Part 8 (1/2)

Reading a Meter

Electric meters read in kilowatt hours, just as a water as y consumed by 1000 watts of electricity used for one hour Ten 100-watt light bulbs burning for one hour would use one kilowatt-hour--one kwh

[Illustration: Figure 1 Soe total on a speedoure 1 The ht to left--just the opposite froht turns clockwise, the next hand turns counter-clockwise, the next clockwise; the last hand on the left turns counter-clockwise

The first dial on the right can register up to 10 kilowatt-hours; the second up to 100 kwh; the third, to 1000 kwh; the fourth, to 10,000 kwh

After that, theyou ht to left

[Illustration: Figure 2 Meter dials are read froht to left]

To read each dial, you use the number last passed by the dial hand This may not be nearest the hand For instance, if the pointer has passed 6 and is alures in the saht to left Practice reading the e

What's Your Electric Bill?

Meters aren't set back each month when the s from one month to the next sho many kilowatt-hours have been used If you know your electric rates, you can figure your bill by yourself Your power supplier will furnish you with a rate schedule on request

[Illustration: Figure 3 See if you can read the above correctly The answers are shown in a box on the next page]

It will be interesting to you to find out how much it costs to operate the various electric appliances in your houre 4

[Illustration: Figure 4 Sample rate schedule Note that as the use of electricity increases, the average cost per kwh is reduced]

Esti any single appliance, three steps are necessary:

1 Learn the wattage of the appliance

2 Estimate howcost

_To Find Wattage:_

Watts, you know, are the e (pressure) times amperes (rate of flow) Volts tiive the voltage required for proper operation as well as either ae, you have the information you want Otherwise you e is given as 110-120, use 120 as your voltage 120 volts is nominal today

_How Much Will You Use?_

Now that you know the wattage of the appliance, ure by number of hours the equipet the kwh Now multiply the result by the number of days the appliance is used each month This tells you the nu the month