Leaving things plugged in but off?

[Gus68]

Hey. I have heard, and my wife keeps telling me, to unplug things that are not in use to save electrisity. I am no electrition, just an auto mechanic, but to me that makes no sense. I can see it being a problem with say computers or dvd players that keep a "memory". But what about things like a bench grinder or a lamp or even the toaster? I mean, if the switch is off than there is no power past that switch. It cant be any different than turning the switch off for your light in your ceiling, there is power up the wall to the switch and when the switch is on, power flowes to the light on the ceiling. Am I missing something, or is this just some hippy wives tale about being "green".

 

[Matt M PA]

There's a tiny amount of power used by cell phone chargers and similar items when plugged in but not "working". My cell phone chargers are on a power strip that I can shut down.

Computers have a battery in them to remember time, settings, etc...so they could be unplugged...but again...having everything on a power tap is the same as unplugging.

I doubt toasters, bench grinders, etc use power when simply turned off.

Now....many years ago our house was hit by lightning...lots of stuff plugged in...but not turned on were fried.

The power usage by these items is so small...I don;t think it makes any difference. I only put some stuff on the powertaps as a convenience.

 

[luvit]

you're not missing anything.
you see, there's this big campaign for people to unplug their AC wall adapters wehn they are not charging their cell phone, because it uses electricity.

yeah, the AC adapter uses electricity, but since there's no load, it's really minimal.
a lot of people confuse this with unplugging everything.. even their TVs.

 

[kbs2244]

Yes and Yes
and No and No

What she is talking about is what the energy saving freaks call “ghost loads.”
Like you suspected, they are thing that keep your date and time current, etc.
TV’s, ovens, coffee makers, DVR.s etc.

The solar guys are real paranoid about this kind of stuff because they have such a limited amount of storage.

If you count up all the digital clocks in your home I doubt you will come with over 5 cents per month.

When that becomes a problem unplug the things.

 

[Gary S]

Follow the OLD simple rules of life. If the device had new fancy electronics unplug it. It is drawing power. If it is totally mechanical with a mechanical switch, it doesn't matter.
No electronic switch is ever 100% off. A mechanical switch is either off or on.

 

[Gus68]

Oh, and what about this one? A SUPER COOL 8 track/radio stereo with wood grain and everything!!! It has a knob with on/off and volume. Does that need to be unplugged???

 

[turbo6justin]

Have some fun and go buy a "Kil a Watt" and start plugging things in. It is nothing more than a user friendly multimeter but is handy and usefull. It can also be very informative. For years while living at home my mom would bug me about using an electric blanket, turns out it uses about $.07 a night but suprisingly my dehumidifyer uses about $60 in a high use summer month which is about as much as my AC uses. So it is a very helpfull tool.

To add to this thread, my cable box uses about 30-40 watts when not in use. And I just checked my cell charger 4 watts in use 0.0 just plugged in.

Oh another fun one, I just picked up some 18" LED under cabinet lights. 1.4 watts in use per 18" strip.

Yes I am **** retentive and energy conscious in so far as it effects my wallet.

 

[Silent One]

I unplug most everything not so much from an energy consumption perspective but because a cheap kitchen countertop appliance once caused over $40,000 in smoke and fire damage.

 

[lsrx101]

I unplug most everything not so much from an energy consumption perspective but because a cheap kitchen countertop appliance once caused over $40,000 in smoke and fire damage.

Would that have been a Mr.Coffee from some time in the late 70s-early 80s?
I recall folks starting to unplug things when not in use back about that time due to a rightfully big scare.
I don't remember the details, but there was a big recall of Mr.Coffee brand coffee makers because they would short internally and cause fires, even when not in use. I know of 2 in that time period that spontaneously combusted while turned off.
I don't unplug everything, but I don't leave kitchen appliances plugged in, probably because of the Mr. Coffee lesson. The microwave stays plugged in, but that is an exception.

I've never really thought about the power consumption of a few wall warts and idle electronic devices, but I've slowly gathered a lot more things in recent years that are never truly "off" when not in use.
In addition to 4 computers and a laser printer that are "on" 24/7, I just wonder how much power ($$) I'm actually wasting?
I might be surprised, or even truly appalled!
I'm thinking I should look into that.

 

[lsrx101]

Oh, and what about this one? A SUPER COOL 8 track/radio stereo with wood grain and everything!!! It has a knob with on/off and volume. Does that need to be unplugged???

