Power - what is your base load?

Ginger83 · 16-02-2022 12:13pm #1

I found a monitoring owl I must have bought before and decided to set it up. We are home most days and I have been keeping an eye on the monitor.

I noticed that our base load sits at 0.177kwh. Is this good or bad or normal?

What's your base load?

bullit_dodger · 16-02-2022 12:57pm

177 watts. Jasus I wish......!!

Under 200 is pretty good I think. Most people would be in the 250-300 Watt range. Lots of things that are on all the time which build up that you don't think of. House alarm, fridges, wifi router, mains powered smoke alarms, cable tv boxes (even in power saving mode)

Might be worthwhile spending 20 mins and seeing what makes up that 177 watts for you. Going to the fuseboard and throwing the trip switches will help isolate down the bits/bobs for you.

Ginger83 · 16-02-2022 1:07pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118640081#Comment_118640081

Yeah I will give that a go. We just switched stuff off before bed time that was not being used.

It dropped to 161watts for a moment then back to 177.I have no idea why.

bullit_dodger · 16-02-2022 1:44pm

I have an OWL sensor too, sometimes there's a random fluctuations on the device which I was never able to attribute to anything. Especially true the lower the current your getting. 10-20 watts fluctuations when you have 1.2Kw going through is like 1% (so pretty accurate), but of course a 10 watt fluctuation when you have 100watts is like 10% deviation.

Could be something like the compressor on the fridge turning off.

Another good thing to get is ...

Power Meter Dual Tariffs Upgrade, Maxcio Electricity Usage Monitor UK Plug for Costs Voltage Amps Watt KWH, Large LCD Display Energy Monitor Consumption Analyzer for Home Appliances, No Backlight : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

Course that only measures the power for that one device, but it does tend to be more accurate than the OWL for specific devices.

graememk · 16-02-2022 2:37pm

Also energy monitors without a voltage reference (and where in the sine wave it is) gets iffy below 200w.

Alkers · 16-02-2022 2:45pm

About 250w here but I don't measure anymore.

Have a big fish tank, lots of smart devices etc so thought it would be more

Ginger83 · 16-02-2022 6:15pm

I will do a bit more testing but my base load consists of:

fridge/freezer, house alarm, CCTV recorder, Internet modem, smoke alarms, heating timeclock.

I have a water filtration system also but I'm not sure if it uses constant power

bullit_dodger · 16-02-2022 6:28pm

Out of all the devices I've bought over the years, the OWL was probably the biggest/most ueful piece of kit that I spent £60 on. Learnt a load of what was consuming electricity in my place and adapted my behaviour to suit. Changed out the halogen spots for LEDs, when I saw how much power they were using, installed a few smart plugs so that I could set schedules to turn on/off at various times. etc

Your doing pretty well though if you <200 Watts. Job done really, but always nice to know what is using what.

loyatemu · 16-02-2022 6:30pm

I check our monitor when I'm going to bed and it's usually 20W either side of 200W - no idea what that consists of, fridge only uses power when the compressor is running, which isn't all the time. Other odds and ends in standby would by using <1W each (the idea that stuff in standby is costing you a fortune is a relic from the 80s; modern tech is much better). I do have WiFi mesh kit, there's 3 of those plus VM's router but they still can't be using more than a few watts each. Who knows...

Ginger83 · 16-02-2022 6:39pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118642299#Comment_118642299

It's interesting to see what uses what energy. My wife charged up 2 battery power bank things and it only jumped about 40 watts.

Ginger83 · 16-02-2022 6:43pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118642291#Comment_118642291

The owl is definitely a cool device. I have a beer cooler using 370 watts but I really expected it to be much higher.

bullit_dodger · 16-02-2022 9:26pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118642299#Comment_118642299

(the idea that stuff in standby is costing you a fortune is a relic from the 80s; modern tech is much better).

