Appreciation post: I thought those new smart breakers were just a gimmick for rich folks in Scottsdale, but after installing a set for a client's solar upgrade, I'm actually impressed by the load monitoring.

The real-time data on their phone app showed a fridge compressor drawing way over its rating, which would have taken me an hour to catch with my old clamp meter, so has anyone else found a practical use for them beyond the fancy tech talk?

2 comments

2 Comments

faith_schmidt1mo ago

Wait, the fridge was pulling that much extra power? That's a serious fire risk hiding in plain sight. The breaker basically paid for itself just by spotting that one thing. Makes you wonder what else we're missing with old school tools.

christopher_singh921mo ago

My buddy Dave's old window AC unit was tripping his kitchen breaker every afternoon. He finally got a monitor and saw it was pulling 22 amps on startup, way over its rating. The wiring behind the outlet was literally warm to the touch. He replaced the unit last week and the weird circuit issues in his whole apartment stopped.