[PLUG-TALK] What is using electricity?

Denis Heidtmann denis.heidtmann at gmail.com
Wed Jul 19 22:28:03 UTC 2017


Is there any chance that the power company recently changed your electric
meter?  Could it be a calibration issue?

-Denis

On Wed, Jul 19, 2017 at 10:24 AM, John Jason Jordan <johnxj at gmx.com> wrote:

> On Tue, 18 Jul 2017 22:09:12 -0700
> Russell Senior <russell at personaltelco.net> dijo:
>
> >Russell> Another option is a clamp-on current meter that plugs into a
> >Russell> DVM.  You may be able to do the measurement in the breaker
> >Russell> box, to narrow your power draw down to a circuit.  It
> >Russell> happens, I've got a couple of them, if you want to borrow
> >Russell> one.  It looks vaguely like this:
> >
> >  http://www.fluke.com/fluke/vnen/accessories/Current-
> Clamps/80i-600A.htm?PID=55355
> >
> >I found one of them.  It measures the net current through the center of
> >the clamp and generates 1mV per amp.
> >
> > P.S. you need to agree in advance not to electrocute yourself,
> > violation of this agreement will be punishable by death or a
> > really nasty shock.
>
> I've been known to replace a broken duplex outlet without turning off
> the power, usually because it was in a rental house where the circuits
> in the main panel were not labeled. If there is a loud flash, then I'll
> know which breaker it is. Recently in my own house, which also lacks a
> lot of labels in the panel, I wanted to work on several circuits so I
> bought one of these:
>
> https://www.lowes.com/pd/Southwire-Analog-Circuit-
> Breaker-Finder-Meter/50133086
>
> You plug the small device into the outlet and then slowly pass the nose
> of the bigger device down the panel over the breakers, which produces a
> flashing light when it is over the right breaker. It was not perfect,
> but sufficiently accurate to get it down to two or three breakers.
>
> Back to the Fluke, initially I was not sure it would help much. It
> sounds like I would have to monitor it constantly for hours and, as
> Galen pointed out, I have no data from before the high usage began, so
> there is no benchmark to compare to. And there are 40 slots in my main
> panel, all in use. That's a lot of circuits to test. However, reading a
> bit about the Fluke led me to wonder if there is a leak somewhere in
> the new wiring that I did. It is not likely to be in my new work, but I
> also removed an old non-grounded outlet that was supplied by armored
> cable that may have been installed a hundred years ago. The condition
> of the insulation is certainly questionable. And I know which breaker
> serves the circuit that it is on. Can your device measure such a
> possibility? Am I smart enough to know how to use it?
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