500W, Long Run Time Device Help Needed

Hi All,

See below 500W long run time device I can not possibly thing of what this is. Notice start up signal that is also similar to shut off signal. This ran for almost 2 days and does not align with anything known I would have had running over the weekend. It also ran for about 12 hours a day or so ago.

Assuming this is a screenshot from the Device Power Meter for a newly detected device, not the main Power Meter ? What kind of device does Sense detect it as (Heat, Motor, etc) ?

@kevin1 It says Heat 1, Type: Mystery Heat and is a new device found yesterday. I’ve had Sense for a week and a half and already identified about 12 devices surprisingly. Only 4 I have not fully confirmed but this one already has a run time of 3.5 days @ 500W which is a bit alarming. It did blink on like it is doing a status check today 4x for about a minute each within a 5min window. See pic.

Hard to figure this one out given the randomness of duration. Some things that might come in about 500W resistive (Heat).

  • in sink instant hot water heater
  • bathroom floor heater
  • outdoor halogen lights (6 bulbs worth)

Just some thoughts

I’ll add that my fridge defrost cycle uses ~500w (482w to be exact), but that’s like once a day for about 7min.

It could be Sense thinks something is on but is detecting it wrong, since you’re a relatively new user.

Like @Kevin1 says, don’t go off the device usage page, but go to the actual meter view at those times to see the real usage (minus the baseline, of course).

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@Edison517 understood. I think on a typical day the duration is that time but am seeing some oddities with that long run time after the last “cycle”. May see a similar thing on my sump pump. I have app set to alert me now on long run time to alert me. Would I see the 500W pull on kill-a-watt? If so, I would do it as I’ve had one for a long time but access behind fridge not easily accessible.

Thanks for the suggestions although I do not have any of those devices in my home. I did spend a fair amount of time combing through the forums late last night/this morning as well as through shutting on/off breakers when the device kicked on and believe it to be my Electrolux (Frigidaire) refrigerator possibly in defrost mode from posts in the Device Library. When it did its roughly <1min multiple checks within 5 minutes i was able to make it down to the breaker panel, turn off and the bubble went away/device power stopped. I do believe this refrigerator is the only appliance on this specific breaker as well. I have it logged as a guess at the moment but other posts and breaker check supported defrost as a “Heat” source. What I don’t know is this from the freezer or refrigerator side and I don’t know why over the weekend it spent 2.5 days at 500W. This Frigidaire Gallery side-by-side is 6 years old…of course 1 year out of Lowe’s warranty if it is indeed an issue.

Appreciate any further thoughts on this. Thanks for the help! Like on to the next 2 devices I haven’t got quite figured out but closing in on them lol.

Just be aware that turning off a breaker and watching the bubbles is not very reliable. Sense doesn’t actually know if a device is running or not. It’s looking for on and off signatures and if you suddenly kill the power, the off signature might look different than it normally does so Sense might not think the device turned off. What you want to do, is watch the power meter. If it spiked by 500W that should be very clear in the power meter. When you turn the breaker off, do you see a 500W drop in the power meter? If so, that’s probably your device.

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@waterboysh understood. There is another 90-93W item I am tracking as well and after going thru all the breakers and following bubbles, an additional “Fridge” item popped up at same time and bubble did not close. Appreciate the advice, so I need to be watching the Power Meeting for equivalent power reduction of what I’m seeing vs bubbles or see the devices.

Bubbles are cute, but can be VERY misleading. They certainly shouldn’t be relied on while troubleshooting or resolving mystery devices.

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This could be some heating element for fish tank, lizard tank, etc. If you have kids, check w/ them.

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