How do you use your kill-a-watt?
 

I use mine to:

measure how much things like my computer or tv might use in a week of average use

check phantom loads

and test appliances against each other at the store

What about you?

The most often I let it from a few days to one week to measure the consumption of one system, or a set of systems. My kill-a-watt (which is from another brand) has the function to extrapolate for a week, a month and a year. I generally note the year forecast.

This is what I did before buying a new fridge. The old one was a 650kWh/year. When choosing the new one we could choose between 100 and 150kWh/year. If 150 is 50% more than 100, it's always 77% less than 650. We chose a 140kWh/year as it fitted our needs.

Less often I measure the instantaneous consumption. To forecast I use the rules : 1W = 1€/year = 10kWh/year.

Denis.

Can you give me a link to what you use? I know there are a bunch of others and I want to collect up a list so I can recommend a bunch of options and not just one thing all the time, :)

How old was the fridge you replaced?

I'm using an Energy Monitor 3000 by Voltcraft Plus Compteur de consommation électrique digital Monitor 3000, Programmateurs-compteurs conso, Programmateurs Prises Télécom. bought on conrad.fr : Programmateurs-compteurs conso, Programmateurs Prises Télécom., Electricité et Luminaires.

My old fridge was 11 years old, bought before the seller was obliged to show the consumption of the sold appliances.

Denis.

I recently upgraded from an 8 cu ft chest freezer to a 12. By testing the old unit first, and then comparing the EPA ratings on the new ones, I got one that uses less power than the old one. Kill-a-watt testing both side-by-side shows the difference to be even greater than the rating suggested.

Saving about 30% electricity with a bigger freezer = Win!

In the past I mainly used mine to find phantom loads and see how much juice different electronic devices pulled. However, with the new house, I'll be using it to see how efficient some of the appliances are. More specifically, the chest freezer.