Power Consuption - Somthing is out of wack

b_james · #1 09-28-2007, 09:07 PM

I have been having some power issues for a while now. Back last spring I had Epcor come to the house on many occasions to run an analyzer on my meter as I was experiencing weird power problems. There report reveiled surprising results. There were momentary power draws of aprox 80 amps lasting for only a second or so. Epcor concluded that they could see anything adnormal. My power bills always seemed a bit high considering its only me in the house. My monthly power consuption has been about 40KWh / day. I calculated my aquarium should be drawing about 20KWh / day according to the nameplate info. There is NO WAY that I could be consuming 20 KWh/ day using a few lights, furnace fan and microwave twice a day for about 1.5 minutes. Is it possible that my aquarium is drawing WAY more power that what the published rating shows or could there be other factors contributing to this such as power leaking into the water? BTW I do have a grounding probe.

Sorry for the longwinded post... Its just if my power bill goes much higher than it is now, I may have to decommission my tank due to funds drying up.

fencer · #2 09-28-2007, 09:11 PM

I assume you cycle you lights. You should take some reading on your power meter just after the main tank lights go off and just before they go on. And the same when your mains are on.

b_james · #3 09-28-2007, 09:13 PM

What do you mean by cycle the lights? I do have them on a staggard timer.

fencer · #4 09-28-2007, 09:18 PM

I am assuming you turn your lights off on the tank for the night. and then have the fuge lights on.

b_james · #5 09-28-2007, 09:25 PM

The fuge light is on 24/7 I found when I turned off the light during the day, my macro algea deminished. I still think the pods in my tank are eating all the macro. not sure where its going.

mark · #6 09-28-2007, 10:00 PM

Insist that they replace your meter and 80 amp spikes, that sounds a little flaky.

wickedfrags · #7 10-02-2007, 05:29 PM

Need to get to the bottom of this - even if you turn on every electrical device in your house you should not be able to draw 80 amps (assuming you do not have a hot tub or a workshop). Check to see if there are voltage fluctuations...any light dimming? How old is the house?

I was lucky to identify the cause of my voltage fluctuation before I lost power...a bad outdoor meter base connection...

Quote:

Originally Posted by b_james

I have been having some power issues for a while now. Back last spring I had Epcor come to the house on many occasions to run an analyzer on my meter as I was experiencing weird power problems. There report reveiled surprising results. There were momentary power draws of aprox 80 amps lasting for only a second or so. Epcor concluded that they could see anything adnormal. My power bills always seemed a bit high considering its only me in the house. My monthly power consuption has been about 40KWh / day. I calculated my aquarium should be drawing about 20KWh / day according to the nameplate info. There is NO WAY that I could be consuming 20 KWh/ day using a few lights, furnace fan and microwave twice a day for about 1.5 minutes. Is it possible that my aquarium is drawing WAY more power that what the published rating shows or could there be other factors contributing to this such as power leaking into the water? BTW I do have a grounding probe.

Sorry for the longwinded post... Its just if my power bill goes much higher than it is now, I may have to decommission my tank due to funds drying up.

Delphinus · #8 10-02-2007, 06:16 PM

Good Lord! Was that a short between the two wires??? Wouldn't that actually be smoking or sparking?? This just manifested itself as a high power bill?

wickedfrags · #9 10-02-2007, 06:27 PM

They melted together...my house was built in 1974. And I run alot of juice!
Find out about this mysterious surge...generally speaking with everything on in your entire house you should not be able to exceed 50amps.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Good Lord! Was that a short between the two wires??? Wouldn't that actually be smoking or sparking?? This just manifested itself as a high power bill?

midgetwaiter · #10 10-03-2007, 02:07 AM

If you do the math on it 80A is equivalent to 10,000W of draw. I can't believe they saw that and still said "everything is okay".