For some reason my “Always On” has doubled since last month. I double checked and nothing has been added to my house that should have caused this change. Here are a few days that it has shhown my normal "Always On’. I have also noticed that when my Oven is being used the watts switches from the “Oven” bubble to the “Other” bubble. Not sure if these two issues are related. Anyone having a similar issue?
If you’re oven is being counted as “other” and previously it wasn’t, then that would be an explanation for the increase in it’s usage.
Would you be able to post a screen shot of the other bubble usage over time? Click on the other bubble, the the arrow on the right for usage. Do the same for your oven. If the decrease in the oven appears to be added to the other by looking at the two graphs side-by-side I think you figured it out.
I didn’t notice my high “always on” usage as a change rather it was present when I first installed the Sense monitor this week. I bought the unit to help troubleshoot an extremely high July electric bill.
What I found after installing the monitor and switching off breakers, was that one of my HVAC units was drawing approximately 5kW with the thermostat in the off position. Discovered that the heater strips were running in the air handling unit. Not good! Is it possible this could be your increased “always on” consumption?
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As its summer, have you been running your AC more? Or maybe some ceiling or wall fans?
Quoting this tech article
Always On is a calculation of the lowest power of each of your mains, added together, where “lowest” refers to the 1% bin of the observed wattage histogram over the previous 24-48 hour period. It is updated every half second, though most users will not see significant real-time changes given the 48 hour lookback window.
I quote this article because long running devices can be captured by Always On, but then if said device is turned off, it takes a while for Always On to catch up.
As an example
If you turn on 100w ceiling fan: When you first turn it on, that 100w will go into Unknown (unless Sense has detected your fan and then it would be whatever the device name is". After around 12-24-48 hours, it will shift into Always On as its been on for such a long time that Sense has now determined that there is a new “low water mark” for power in your house.
If you turn off that 100w fan, you won’t see Always On drop right away as the Always On calculation is looking at the last 48 hours to determine the Always On calculation. So the fan would then need to be off long enough that Sense no longer considers it always on.
So if it has been really hot and your AC, or at least blowers, have been on for significantly longer times, its possible they are being captured by the always on. But then you have a cool day and they run less / turn off and Always On re calculated a day later.
Check out this thread as well for another write up of Always On.
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The two are probably not connected. It’s best to try to understand how Always On is calculated as @ben suggests, because searching for the source of the increase requires a fairly systematic approach given the 48 hour calculation window.
Good thought, but I have gas heat.
I have been slowly trying to find why the rise, but not luck to this point.
Barry
So no AC, ceiling fans, stand fans, dehumidifiers etc? You say gas heat, but is it forced air and any chance those blowers are running even without heat?
If you can post some pictures of your always on trends / power meter, maybe we can help. you don’t mention how much it has increased so i’m just taking wild stabs in the dark at some of the usual suspects.
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