Surprised how much standby power my automation panel actually draws

Started by Marcus Reed · · 4 replies
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#1
Stuck a meter on the transformer for my panel out of curiosity since I already track pump kWh obsessively, and even with the VS pump off and everything idle it's pulling a steady draw around 15-20 watts just to keep the board and relays alive. Doesn't sound like much until you run the math, that's something like 0.4 kWh a day just sitting there doing nothing, call it a couple bucks a month at my rate. Not enough to lose sleep over but it caught me off guard since I've spent so much time optimizing run schedules and pump speeds and never once accounted for the thing that's always on in the background. Anybody else actually measured their panel's idle draw or am I the only one nerding out over single digit watts.

4 Replies

#2
No automation panel here, just a basic timer and relay for the pump, but it's funny you mention it because I never even thought about the sand filter valve or the transformer drawing anything when idle, your meter trick has me curious enough to go stick one on my setup just to see.
#3
No automation panel on mine so can't compare numbers, but is that 15-20 watts with the freeze protection circuit wired in or without. Mine runs a heat pump off the same panel and I'd bet that standby draw jumps once temps drop and it's watching for a freeze trigger.
#4
I don't run automation, just the Raypak on manual start stop and a mechanical timer for the filtration pump, so I never had a board or relays to meter in the first place. But Karen's freeze protection point is a good one from a different angle, my gas heater sits idle all winter with nothing watching for a freeze trigger because the pool's closed and drained down below the returns by then, which is the whole reason I never think about standby draw. Marcus, if you're already down the rabbit hole of single digit watts I'd actually want to know what that panel pulls in January versus July before I called it a flat couple bucks a month, because Karen's right that a live freeze circuit watching all winter is a different animal than idle in July with nothing to trigger.
#5
Karen's onto something, freeze circuit polling sensors and keeping a relay ready to fire changes the baseline, not huge but it's not nothing either. Down here we don't run freeze protect but a handful of nights a winter so I never bothered metering the difference. Few bucks a year either way, not worth losing sleep over.