Does it Really Only cost $14 to Operate my TV for a Year?

Fluoro? What a waste! LED only, baby.
Fridge LED

I went from 80W to 8W - while gaining more light! The draw wasn't as big a deal for me as the heat created from 80W. Plus... I'm a nut.

 

Only if the student in question was being particularly slow that day

BZZZZZTTT .... blood curdling scream of agony ....

"Ok class, do we understand PF yet?? How about another lesson? You there, step on up ..."

 

As long as you remained on just one phase, insulated from ground, you'd probably be ok. Attempt to cross or touch phase-to-phase would be catastrophic for you and the power line. Ditto phase to ground

In pulp and paper mills, i've seen primary transformers explode at the pothead because the guys wanted to keep the mice/rat population down. They would befriend a stray cat, that in itself a *good* thing

They'd be friendly to the stray cat, feed it, and it would naturally chase down the rodents. Except cats are highly curious, way too curious for their own good.

The cat happened to jump near the pothead, actually landed on the pothead, white flash, and all that remained was part of a tail and one paw. Millions of dollars in damage

As far as older oil-bath switches failing, that is a very common occurrence. Electrical switches are like water valves, they should be periodically "exercised" to prevent sticking.

The contacts can easily weld themselves closed, and the switch is out of commission. You won't know until you attempt to power the actuator and it just hums and buzzes

 

Does a CFL even operate in a fridge? I don't know of any residential CFL that will reliably operate in temps much below -5 C.

A bunch of folks bought them around here as replacements for +55 watt potlights, thinking they could use the 12-16 w CFL's as security lighting.

Even left on 24x7, they would quit working at -25 C. At low temps, they also have very short life as they attempt to restrike constantly

LED's will reliably work at -40. So will induction lamps

 

The Sylvanias seemed to work in the fridge, but I wouldn't expect them to work in the freezer. One flickered a few times before lighting--it might have been having trouble making good contact in the recessed base. (Interestingly when I pulled it and placed it in some track lighting it faintly flickered twice as I was threading it in...with no power. That was about 3 minutes from when it was last lit.)

The box claims the Sylvanias work "reliably" down to 0F/-18C. So theoretically they would work in the freezer. Interestingly, the box lists 100F for the maximum temperature, which isn't all that high.

 

That still seems high. Are you really using 290W or is that the peak amount it can consume? My 46" Samsung LCD normally uses 100-120W. (Less than my 29" CRT). You can turn down the backlight for less power (and blacker blacks also), depending on how bright the room is in normal conditions. But my 32" Dynex LCD uses a little more than the 46" Samsung, so obviously there's considerable range between TV sets.

You're right about the standby watts, my LCD shows 0 on the Kill-a-watt, while my CRT showed 3 or 4W when off (IIRC).

 

That's kind of surprising. Must be the cheap electricity, because up in rural northern MN where I grew up, we were probably 1/2 using wood (the farmers and loggers) and 1/2 using oil (everybody else).

The better wood furnaces that became common in the 80's were the outside insulated stoves with underground pipes supplying hot water to the house's forced-air system. Kinda looked like a giant sheep standing in the yard with the white foam insulation covering it. Electricity was considered very inefficient, but maybe that's just because it was expensive in our area (came from oil).

 

Oil is now far more expensive than electricity, at least in Manitoba. Up until recently, Manitoba Hydro had two tiers for power consumption for residential use, I think the first tier ended at 125 kwh

The second tier was priced *lower* than the first tier. That's opposite to what other utilities do. As Manitoba Hydro exports a bit over half the power it produces, it can afford to keep electricity cheap at home

I know what you mean. You can also get them in coal fired versions, which are popular with folks in the SW part of Manitoba, and further up north. Most with the outdoor boilers will have hydronic heat in the floor, instead of using a heat exchanger

This is a company in Winkler, MB, that makes wood and coal outdoor furnaces

Coal Burning Outdoor Furnace | The 'Coalman' from Heat Innovtions

:tape2:

MMMMPPPPHHHH! MMMMmmmmmmpphhhh! URRRRGGHHHH!

 

You are probably right, I quoted the rating from the Owner's Manual when I listed 290W, which it states simply as the power consumption for the 52" model. Similarly, for the 46" model (LC-46D64U) it lists the power rating as 256W, again with 0.6W for standby.

If the technology is comparable to the 46" Samsung you quoted, maybe that too is the max. rating. If so, then maybe my average power draw for the 52" is say 110/256 x 290W = 125W on average. That would put our weekly TV watching cost at $0.42.

That is unless I watch CNBC and act on Jim Cramer's advice!

 

The actual electric heater is efficient.
It's the generating of electricity from heat that isn't.

 

nerfer,

Those Samsung numbers are low actually considering the size. I am not saying they are wrong or that I in any way doubt your results. There is quite a range in LCD power usage for given size. That is one of the reasons I'm holding off on buying. I've heard that there are a few models coming with really low power usage. I'm hoping that some low power variants with good visual performance will emerge as leaders. (Yes, I do plan to have my cake and eat it too.)

For my PC, going from a CRT monitor to an LCD monitor (widescreen, more area) was a large savings for me, about 60-70 watts while running...plus it was pulling 2 watts while idle. The old Trinitron was dying anyway--a known Trinitron power supply failure mode that I had read about.

Here is the link to the pdf for the new 3.0 Energystar criteria for TV's. http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/product_specs/eligibility/tv_vcr_elig.pdf It looks like you Samsung would be borderline for qualifying (it is midway between the next size and that hurts it.)

 

Just checked out my Panny.... 42 inches of global warming goodness!!

390 W !!! I spend MAYBE an hour a day watching it though, so that helps out with the operational costs.

 

I don't know if it's $14 for your TV, but maybe THIS could confirm / reject your belief:

YouTube - Google PowerMeter

It seems to measure individual device power for SD power customers, but I'm wondering if it'll work for So cal edison, the Flathead valley power co-op etc.