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Just found out our old Bridgeport mill uses more power idling than I thought.
I was checking the shop's power bill and saw a note about standby loads, so I hooked up a meter to our Series I. It pulls almost 800 watts just sitting there with the spindle off. I guess I should start hitting the main disconnect at the end of the day. Does anyone else track this stuff for their older machines?
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tara_williams16d ago
Read an article a while back about phantom loads in old shops. Those old transformers and control circuits are always sipping power, even with the big stuff off. Makes you wonder how many other machines are doing the same thing quietly. A simple disconnect switch on the wall is probably the easiest fix for it.
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brooke716d ago
Yeah, 800 watts is a real eye opener. Did you check if that draw is just the coolant pump and the spindle fan, or is there something else like a transformer for the control that's always live?
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