[SunRescue] Re: Power concerns.

[David Michaud]

On Thu, 08 Mar 2001 16:52:03, Tim Harrison wrote: 
> Recently, we received a few bills in the mail from ConEd, which didn't
> seem right.  Our first bill, with 8 machines running, came in around
> $130.  The next two consecutive months came in near $190.  Now, we
> didn't turn anything else on, and, in fact, turned one of the machines
> off.
> 
> What's the best way to find out exactly what amount of power a machine
> is drawing, and calculate ourselves exactly how much we should be paying
> (give or take some with the lights and television, etc)?
> 
> We CANNOT be using more power, with less computers running, and turning
> off lights constantly.  Something's fishy.  I want to find out if
> someone else is drawing power from our feed (we're in a house with three
> apartments).
> 
> Any info would be appreciated.
> 

You can get a clamp ammeter from Home Depot, etc. and measure the
current draw of each of your systems and appliances individually without
having to interrupt their uptime. You can calculate the wattage
consumption using W=V*A. You would add the wattage consumption of all
appliances you use on a time-use basis. For example, you would multiply
the total instantaneous wattage of all the items that run 24/7 by
672hours (24hours/day * 7days/wk * 4wks/mo). You could then make an
approximation of other items such as lights, by making an approximation
as to how long they are on during the course of a normal day. Add the
wattage of all of the lights, multiply that figure by the approximated
time figure. You would add all these watt-hours together and divide that
figure by 1000 to get kWh. Finally, you would multiply the total kWh by
the cost per kWh, which should give you a relatively accurate idea of
how much you should be paying on your monthly electric bill.

Regards,
Dave