You'd think so......but no. Last Virgin Media set top box I had in "powered down" state - 18 watts! Haven't checked the new one i got 6 weeks ago. So while generally I'd agree with you that devices are much better than they were some years ago.....it's often surprising what eating stuff that you'd think would be virtually zero.

loyatemu · 17-02-2022 10:58am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118643181#Comment_118643181

If that has a hard disk inside it, that might be kept running (though you'd imagine anything recent will have a SSD). It was primarily TVs & stereos I was thinking about. Modern STBs are basically computers so how effectively they "sleep" will vary.

bullit_dodger · 17-02-2022 11:22am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118645294#Comment_118645294

Nahh - even a spinning magnetic shouldn't be using 18 watts. I'm a software engineer myself - and have built about 10-12 gaming rigs over the years. Those guys should be 2-3 watts max. But your right, in general manufactures have indeed improved the low powered state of their units.

My point though was more that there are many innocuous things in the house which you never think about which eat away and add to your base load. Course it depends on what you want to include/exclude in your "base load".

The pump on your heating system is another good one that people forget. You might have a gas/oil heating system and mentally think "ahh that's not using anything it's natural gas powered", but of course that 150-200 watt pump is needed to circulate the water!

rgfuller · 17-02-2022 12:10pm

I also have an owl, base load about 180w, it's amazing the number of low power things running with nothing actually on.

Alarm, Echo, Cd player clock, #1 Fridge Temperature, #2 Fridge Temperature, Oven Clock, Microwave Clock.

Underfloor heating controls, Household Heating controls, Virgin Media DVR, 8 x Powered Smoke/Carbon M Alarms, kids clock, dab radio.

Eddi & Solis Inverter, TV standby, Bluray player standby, Amp standby, 3 Home Plugs, Wifi Router, outside motion sensor lights.

harderthanf · 17-02-2022 12:10pm

Mine is about 300W. Septic tanks are often forgotten about. Took me a while to figure out the blower and pump where on when I thought everything in the house was off!

I am happy with the 300W though. I have 3 PC/Devices that are always on (media server, home assistant etc) so I am happy enough and that level.

Big Lar · 17-02-2022 12:52pm

Around 1-1.2Kw

Have two desktop PC's on here all day and most of the night, two laptops running as servers, cameras and wifi stuff. Could hire someone full time in this house to be going around turning off lights and switching off things.

Wife has a dehumidifier in the hot press and she always it on high (250w), every-time I pass I puts back to eco mode, (20-50w)

Alkers · 17-02-2022 1:21pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118645912#Comment_118645912

With the exception of the dehumidifier, everyting there shouldn't add upt to that much

bullit_dodger · 17-02-2022 1:43pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118646091#Comment_118646091

You haven't seem my computers!! Is that Base load? LOL! (Nahh, not even I consider that "base load")

Solid 1Kw-1.2Kw all the day is long. Guess I had a shower at 9pm last night :-)

Big Lar · 17-02-2022 1:51pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118646227#Comment_118646227

That's not a knife, this a knife !

Mr Q · 17-02-2022 1:55pm

I had an OWL and for some reason the fire detectors in the house would throw it off massively, took a while to figure it out. Edit: It could have been an Efergy meter that had that issue.

Now using one that counts the LED flashes on the meter and have no issues.

At one stage I had the base load below 100w per hour

Ginger83 · 17-02-2022 2:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118646309#Comment_118646309

Below 100w? That's impressive

reklamos · 17-02-2022 3:02pm

400-500W I have lab with multiple devices and a fish tank running 24x7

slave1 · 17-02-2022 3:05pm

Nothing fancy required, take a meter reading at bedtime and when you get up, this gives you true baseload.

Likes of laptop etc can be captured with another reading from when you get up until you go to bed.

I tracked this for a month prior to PV install, very little variance

Jonathan · 17-02-2022 3:12pm

Night time baseload is about 95W. Did a good bit of work minimising it before investing in Solar PV.

Ginger83 · 17-02-2022 3:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118646949#Comment_118646949

Any tips for others?

Jonathan · 17-02-2022 3:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118647003#Comment_118647003

Nothing other than the obvious steps.

Replace incandescent bulbs with LEDs everywhere. Replacing CFLs with LEDs is likely uneconomic, so you might want to keep them until they die and then replace with LED.

