I don't, and wouldn't, b/c I'm afraid and have no idea what I'm doing around high voltage stuff. But I doubt it would surprise me...I just prefer to pretend it isn't happening. Like I said, it stays unplugged and in a room she rarely wanders into, so the risk is small...and her fingers are getting bigger.
One other option is to buy stuff that has insignificant load. Before buying something, maybe a quick quiz on PC might make a difference. Let me make the first volley. Any recommendation for a cordless house phone? (The old one is good for a constant 4W drain, but is getting flakey with some of the keys having too much liquid and food dumped on them.)
Aw, ya big sissy, geez. It's only split phase with a maximum possible 240 vac. And even if worse comes to worse, and you happen to drop a wrench across the bars and the main breaker faults closed, I'm pretty sure the recloser will sense the dead short and pop open Just keep in mind that most reclosers are programmed to close again after about 20-60 secs. Hence, "recloser" Ah, denial. That works for me too, that way I can pretend the world is a nice place, people are good, etc etc I'm keeping my fingers crossed that if we plot a graph of a constant - the width of the shredder opening - and the diameter of her smallest pinkie, the growth curve will very soon intersect the horizontal paper shredder width line
Sorry, can't help you there. As far as I'm concerned, all cordless phones equally suck. Let's not forget that when the power fails, so does the cordless phone Oh sure, you could plug the cordless phone base station into a UPS, but it's kind of silly.
I'm glad I read through that again - I missed the A/C thing the first time round A lot of outdoor A/C compressors have a crankcase heater. It's usually pretty easy to notice, peek down from the top where the coil fan is. If you see the compressor down below covered by a blanket of sorts, it probably has a crank heater The purpose of the crank heater is to prolong the life of the compressor, especially if it can be programmed to priority dehumidifaction in damp climates. That means the A/C usually has a variable speed air handler inside the house, and a two speed Scroll compressor outside. On a day that is too cool for regular A/C, say 60-75 F, the system can run with the indoor air handler at the lowest possible speed to dehumidify It really works well. You can barely feel air coming out the registers, but on a damp day the indoor humidity will be 40-45% tops When running a compressor below 70 F, the oil can be a bit viscous. This can cause rapid wear of the compressor, and can even cause the reed valves to break. The crank heater helps keep the oil warm The crank heater on my A/C sucks up 60 watts. I only keep the A/C breaker on during the actual cooling season, the rest of the year it's turned off. I also have programmed the system to lock out the compressor once the outdoor temp is <55 F Warning: the first time you apply power to the A/C breaker, wait at least 2 hours before attempting to run the compressor. Give the heater time to warm up the oil
Yep, I did the same thing for the same reasons until a few months ago when the kids were finally old enough that a lecture and demonstration made it clear this was not a toy. Related tip for winterizing: the socket safety covers help seal drafts from the actual sockets on external walls. I had a couple of sockets that were blowing a surprising amount of cold air in until I safety capped them. Interestingly, looking back on it I was immobilizing the shredder for the kids the wrong way. I was leaving the heavy transformer plugged in, but disconnecting the little circular power jack into the shredder (and tucking it out of sight.) That was easiest of course, but it was wasting energy as the transformer is where the losses come from, not the actual device, if I understand correctly. (I have not actually checked this with my Kill-a-watt...I've got another test running at the moment.)
Geez, you'd be surprised how many homes don't have proper vapor barrier installed (Seams tuck-taped, acoustic sealant at the sill and top plate, etc). Of course, if you feel a little breeze blowing in, that also means a lot of condensation is happening inside the wall cavity Condensation + cellulose = mold. Lot's and lot's of mold Those little transformers are really wasteful. All those little bricks used for computer speakers, inkjet printers, cell phone chargers, etc
I've done a retest now, and as expected the transformer is pulling power if it is plugged into the socket even when not connected to the shredder itself.
Maybe I missed this, but how much? I'd guess 7-10 watts? I have a large brick transformer for an older HP inkjet that reliably sucks up 10 watts even if the printer is unplugged from it
If you're curious, I took a photo of how to properly check loads inside your breakerbox. The breaker in question is for the stove http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/uu256/jayman_photo/Electrical/DSCF0854.jpg Look! No sparks!
It's pulling about 4 watts. It's got a hefty enough brick, with claimed 15 V dc and 20 watt output, but it runs relatively cool.
Move to Australia and replace all your current stuff with Aussie compliant stuff, you will never look back. It's incredible how 240 volts 50 hertz can change your life, the sun shines brighter, there is less paranoia, people walk on the streets at night even if they aren't in a gang, etc. Not joking.
Well, you sure as hell avoid walking the streets in Winnipeg at night. Even in the daytime, interesting things are bound to happen Four cops at shooting scene put on leave | Winnipeg | News | Winnipeg Sun Not any safer on the bus either Winnipeg Free Press
Time to add another vampire measurement: 2nd (larger, 1/2 hp) garage door opener draws 5W while idle as compared to 3W for the smaller one (1/3 hp). Even with incandescents and being operated twice a day, about 75% of the power use of these doors is just sitting there idle. Garage door openers would be a good candidate for Energy Star rating. Perhaps the new ones use less standby power (anyone measured?) It should be possible to get rid of over 75% of their typical energy use just by converting them to CFL's and minimizing the standy receiver load. Of course I'm comparing to 90's vintage, so perhaps they've already been made more efficient.
Nope, I checked my Chamberlain opener, which is 5 years old, and it also draws 4-5 watts. The transformer inside that thing doesn't look very efficient, it feels very warm to the touch
Found another vampire...okay...this one was an oversight: the portable stereo, 2 watts idle. I have an old CD boombox in the garage that I use when I'm hammering away at the heavy bag (110 lb water bladder w/foam exterior so that I can drive into the punches properly without developing various boxing injuries.) I had been leaving it plugged in since there was no external transformer block and it was not showing a display or anything. I was treating it like a toaster. Mistake! It's been sucking on the main while I'm asleep. The good news is that this has prompted a bit of backlash by me against vampires that I had been tolerating/meaning to get to later. I drove a stake through the heart of 10 watts total today. There are some more complicated ones that I've not yet addressed.
One of my pet vampires is the cable TV box. That sucker is as hot as a toaster even when idle. I can't conveniently cut its power, since it takes hours to completely reset after a power outage. On the other hand, there is no reason it needs to run so hot when idle. The problem is that that cable boxes are owned by the cable TV company. What do they care if they use your electricity. Tom
