How does kill a watt work

It has other applications, too, besides giving you the in-your-face information you need to start using less energy. Kill A Watt displays additional measurements like volts and hertz line frequency , so you can use it to test line quality, determine whether an outlet is working and detect power spikes and disruptions. Later versions add some additional functionality.

It will forecast your weekly, monthly or yearly energy costs, too, so you don't have to pull out a calculator at all. Next, we'll check out some other energy monitors and the feature variations they offer. Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar. EZ P Strictly speaking they're "kilowatt meters" , but most people call them "Kill-A-Watt meters" after the name of the popular brand from P3 International.

You plug one between your wall socket and an electrical appliance to find out how much energy the appliance uses. At home you can plug one into your refrigerator, TV, computer, microwave, electric heater, stereo etc And at work you can use one to check out the energy consumption of various bits of equipment such as computers, photocopiers, fax machines, and fans.

You'll probably be quite surprised at how much electricity some things use Believe it or not, some bad electrical items even use energy when they're switched off! These bad items are called "electricity vampires" because they keep sucking electricity until you unplug them or switch them off at the wall. A plug-in meter will enable you to hunt down these electricity vampires and any other faulty or inefficient equipment that's using more energy than it should Energy monitors are one of the easiest, most effective ways to inspire real change in consumption habits.

They bring energy costs to your attention on a regular basis, making it a little harder to forget to line dry your laundry. An energy monitor is simply a device that counts watts. You plug an electrical appliance or a whole house full of appliances into an energy monitor, and plug the monitor into a wall outlet. It sits between the appliance plug and the energy supply. As electricity moves through the monitor and into the appliance, the device tracks, displays and records how much electricity the appliance is drawing to operate.

There are a couple of different approaches to monitoring energy in this way. You can monitor your entire home's energy use using a comprehensive system, a single appliance at a time or a particular collection of energy suckers, like the components of a home-theater setup. It all depends on how you want to go about it and how much you want to spend.

In this article, we'll look at several different energy monitors out there and see what they can do. We'll begin by focusing specifically on one of the least expensive devices you can choose: the Kill A Watt.