how do I figure the cost of watts?
Can you help me figure this out. I know it should be fairly simple but I just don't seem to get it. Lets say I have a Kill A Watt. I plug something into that Kill A Watt and it reads 55 watts. How ...
Forum Discussion
jcpainter wrote:
Thanks for the formulas. We purchased one of the devices that you plug into the wall and then plug the appliance into like this . . . expecting to learn how much energy the appliance uses in a given amount of time.
For example, how much does it cost to dry clothes in the Splendide 110 dryer for 2 hours? Is it a reasonable cost, or should I go to the trouble to hang them on the line?
The device is worthless for that. It will give a watt reading, but doesn't have any type of timer to see how much it used during the usage of the appliance. It gives you monthly estimates (based on the cost of electric that you enter) but who runs the dryer for a month?
Does anyone actually own a device like this that meters the usage of an appliance for the time the appliance is used?
I've used a basic Kill-a-Watt to learn the cost of running devices that use electricity intermittently like, for instance, a refrigerator.
I plug it in then set an alarm on my phone to check the reading every 24 hours. The Kill-a-Watt totals the watts used until it's unplugged. If I miss a day it's no problem - I'm going to use an average anyway. IIRC I went six days with the refrigerator and got a good idea what the average daily usage was.
If you want to know what it costs to dry a load of clothes just plug it in when you start then check the total wattage used when the load is done.
