Posted by (PeteCresswell) on January 7, 2013, 3:44 pm
Recently installed a generator cutover switch
(http://tinyurl.com/a6e9fgn ) which tells me how much each circuit
is drawing.
I have one circuit which, when I *think* everything is unplugged,
still draws 18 watts.
First thing that comes to mind is that the circuit is serving
something that I do not know about; but I am hard-pressed to find
it.
That seems to leave "Leakage".
Is there any such thing as an electrical leak in home wiring?
If so, typical causes? Location strategies?
--
Pete Cresswell
Posted by Jim Wilkins on January 7, 2013, 5:21 pm
> Recently installed a generator cutover switch
> (http://tinyurl.com/a6e9fgn ) which tells me how much each circuit
> is drawing.
> I have one circuit which, when I *think* everything is unplugged,
> still draws 18 watts.
> First thing that comes to mind is that the circuit is serving
> something that I do not know about; but I am hard-pressed to find
> it.
> That seems to leave "Leakage".
> Is there any such thing as an electrical leak in home wiring?
> If so, typical causes? Location strategies?
> --
> Pete Cresswell
Doorbell or old Princess telephone transformer? It would likely be on
a junction box cover rather than plugged into an outlet.
Posted by Vaughn on January 7, 2013, 11:11 pm
On 1/7/2013 12:21 PM, Jim Wilkins wrote:
> Doorbell...transformer? It would likely be on
> a junction box cover rather than plugged into an outlet.
They stick doorbell transformers in the strangest places. I've been
living in this old house for 25 years and still haven't stumbled across
mine. Yet the doorbell works.
When that hidden transformer finally goes bad, I hope it's an open
primary and not shorted turns.
Vaughn
Posted by g on January 10, 2013, 4:20 pm
On 07/01/2013 15:11, Vaughn wrote:
> On 1/7/2013 12:21 PM, Jim Wilkins wrote:
>> Doorbell...transformer? It would likely be on
>> a junction box cover rather than plugged into an outlet.
> They stick doorbell transformers in the strangest places.
In my old house they fixed the transformer onto the service panel. You
cannot see it unless you take off the front cover...
//g
Posted by Jim Wilkins on January 7, 2013, 6:15 pm
> There can be leakage but not the type you're thinking of. Romex has
> capacitance between the hot and ground wire and to a lesser extent,
> to
> the neutral. It is insulated with a high dielectric loss (PVC)
> insulation. Thus, some small amount of real power dissipation will
> be
> consumed per foot heating the cable even when there is no load. If
> the runs are long that could amount to a few watts.
> John DeArmond
That's a very good point, so I checked two connected 100' extension
cords with neon bulbs in their sockets on a P4460 KAWez. The readings
were 0.00A, 0.0W.
jsw
> (http://tinyurl.com/a6e9fgn ) which tells me how much each circuit
> is drawing.
> I have one circuit which, when I *think* everything is unplugged,
> still draws 18 watts.
> First thing that comes to mind is that the circuit is serving
> something that I do not know about; but I am hard-pressed to find
> it.
> That seems to leave "Leakage".
> Is there any such thing as an electrical leak in home wiring?
> If so, typical causes? Location strategies?
> --
> Pete Cresswell