Monitoring our Use of Electricity
I started monitoring overall use of electricity in 2021, and got serious about it in 2022, when we decided we were going to build an off grid property at some point, “Getting serious about it” meant that I made sure I had circuit-level / appliance-level data for our major uses for electricity This included our heat pumps, well pump, refrigerators, washer and dryer, main TV/entertainment equipment, and various other things such as the most commonly used lighting circuits. We had a propane water heater in that previous property so we couldn’t track that, but we certainly track it today because we use a heat pump water heater in the new house.
All of this data proved to be incredibly valuable as I designed our PV system and battery system, and I think that having a good set of data (not just a “feel”) is essential for going off grid without a lot of frustration. I uses and still use an Emporia Vue Gen 2 system for this, and overall I’m very happy with it. It has been very reliable and they offer a free monitoring and online data storage system that can capture months (maybe years - I can’t remember) of data that can be viewed immediately online or downloaded for spreadsheet analysis. They make a Gen 3 version now.
The only big downsides to the Emporia system have been 1) it’s cloud-based, which I would rather avoid. But that really hasn’t been a problem, so I cant really complain. The hardware required is rather bulky but must fit inside the electric panel. You place current transducers (CTs) around a wire for each circuit you wish to track, and around your main AC input leads, and they’re not tiny. 3) On the Gen 2, the connectors for the CTs into the main “brain” device uses an audio-style plug to make the connection, and those infernal things are bulky and come out easily. I had to wrap tape around the whole thing to keep them in. On a positive note, they got rid of that horrible system for the Gen 3 device, and I understand that newer system works well
I like my Emporia Vue system and do recommend them. I’m also interested in but haven’t purchased a competitor called Iotawatt. It allows for local data storage, which is desirable, but it costs more than the Emporia, and I can’t justify buying it until the Emporia one day goes kaput (and even then, I might just stay with what I know).