KILL A WATT P3 User Manual

KILL A WATT P3

USER MANUAL

For more information visit our website @ www.secpa.com

KWH “Money Button”

–

Hz/PF

-

Watt

-

Volts

-

Amps

-

AC Power

Members, so we have created this easy-to-use manual to help you better understand energy consumption in your household. You will learn how to identify appliances that are "Power Hogs" and what might be a "Vampire", slowly using energy when not in use. We hope this will help you decide what appliances need to be replaced and what might need to be

Southeast Colorado Power Association likes having well informed

unplugged as it sits idle. This in turn, should cut down on your power bill.

This should read something close to

120.0, the standard voltage in US electrical outlets.

Press this button to measure the flow rate of electric current.

KILL A WATT

Press this button once to see electricity used since monitoring started. Push button again to view time elapsed

60 hertz (cycles per second) alternating current in US electrical outlets (PF stands for Power Factor). The Volt, Amp, and Hz buttons are of lesser relevance to testing appliances for electrical efficiency.

Press this button to see how many watts the appliance is drawing at the moment.

Using the KILL A WATT P3

 Plug the Kill A Watt into the wall, then plug the appliance into the socket on the front of the Kill A

Watt. Next turn on the appliance or equipment.

• Suggestion: When monitoring a refrigerator or freezer, use an extension cord to position

the “Kill A Watt” in a location convenient for reading.

• Before testing the appliance find the “name plate” that tells you how many volts, watts, etc.

the appliance should pull when in use.

• For example if a toaster’s “name plate” says it should be pulling 1800 watts, when its

plugged in press the watt button on the “Kill A Watt”, it should read 1800 watts or less. Another example: If your coffee maker is pulling 7.4 amps and the rating on the name plate was 7.5, this is good because it is reading correctly.

• When you first use the “Kill A Watt” the time is displayed in minutes and hours (00:00), but

after 99 hours have gone by, the display will switch to show only hours (up to 9999). Once the time limit is reached, it will start over again at zero.

 Press the “Watt” button to read the power usage in watts.

• For some appliances the reading may vary depending on what the appliance is doing. For

example, a printer will use more power when printing than when idle.

• Try turning the appliance off, and see if the power usage goes to zero. Many appliances

continue to use power even when turned “off” – this is referred to as a power hog, vampire or phantom, and it can add up over time since the power is being used 24/7. Appliances that use power when turned off can be unplugged or plugged into a power strip and the user can turn the power strip to “off”.

• An appliance that uses 20 watts even when turned off will use 176 kilowatt-hours of energy

in a year – costing you about $18 annually.

 Press the purple KWH/Hour “MONEY BUTTON” once for KWH usage and twice for time elapsed.

• The final button is the “MONEY BUTTON”. Use this button to toggle back and forth

between the number of hours over which the equipment was monitored, and the kilowatt hours of electricity used over that period. Record the numbers for both hours and kwh on the worksheet provided before disconnecting the Kill A Watt monitor from the wall.

• The accumulated kwh data will be “lost” when the meter is disconnected because this is

how the Kill A Watt resets itself.

 Determining the cost of running appliances or equipment.

• SECPA recommends that you keep your appliance or equipment plugged in for at least 12

hours to gather and record sufficient data.

• Now take the kwh use and the amount of hours recorded, and plug that data into the

attached worksheet’s formula columns.

• The more items you test, the more you will see where you can save on your electric bill.

(D)

B x C x E x

KILL A WATT WORKSHEET

Appliance/Equipment

(A)

Kilowatt-hours

(KWH)

of Electricity per

Hour

(B)

Average number

of Hours

on each day

(C)

Cost per Day @

$0.12 per KWH

Number

of Units

in

House

(E)

Total KWH Consumed

per Year

(F)

Total Cost

per Year

(G)

(from Kill A Watt)

B x C x $0.12

365 F x $0.12

example:

Older computer w/ CRT monitor ENERGY STAR computer w/ LCD monitor

0.30 24 $0.87 1 2628 $315.36

0.10 24 $0.29 1 876 $105.12

Est. Wattage

Est. Hours/month

Est. KWH

Est. Monthly Cost

Aquarium (Small)

150

730

110

$13.49

Audio Entertainment System

250

60

15

$1.85

Blender

385

2

1

$0.09

Clock

3

730

2

$0.27

Clothes Dryer

6,000

17

102

$12.57

Coffee Maker

1,200

30

36

$4.44

Compactor

400

10

4

$0.49

Computer, monitor, printer

365

75

27

$3.37

Convection Oven

1,500

8

12

$1.48

Curling Iron

1,500

5

8

$0.92

Dehumidifier (20 Pints, Summer)

450

360

162

$19.96

Dishwasher - Drying

1,200

25

30

$3.70

Dishwasher - Washing

250

35

9

$1.08

Garbage Disposal

420

60

25

$3.10

Electric Blanket

175

180

32

$3.88

Electric Pet Fence

15

730

11

$1.35

Fan - Attic Ventilation

400

71

28

$3.50

Fan - Paddle

80

150

12

$1.48

Fan - Window

125

100

13

$1.54

Freezer - Frost Free

440

334

147

$18.11

Fry Pan

1,200

10

12

$1.48

Garage Door Opener

350

3

1

$0.13

Hair Dryer - Portable

1,000

10

$1.23

Heat Lamp

250

5

1

$0.15

Heat Tape (30ft., Winter)

180

720

130

$15.97

Heater (Auto Engine, Winter)

1,000

180

$22.18

Heater (Portable)

1,500

40

60

$7.39

Heating System (Warm Air Fan)

312

288

90

$11.07

Humidifier (Winter)

177

230

41

$5.02

Clothes Iron

1,000

5

$0.62

Ice Maker

200

333

67

$8.21

Jacuzzi - 2 Person

1,500

93

140

$17.19

Lighting (Compact Fluorescent)

18

100

2

$0.22

Lighting (Fluorescent)

40

100

4

$0.49

Lighting (Incandescent)

75

100

8

$0.92

Lighting (Outdoor Floor)

120

90

11

$1.33

Microwave Oven

1,500

11

17

$2.03

Mixer, Hand

100

10

1

$0.12

Pool Pump (1.5 HP)

2,000

250

500

$61.60

Power Tools (Circular Saw)

1,800

1

2

$0.22

Radio

71

101

7

$0.88

Range (Oven)

2,660

20

53

$6.55

Range (Self Cleaning Cycle)

2,500

3

8

$0.92

Refrigerator/Freezer

250

333

83

$10.26

Satellite Dish and Receiver

360

183

66

$8.12

Sump Pump (1/2 HP)

500

20

10

$1.23

Television (Color, Solid State)

200

183

37

$4.51

Toaster

1,400

3

4

$0.52

Vacuum Cleaner

1,500

6

9

$1.11

Waffle Iron

1,200

4

5

$0.59

Washer

512

17

9

$1.07

Waterbed Heater

375

256

96

$11.83

Water Heater

4,500

91

410

$50.45

Window Air Conditioner - 12,000 BTU

1,500

200

300

$36.96

Window Air Conditioner - 6,000 BTU

825

200

165

$20.33

Appliance Operating Cost Estimator

Appliance

SECPA Cost per KWH

0.1232