Kill A Watt

[Crumm]

Anyone know anything about the Kill A Watt brand Kilowatt-Hour Monitor? I am thinking that my fridge runs more than it should and I was wondering if this gadget would tell me how much juice it is eating. Can be purchased on ebay for about $20

 

[JLDickmon]

how old is the 'fridge?

 

[DaveBen]

Newer Fridges run more because they have a smaller compressor. Running more is NOT necessarily bad. A smaller compressor may use less energy running more, over a bigger compressor running less.

Dave

 

[JimmyDee]

They do have capacitors in them that will increase the power factor of the motor. It will save a small amount of electricity on an old fridge but will probably not save you much on a newer one. The newer ones already have done to them what this device does.
They are interesting to watch and kind of neat but you probably won't save enough electricity to ever pay for itself.
Jim

 

[BIG JOE]

Newer Fridges run more because they have a smaller compressor. Running more is NOT necessarily bad. A smaller compressor may use less energy running more, over a bigger compressor running less.

Dave

That's what I found out, after talking with a A/C&R friend of mine. And, keeping the Compressor/Condenser area clean helps a lot too. I brush and vacuum that whole area 2-3 times a year. Seems to help with the run time.

I have a Kill A Watt (Crumm ?).. I found that it gave me TMI.. Opens yer eyes to a lot of energy info but Frustrated the Hell out of me cuz there is'nt a hellofa lot you can do about most of it.. other than cut back. OR, buy new(er) stuff. Factor in the ROI time for new(er) stuff (?), it just made me and

The >#1< thing we've done to try and keep our energy costs manageable is.. Convert every light/lamp possible, inside & out.. to CFL's. (We've Totally converted the RV to CFL's also). (LED's on the 12v stuff too)

We saw our power bill go down with that. ROI is proly realistically attainable too.

But just when we think we'de done all we could do to keep up ? "They" raise the rates. We (here in CenCal) will be having the KWH rates go up, on pre-approved increases, 3 more times in the future.

Whadya guna Do

 

[hheynow]

Whadya guna Do

 

[BIG JOE]

Would if I could.

But by the time I did an EIR, Got Re-zoned, Permits and went thru the EPA and Utility company HOOPS..... I'd be 100 years old and have a Permanent Jack Nicholson look 'bout me.

(I AM...... dabbling with Solar however )

 

[Crumm]

how old is the 'fridge?

Dunno. It was here when I purchased the place in 2002. Doesn't look real old but it ain't new. Magic Chef model RB18KN-4AW

 

[Butch Cassidy]

Anyone know anything about the Kill A Watt brand Kilowatt-Hour Monitor? I am thinking that my fridge runs more than it should and I was wondering if this gadget would tell me how much juice it is eating. Can be purchased on ebay for about $20

CRUMM,

Picked up one about 3 months ago, and it does do as claimed on monitoring juice used on household appliances. Both my wife and I suspected the 2 reefers were energy hogs (approx 6 yrs old), turns out they were not the culprits.

We run a HEPA air cleaner in the bedroom, and 3 humidifiers during the winter months. Turns out the air cleaner and humidifiers were sucking up the juice running 24/7.

We were surprised by this, so I installed, some cheap timers (Home Depot) on the suspecting appliances, and knocked down the electric bill by 1/4 - almost 1/3 the total. (timers are set on for a max. run time of 8 hrs/ day).

Before we got the KILL-A-WATT, we we thinking of getting rid of a reefer, and learning to get by w/ just one reefer. But, we were surprised these units have real good insulation and are energy star rated.

Hopes this helps,

Butch Cassidy

On edit,

The Ebay price is a good buy, IMHO.

 

[JLDickmon]

Dunno. It was here when I purchased the place in 2002. Doesn't look real old but it ain't new. Magic Chef model RB18KN-4AW

might be worth your while to get the serial number and call Magic Chef..
if it's more than 10 years old, a new one will probably pay for itself in 2-5 years based on energy savings...

retire the old one to the garage and use it for a beer 'fridge..

OR... do what I saw a guy do in Eagle River..
get a reefer unit off a semi trailer and make a big a ss fridge out of his garage...

you know how to cook bio, right?
WMO?