Will the Navitron Whole House Energy Meter Save Me Money?

[Ivan]

Answer: No.

Having installed one at home, I've identified one of my electricity 'leaks' - my 25yr old zanussi freezer (in garage to reduce winter-time consumption) - using 1.3kWh per day. So now I am in process of purchasing an A++ category efficient freezer - same size, but consumption is 0.35kWh/day.

So far, installing the energy meter has cost me £300..........!

[Flamethrower_]

Ivan,

Ah.......the catch 22 scenario, do I invest to save now or do I wait and spend my money on fuel (hoping that appliances prices will drop).

All I know is that the £18.00 I spent on two Phillips 18W SL Comfort low energy light bulbs in 1986 was worth it  as they still are doing the job!

And 'her indoors' actually likes the shape now, suits the retro look of her lamp shades (who said about them looking ugly originally!)

Aye it comes to something when the converted are now working on me! (When I converted them!)

C'est la vie

Rob

[KenB]

Ivan,

I defrosted my Bosch freezer and the consumption dropped by 0.75kWh per day.

The fridge and freezer now only use 0.75kWh/day between them about average of 31.25W.

My night time base load is 70W,  I'm sure I could get that down if my wife would learn to switch the TV and video off completely when she comes to bed.

The Freeview box, the wireless router, and my 18 year old nephew who is staying with us this summer are still the main culprits - I've seen the size of his doc-martin boots, and he certainly has a larger carbon footprint that me ;-)


Ken

[goodnoisefella]

We sit our meter next to the TV, I'm always glancing at it....the number of times I've leapt up to turn the oven/hotplate....or something off, I reckon it saved its purchase cost in the first 6 months or so.

Beware though, my kids have renamed me Attilla the Watt, 'cos I'm always on thier backs to turn thier lights off.  I can tell who has left thier bedroom lights on from the load....drives them crazy.     

Paying for thier slackness used to drive ME crazy, revenge is sweet.

I urge everyone to invest in one, it will not only reduce your consumption, but will show you where the oppourtunities are to reduce further. A good thing.

Cheers
Tim

[Ivan]

Rob,

I still have two out of three original Phillips lamps from mid 80s too! They were sold with a 10yr guarantee, I seem to remember. One failed, although it did last in excess of 10years. The other two still work. One is in the airing cupboard, and my wife sneaked the other out of a bedroom fitting for a fancy new one. The only complaint I have about them is long warm-up time. It is very noticably dimmer on start-up and takes about 10minutes to reach full brightness...oh and they are pretty heavy, too. Can't fault their lifespan though - much longer than current low energy bulbs which sometimes only last a few years.


Ivan

[Flamethrower_]

Tim  (goodnoisefella)

Mine's on the coffee table

I am also called 'Big Brother is watching you' especially when that damned tumble dryer gets switched on!

I must say that it definitely makes you much more aware of what you are using

'Every home should have one'

Rob

[Flamethrower_]

Ivan,

Yes you're right about the weight, slow start up time and 10 minutes to get up to full brightness, but after 21 years use I'm not complaining!

It will interesting to see how long they will last (then calculate how much CO2 and money they will have saved me)

Rob

[Ivan]

My wife doesn't like them, so my investigation into their lifespan has to be called short after 21years! I would think they saved rather more energy than they took to produce during this time, though!

[KenB]

Rob, Ivan, List,

I threw our dammed tumble dryer out of the back door 2 years ago and its been there since.   It's one of the high wattage devices that I refuse to have in the house.

We try to run the washing machine only in the mornings of dry days, and make use of the dry weather to dry the washing on the line.

The tumble dryer was only evicted after a series of complex negotiations which involved me buying "her indoors" a brand new Bosch dish-washer to go in her newly refitted kitchen.

Part of the deal seems to be that I have to fill and empty the dish-washer, put the washing on and hang the washing out to dry.

Needless to say its been raining for the last couple of days and our kitchen/utility is piling up with damp washing. 

However if you choose to tread the path of energy enlightenment, you have to make a few sacrifices along the way.

I have noticed that once you start to shed some of your energy requirements, the natural weather can have a major influence on the way you do things and also seems to have a greater effect on the amount of energy that you use.

I have energy data going back 7 years, and in summer 2006 (hot, dry) I used hardly any gas.   Winter 2006/07 was warm (about 30% fewer cold days than 2005/06)and again my gas consumption nosedived from where it was in 2006.  Now Summer 2007 has been downright miserable, and gas and electricity consumptions are creeping up. Probably due to less hot water available from solar panel and more time spent at the PC on wet dull days, rather than working outside.

