We have just moved to a 4bed detached and I’m just trying out an energy monitor.
We are using 208w when we turn in, just curious what sort of watts others are using at night?

Also I have about 18 12v 50w downlighters around the house, am I best replacing all these with the lowest wattage I can get? Going led? Anyone got any advice to save some cash but not have it too gloomy!

at night?

less than a few Watts.

Lose the 12v transformers and go to 240v GU10 LED.
Even lighting up my house with all the lamps on in every room would only come to about 900W, and most of the time, evening TV/dining etc, is less than 100W at any point.

50 watts is 50 watts, a lot of people seem to equate low voltage (12 volt) with low energy.
I’ve just checked my energy monitor and its reading 200 watts (3 pence an hour), quite a significant amount over a year. I’ve never managed to identify what’s taking the current.

Is the fridge running when you take this reading? Fridge is probably the highest load that’s always on, but it’s intermittent of course.

Identify circuits that use the current by switching all circuits off, then adding circuits progressively.
Likely current using equipment

Fridges
Freezers
AV equipment on standby / record
Phone chargers
Modem/ router
Laptop transformers
Oven clock
Central heating timer
Bedside clock radios

All relatively low current usage, but cumulative.

That’s tonight’s job sorted then, turning circuits off and back on see whats what.

Ill take a look at the LED’s got the MR16 bulbs in at the moment.

If it helps a designer at your local electricity distributor would reckon most houses to have a minimum in the 200-300W range (Stoner is a special case and requires special assistance 😉 ).

Max demand varies but typically in the order of 16kW. Perhaps more usefully for a non-electrically heated home ADMD would typically be around 1-1.5kW, perhaps as high as 2kW. This tells you how much power people are drawing on average through that 1630-2100 period.

I bought a four bed house with 64 x 50W halogen down lighters. As a variation on Stoner’s advice I stayed with the MR16 format but changed the halogen “transformers*” for LED drivers and B&Q own brand 4.5W LEDs (which were 3 for 2 at the time and fairly price competitive).

The light output is different but not dull. It is a a little more spot light and a little less flood if that makes sense.

*electronic transformers are not transformers – don’t expect them to react like they are.

I went round my house a couple of years ago with a socket monitor and worked out peak consumption and standby for all appliances.

The total for everything on standby was around 45W.

When running, the biggest consumers were:
Dryer 1700W
Microwave 1200W
and Fridge Freezer 90W

Of course the Microwave is only on for a few minutes at a time, maybe 5 times a week and the Dryer is hardly used at all (it came with us from a flat, now we have a sheila’s maid in the boiler room).

I recently re-plumbed the dishwasher to run on hot water from the heating system (solar in summer, biomass in winter) so that it doesnt have to heat water anymore.

Unfortunately the biggest daily electricity consumer is the main PC. It’s my business server and runs all day from 8ish till midnight drawing between 20W and 400W usually. At least my monitors are all low consumption at around 20-30W.

Anything below about 200W on a cheap electricity monitor is unlikely to be accurate unless the power factor is taken into account. I experienced a similar quandary to you and found that the idle usage was actually about 40W.

Things you might not be considering:

* Fridges / freezers
* Chargers (especially “smart” chargers for bike lights etc)
* Older stuff in standby
* Mains powered smoke alarms
* Burglar alarms
* Wireless routers
* Powerline Ethernet adapters
* Ovens in standby

You could, if you have a battery-backup in the monitor, start throwing circuit breakers one at a time until you find the source but I caution again that unless you have a very good one, you’ll struggle – my old British Gas one used to clock the microwave at 200W on standby.

If you can get hold of an Onzo monitor, you’ll have broadly accurate results.

Just out of interest it may only be 200 watts but I make that 3 pence an hour x 24 x 365 = £262.80 per year. 😯

Is it not the case that as for 9 months of the year I heat my house any standby electricity usage warms the house and so isn’t actually wasted anyway?

I still have plenty low energy bulbs and do the easy things like not filling the kettle for one cup of coffee etc. Otherwise life is too short to worry about saving a few quid on bills.

When I moved into my current house, the lounge/ diner and kitchen were fitted with halogen lights. When all switched on, they were drawing 1 kW! I fitted fluorescents and LEDS, it now draws a maximum of 0.13 kW – quite a saving.

Flaperon – of course if your using the remote read out from a smart meter (and you may not be) the it had best be accurate or you get to ring the supplier and complain.

igm – this is from an Onzo monitor. No smart meters yet, though I am signed up for the trial so will get one at some point this year.

Is it not the case that as for 9 months of the year I heat my house any standby electricity usage warms the house and so isn’t actually wasted anyway?

In theory but the energy is not well distrubuted. There’s no point in having a warm corner of the room.

The TV is enough to keep our living room warm in the winter though. Too warm in fact, have to open the door even when both rads are cold.

Otherwise life is too short to worry about saving a few quid on bills.

Maybe, but I’d prefer to spend my £260 on bikes.