Shocked at oven power take when not being used.

[Jays2]

We are going to build a new pvc when it arrives.
We want to be all diesel and electric, with this in mind I decided to investigate how much power we consumed whilst cooking a typical meal on our induction hob in the house.
I borrowed a clamp on Amp meter, unscrewed the switch that controls both the oven and the hob, clamped onto the feed as it was easy to get to.
with nothing running apart from the clock, it showed a .71 current draw.
If I am right .71 x 240 volts = 170 watts per hour
170 x 24hours = 4.08 Kw per day!
At the new Electric cap price of 28.34 per KW that’s £1.16 per day or £422 per year.
will check out other items that we tend to leave on tomorrow

 

[MichaelT]

I am no expert but I think your maths/formula may be wrong. We have all electric Hob/Oven and smart meter and we use nowhere near that amount.

 

[David and Sally]

That sounds a lot.

 

[dazandandrea]

If thats the case all our electricity bill is
Just for the clock, surely not.

 

[Jays2]

Totally agree, but we went to France for 6 weeks September/October, when we returned I was surprised at the amount we had consumed whilst away.
Therefore tomorrow I will go to the consumer unit and start checking all the circuits.

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[Jays2]

I am no expert but I think your maths/formula may be wrong. We have all electric Hob/Oven and smart meter and we use nowhere near that amount.

The maths are correct amps X voltage = watts

 

[dazandandrea]

Im not disputing your results at all . If thats what youve found i know the last time we were away our gas was zero and electricity was pence per day plus standing charge .
Could there be something running that you are unaware of?

 

[David and Sally]

Maybe a switch on the unit is faulty and a ring is drawing a small current. 170 watts would be warm. Could the unit have a fault? Power just doesn’t disappear.

 

[MichaelT]

The maths are correct amps X voltage = watts

But dont we get billed in KWH?

 

[Themselves]

This can’t be correct. If all that is using power is the clock then a digital watch that fulfills the same purpose would run out of battery power in a day . Possibly an hour .

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[Jays2]

We used 61 units whilst away for 6 weeks, we also produce power which was 321 units for the same time period.
so consumption could of been higher but offset by solar input.
further investigation required.

 

[Pirahna]

I use a Webasto diesel hob and Truma 6de for cooking, heating and hot water, both plumbed directly into the van tank. I looked at an induction hob but the amount of battery and associated solar etc to keep the thing running off grid doesn't make it worthwhile. Diesel on the other is brilliant.

 

[Jays2]

But dont we get billed in KWH?

Yes you do, you get billed for the amount of KW you use.
A simple explanation is is you ran a 1 KW heater for and hour, you would be charged for 1 KW of consumed power.

 

[Jays2]

I use a Webasto diesel hob and Truma 6de for cooking, heating and hot water, both plumbed directly into the van tank. I looked at an induction hob but the amount of battery and associated solar etc to keep the thing running off grid doesn't make it worthwhile. Diesel on the other is brilliant.

I was a bit put off the x100 hob.
In the u tube we watched it took 16 minutes to boil a kettle for 2 mugs of tea/coffee.

 

[MichaelT]

Yes you do, you get billed for the amount of KW you use.
A simple explanation is is you ran a 1 KW heater for and hour, you would be charged for 1 KW of consumed power.

yes so how can a simple clock be using that much? As I said I am no expert but the figures do not seem right based on our usage where we are all electric.

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[Jays2]

The truma 6 de looks interesting, we had thought about a webasto thermo top evo 5 for hot water and heating.

 

[chaser]

No expert in maths or electric, but have you got the point in the right place?

 

[Jays2]

yes so how can a simple clock be using that much? As I said I am no expert but the figures do not seem right based on our usage where we are all electric.

Agree with you, it makes no sense, but we don’t have/want a smart meter, but would this show up potential issues with consumption like this?

 

[Lenny HB]

But dont we get billed in KWH?

Yes we do, 1unit is a kwh.

 

[Pirahna]

I was a bit put off the x100 hob.
In the u tube we watched it took 16 minutes to boil a kettle for 2 mugs of tea/coffee.

It does, that's why I have a 3000w inverter and electric kettle. For cooking it's excellent.

