Akula Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 I recently purchased a Whole Home Energy Monitor. Its super awesome. Why? I can tell you what my energy use is, currently. Go look at your meter and tell me what you are using, right now. Its not easy, and the power company likes it that way. I got a huge power bill and figured out my furnace had a problem. Well, if I had this thing I would have known the second day in the month that something was draining huge amounts of trons. Anyway, its a good thing. http://www.amazon.com/Efergy-E2-Wireless-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B003XOZG0Y/ref=pd_rhf_se_s_cp_5_SW9A?ie=UTF8&refRID=0K9CXPM305W4N7X7D7HK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojoe Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 Little more info. "Something draining power", do you have an example? Or do you mean just finding what is not being efficient? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinHawk1647545499 Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 worst plug ever for a product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyM3rC Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 Just got a message form AEP- "you are using 20% more than the average home in your area" and almost no fucks are given. Maybe tiem for solar panels? Did you write that off on your taxes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akula Posted February 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 Little more info. "Something draining power", do you have an example? Or do you mean just finding what is not being efficient? The furnace was low on freon, the pump was running all day every day. I was burning $30/day in electricity. Now I can see how much per hour I am burning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akula Posted February 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 worst plug ever for a product. Worst post ever for someone trying to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojoe Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 I really want to get better informed on the energy use in our home. I have, what should be a great set up, and I'm losing $$$ hard. I just don't know how to chase it down. So how does this unit tell you what item or area you are running the most? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drewhop Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 How was installation. I will be honest I have never opened my Electric box outside my house. What kind of range does it have. I have a bunch of walls and rooms between my electric box and the area I would want the monitor to sit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 I really want to get better informed on the energy use in our home. I have, what should be a great set up, and I'm losing $$$ hard. I just don't know how to chase it down. So how does this unit tell you what item or area you are running the most? I doubt it tells you what item it is. You have to chase it down. When the power consumption is high, you begin turning things off until the consumption drops. That is how you find out what item is using all the power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JuicedH22 Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 Here is how I monitor energy in my house: "Dammit Krystal! (my wife) Turn off the light when you leave the room!" -I can track where my wife has been through our whole house simply by the lights that are on, as she turns on lights as she goes into rooms, and doesnt turn them off when she leaves. "Dammit Krystal! I told you not to touch the thermostat!" -If it were up to the wife, it would be set at 67 or less in the summer and 75 or higher in the winter. (I flip that around, or close to... 69 in the winter, 74 in the summer) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojoe Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 Here is how I monitor energy in my house: "Dammit Krystal! (my wife) Turn off the light when you leave the room!" -I can track where my wife has been through our whole house simply by the lights that are on, as she turns on lights as she goes into rooms, and doesnt turn them off when she leaves. "Dammit Krystal! I told you not to touch the thermostat!" -If it were up to the wife, it would be set at 67 or less in the summer and 75 or higher in the winter. (I flip that around, or close to... 69 in the winter, 74 in the summer) Awesome!! Short story: I dated this hot, spoiled chick when I fIrst moved to Columbus. She shacked up with me for a year or so. We had dinner with her folks, almost weekly, it sucked a little. She was horrable about leaving lights on, so I started unscrewing them just enough so they wouldn't come on. She would get all pissed because she thought they were all burnt out. I would tell her to go buy new ones all the time. After buying a couple dozen, she realized they weren't burnt out. She was soooo pissed. So one week at dinner, she cries to Daddy about how mean I am to her and tells him what I've been doing. Dude stood up, and shook my hand with a huge smile. Then looked at her and said," I've been telling to do it for 20 years". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akula Posted February 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 I really want to get better informed on the energy use in our home. I have, what should be a great set up, and I'm losing $$$ hard. I just don't know how to chase it down. So how does this unit tell you what item or area you are running the most? It doesn't tell you the item that is drawing the most current. Its pretty easy to see though. If you are burning 4Kw/h you probably have something running 220. That's only a few things. I did stuff like, run around and turn all my lights on and then turn them off. Lights burn alot. Today it spiked at 20K. That's my well pump running (220) and my furnace in emergency heat mode (more 220). I also have a Kill-A-Watt to monitor single items. LED bulbs do in fact burn way less juice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akula Posted February 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 How was installation. I will be honest I have never opened my Electric box outside my house. What kind of range does it have. I have a bunch of walls and rooms between my electric box and the area I would want the monitor to sit. My wife installed it using the FM provided. If you can't get it working, remember my wife did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drewhop Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 My wife installed it using the FM provided. If you can't get it working, remember my wife did. I was asking so I could see if I should make my wife install it or not.....(yeah thats it) Think I might try a kilawatt first. Much cheaper initial investment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akula Posted February 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 Kill-A-Watt is nice for Wall Warts and other things that burn juice. I kinda want to have remote breaker control so I can kill all of the house but the heater. