Best Electricity Consumption Monitor? (1 Viewer)

[Yorick]

Got the first leccy bill a few days ago and it was about €80. Not too much, but that's for 2 weeks . About 440 KHW units

The pool pump is on 10 hours a day, but as it's 0.75 Kw rated, would only be about 100 units in the 2 weeks, so there's summat else just eating the leccy <Broken link removed>

So need to get a monitor, to find out what's going on.

Looked around and there's loads of these monitors, but not sure which are any good. Any recommendations ?

TIA

 

[Gorse Hill]

Got the first leccy bill a few days ago and it was about €80. Not too much, but that's for 2 weeks . About 440 KHW units

The pool pump is on 10 hours a day, but as it's 0.75 Kw rated, would only be about 100 units in the 2 weeks, so there's summat else just eating the leccy <Broken link removed>

So need to get a monitor, to find out what's going on.

Looked around and there's loads of these monitors, but not sure which are any good. Any recommendations ?

TIA

Does the pool have a heater
Autometers do a very good single phase multifunction Meter

 

[pyro]

Just a thought and seeming to remember the property is new to you....

Not by any chance one of these fancy salt based pools, which rely on electrolysis to convert to chlorine?

If it is, then you are burning at least 5KW/H every day over and above pump consumption at 10 hours a time. We had this problem, and a chat with the pool installer sorted out a better schedule for the pump

Aside from that, check out your immersion (called "Resistance" in Portuguese) if you have a hot water tank, could be either a) badly timed, b) set too high or c) either or both the above

You haven't got any underfloor heating by any chance?

Sorry if it sounds like I'm trying to tell you how to suck eggs,

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[Yorick]

Does the pool have a heater
Autometers do a very good single phase multifunction Meter

Nope, not heated.

 

[Yorick]

Just a thought and seeming to remember the property is new to you....

Not by any chance one of these fancy salt based pools, which rely on electrolysis to convert to chlorine?

If it is, then you are burning at least 5KW/H every day over and above pump consumption at 10 hours a time. We had this problem, and a chat with the pool installer sorted out a better schedule for the pump

Aside from that, check out your immersion (called "Resistance" in Portuguese) if you have a hot water tank, could be either a) badly timed, b) set too high or c) either or both the above

You haven't got any underfloor heating by any chance?

Sorry if it sounds like I'm trying to tell you how to suck eggs,

The pool is a simple one. No heating at all in the house. And we've reset the immersion heater.Only other usage is lighting and they're all low wattage.

 

[Gorse Hill]

The pool is a simple one. No heating at all in the house. And we've reset the immersion heater.Only other usage is lighting and they're all low wattage.

Switch everything off and see if the KWh meter is still using units, then reconnect each circuit and check consumption
maybe somebody tapped into your supply

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[Yorick]

Switch everything off and see if the KWh meter is still using units, then reconnect each circuit and check consumption
maybe somebody tapped into your supply

That's why I want a monitor thingy

And nearest neighbours are 25 metres away.

 

[buttons]

If you get yourself one of these you will be able to identify what current each circuit is drawing. It shouldn't then be difficult to calculate where your 31kwh per day is going....
https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=ssl#q=measuring+current+using+clamp+meter&*&spf=64

 

[Gorse Hill]

That's why I want a monitor thingy

And nearest neighbours are 25 metres away.

If you isolate you main incomer, and the meter still clocking up units then someone tapped into your supply, within a few minutes you will know

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[buttons]

If you get yourself one of these you will be able to identify what current each circuit is drawing. It shouldn't then be difficult to calculate where your 31kwh per day is going....
https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=ssl#q=measuring+current+using+clamp+meter&*&spf=64

No idea what your electrical knowhow is but here is a ideate youtube guide on using a clamp meter.

 

[Podney]

Need a new meter?
I know nowt,just a thought.

 

[pyro]

Switch everything off and see if the KWh meter is still using units, then reconnect each circuit and check consumption
maybe somebody tapped into your supply

I'm assuming that the meter is probably situated well away from the house, as it is in many continental properties

The clamp meter approach would appear to be the best answer, switching off circuits one at a time to isolate where the current is being drawn.

