Kill A Watt Power Meter for $20

Steve said:
My local Lowes has the Reliance Controls AmWatt for $25.
That AmWatt looks like it only gives an instantaneous reading. The Kill-A-Watt is better because it gives cumulative reading, which is important for things with a varying load (like refrigerators).
 
Thanks BSR,

My order is placed.

Had been planning to get something like that for my portable generator for some time.
 
Are these just a curiosity tool or are you guys using them for a "reason"? I can't for the life of me figure out what the benefits are. Is this a case of can't see the trees for the forest?
 
Rupp said:
Are these just a curiosity tool or are you guys using them for a "reason"?
They let you figure you where your electric bill goes. For example, use one on a refrigerator for a week or a month. Then at the end of your test period, look at the unit and read how many kwh it used. Do a little math and you can see that your fridge used X% of your power bill for the month. Then you can make decisions such as when to replace or repair an appliance based upon it being an energy hog. They also let you see how much power your computer & AV equipment uses, since their power draw varies with usage.

If you have something with a constant current draw, like a small heater, you can use the total power used divided by the time you tested to determine what percentage of the time it is on.
 
Yep, was replying, then saw Wayne's reply and that explanation is a good one.

You can do the same thing if you are monitoring current for a device, except you will need to know the time factor so you would have to have it logged somehow (i.e. know for how long that current was reading it's value). And of course the accuracy would depend on that time resolution.

This meter does it in a lot more easier fashion. ;)
 
I'm going to use mine to chart the cost/hr of various devices and then have stargate make reminder announcements of what has been left on and how much it has cost so far.
 
Ok bear with me but if I find that my refrigerator (for example) is a power hog, would I really go buy a new frig for hundreds to save a few bucks? I guess I need to get one of these just to see why I need one. ;)


Thanks Guys.
 
Of course not Rupp, there is ALWAYS the sheeet to worth ratio in all decisions ;) .

But, it may help you decide for instance if you want to leave a non-critical PC on all the time...
 
Rupp said:
would I really go buy a new frig for hundreds to save a few bucks?
Well, if you can spend $400 to save $10 per month and the device is expected to last 10 years, you would save $800 overall. ($10 x 12 months/year x 10 years - $400) YMMV, this is just an example, but lots of consumer groups do recommend replacing old appliances to save money, even after buy a new appliance.
 
Not exactly the same but I replaced an old gas hot water heater 6 months ago. A regular hot water heater would cost $850 installed. I wnet and priced a low end tankless hot water heater that I could install myself and in total it came to $650.

So I went and put in the tankless and saved $200 up front (although it was a lot of work). 3 months later I got an adjustment notice on the balanced billing of my gas bill. Usage was down 35% and cost was going down about 25% or $33 a month.

It pays to research cost savings because sometimes it can be significant.
 
BraveSirRobbin said:
Of course not Rupp, there is ALWAYS the sheeet to worth ratio in all decisions ;) .

But, it may help you decide for instance if you want to leave a non-critical PC on all the time...
Now that's what I was looking for. Put one of these on the kids PC's and I'm sure I'll want to automate turning these off. I really do not want to know what my weather and HA servers cost or it may make the hobby less fun.
 
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