Secret power guzzlers in the household: This is how you find out which device is costing you a lot of money
Created: 07/14/2022, 2:50 p.m
By: Andrea Stettner
Electronic devices often consume a lot of electricity and drive up the electricity bill.
But how do you identify the power guzzlers in your own home?
Power
guzzlers refer
to devices that consume a particularly large amount of electricity in the home.
Unfortunately, it is precisely these devices that cause high electricity costs.
The owners often have no idea that their fridge, laptop or water heater is to blame.
But don't worry: Power guzzlers can be easily identified.
We will show you how to do this below.
The refrigerator can turn out to be a real power guzzler in the household.
But how do I find out?
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Power guzzlers in the home: Which devices use a lot of electricity?
According to experts, it is above all the real power guzzlers
old devices,
Devices with low energy efficiency or
Devices that are often used in the home.
While almost everyone is aware of the
typical power guzzlers
such as refrigerators, freezers and washing machines, it is more difficult to identify other devices as power guzzlers.
For example, the ten biggest power guzzlers in the household also include entertainment devices that probably nobody really knows about.
If you want to find the real energy guzzlers in your home, you also have to search for the
hidden power guzzlers
in the household.
Which devices are among the hidden power guzzlers?
Hidden power guzzlers consume a lot of energy without us being aware of it.
For example, because we don't use a device that much, but it still works continuously.
However, this still consumes electricity – we just don’t even notice it.
According to the consumer
portal EnergieMarie
, these include
Laptops and televisions
that are plugged in day and night.
Smart home appliances
that are constantly connected to the internet.
Electric boilers:
continuously heat water to the set temperature.
Find power guzzlers in the household – that's how it works
A power meter
is all you need to track down the power guzzlers in your own home
.
This allows you to measure the power consumption of the corresponding device.
And this is how it works: Simply plug the ammeter between the socket and the electrical device.
Then write down the electricity consumption every day, always at the same time, for a week.
If you don't have an electricity meter in your house, you can
calculate your electricity consumption manually
.
According to the rule of thumb: Device
output (watts) x usage time (hours) / 1000 = power consumption (kilowatt hours).
Example:
A PC with an output of 135 watts that is operated six hours a day consumes 0.81 kilowatt hours of electricity per day.
That is around 295.65 kilowatt hours per year.
You forget these spots all the time when cleaning
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Replace secret power guzzlers with economical devices
Then compare the measured or calculated consumption with the power consumption of newer models in stores.
This is how you can find out which of your household appliances is a
real power guzzler
.
“You can easily read the annual electricity consumption from the energy efficiency label on the device.
The replacement of your old device often pays off quickly despite the higher purchase price,” advises the
consumer advice center
.
The best way to reduce electricity costs is to swap out old devices for new ones that are more energy-efficient.
For large appliances such as refrigerators or washing machines, this can pay off
after 10 to 15 years
.
Or you change your usage behavior and, for example, consistently pull the plug wherever possible.
Because even the standby mode consumes more power than many people think.
Due to the increased energy prices, many tenants are now threatened with a hefty back payment.
But when the ancillary costs increase, landlords must adhere to certain rules.
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