Kill-a-Watt

All the different ways of solving the shelter problem. To be static or mobile? Roots, legs, or wheels?
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Ralphy
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Joined: Wed Jul 21, 2010 11:41 pm
Location: Iowa

Post by Ralphy »

Has anyone used one of these things to find out how much electricity their appliances/gadgets are using? Did you find out anything you were surprised by? Did you find that information to be worth the cost of buying one? I suppose the frugal thing would be to buy a used one, test everything out for a set period, then re-sell. I guess I'm just curious to get a better picture of where my utility payments are going.


jacob
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Post by jacob »

Yes, I bought one on eBay. I was surprised to learn that half of our electricity is used to cool a jar of peanut butter, some ketchup, and a few other condiments, and the other half is used by some kind of ghost sink, probably the battery charger/converter---I have not been able to test that directly yet.
Conversely, the electronics (laptops, wireless, ...) use almost nothing. I thought they were a much bigger factor.
You can easily sell it again on ebay and recover most of your cost. Actually, I ended up getting a new one because the spread is <$1.


George the original one
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Location: Wettest corner of Orygun

Post by George the original one »

If you ask around enough, you might just be able to borrow one instead of buying.


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