One of the first devices identified was my radon pump.
No luck with my fan as it is on constantly.
Will Sense find it eventually or is it destined to be in the “other” black hole forever?
Always-on devices that are actually always always on are fundamentally “impossible” for Sense. An actual pump (e.g. fridge compressor pump) might have some luck in being detected by Sense because despite the fridge being “always on” the pump component is obviously switching on and off as needed and so is giving Sense some clues.
The always-on energy consumption of a fan is fairly easy to work out if you have access to the label or specs. You could also put it on a smart plug. A big advantage with the smart plug, despite getting accurate energy monitoring, is that then you can set an alert in Sense if the fan shuts down. I have my fridge on an HS110 so if it ever gets switched off or shuts down some Hue bulbs get switched to RED and I get an alert.
FYI: The real key to Sense technology is that unlike the setup above with a smart plug, Sense can theoretically be monitoring partial failure of devices. A fridge compressor or failing AC unit still runs but usually starts exhibiting symptoms in it’s electrical signature before a complete fail. There are a number of cases in the forum that have caught attic fans during failure when they consume a lot of energy and could potentially cause other problems.
Hey there @michael.d.sullivan. We recently shared a video where our CEO Mike goes through a home and helps a user track down some energy hogs in his home, one of which is a Radon Fan! Might be worth taking a look.
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Sense works on transitions, so things that are steady state will fall into “Always On” (as they should) but can’t be individually measured either. The only alternative for those seems to be using other sensors that talk to Sense, HS110’s for example.
If you want to track the radon fan’s consumption (and set up alerts for failures!) I would have an electrician reconfigure it to be cord-connected and insert an HS110 smartplug to monitor it.
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This is a case where the annual consumption is going to be quite low (but VERY necessary), so the alerting may well be the most value. These things get installed then forgotten and, while they are pretty reliable, they are mechanical devices and they do fail. The only ways to tell are radon detectors, which you should have anyway but those tell you about the problem after it’s become dangerous, and something like an HS110 (or one of the many alternatives). For Sense, you do need the HS110 because that’s what it connects to and probably some re-wiring.
In any case, don’t mess around with radon…nasty stuff!
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