How to make best use of 2kw electric. (1 Viewer)

[carolyn]

i don't really understand the "magic" that is electricity. We are booked on a site in Benidorm for 2 weeks in November, might stay longer, and 2 kw electric is included. We have a solar panel plus gas. Any electric we use over 2kw we are charged for, it is metered. We plan on using the gas for cooking, fridge and heating if it gets cold, hopefully not too cold. Do you unplug the hookup during the day so that any charging type of thing is done by the solar and then plug in at night for a bit of TV or would the 2kw run the fridge overnight. Am I overcomplicating things and do people just leave the hook up in and just run fridge on gas all the time. We just have a panel van. We are away for 5 weeks altogether.
Thank you in anticipation. We are not tight but having had the solar fitted we like to make use of it. We will be staying on campsites not aires at this time of year.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

I would just use the hook up to run the fridge-it wont use very much and should last the 2 weeks-save the gas for cooking .
I suppose you would have to refill your gas at some stage so take account of the inconvenience to refill the gas rather than use the sites electric also.

 

[RowleyBirkinQC]

I have no clue how efficient solar will be in southern Spain in November, but others here will have a good idea I'm sure. I guess it will depend on several variables (panels, position, weather, demand etc). If on gas all the time will you need to replenish your supply if you run out, how much can you carry, are you on calor, lpg tank etc? If calor do you need different regulator/connections to use European gas canisters should you run out? To be candid, I'm largely ignorant here, as the longest we get away is a couple of weeks due to the tyranny of work, so we carry enough calor to last trips of that duration.

Not sure if this helps, may help you calculate the electric used by your equipment relative to the electric supply?

http://www.cryer.co.uk/brian/misc/how_much_electricity.htm

If it were me I'd use the site electric for fridge.

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[Lenny HB]

I assume it is 2kw a day so won't be a problem leaving fridge on, if it's metered the meter should be on the pitch so you should be able to check it daily, I can't imagine they will check it daily so if on the site for 10 days you would have 20kw in total.

 

[tonyidle]

TV say 40W for 3h = 0.12KWh. Fridge say 120W but will turn on & off on the thermostat so say average 30W for 24h = 0.75KWh. Battery charging (even left on) pretty minimal given solar so probably less than 30W for 24h = 0.72KWh. Total 0.12 + 0.75 + 0.72 = 1.59KWh. Makes 2KWh look reasonably generous. If it was me I'd simply avoid using it for heating but wouldn't worry too much about the rest.

 

[Popeye]

If you have masses of solar then you could manage without the ehu. If you want to take full advantage run the fridge all day and plug in at night for telly and maybe a little heating.

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[funflair]

What you have is 2kw hours per day which is pretty stingy, so if your fridge is using say 100 watts your daily allowance would be gone in 24 hours. If you keep to just fridge on electric you will still have to pay some extra use but possibly less than a Euro.

We were on a site in Spain in March and they allowed 6kw hour per day and we managed to keep it just over 3 but the sun was shining and while we were sat around the van we ran the fridge on the inverter to make use of some spare sun.

Martin

 

[swidy]

ON my reckoning and I'm no expert but have been getting ready for a 12 month tour so been calculating cost of solar panels bigger batteries etc etc. a standard sized motorhome fridge uses just over 3kw in 24hrs, so you need to know how much a kW you will be charges extra. the same fridge on gas will use about 240 grams of gas in 24hrs, the gas bottle cost £20 for 6kg =£1.25 per 24hrs, hope this helps and if there are any experts out there do you agree with my calculations.

 

[funflair]

I think it was 40 to 50 cents per kWh.

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[Steve]

If it was me, then i would just have the fridge on electric and leave the rest to the gas and solor.
Steve

 

[Sheddy]

We were on the same system last winter on Villasol.
We have a 200w solar panel and 200ah of batteries.
When you arrive on site they read the meter, just make sure they have the correct reading.
When you leave they read it again make the allowance for your daily 2kw and charge you for the any above that.
We found that our fridge/freezer combined with our normal other usage would take us above the 2kw.
I bought 2 x 13kg local gas bottles and fittings, propane not butane as butane was freezing overnight for some of the time.We run the heating and the fridge/freezer mainly on the gas, keeping an eye on the meter then switching the fridge over to take full use of my lecy allowance. In the coldest spell we were using a gas cylinder every 10/12 days, replacement cylinders were 16/17€
We will be back this year and probably do the same, we still have the 2 local cylinders.
Cheers

 

[Lenny HB]

As you have a PVC I assume you don't have a large fridge freezer so you will probably be OK, have a look at the spec on your fridge it should list consumtion ss an average over 24 hours.

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[Lenny HB]

As you have a PVC I assume you don't have a large fridge freezer so you will probably be OK, have a look at the spec on your fridge it should list consumtion ss an average over 24 hours.

 

[Zains Pops]

2kw or 2000 watts at 220 volt is 9.09/24 = .378 amps per hour over the 24 hour period, which is unbelievably small.
Check if the 2kw is per hour or per day, if as you think it's per day it's hardly worth using.