Running a quick calculation, the 0.75HP pump equates to a load of approximately 600W/H, totalling 6KW/H over the course of each daily 10 hour cycle, that amounts to 84KW/h or 84 units over 2 weeks, which doesn't make that 100 units look so unreasonable if you factor in other things (e.g. dusk to dawn lights, etc)

I would simply power everything off via the main switch in the house, note the meter reading, nip out for the day and check it when you get back as a first step

10 hours/day is a long time to be running a pool pump. We have 2 daily cycles of 2.5 hours each on a 9 x 5 pool

Wait until you see the water bills, if they're anything like Portugal

Just thoughts

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[bigguspeckus]

That's why I want a monitor thingy

And nearest neighbours are 25 metres away.

Can you post a pic of your meter showing the tails (cables),,, and another pic showing your distribution board (fuse brd).
With the amount of circuits you are describing in the property there should be only 2 cables (plus earth) twixt the meter and fuse brd.... If the 2 cables from the meter go into a multi block with additional cables exiting that block, then you need to trace where those cables go.
It sounds deeply suspicious to me, even if you had your hot water immersion heater switched on 24/7 (they are thermostat controlled) the consumption wouldn't be anything like what you are describing.

 

[Yorick]

Can you post a pic of your meter showing the tails (cables),,, and another pic showing your distribution board (fuse brd).
With the amount of circuits you are describing in the property there should be only 2 cables (plus earth) twixt the meter and fuse brd.... If the 2 cables from the meter go into a multi block with additional cables exiting that block, then you need to trace where those cables go.
It sounds deeply suspicious to me, even if you had your hot water immersion heater switched on 24/7 (they are thermostat controlled) the consumption wouldn't be anything like what you are describing.

Here ya go...

 

[Yorick]

Bugger. It only chose 1 pic...

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[pyro]

Yep, almost identical set up to ourselves (don't you just love their consumer boxes?)

Let's see what the reading is when everything has been powered off for (say) 12 hours.

I reckon that the pool motor accounts for most of the consumption

 

[Gorse Hill]

Bugger. It only chose 1 pic...
View attachment 154032 View attachment 154033

18way with 3 RCDs, not being familiar with European boards looks like they use mainly radial circuits
Tails and main service head look ok, are both banks of MCB for your property ?
Given that the pump is using 6kwh per day (15p per kWh in U.K.) about £1 per day to run

 

[Yorick]

18way with 3 RCDs, not being familiar with European boards looks like they use mainly radial circuits
Tails and main service head look ok, are both banks of MCB for your property ?

Yes, the house was split into 3 apartments, but now we've combined the ground floor and top floor. Leaving the lower apartment for holiday lettings

Given that the pump is using 6kwh per day (15p per kWh in U.K.) about £1 per day to run

Now just gotta find where the rest is going...

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[Minxy]

Just turn everything off that you can and take a reading, then look again in a hour or so, it will give you a clue ... if it's still the same then it's something of yours drawing it, if not and it's gone up there's a fault or someone's nicking your supply somewhere!!!!

 

[pyro]

6 units a day/14 days = 84 units consumed

Leaves 16 units to be accounted for with lights, kettle, etc. sounds perfectly feasible to me

Knowing the Spanish, they've probably wired up the street light to your property

 

[Yorick]

6 units a day/14 days = 84 units consumed

Leaves 16 units to be accounted for with lights, kettle, etc. sounds perfectly feasible to me

Knowing the Spanish, they've probably wired up the street light to your property

I estimated that the pool pump at about 100 units. The bill was 440 units.

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[pyro]

Beg pardon, you did say 440 units originally, my bad.

That makes a serious disparity of 340 unaccounted units and that doesn't seem at all right. Over 24 Kw/h units a day on average, roughly 4A/H average unaccounted for drain.

As you have covered immersion heater, taken account of the pool pump and so forth, my only guess is that you may have a faulty water pump (if fitted, either well or booster pump) or someone is helping themselves, or the meter reading is wrong (presumably an actual reading and not an estimate?)

 

[Gorse Hill]

Beg pardon, you did say 440 units originally, my bad.

That makes a serious disparity of 340 unaccounted units and that doesn't seem at all right. Over 24 Kw/h units a day on average, roughly 4A/H average unaccounted for drain.

As you have covered immersion heater, taken account of the pool pump and so forth, my only guess is that you may have a faulty water pump (if fitted, either well or booster pump) or someone is helping themselves, or the meter reading is wrong (presumably an actual reading and not an estimate?)

