ECM-1220.H      Home Energy Monitor / Logger

Success Stories

Fred K:

My electric bill was getting out of control. I remembered a friend telling me that a local company was looking for volunteers to pilot test some newly designed energy monitor. I gave them a call and they had a qualified individual stop by to install this ECM-1220.H for the house. I left it on for a few weeks to determine the typical daily usage (mom, dad and two children). I then explained to the family what this new device was and what the displayed information was (in basic terms, of course).

The contest was now on;

"OK family, on average we use 1,600 KWh per month. The ECM-1220.H is projecting that we will use roughly that amount at the end of the month. Here's the deal, we will reset the meter and in 30 days from now, if we can reduce our usage to 80% of what we now use, we will have a night out .. favourite restaurant and movies. Reduce the usage to 70% and keep it at or below this value for three months, and I will buy a plasma TV for the family room."

I was astonished to see the dedication by all. It was not uncommon for any of us to glance at the ECM-1220.H 's monthly projected KWh and the "$ per Hour" figures. If these figures didn't seem right (too high), a walk through the house was done, usually to discover bedroom or closet lights left on. We soon discovered that the old beer refrigerator in the basement was very expensive to operate. We rarely used it. Before long, we agreed to pull the plug on that old refrigerator.

Although the kids may have gotten carried away with the many "candlelight dinners", this whole experience has cost me a lot of money. I now have to pay for a new plasma TV.

It was just amazing how much energy was saved just by changing our habits. This little contest was actually fun. We now routinely read the meter to make sure we don't fall back into the wasteful habits we once had...... and that pilot ECM-1220.H now belongs to us. The manufacturer decided to let us keep it (although I would have purchased it had they come to retrieve it).

Dan J:

I have a small business I operate in a garage behind my home. This building is powered via a sub-panel connected to my residence, I have been curious to know what portion of my electric bill my business was responsible for.

An ECM-1220-H was installed next to the exit door in my shop. My plan was to let the monitor run for a period of time then determine the percentage of energy used for business purposes.

I had no plan of doing any energy conservation as I was more interested in determining the amount to claim for tax purposes. After installation I switched various loads ON-OFF to see the change in wattage. Yes the wattage increased by 101 watts when I turned on the 100W bench light.

That evening, as I was closing up shop, I glanced at the newly installed ECM-1220.H and noticed the display showing "528 Watts". "Impossible" I thought to myself. The only thing left on was the 60W night light and alarm system. After investigation, I noticed that someone (me) left the light on in the storage room (two 60W bulbs). Now the ECM-1220.H was displaying 402 watts. That still is not right. I investigated further. Looks like an employee left a very quiet "micro heater" on. I turned it off and voila... the monitor is displaying 63 watts, 60 watts for the night light and 3 watts for alarm sensors and system. I was about to close-up shop as I always did, not realizing how many loads were still on. This would have been all wasted energy (and money). Taking a peek at the ECM-1200.H display as I exit the shop is now routine. I am amazed at how many times various devices are left on and would have gone unnoticed.

After a couple of weeks, I decided to download the collected data to have a peek at the data. I expected the load profile graph (usage versus time) to show various wattage levels during working hours and "flat line" to approximately 60 watts off hours. Wrong! The graph displayed a load of roughly 2000 watts coming on for a short period of time, every couple of hours while the shop was closed. After investigation it was discovered to be the compressor cycling every couple of hours. Turns out that the small air leak (I have been neglecting) on a press was costing me money. Not only is the leak now repaired, I now routinely kill the power to the compressor when I close shop. The ECM-1220.H was well on its way to paying for itself, not to mention the reduced mileage on those loads left on unnecessarily.

Bill A.

A friend of mine was involved in the development and testing of the ECM-1220-H. Since I am a licensed electrician, I volunteered to install and test drive the ECM-1220-H. I didn't really need anything like this because being an electrician, I have a good understanding of what various appliances draw, furthermore my wife and I are very energy conscious. We have no children which simplifies our conservation efforts.

After having it installed for a few days, the "Projected KWh was pretty much on track with what we typically use. The days were starting to get warm and we always use much more electricity in the summer.

After a week, I decided to download the collected data for analysis. The software has a nice load profile graph which give you a lot of information at a glance. Surprise Surprise Bill. I was using tons of electricity during the day, while my wife and I were both at work.

Reviewing the consumption for the past few days quickly revealed where this power was going. We have had two unseasonably hot days. The excess power consumption occurred on those days, between 8:00am and 3:30pm. It instantly came to me (and I'm a bit embarrassed);

I had set our older programmable thermostat to drop the temperature to 65 degrees on weekdays while we were at work. This helped us conserve on our heating bill. Now that the winter months are over, this setting caused the air conditioning unit to work extra hard, although we had no idea this was going on. There's no telling how much wasted energy would have occurred over the summer. 

To be honest with you, before this experience, I never would have purchased such a monitor because I thought I had everything under control. I now see that this monitor would have paid for itself in no time, by revealing what was going while we were away.

I love this unit. I am now so used to peeking at the wattage whenever I leave the house. This lets me confirm that nothing has been left on.