Going all electric makes sense if you're going to drive to a campsite with a decent hookup, if there's any off grid use in the plans then I'd be wary. I've seen van specced for all electric off grid, it had 6 lifep04 batteries and only one skylight on the roof to cope with the amount of solar panel required.

I've got a Panasonic electric combi oven/grill/microwave which I'll use for short periods, I wouldn't cook a roast unless I had electric hookup. I also run a 12v Thetford fridge, a great gadget but I have to be a bit careful. At any time of year I can survive without ehu indefinitely, if I run the fridge in winter it's 3 days tops before I need to run the engine. This is with normal usage, I boil the kettle via the inverter half a dozen times a day.

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[Kannon Fodda]

If your hob/oven is pulling that level of power when everything should be off there has to be a fault. That must be worrying as to whether the appliance remains even safe. You'll need to investigate further and if electrics aren't your thing that means getting someone in. At that level of background use, I would expect something, somewhere to be quite warm, it's the heat equivalent of a couple of old style light bulbs.

A smart meter can assist diagnosing what appliances are using what, if you are prepared to run around the house turning individual stuff on and off. The LED little display that is separate to the meter unit is connecting and get's updates from the meter, almost instantly, including a gauge setting that shows the current consumption in Watts, which should be quite accurate.

 

[ChrisL]

When you say you clamped the meter onto the feed were you clamped over the live and the neutral? I think you need to be clamped over just one not both.

 

[Lenny HB]

We are going to build a new pvc when it arrives.
We want to be all diesel and electric, with this in mind I decided to investigate how much power we consumed whilst cooking a typical meal on our induction hob in the house.
I borrowed a clamp on Amp meter, unscrewed the switch that controls both the oven and the hob, clamped onto the feed as it was easy to get to.
with nothing running apart from the clock, it showed a .71 current draw.
If I am right .71 x 240 volts = 170 watts per hour
170 x 24hours = 4.08 Kw per day!
At the new Electric cap price of 28.34 per KW that’s £1.16 per day or £422 per year.
will check out other items that we tend to leave on tomorrow

Something not right there, even if there was a cooling fan running I would only expect a 100ma draw not 700ma. A clock would only take a few ma.

 

[Spriddler]

with nothing running apart from the clock, it showed a .71 current draw.

What type of clock? LED, LCD, mechanical?
An electronic clock would probably only draw tens of milliamps.

 

[DandG5515]

Watts = volts x amps for dc only. Ac has another factor added, cannot remember if it is to do with square route of 2.

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[Lenny HB]

Watts = volts x amps for dc only. Ac has another factor added, cannot remember if it is to do with square route of 2.

Need to include the Power factor for true power but for general use V x A (apparent power) is near enough.

 

[MichaelT]

Agree with you, it makes no sense, but we don’t have/want a smart meter, but would this show up potential issues with consumption like this?

On our smart meter it normally says about 40p usage first thing in the morning so guessing 8 hours since midnight, that includes oven clock, micriwave clock, 2 TV on standby, 2 laptops and a screen, probably a phone and tablet on charge and whatever else is charging or on standby plus firdge/freezer, printer etc. so thats £1.20 a day which is about right.

I just looked at the smart meter energy breakdown you get with EDF and for February stuff on standby was £6, cooking £10, home entertainment £12.

 

[DandG5515]

Need to include the Power factor for true power but for general use V x A (apparent power) is near enough.

Yes power factor was what I was thinking of. I though it was about 0.7 for mains ac. I would question if the op was measuring amps or milliamps for a cooker clock.

 

[Jays2]

An update as promised, the cooker circuit had the oven and the induction hob connected to it.
I assumed the oven was the culprit, but on further investigations it’s the induction hob taking the .7 amp per hour.
Still switching them off except when in use.

 

[Richard n Ann]

An update as promised, the cooker circuit had the oven and the induction hob connected to it.
I assumed the oven was the culprit, but on further investigations it’s the induction hob taking the .7 amp per hour.
Still switching them off except when in use.

Is it getting warm anywhere?

I also suspect the clamp meter may not be 100% accurate and sometimes there's a zero button to press just before you clip them on or switch the load on

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