Quest to mix new electricity with old Steam

Bubba · Quest to mix new electricity with old Steam

Well

Classic

You could measure how much you are spending on electricity to run your engines.

A few years ago, I worked in the R&D section of a company that designs and manufactures commercial energy meters. One of our engineers programmed an energy meter to tell us how much carbon dioxide our coffee machine was creating.

Peter.

johnreid

I wonder of something like this might suit you better for hobby purposes
http://cgi.ebay.com/Digital-Volt-...PageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

AC DC and Ohms to check your heater elements for shorts etc.
Something like that is a must have in any hobbiests collection of tools.

Reid

Brilliant again, Bubba.

While I've known of the Kill-A-Watt meter (dimly aware), I've not see it up close before, such a good image.

Folks, this thing is the ticket for monitoring the EXACT power level of your electrically fired steam engines.

Imagine throttling down the variac or triac and seeing "247 watts" displayed.

This gives that information, plus it can be used to demonstrate the power costs of any device in the house: like the big TV that the kids forget to shut off,
show the children how much it costs to waste electricity, etc.

I will be on the shopping outlook for a Kill-A-Watt now, Classic.
Thanks for the great tip!

Reid

Here's all what it does and how it works

http://the-gadgeteer.com/review/k...att_electric_usage_monitor_review

Prices: find the best price and report to this thread?
A first quick check shows that Newegg (USA) offers a price delivered in the low twenties.

Newegg is at least a very fast, reliable supplier of all sorts of computer gear and gadget stuff, well liked by all.

Mister Occlusion

for the EZ model they specify

Operating Voltage: 115 VAC
Max Voltage: 125 VAC
Max Current: 15 A
Max Power: 1875 VA

I wonder if it works (or works accurately) at reduced voltage?

Neat toy, but I think I'd use it for all of 2 weeks. Just like I never bother to calculate my gas mileage: it costs (to run) what it costs, and if you wanna play, you've got to pay.

Reid going to be shopping for an electric engine as well?

mc_mc

My friend has got one and I borrow it from time to time. Seems to be the most cost effective option to me.

But I did manage to rip the flooring in my kitchen trying to move the fridge to plug in the meter to see how much energy it was using. So that wasn't a bright idea.

Reid