With the rising cost of electricity, it has become more important than ever to save energy. Today just about every wall socket in the home has something plugged into it. The trick is determining which appliances and electronic devices should be unplugged or possibly replaced. Now you can do this easily with a gadget called Kill- A -Watt.
Simply plug the Kill -A -Watt meter into the AC receptacle, plug the appliance into the meter and wait. The red button on the right side of the meter toggles back and forth between KWH and Hours and displays results on the LCD screen. The KWH number represents the kilowatt hours of power consumed by your appliance. For example, if you have a lamp with a 100-watt bulb in it and you run it for 10 hours, the meter will register 1.0 KWH, or 1000 watt-hours. The "hours" reading, of course, will register 10:00.
Take a look at one of your electricity bills. If your utility company charged 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, it would cost you 10 cents to operate your lamp for 10 hours. I tested the power transformer, which powers my cordless phone. I left the transformer plugged into the unit for 30 hours. The meter registered .09 kilowatt- hours. Over that period of 30 hours it cost .09 x 10 cents = .9 cents. So it uses roughly 1 cent per day worth of electricity. That doesn’t seem like much, but multiply 1 cent by all the little transformers a typical house contains and it can add up quickly.
Now you’re ready to calculate how much it costs to run that beer fridge out in the garage, or that old freezer in the basement. When you test a fridge, freezer or dehumidifier, appliances which cycle on and off during the day, be sure to leave the appliance plugged into the Kill -A -Watt unit for at least 24 hours, in order to get an accurate cost assessment. Some calculations will surprise you. You might be able to run your TV set for five hours for 5 cents. But that old freezer could cost you more than the value of the food you’re keeping in it, especially if it’s only half full.
The device has other functions, which are fully explained in the instruction sheet. One button will allow you to detect surges in power or brownout conditions, enabling you to unplug an electronic device in time to prevent damage to sensitive circuits.
Simply plug the Kill -A -Watt meter into the AC receptacle, plug the appliance into the meter and wait. The red button on the right side of the meter toggles back and forth between KWH and Hours and displays results on the LCD screen. The KWH number represents the kilowatt hours of power consumed by your appliance. For example, if you have a lamp with a 100-watt bulb in it and you run it for 10 hours, the meter will register 1.0 KWH, or 1000 watt-hours. The "hours" reading, of course, will register 10:00.
Take a look at one of your electricity bills. If your utility company charged 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, it would cost you 10 cents to operate your lamp for 10 hours. I tested the power transformer, which powers my cordless phone. I left the transformer plugged into the unit for 30 hours. The meter registered .09 kilowatt- hours. Over that period of 30 hours it cost .09 x 10 cents = .9 cents. So it uses roughly 1 cent per day worth of electricity. That doesn’t seem like much, but multiply 1 cent by all the little transformers a typical house contains and it can add up quickly.
Now you’re ready to calculate how much it costs to run that beer fridge out in the garage, or that old freezer in the basement. When you test a fridge, freezer or dehumidifier, appliances which cycle on and off during the day, be sure to leave the appliance plugged into the Kill -A -Watt unit for at least 24 hours, in order to get an accurate cost assessment. Some calculations will surprise you. You might be able to run your TV set for five hours for 5 cents. But that old freezer could cost you more than the value of the food you’re keeping in it, especially if it’s only half full.
The device has other functions, which are fully explained in the instruction sheet. One button will allow you to detect surges in power or brownout conditions, enabling you to unplug an electronic device in time to prevent damage to sensitive circuits.
Here is a link to the website of the manufacturer:
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