New Heat Source Detected

[Grandpa2390]

Sense just discovered 2 heat sources and a “dishwasher”

Heat 3 ended up being the blower motor for my HVAC system. Heat 4 on the other hand, I am having difficulty pinning down. apparently it was only used once, on March 1, 2018
it used 8.4 kWh
was on 3 times
and spent 12h and 4 minutes on.

I have no idea. it can’t be the blower motor, or the air conditioner. I’ve eliminated both of those.

I don’t have anything else that sucks that kind of power and would have been on that many times for that long.

My oven is gas, my dryer is gas, my furnace is gas. Even so, those three appliances have been ran many times since the first. and the dryer and oven don’t run 3x for 12 hours.

It can’t be my dehumidifier. the compressor in it has been identified. and the fan part runs every 20 minutes just about.

Toaster oven has been identified. the fridge. the agitator in my washing machine has been identified, but it is hit-or-miss.
even if it were the washer/ or dishwasher, those have been run many times and they wouldn’t have been on for 12 hours. like 700 Watt/hours.

Community Names are:
Washer 23% (found an excuse to run the washing machine to check it anyway)
Oven 13%
Dryer 8%
Stove 6%
Dishwasher 6%
Rice Cooker 4%

I’m assuming a crockpot would probably be an eligible device. but I don’t have anything in this list. that would consume that much electricity and run that many times.

I’m going to run the dishwasher, maybe… maybe that was a day when I was cleaning it. but I have run it so many times since then.

edit: just refreshed the page, and now it is up to 44x…
but nothing on the graph for today.

it ran for those 12 hours, off and on apparently, but consistently enough that it used .7 kWh each hour. according to the chart.

The online app also says a different story. Will post screenshots

edit: dishwasher is the dishwasher… or at least some part of it. If the water heater in the dishwasher doesn’t start till a little ways into the cycle, then stays on for pretty much the rest of the cycle… then it is probably that.

[Grandpa2390]

[dave_n_s]

My approach to these puzzles is to first set Sense to alert you next time it comes on (if it’s automatic) or when you switch it on. That also helps if it’s a sub-component of an appliance, when you know that it’s running, but not exactly what’s going on sometimes - your dishwasher mention is typical.

As to clues, the main things I use are the average power (about 500W) and time on (16 mins). That rules out a lot of things, too long for a kettle or toaster for instance.

It could perhaps be a high power lighting device of some sort - a couple of halogen floods. I suspect Sense will not always be able to distinguish a halogen light from a heating element as they’re both purely resistive.

Please let us know how this works out

[kevin1]

My Sense currently interchanges a set of halogen lights in the backyard and the heating element in my dishwasher. May be time to switch the halogens to LED floods.