I replaced all of the sockets in the house to more modern ones that have switches on them. This makes it easy to switch off energy vampires.

The OWL/Geo Minim CT monitors are also very useful, as is the inline socket energy monitors linked above. The latter is particularly as it allows you to see the power factor of various devices, which you cannot see from a CT monitor. You aren't billed for reactive power, but it will show up on a CT meter (apparent power).

SD_DRACULA · 17-02-2022 5:27pm

Daaaaamn, 95w is nice. How you managed to do that? No fridge or internet at night?

I seem to be jumping between 200-300w at night but sort of expecting that, the more "smart" stuff you add the more power you use since they are on all the time for the wifi, hell all my light switches and sockets have their own IPs at this stage 😅

VirginMedia came to check something and was like over 100 devices on your network?

https://media.giphy.com/media/aZ3LDBs1ExsE8/giphy.gif

Jonathan · 17-02-2022 7:01pm

Per the graphs it seems to jump up to about 160W when fridge compressor kicks in.

phester28 · 17-02-2022 7:40pm

i found my old owl was unreliable below 100w. It could go to zero or stay at 60w even if you turned off most of the MCB. From what I could find out the current clamp is not accurate around the zero mark. So Less than 100w the margin for error increases exponentially. My base load was 80-96w continuous at night according to my owl

Jonathan · 17-02-2022 8:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118648607#Comment_118648607

Yeah. If you have a digital meter, getting the led pulse version of the geo minim will give you more accurate readings. I didn't have a digital meter at the time so I had to get the CT version.

irishchris · 18-02-2022 8:26am

Anther way of identifying what different appliances are using are these type of smart plugs. Have several around the house and can be used for timers or remote on/off as well as power monitoring

Used these initially before PV install to get to grips with what each of the main house load devices used.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08LZWBTR6/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_VBPGWBCQ0FKVVK35AQFF

Mr Q · 19-02-2022 10:12pm

PXL_20220219_204912153.jpg

Had a look today to see my own base load properly. With the heating system powered down, heatpump, it is showing 42 watts.

The sewage treatment plant wasn't running as it comes on and off but it would average 19 watts an hour if it matches the spec sheet. Fridge freezer would be the same and use about 14 watts an hour.

So 75 watts baseload for the basics with all computers, TVs etc powered off

bumblebee22 · 21-02-2022 10:01pm

75w is really very good number, mine float arend 300w, cctv, router, ps4, fridge, freezer and 2 tv on stand-by. MY its time for smart plugs.

21-02-2022 10:16pm

I must check mine sometime, it's gotta be super-low since I average like 8 units a day use when not using a fan heater. I'm not careful about it either. :D

Ginger83 · 22-02-2022 3:56pm

I got down to 161 watts and we seem to be using 12 or 13 units per day without using tumble dryer

markpb · 22-02-2022 4:19pm

I can't easily find my base load anymore :( Between the EV charging for 3+ hours a night, the washing machine, tumble dryer and dishwasher running at various times and the Solis-attached battery charging on winter nights and then babies waking up for the day at 5am, there's no chance of a lull time anymore.

SouthWesterly · 22-02-2022 7:04pm

My base is about 500w.

I've 3 chest freezers and 2 fridges running.

paulbok · 14-03-2022 10:39am

Around 250w.

Not bad considering theres 2 pcs on full time, a power hungry Cisco switch, 2 other switches, 3 routers, 2 fridges, a number of Alexa devices, 3 with screens and other smart hubs on 24/7 and the usual devices in standby. Most of those are minimal usage, but they add up.

Will be adding a few cameras and devices over the summer so would expect that to be around 300w next year.

I'm getting a power monitoring smart plug shortly as I want to measure usage on certain devices and see if it'd be worth shutting down at night* or replacing (like the cisco switch).

*I prefer the convenience of device left on, over cost, but if it can be automated using Home Assistant, it may be a worthwhile task

poker--addict · 02-09-2022 4:32pm

4/5 bed detached house, b2 rated.

