ChrisW
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| posted on 22/5/07 at 12:11 AM |
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Power for my workshop.... help!
Ok, here's the scenario - hoping you guys may have some suggestions.
My workshop is on a farm where I rented a house a few years back. When I was there, I ran a cable along the back fence into the workshop and plugged
it in in the house to a standard socket.
Couple of years ago, the owner wanted to move back in so I had to move out, but I kept the workshop. Always had an agreement with the house owner
that he'd keep the power switched on in exchange for beer/help with cars/etc, but last year the husband died leaving only the wife there.
She's really paranoid that I'm costing her a fortune in electricity and has switched it off. I don't believe I am really - just got
a few striplights in there and the usual grinder/drill/etc, but I'm happy to pay for what I use, even over the odds for the favour.
However, in order to get her to let me have the power on I need to come up with some way of measuring what I've used. I thought I might be able
to get hold of a kW/hour meter for DIN rail, but not managed to find one anywhere.
So, can anyone suggest where I might be able to get something along those lines? Or an alternative way to measure power used? Guess it would be
sensible to fit an RCD at the same time, and wire it straight into the consumer unit. Obviously, the workshop is pretty useless without power as it
has no windows, and I really don't want to have to move!
Chris
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MkIndy7
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| posted on 22/5/07 at 12:19 AM |
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Its only Rated at 15A but if the power to the workshop is only pluged in anyway that should be more than Sufficient.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=power%20meter&source=15&SD=Y
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ChrisW
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| posted on 22/5/07 at 12:28 AM |
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Got one of those, but it forgets the reading if the power goes off 
Also, I'd like to hook it up properly to the consumer unit so I can use my compressor. At the moment it always blows the fuse
Chris
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stevebubs
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| posted on 22/5/07 at 02:40 AM |
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A few "landlord meters" on fleabay right now
Cli
cky to item 150122877966
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dilley
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| posted on 22/5/07 at 05:49 AM |
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have a look around, you can buy a £1 coin meter for about £40 brand new, check out QVS.
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pewe
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| posted on 22/5/07 at 10:21 AM |
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Chris, if she's that paranoid have you considered a free-standing generator?
Makes you completely independent and even a small one should power the whole work-shop.
Cheers, Pewe 
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t.j.
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| posted on 22/5/07 at 10:24 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by pewe
Chris, if she's that paranoid have you considered a free-standing generator?
Makes you completely independent and even a small one should power the whole work-shop.
Cheers, Pewe
Yeah one without an exhaust 
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chockymonster
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| posted on 22/5/07 at 10:34 AM |
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I can't find a UK supplier but I'm guessing something like this would help
http://www.energymonitor.com/
PLEASE NOTE - Responses on Forum Threads may contain Sarcasm and may not be suitable for the hard of Thinking.
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goodall
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| posted on 22/5/07 at 10:48 AM |
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have you got any mates that work for a electricity contractors or work for an electricity supply company? if so im so you could simply get an old
meter thats been replaced because someone has knocked a house down or turned into to flats sorta thing or the such
other wise one of those landlord units of ebay would be handiest
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BenB
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| posted on 22/5/07 at 12:02 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by stevebubs
A few "landlord meters" on fleabay right now
Cli
cky to item 150122877966
Job's a good un- that way if the power goes off there's no problem and she can inspect how much energy has been used. Also- it looks like
a standard meter (cos it is!!) so she should be happy it's accurate etc...
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ChrisW
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| posted on 22/5/07 at 01:08 PM |
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That 'landlord meter' looks like the best option, but thanks for all the suggestions.
I'll print it out, and see if I can get her buy in on it.
BTW, yes the generator is easiest, but I'd upset a lot of people and I'd need a pretty hefty one to run up the compressor. Oh, and I
really can't be bothered lugging fuel there every time I want to use it.
Chris
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BenB
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| posted on 22/5/07 at 02:06 PM |
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Yes, considering the efficiencies of generators and compressors and the fact that they're both notoriously noisy things, running a comp off a
gene probably wouldn't go down too well!!! LOL!!!
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