[Tfug] Tfug] *Way* OT: Swamp c -- data

[Bexley Hall]

OK.  Some shirt-cuff numbers...

I (arbitrarily) decided to time 10 revs of
the disc on my W-Hr meter (motor) to get a
rough feel for energy usage.  Granted, its
only an approximation but I suspect within
5% of what "real numbers" would yield.

With the house "idling" -- i.e. monitors
have had a chance to go to power-save mode,
no intermittent appliances powered up
(like washing machine whose power consumption 
varies based on what "cycle" it is in)
WITH THE EXCEPTION OF REFRIGERATOR AND
FREEZER CHEST -- ten revolutions took 509
seconds.

With the AC compressor and furnace fan 
running (set the thermostat low enough for 
it to stay on for the duration of the
measurement cycle) those same ten revs
took 40 seconds!  (sigh)

With the cooler running -- pump and blower
on "hi" -- it was 172 seconds.  On "low",
281 seconds.  (as with the ACbrrr, the cooler
thermostat was set to ensure the cooler
ran continuously during the test).

The meter claims an Rr of 138-8/9 so that's
a Kh of about 7 (7.2 to be exact).  So,
the 10 revs represent 72W-Hrs.

Normalizing to a one hour (3600 sec) interval,
the idle condition shows consumption at a
rate of 509 W-Hr/Hr -- this seems low given
the fact that I have at least one machine
running at all times (though with a monitor
sleeping it may be OK) plus several devices
*claiming* to be in "power save" mode  :<

The cooler running on HIGH shows a load of
1506 W-Hr/Hr.  Less the 509 for the rest of
the house leaves 997 W-Hr/Hr.  Running on
LOW, that figure drops to 413 W-Hr/Hr (922-509).

And, with The Pig running flat out, we're
looking at 5971 W-Hr/Hr (6480-509).  Hmmm...
that seems high.  IIRC, it's a 30A circuit...

*If* these numbers are right, then it says
that based on electric use alone, the ACbrrr
uses about 15 times what the cooler does
when running on LOW; 6 times when running
on HIGH.

So, if the AC runs at more than a 7% duty 
cycle wrt the cooler, it burns more than
the cooler.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll let the ACbrrr run just
to get a feel for what sort of duty cycle it 
*does* operate at.  Of course, there is a
bit of fudging required in those measurements;
I think the blower runs for a fixed time after 
the compresor cycles off -- though I think both
*start* at the same time (?).

And, I need to look to see what sort of hit
the water bill takes from the swamp cooler.
This will be harder to figure since the yard
also has higher water needs at the same time
the cooler does!  :<


       
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