like it is for now :)

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

Technical information going over my head now fellas. Apologies to members for my self-indulgence on my own problem, however, hope has been useful.

Little aside: Had to laugh at an energy saving tip by a ring in listener this week. 'Turn the radiator off in the bathroom, is cold and makes you pee quicker so saving the light you would put on' :D

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

I do know about several plumbing methods, I just don't want to change mine, even though mine is terrible at the moment.

I suppose working for Baxi I must have learnt a bit :rolleyes::D

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

Can you not pee in the dark Kate? :confused:

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

No prefer with the light on these days .. whoops better stop now while I am ahead. :D

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Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

Nope 3/4" and 22mm

A company in Preston I enjoyed working for (in the main anyway ;))

I did not realise we were scoring points

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Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

The gravity hot water would only have been used if the pipe runs were not too far from the boiler to the hot water cylinder.

Even worse my cylinder is a primatic one with the magic air bubble :)

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

First of all Neil started this thread to let people know about these devices not for you to just come on and give negative comments about them and to disagree. Why not make your own thread about these items to disagree instead of wrecking a perfectly helpful thread?

Secondly im not quoting a copy of what people have said because ive jumped on the "bandwagon" , its just my opinion and if people keep on quoting the same thing does this not mean anything?!

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

Boiler ground floor, cylinder first floor in cupboard, complete with cold feed and open vent connections :D
Will give you that one,why not change it for an albion superduty type cylinder, or better still a Heatrae Sadia Megaflo, you could have a power shower then :D

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

They cost money - quite a lot of money no doubt or I might. I might get decent hot water flow as well then

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

Why not go green and replace your boiler for one of the New Combi boilers that Baxi/Potterton are now manufacturing. Think of all the energy you would save, the pay back period would not be all that long :D

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

I dont know how much the original units were as they are no longer available, however Maplin & others seem to sell similar units for a tenner.

Although these do not show the use of the equipment that is hard wired/overall.
I think I want one of these so I can tell what the kids PC use is costing us :D

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

Dispatches did a very interesting programme about energy suppliers and trying to make savings last week. Very enlightening

Re: For those of you who want to monitor you electricity usage
 

I watched that, it was especially frightening to see that the 3 boys spending only 4 hours a day on computers, xbox's etc used £300+ of leccygogo a year.

I have 3 kids spending between 6-9 hours a day.

I want a meter or 3 :D

(I wonder if I can get hold of some freebie ordinary leccy meters & wire them up, one for each kids bedroom lol).