Base load seems to be around 350w. I regard this as high, as it drives 8.4KW before we even turn a cooker on or heat water. We therefore end up with about 22KW per day in summer, what many people might expect in winter.

Usual stuff; fridge, freezer, computer (or at least the hungry screen I found). We have a septic tank/aeration, not sure what contribution that would give and whether it is ad-hoc or continuous. .

I recently went through each fuse on the fuse board isolating things. I did not find a culprit, but it did feel like one circuit of plugs was using 150w despite everything turned off. It is possible the owl monitor I use isn't accurate at such low levels too, but beyond that I could not find a reason.

graememk · 02-09-2022 5:02pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119560742#Comment_119560742

Yeah the owl moniter can't really measure below that.

Chancer20 · 02-09-2022 5:08pm

4 Bed Detached B1

We hover between 150 and 350 Watts depending on whether none, one, two or all three Fridges/Freezers are on.

Also have several Alexa Show plus Music and TV server on 24/7. also 6 mesh routers plus one outdoor repeater for the CCTV to get around all the foil backed insulation.

I make the server shut down at midnight and restart at 6am, but that's about all I could find to reduce our base load.

Jonathan · 02-09-2022 7:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119560742#Comment_119560742

If you have a digital meter with a LED pulse, this app will give you a better reading for low values (and high values too, but standing at the meter box isn't fun 😂).

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=smart.meter.app

Alun · 02-09-2022 7:33pm

Mine is almost exactly 200W overnight when everyone is in bed.

DC999 · 02-09-2022 7:41pm

Baseload is 75w overnight (used 0.6kwh in 8 hours last night). So is as low as 30w-150w at a time. Only have fridge, freezer, alarm, 1-2 5w LEDs and whatever invertor uses at night. Am ignoring load shifting stuff like dishwasher, EV... Turn everything else off at bedtime, even internet router. We only turn stuff on when we need it. Have smart plugs on few things like router to wake at start of the day.

We went on hols and used 52w baseline. Or 1.25kwh a day for fridge, freezer, alarm.

ELM327 · 06-09-2022 11:41am

Measured at roughly 400w. Not bad for a 6 bed house with two techies working from home.

ECO_Mental · 06-09-2022 12:53pm

Im running about 250W at night time. I have MHRV, freezer and a Fridge, 5 WiFi APs, a switch and Unifi UDMP, 4K camera all running 24hrs a day. The spikes are probably the Quooker tap that kicks in every hour so for a minute or two.

poker--addict · 06-09-2022 3:33pm

@ECO_Mental what is that app/monitor?

ECO_Mental · 06-09-2022 9:37pm

@poker--addict

Its Home Assistant running on a Raspberry PI 4b Home Assistant (home-assistant.io)

I use three ShellyEM's ( Shelly EM - Shelly Cloud ) to log 6 specific circuits in the house and they are picked up on HA.

The data is stored on InfluxDB and those graphs are done through Grafana. See HA dashboard below. It sounds complicated and there is a bit or programming but not too hard and a few hours watching YouTube 😋 But that's half the fun learning something new. Gives great data and HA also has an App to see it on your phone.

Grafana gives great graphs...here is the epic week we had in early August..perfect curves and you can see the Zappi adjusting to the power output from the PV

Here is one of those days zoomed in where you can see various out circuits kicking in such as heat pump, utility room and the kitchen island (dishwasher) in the Zappi reducing power to compensate.

But its all about consumption in the end of the day so here is a moving 7 day average graph I also do. This is to smooth out all the ups and downs and weekends, basically it averages the last 7 days energy usage to see trends. Guess when I got my EV...and when I went on holidays

CathalDublin · 07-09-2022 9:38am

Our base load is about 300-320watts

3bed semi D house

running

large marine aquarium, 2 NAS drives, desktop PC, 24 port switch, firewall and a handful of Poe Access points and USB powered cameras.

connesha · 07-09-2022 9:55am

Baseload is approx. 125W overnight. Fridge-Freezer, a couple of LED table lamps, and internet/HA stuff (4 POE APs, POE camera + NVR, NUC, lots of smart plugs) .

Power - what is your base load?

Comments