Find the appliance behind an empty home's electricity use
At a glance
A homeowner used ChatGPT, breaker labels, and meter readings to identify roof cables consuming electricity continuously. This workflow is listed under Money & Bills, Home Maintenance, Energy.
- Agents / tools
- ChatGPT, Electric meter
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What they did
1) Have the unexpectedly high bill, access to the electric meter, and the breaker panel's labels available. Explain to ChatGPT that the house is unoccupied yet consuming more electricity than your occupied home. 2) Ask for likely causes and a way to isolate the load. Share the handwritten breaker labels so it can help prioritize circuits, and ask how to read the meter's current-load display. 3) Use the breaker switches one at a time and watch for a large drop at the meter; report observations in the same chat to narrow the cause. 4) Identify the device on the implicated circuit, disconnect the unwanted load, and compare subsequent consumption. The author's culprit was continuously powered roof de-icing cable.
How it went
The author reported electricity consumption falling by 15 kWh per day after unplugging the cables.
