Checking load on circuit through outlet

[VAtransplant]

Is this even possible? I do have a kill-a-watt but see no mention of it being a feature, or if any device is technically capable of doing this.

I moved in to a new spot and without mentioning anything to landlord (actually I was talking about parking situation and city complaining), he said "Sure park there, previous tenants do it all the time. Hell, fill the basement with pot plants if you want - it's your electricity bill!"

Anyway, we're in Denver and he's cool needless to say, but the basement only has one outlet. The electrical is a NIGHTMARE down there, and while it's all exposed and wired tight, he definitely broke some codes in the draping of wire over things. So I have no earthly way of seeing what all this one outlet daisy chains to, but I know it's a couple other junction boxes that then run god knows where under dirt crawlspaces and through freaky abandoned/bricked in rooms (1890 construction).

So... is it possible? The breaker box is in the neighbors yard on the side of their house, though each of the three units have separate electricity, a lot of it runs around in my basement. I'd like to flip off the breaker and see what outlets stop working as a means of checking this, but it'd be a lot easier if a device existed where I could plug it in to the outlet and see what's going on.

Thanks much for any suggestions and surviving my long post The basement is also partially filled with a heat pump that only does my apartment, and with summer on the way I could technically tap in to its power to get me through for the next several months. Not sure how awful he wired that up, but my ballasts can handle 120 or 220... may take a peek at that tonight (and yes, I'd certainly flip breakers before messing around there). It is gas though, so I'm not sure what else it does when not on.. if cutting power to it entirely would prevent some gas valve from closing, or something... Not too keen on that.

Other info Trying to run 600w digital HPS, I think I recall my killawatt showing it using somewhere around 613 watts. Also need to power a 220watt (4x55w) T5HO but can flip it to run two bulbs, or even have a separate small light in there that would come on during flowering and turn off the big veg light. Fan is a 6" that doesn't consume much power, and I have it on a variac speed controller at about 55 volts. But even running the 600w alone is scary to me not knowing what all is on that same breaker.

 

[rives]

I'm a little confused by your description - a kill-a-watt will give you the amperage & wattage of anything that is plugged into it, but it sounds as though you are interested in the remainder of the load powered by the breaker feeding the receptacle, but not plugged into that receptacle. Correct?

If that is the case, then a kill-a-watt is the wrong instrument for the job. If you find out what breaker is feeding the circuit, a clamp-on ammeter could be used at the load center to tell you what the load is at any given time.

Tapping into the heat pump feed is probably a poor idea - it is very likely a circuit with substantially more ampacity than your lighting is set up for, so you would have inadequate protection and create a fire hazard.

 

[VAtransplant]

I'm a little confused by your description - a kill-a-watt will give you the amperage & wattage of anything that is plugged into it, but it sounds as though you are interested in the remainder of the load powered by the breaker feeding the receptacle, but not plugged into that receptacle. Correct?

If that is the case, then a kill-a-watt is the wrong instrument for the job. If you find out what breaker is feeding the circuit, a clamp-on ammeter could be used at the load center to tell you what the load is at any given time.

Tapping into the heat pump feed is probably a poor idea - it is very likely a circuit with substantially more ampacity than your lighting is set up for, so you would have inadequate protection and create a fire hazard.

Thanks for the response, yeah - figured the kill-a-watt didn't have that sort of functionality, bought it for its intended purpose but didn't know if it (or any device) had the capability I desired and my google queries were just referring to things incorrectly to get a hit.

Yes, was just seeking a way to avoid having to plug a lamp in to just about every outlet in the house and then sneak behind the neighbor's place to flip breakers. Seems like the clamp on tool you reference (after watching a youtube video) is the ticket, but would involve even more farting around in the neighbors yard at the panel. They're cool, but was trying to avoid it. I think my revised move may be, as odd as it sounds, putting my GoPro camera in the basement with a single lamp plugged in to the target outlet. I have the ability to see what's being captured on the gropro from my iPhone, so I can quickly flip a few breakers monitoring my phone until I get my mark and see the camera go black on my phone.

I guess after that I'll leave that breaker off and then leisurely check what outlets in my place are no longer functioning... hopefully very little if anything, but who knows. I was just down there for 30 minutes farting around and it's not a pretty wiring job. The only plus is that all of the jacketing on the wire down there is stamped with a date of March 2009 with the exception of a 240 line from 2003 going to the dryer, in good condition. I can see that it's a dedicated run going under the crawlspace to the panel, so I'll keep that in mind if this outlet lets me down. This big line is 10 gauge, so I'm not sure what it has left (nor what amp breaker the doofus landlord may have put in), but the dryer is stamped one line above the other:

"120/240VAC 60hz - 23amp"
"120/208VAC 60hz - 21amp"

Not sure what the 120 is doing there but I almost expected the amps to be lower on the 240VAC than 208. Again, that's a backup plan that I'll safely read in to when/if I should need it. Even then from my research I might opt to never use the dryer during lights on, if a max is 30amps on 10gauge / 24 amps being 80%.

Anyway, thanks for the input and words of warning about the heat pump - I'll be sure to avoid that and go dryer route, or even get filthy under the guest bedroom and borrow from there since the most it'll ever see is a bedside lamp once a month.