Watts Used and Wasted at My Home

December 2014

I find that I've become overloaded with modern convenience appliances and devices throughout the home, probably the same as you. I do have a small Solar PV System (200 watts of panels) that powers my garage lights, garage radio and the kitchen 18 inch flat panel TV. The PV System always made me aware and wonder about used and wasted watts throughout the rest of my home.

So this month I went on a hunt of all my devices and appliances just to see how much power I consume or waste and where I could eliminate the waste. Maybe you can learn something here from my experience which I feel is pretty normal for today's homes and apartments.

The testing instrument used, a Kill-A-Watt, P3 model. This is a handy little meter relatively inexpensive ($19.00 at Amazon), easy to use and necessary if you use Solar power or just curious where your wasted power is. It took a little effort but some of the findings were surprising!

Note; the 1 watt readings are the minimum this meter will display, it could actually be 1/2 watt

Here's the power usage/waste discovered at my home:

Refrigerator 23.1 cu. ft, on: 122 watts

Refrigerator 23.1 cu. ft, 24 hours on/off cycle: 990 watts

Refrigerator 23.1 cu. ft, standby: 2 watts

Freezer chest, 5.0 cu. ft., 60f environment temp, on: 72 watts

Freezer chest, 5.0 cu. ft., 60f environment temp, 24 hours on/off cycle: 540 watts

Freezer chest, 5.0 cu. ft., 60f environment temp, standby: 1 watt

B&D coffee maker, 12 cup brew cycle: 400 watts

B&D coffee maker, 12 cup, standby: 1 watt

Keurig coffee maker, Single cup: 20 watts

Keurig coffee maker, Single cup, standby/off: 0 watts

Lap Top computer Gateway, on: 11 watts

Lap Top computer Gateway, sleep: 7 watts

Lap Top computer Gateway, standby: 1 watt

Laptop extension speakers, standby: 1 watt

Lap Top computer Dell, on: 14 watts

Lap Top computer Dell, sleep: 1 watt

Lap Top computer Dell, standby: 1 watt

12 volt power supply, HAM, listening on: 25 watts

12 volt power supply, CB, listening on: 15 watts

12 volt power supply, on, idle: 10 watts

Microwave oven, on: 1,633 watts

Microwave oven, standby: 3 watts

Phone kitchen (1) wall bug: 1 watt

Phone extension (1) wall bug: 1 watt

Phone extension (1) wall bug: 1 watt

Cell phone (mine) wall bug charging: 5 watts

Cell phone (mine) wall bug idle: 1 watt

Cell phone (hers) wall bug charging: 5 watts

Cell phone (hers) wall bug idle: 1 watt

I-Pad wall bug charging: 5 watts

I-Pad wall bug idle: 1 watt

Printer, printing: 14 watts

Printer, standby: 4 watts

Computer Router, wall bug: 7 watts

Satellite TV receiver kitchen, on: 34 watts

Satellite TV receiver kitchen, standby: 34 watts

Satellite TV receiver bedroom, on: 34 watts

Satellite TV receiver bedroom, standby: 34 watts

TV main 48 inch flat panel, on: 120 watts

TV main 48 inch flat panel, standby: 1 watt

TV kitchen 18 inch flat panel, on: 22 watts

TV kitchen 18 inch flat panel, standby: 1 watt

TV master bedroom 18 inch flat panel, on: 25 watts

TV master bedroom 18 inch flat panel, standby: 1 watt

TV computer room 18 inch flat panel, on: 24 watts

TV computer room 18 inch flat panel, standby: 1 watts

TV room lamp, on: 11 watts

TV room lamp, 24 hour timer on/off cycle: 44 watts

Water softener, one softening cycle: 40

Water softener wall bug, standby: 1 watt

Garage door opener, open & close cycle: 400 watts

Garage door opener, standby: 4 watts

Hummel display cabinet light, on: 18 watts

Hummel display cabinet light, 24 hour timer on/off cycle: 126 watts

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Summary:

I find it interesting that both the satellite receivers never go into a sleep mode, they're 'on' all the time with a combined 68 watts constant draw 24/7 = 40.8kw a month!

With the exception of the two bathrooms all lights are CFL's.

I have been looking for CFL replacement fixtures for those two rooms because there are 24 decorator type incandescent bulbs between the two rooms. Each bulb is 40 watts = 960 watts total. Glad they're not rooms where a lot of time is spent!

The other concern are the amount of wall bugs in use. I personally feel these are all potential fire hazards because when you manufacture for the lowest cost something has to be compromised in the design.

As for the satellite receivers we are planning to dump satellite TV all together. I have the basic HBO/Showtime and forced to have another bundle package of 200 channels of pure garbage for $139 a month. Most of the time the TV is on for background noise because we I spend a lot of time on the computers and she has been downloading movies and books to her I-Pad and watching or reading those. Satellite is just too expensive for what we watch, plus every time a rain storm comes the signal goes dead, just when we need the local weather reports the most. Then there's a land line that's needed, $25 a month, and the only reason we have it is for the satellite receivers to check on us or in case we ever wanted to download a pay per view which we don't. The major news programs are pure junk today and not worth watching/listening to there opinions. Then there's the cost of the 68 watts of power every hour I have to pay for.

I'm investigating TV options. I do have a regular antenna so I can receive broadcast signals, so now just need to figure out things like ROKU, HULU, CHROME Cast and several others to see what the charges will actually be and how useful they are. If anyone has experience with these please feel free to let me know what you use and the costs.

For now I needed to review these findings and try to come up with solutions to rid myself of the wasted watts. Obviously if I were to go 100% solar I would have to use power strips so I control what's on and on only when needed.