| chrisvillar@hotmail.com 2005-08-17, 12:21 pm |
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BobG wrote:
> Anyone ever put a neon light across the hot water heater element to
> actually observe when the hot water heater was operating? Whats the
> duty cycle with NO HOT WATER USE during the day? Is this calculatable
> given an R rating for the hw heater, and air and water temp?
I don't know if your heater is elctric or gas. If it's gas, you can
hear the burner kick on and off. I'm guessing you are talking about
electric. In that case, they make such a thing as a Kill-a-watt meter.
It's only made for 120V but it plugs into the wall between the outlet
and the appliance and measures actual energy usage. I know the same
sort of devices are made for 240V but they are probably all for
industrial applications ($$$). I used one once to monitor the energy
useage of a central AC unit. I was running an experiment on cooling
the air around the outdoor unit with evaporative cooling while the unit
was running. It made a significant difference in the energy useage. I
was using those misters you can buy at Home Depot for cooling paios.
The problem is that you need a really clean water source or the misters
get fouled and you would eventually end up with scale build up on the
AC coils. Not good.
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