Calculate Your Power Needs

It is important for us to get a clear indication of you power loads so we may size a system to meet your individual needs.  Alternatives many need to be found for heating hot water and cooking food.  Once these large loads are accounted for, refrigeration is the next big consideration. 

Our appliance use table will help you calculate the electrical usage of appliances in your home.  These, added to cooking and water heating loads will give us a good idea of your household usage. Most modern appliances can be included in an alternative power system.  This includes smart drive washing machines, stereos, computers, sky decoders, fax machines and microwaves.  Dishwashers can also be included provided the hot water is heated from another source.

The appliance table is designed to be a quick and easy way for you to assess what appliances you have, and how often you use them.  The typical figures are to give you guide.  We suggest you look at each of your devices to work out it's specific load.  Often this information in containing on the back, underside of your appliance or in the manual.

We have suggested all lighting is 20 watt, for example compact fluorescent bulbs.  Try changing your lighting in the calculator from 20 to 75 or 100 watt bulbs and see what difference it makes to your usage.

The calculator uses the simple formula below if you have four 20Watt light bulbs used for 3 hours a day.

Where average daily use does not constitute a full hour, then time in minutes is divided by 60.  For instance if your laundry is only used for 4 minutes per day, 6/60 = 0.07.

Doing your own energy audit will help you understand where your home or business uses power.  For more information on saving power, visit the excellent government website EnergyWise.  The more information you can offer about your energy use and habits, the more detailed we can be with our quotation and advise on system use.

Proceed to our Power Calculator