Concern about electric consumption

[Surfer]

We have a 2011 Lunar Delta TI. Over the weekend we were on a site that had token meters so we switched heating, water heating and fridge to gas. Things that were in more or less constant use on electric were a low wattagwe LED TV, Sky digibox, laptop, LED lights and a small alarm clock.
We toppped up with £5 at about 9.20am on Sunday as electric had run out. Unit charge is £0.13p. Here is a summary of consumption over 24 hours.

9.20am - £4.91

1.30pm - £4.91

2.30pm - £4.75 (Low wattage kettle - 800w)

6.30pm - £4.65

11.00pm - £4.26

£0.65 used during day which is fair enough

11.00pm - £4.26

8.15am - £2.57

We used £1.69 over night. During the night all lights, TV computer etc switched off.

I am assuming that overnight consumption was neglible as only clock and Omnivent working. Heating was turned down so ALDE pump would not have been operating. Besides heating was on
earlier in the night and no significant change before 11pm.
In the morning the 1200w toaster and 800w kettle was used on two diferent occasions. However the
wife spent about 10 minutes vacuuming the caravan with a Dyson DC26 which is 1600w I think. The toaster, kettle and vacuum cleaner are plugged into the 13amp
sockets.
I
cannot see these items using using up £1.69 in power especially as unit
charge is £0.13p per unit which equates to 13 units. Site manager assured us that his meters were checked regularly and
also agreed that our consumption was very high considering heating and hot water
were on gas and suggested that there coudl eb an issue with the caravan.

Is there any chance that something in the caravan is having a significant impact on electric consumption? Perhaps a fault? Thanks.

PS We used over half a bottle of gas in 3 days with heating only at night.!

 

[ProfAlGoogle]

Don't forget to take in to account your on board charger, and also your sky box, even in standby mode will still be drawing power.

Regards,
Allan.

 

[otherclive]

Try plugging the van into your house mains with everything in the house switched off in less than 1 hour you could then switch different circuits on in the van and using the house meter see what the consumption is.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Surfer,

That's a mystery, but if you analyse the figures you might get a hint of what might be using the power.

The number of units you mysteriously used is 13 units. That's a strangely exact figure.

Assuming the meter was accurate, then what could use that much power over night?

The two biggest power users are the water and space heater.

Its very unlikely a water heater could use that much power simply to maintain temperature of a tank over night. maintenance rates of water heaters are in the order of 150Wh, so over night (10 hours) that might amount to no more than 1.5units.

So we are looking for something that can use more than that, and that points to the electric space heater. with elements rated at 2kW, then 13Units represents about 6.5 hours of actual heating. Assuming a thermostat is actually operating then this could easily extend over more hours over night. This is of course more likley to occur at night as ambaient temperatures fall, and yoy may have turned other sources of heat off.

Is it possible that when you thought you had turned off some of the appliances at night that a frost stat or some other thermostat was still operating without you realising?

 

[Brum1]

Hi Surfer
Is it possible that someone has unplugged you and connected their own caravan to your outlet overnight?

 

[graham_somersham]

Are you sure the Alde heating/water heater was on gas as it takes power from 240V by default and unless you set it the electric to off it will carry on using it. In my Delta I can get through 6kg of gas in 3 days when not on ehu which could indicate the Alde was drawing mains power for some of the time.

 

[otherclive]

Given what the electric cost you and assuming the EHU meter was accurate it makes the two clubs all inclusive rates look attractive!

 

[Surfer]

Are you sure the Alde heating/water heater was on gas as it takes power from 240V by default and unless you set it the electric to off it will carry on using it. In my Delta I can get through 6kg of gas in 3 days when not on ehu which could indicate the Alde was drawing mains power for some of the time.

Definitely set to gas as I double checked and the same with the fridge. I did say just over 1/2 bottle, but when I switched on the gas it was mostly green however is now mostly red so probably more than 1/2 a bottle. If someone had tampered, the digibox would have reverted back to loading and the alarm clock would be flashing.
Unless there is a fault in the actual electric distribution box, I guess the only way I can check is buying a monitor and then checking each of the three appliances!

 

[Dustydog]

Have you got an electric towell rail?

 

[Surfer]

Have you got an electric towell rail?

Definitely not!

 

[otherclive]

Guess that rules out a problem with the hot tub too!!!!

 

[Surfer]

Guess that rules out a problem with the hot tub too!!!!

We also left the spa bath at home!

 

[ChrisUK]

Try plugging the van into your house mains with everything in the house switched off in less than 1 hour you could then switch different circuits on in the van and using the house meter see what the consumption is.

Not really practical to turn everything off in the house, but you can get cheap (£9 ish) power meters to plug into a mains socket and plug the caravan into that.