I have just heard word that my friend with the Lister genset in Belize has survived the night, despite being just 40 miles south of the eye of hurricane Dean.  I hope he got some photos.


Ken

[peter999]

 One the best thing I ever did was not to rid of the economy 7 tariff when we fitted central heating, electric cost during the 7 hr period is 1/4 normal unit cost so guess what

dishwasher washing machine any thing that us large amouts of lecy comes on during this period and this period ONLY.

I even use eco7 as i call it to recharge my battery bank if the solar/wind has not been to productive.

as for the damp washing the answer id a DEHUMIDIFER better than any tumble dry !!  drys your cloths and gets rid of condensation at the same time and guess what   yes you guessed it it ONLY runs during eco7 time!!

I have only really been energy aware since i brought an energy metre like the ones from Navitron I can safely say it has had a MASSIVE effect to the whole family, ours sits on top the tele and i can tell exactly what has been left on at any time. not a non low energy light bulb in the place..  as for the names the kids call me well this is a family forum so they would not be suitable to mention!!!

regards Peter

[room101]

With 9 of us in the house, including 4 young ones not having a tumble dryer would be out of the question, so many years ago i invested in a gas heated one, costs about the 1/4 of an electric one to run...

[Ivan]

I've managed to persuade my wife not to use the tumble dryer too much, but I can't stop her altogether. The towels only come out soft and fluffy if they are tumble dried apparently. I believe that you'd get the same effect by hang-drying and then tumbling for 10minutes (without heat) just to loosen the fibres.....but I'm not allowed to try!

[rhys]

Answer: No.

Having installed one at home, I've identified one of my electricity 'leaks' - my 25yr old zanussi freezer (in garage to reduce winter-time consumption) - using 1.3kWh per day. So now I am in process of purchasing an A++ category efficient freezer - same size, but consumption is 0.35kWh/day.

So far, installing the energy meter has cost me £300..........!

Ok i'll bite - i see ther is a new whole house power meter listed in the price list. i've been using the Electrisave for some time, but havent got the the add on board that someone, metioned on this forum to allow logging over time to a PC. Is this what the "new" item on the prive list does? Like the over priced Watson, which was featured on "click" the other night? If so I'll buy one. Any more details of the new meter? (BTW what's a tumble dryer? DO they come with 7.5 Kw Wind turbines? )
Ok Sorry just found this link in another post http://www.navitron.org.uk/powermeter2.htm been in NorthWales at CAT so missed that post.
Couldn't find a route to this from the navigation menu. So unlike the electrisave - this will record a few days usage in its own memory? A project for someone to build an interface to a PC then -

[KenB]

Rhys, List,

I believe that the Electrisave and the new power meter offered by Navitron are technically very similar products - I would almost go as far as saying that they are probably built by the same Chinese manufacturer but for different customers. Its amazing what you can do with improved software and a new plastic case.

The Navitron product is an improvement on the original Electrisave, mainly because it offers the means to compare consumption from day to day.

If you look at the Dutch Homeseer (home automation) site you will see that they give details of the protocol used by the Electrisave as being the same as used by Oregon Scientific for their wireless weather and temperature monitors.

RFXCom will sell you a 433.92MHz receiver to plug into the USB port that will receive, decode and log the data from the Electrisave.

Alternatively Iain Goodhew of Reading University has built a receiver with RS232 output which I believe he is selling for around £20.

Try Googling "Electrisave Protocol" for more details.    Electrisave also known as Cent-a-meter for some overseas markets.



Ken

[rhys]

Rhys, List,

I believe that the Electrisave and the new power meter offered by Navitron are technically very similar products - I would almost go as far as saying that they are probably built by the same Chinese manufacturer but for different customers. Its amazing what you can do with improved software and a new plastic case.

The Navitron product is an improvement on the original Electrisave, mainly because it offers the means to compare consumption from day to day.

If you look at the Dutch Homeseer (home automation) site you will see that they give details of the protocol used by the Electrisave as being the same as used by Oregon Scientific for their wireless weather and temperature monitors.

RFXCom will sell you a 433.92MHz receiver to plug into the USB port that will receive, decode and log the data from the Electrisave.

Alternatively Iain Goodhew of Reading University has built a receiver with RS232 output which I believe he is selling for around £20.

Try Googling "Electrisave Protocol" for more details.    Electrisave also known as Cent-a-meter for some overseas markets.



Ken

Thanks Ken checked out the RFXCom site The interface looks a good bet. From a quick browse I couldn't work out what additional software, if any,was required to use it with the Electrisave. Will investigate further, when I have a  hour or so.
Rhys