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Step 5Accessing the Main Power Lines
If your breaker box is anything like mine, then there are 4 screws holding the cover panel to the wall. Remove the screws and pull the cover off.
Caution:
Don't touch ANYTHING inside the breaker box! The beauty of using an AC clamp is that it's designed for this sort of thing. Just clip it on a line you're interesting in measuring and put the cover back on immediately. Touching the wrong thing in there will kill you. I don't assume any responsibility if someone injures themselves trying to recreate this.
In most US homes, the electricity comes in as 220v on 3 main wires. Some appliances, like ovens and clothes dryers, are connected to these 220v lines directly. However, by using just one of the lines, the power is reduced to 110v for all the wall outlets. Usually, a home's electrical wiring is divided into two sections. One line (known as a leg) powers one section of the home and the other line powers the other side. To get the total power usage in my house, I put an AC clamp on both legs and added the measurements together.
If you are interested in monitoring a single breaker or maybe a single appliance, this method will still work. Just put the clamp on the wire coming out of the breaker.
Now just tuck that clamps in the box so the cover can go back on.
Caution:
Don't touch ANYTHING inside the breaker box! The beauty of using an AC clamp is that it's designed for this sort of thing. Just clip it on a line you're interesting in measuring and put the cover back on immediately. Touching the wrong thing in there will kill you. I don't assume any responsibility if someone injures themselves trying to recreate this.
In most US homes, the electricity comes in as 220v on 3 main wires. Some appliances, like ovens and clothes dryers, are connected to these 220v lines directly. However, by using just one of the lines, the power is reduced to 110v for all the wall outlets. Usually, a home's electrical wiring is divided into two sections. One line (known as a leg) powers one section of the home and the other line powers the other side. To get the total power usage in my house, I put an AC clamp on both legs and added the measurements together.
If you are interested in monitoring a single breaker or maybe a single appliance, this method will still work. Just put the clamp on the wire coming out of the breaker.
Now just tuck that clamps in the box so the cover can go back on.
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