Air Conditioning Compressor Power Usage

Hi guys, I have an aeon labs energy meter hooked up to monitor my energy usage on my ac compressor, and it only seems to use 18-25 watts of power when running. Does that seem right??? That seems far too low, my dryer uses over 1000 watts consistently. That said, my power bills this summer have been lower than I would have thought, so maybe it is that low? Brand new house/ac/dryer…

Definitely not right.

The air-conditioner should have a data tag on it which will tell you the required amps for several different conditions, including inrush current and the normal operating value.

But the smallest window units usually use about 500 W:

Is it possible that you hooked it up to only read the fan, and not the compressor?

Thanks for the reply. Possible, it’s in the breaker panel with one clamp covering the 2 main leads and the other clamp covering the ground. Is that the right way to wire it?

Most household AC compressors are 220v. In that case one clamp goes to each hot. You will get an improper reading if you use one clamp to cover two or more hots. To my knowledge clamps are never used on the neutral or ground wires.

That’s not correct. You want each clamp around a separate hot lead, never the ground.

Thanks guys! I knew it couldn’t possibly be that low. I’ll get that fixed.

Thanks everyone, wired it up right and now it’s reading about 2800W which is about right, thanks for the help!

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