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spankis Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 I work for a large company that does large commercial building controls. We have the capability to control/monitor about any device really. We have our own "energy solutions" division that will evaluate the energy use of a particular site, propose a plan to save energy through operational changes and some equipment improvements, and then guarantee those savings and ROI over several years following project completion. Cool thing is, if those guarantees fall short, the customer gets a check. As part of these projects it's becoming increasingly popular to "sub-meter" individual buildings, tenants, pieces of equipment, etc. over recent years to see what is actually using what. It's pretty common to totalize all the data and output summaries to a person in charge daily/weekly/monthly/whatever. Some customers will actually ask that we display this data live in their lobbies, or near the front desk or something to help people better relate to their personal consumption. I also see more and more cracking down on old ladies with a fan, a space heater, and 3 desk lamps in their cubicle. As for residential, I saw LED bulbs mentioned somewhere above, and I've had great luck with the CREE led bulbs sold through home depot. They come in an incandescent identical "warm white", and a purer white but not blue "daylight" color temperature. So far they are only available up to 60w incandescent standard I think, and 65w incandescent flood. Go get some Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drewhop Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 I work for a large company that does large commercial building controls. We have the capability to control/monitor about any device really. We have our own "energy solutions" division that will evaluate the energy use of a particular site, propose a plan to save energy through operational changes and some equipment improvements, and then guarantee those savings and ROI over several years following project completion. Cool thing is, if those guarantees fall short, the customer gets a check. As part of these projects it's becoming increasingly popular to "sub-meter" individual buildings, tenants, pieces of equipment, etc. over recent years to see what is actually using what. It's pretty common to totalize all the data and output summaries to a person in charge daily/weekly/monthly/whatever. Some customers will actually ask that we display this data live in their lobbies, or near the front desk or something to help people better relate to their personal consumption. I also see more and more cracking down on old ladies with a fan, a space heater, and 3 desk lamps in their cubicle. As for residential, I saw LED bulbs mentioned somewhere above, and I've had great luck with the CREE led bulbs sold through home depot. They come in an incandescent identical "warm white", and a purer white but not blue "daylight" color temperature. So far they are only available up to 60w incandescent standard I think, and 65w incandescent flood. Go get some I am about half way thru switching entire house to LED. the bulbs are awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akula Posted February 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 So, tell your company that I want to submeter every breaker in my house. I also want to graph utilization. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyM3rC Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 am I the only one that has about 33% of my LED or CFL bulbs crap out within the first year? Cheapy lowes or HD bulbs are junk, I swear. Saves you $3 in electricity, costs you $20 in replacement :lolguy: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akula Posted February 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 CFLs seem to be junk. I just bought some Philips LEDs that were $8/each. I hope they don't suck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trouble Maker Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 Do LEDs enough lower energy consumption than CFLs to make them worth it? I've looked up specs a few times and they seem only slightly more efficient at this point, and a lot more expensive. Hopefully that get's flipped by the time we run out of the CFLs we have because I would love to go all LEDs once that happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spankis Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 (edited) So, tell your company that I want to submeter every breaker in my house. I also want to graph utilization. That sounds pricey, but sure. I'll ask because I'm honestly interested in what a home might cost. am I the only one that has about 33% of my LED or CFL bulbs crap out within the first year? Cheapy lowes or HD bulbs are junk, I swear. Saves you $3 in electricity, costs you $20 in replacement :lolguy: Don't buy the lowes or home depot brand. Buy Philips or Cree, and maybe sylvania though they don't have a ton of LED stuff yet. The utilitech and hdx stuff is generally junk. Feit electric anything I've bought tends to be junk. Do LEDs enough lower energy consumption than CFLs to make them worth it? I've looked up specs a few times and they seem only slightly more efficient at this point, and a lot more expensive. Hopefully that get's flipped by the time we run out of the CFLs we have because I would love to go all LEDs once that happens. Leds are longer lasting, dimmable (all the new ones are) and are instant-on full brightness (no warmup time). They are also much more durable than CFL's, and are capable of producing a nearly infinite range of color temperatures (warm to cool white). People frequently bitch about non-incandescent bulbs because the color bugs them or it isn't as pleasant. Edited February 11, 2014 by spankis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustlestiltskin Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 Here is how I monitor energy in my house: "Dammit Krystal! (my wife) Turn off the light when you leave the room!" -I can track where my wife has been through our whole house simply by the lights that are on, as she turns on lights as she goes into rooms, and doesnt turn them off when she leaves. "Dammit Krystal! I told you not to touch the thermostat!" -If it were up to the wife, it would be set at 67 or less in the summer and 75 or higher in the winter. (I flip that around, or close to... 69 in the winter, 74 in the summer) Story of my life right here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drewhop Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 CFLs seem to be junk. I just bought some Philips LEDs that were $8/each. I hope they don't suck. All the LEDs I am using are the Homedepot 8-10 dollar bulbs. Some of them are over a year old now. I have not replaced a LED bulb yet. I cant stand the fucking CFL tho those bitches blow every 6 months like its there job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs.cos Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 My wife installed it using the FM provided. If you can't get it working, remember my wife did. Your wife's pretty awesome though- let's be honest here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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