Looking at the meter it is class 2, not really clear in the photos
In the U.K. They are 0.5 class accuracy when supplied by the supplier so allow for some inaccuracies but not what the OP is encountering
Unless you have a clamp Meter to see what current the pump is drawing best option is switch everything off and see if the meter reading going up
If not turn each circuit on one at a time and monitor reading for 15mins each time and calculate that way to establish which circuit is drawing what current ( leave the pump circuit till last)

 

[bigguspeckus]

I'm assuming that the meter is probably situated well away from the house, as it is in many continental properties

The clamp meter approach would appear to be the best answer, switching off circuits one at a time to isolate where the current is being drawn.

Running a quick calculation, the 0.75HP pump equates to a load of approximately 600W/H, totalling 6KW/H over the course of each daily 10 hour cycle, that amounts to 84KW/h or 84 units over 2 weeks, which doesn't make that 100 units look so unreasonable if you factor in other things (e.g. dusk to dawn lights, etc)

I would simply power everything off via the main switch in the house, note the meter reading, nip out for the day and check it when you get back as a first step

10 hours/day is a long time to be running a pool pump. We have 2 daily cycles of 2.5 hours each on a 9 x 5 pool

Wait until you see the water bills, if they're anything like Portugal

Just thoughts

Mabbees your quick calculation was a tad too speedy???

In the UK the cost of 84kwh is approx twelve quid,,,
I know the jolly old exchange rate has fell off the proverbial, but it canna be that bad, can it,?!!!

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[gus-lopez]

Why is the pool pump on 10 hours a day ?
All it needs to do is turn over the total capacity of the pool every 24 hours.
Easy way is measure the length x width x depth of pool = M3 divide by the capacity of pump in M3. = hours per day needed to run. Most pumps should be sized to turn the water over in around 6 hours. If it is running too long not only is it a waste of electricity but it also uses more chemicals.

It doesn't help find the 340 missing Kwh though.

 

[gus-lopez]

Just thinking about it are you sure the pump is actually going off ? I know it might be set for periods = 10 hours but timer could be faulty/on manual ? If it was on it would account for another nearly 300kwh

 

[Yorick]

Just thinking about it are you sure the pump is actually going off ? I know it might be set for periods = 10 hours but timer could be faulty/on manual ? If it was on it would account for another nearly 300kwh

I have turned the timer round and does go on/off. And can hear and not hear when I walk around the back of the house.

Btw, the pool is 8x4 x 1.4 deep. And the motor (100m) turns 400 litres per minute. I did work it out about needing about 2 hours, but not sure.

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[Yorick]

Beg pardon, you did say 440 units originally, my bad.

That makes a serious disparity of 340 unaccounted units and that doesn't seem at all right. Over 24 Kw/h units a day on average, roughly 4A/H average unaccounted for drain.

As you have covered immersion heater, taken account of the pool pump and so forth, my only guess is that you may have a faulty water pump (if fitted, either well or booster pump) or someone is helping themselves, or the meter reading is wrong (presumably an actual reading and not an estimate?)

That was the old meter and Bill was consistent with previous bills.

Since that bill I've gone daft and turned off lots of stuff. The new reading on new meter is 423 since 1st of month, so I have reduced it by a fair bit, but still some mysteries to solve.

 

[pyro]

On the pool motor, I reckon 90 minutes twice a day might be better. In Portugal EDP offer a discounted night rate after 9.30, no sure if you get the same

I know it is a new place to you, and it is always possible you may have something running in the background that is consuming power. Many people use wells for garden watering, for example, and if a pump were jammed on (leak or faulty switch off) that would obviously run up the power bill. We had an inline booster pump off the mains to power up the garden watering system that jammed on (and burned out) and that cost us a bit in electricity and water - not too mention the cost of replacing the pump.

I think all you can do is shut off one section at a time, noting meter readings. Personally I would shut off everything initially for 12 hours, to eliminate theft by someone else, then restore things bit at a time.

A clamp meter is useful for the tool kit anyway, and you don't need to go out and buy a top of the range item.

Not sure how many units we get through, but assuming similar costs, we're typically burning running around 140 euros/month - 190

 

[The Nomad]

Pump on TEN HOURS a day?

When we forst moved to Spain we started with all that malarky many many years ago. Till we found out how much it costs and how we didn't actually need anything like that at all in practice.

Nowadays our pump is not on AT ALL from October to late April. Water stays clear just with pool tablets.
Crap falls in due to sahara rain dust. Not a problem at all through winter.

Late April, use pool shock and multi action tabs, add a dose of floculante and do a couple of hoovers to waste; then we run pump for max 1 hour per day (in morning as we've opted for a night/day tariff. Saved us a fortune in leccy bills.

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