I don't know about consuming power, but that rig totally rocks even when turned off.
I have a love/hate soft spot for all things 8 Track only because I grew up with them. 8 Track is dead, long live 8 Track!!
I have a good friend who is into vinyl and magnetic tape media. He recently purchased (cheap, he's a tightwad SOB) a collection of about 1500 8 Track tapes!
I made the mistake of telling him that I used to fix 8track players and know how to repair the tape cartridges.
One of these days I'll learn to keep my big mouth shut.

 

[mebedave]

the wife always unplugs the darn toaster !!!

 

[rabidsquirrel]

My media center consumes nearly an amp while everything is turned off.

 

[Gary S]

My media center consumes nearly an amp while everything is turned off.

That's to be expected. It has tons of electronics and no mechanical on-off switch.

 

[Flange]

On a slightly different tack. I live in a rural area and my village was recently the victim of a neutral fault on the pole mounted transformer that feeds the village.

Leaving aside the scary live metal parts scenarios that neutral faults can lead to, the result of this was that numerous electrical appliances that were plugged in but turned off were damaged and had to be replaced. This was true of most people in the village except one place where they unplug everything that is not being used. So in some (rare) situations there is a good reason to unplug.

That said I still leave everything plugged in but turned off.

 

[Toymeister]

Chase the Math: the top consumers of electricity are:
1) Heating and cooling
2) water heating
3) lighting
4) cooking
5) everything else

For some reason conventional wisdom has us chasing the very smallest consumers of electricy and ignoring the largest. Its not **** but weatherstrip and insulate BEFORE you change out the water heater or insulate it better and this BEFORE changing to CFLs and that BEFORE using a toaster oven vice the big one but this BEFORE unpluging the wall warts.

 

[Matt M PA]

A friend of mine works for Motorola, and he explained to me that the cable boxes never really shut off...they just stop showing video and playing audio. The menus can update, etc.

 

[luvit]

For some reason conventional wisdom has us chasing the very smallest consumers of electricy and ignoring the largest. Its not **** but weatherstrip and insulate BEFORE you change out the water heater or insulate it better and this BEFORE changing to CFLs and that BEFORE using a toaster oven vice the big one but this BEFORE unpluging the wall warts.

that's not all bad. most people can achieve comprehension & effort of a 5th grader. so making largest audience cherry pick the easiest and most common produces a measurable result.

i have to say, while growing-up, the commercials of pink panther for attic and fred flintstone for water heater insulation didn't seam to motivate any homeowners, that i noticed.. conservation was kind of pushed aside, i guess.

 

[garboui]

I completely agree that the big consumers such as heating and cooling can make more significant differences. I live in a 50yo home and this is a very apparent thing, much of which I can remedy with minimal construction/effort but there is still lots of areas that I cant do anything about w/o major renovation and cost.

With that being said, every little bit counts and does add up to something significant, "That's not a mundane detail Michael!".

I recently went out and purchased a Kill-a-Watt type device and went and did some plugging around in my home.

First started in the office:
computer off - 10W
computer idling - 105W
monitor off/stby - 1W
monitor on - 50W
printer stby - 11W

the kitchen:
coffee maker off - 8W
cappuccino maker off - 7W

corrective actions:
-computer from always on to sleep and a media center used as a NAS/BT downloader now - 105W - 15W(sleep power) - 12W(media center) = 78W saved
-hard switch usd on printer and only turned on when needed = 11W saved
- coffee pot unplugged 5/7 days and cappuccino maker always unplugged 5/7*8 + 7 = 13.7W saved
--------------------------------------
total saved = 102.7W of constant power consumption!!!!!!!

In my region we currently have time of use billing for electricity based on the time of day and time of year. Just the electricity costs averaged out is approximately $0.75/year*W (+ fees but well ignore those for now).

Now $77/year may not seem like a lot but this is just a small sample of things that can be done. It has also justified my purchase of a network media unit which will pay its self off in less than 1.5 years


ps. forgot to mention that i looked at 3 different laptop power bricks as well. the details of the three below.
- 50W plugged in to the laptop, power state of the laptop made no significant difference. 0W when unplugged from the laptop.
- 45W plugged in to the laptop, power state of the laptop made no significant difference. 0W when unplugged from the laptop.
- 16W when plugged in to the netbook, 5W when netbook is shutdown or sleep, 0W when off

 

[ket-tek]

I unplug most everything not so much from an energy consumption perspective but because a cheap kitchen countertop appliance once caused over $40,000 in smoke and fire damage.

What appliance was this???

 

[Silent One]

What appliance was this???

Hamilton Beach handheld mixer. Insurance Co tried to go after manufacturer but the forensics guy who came out to look the site over could not conclusively say that it was the appliance since there was a candle burning in the kitchen earlier that day. Baloney. Even the fire chief noted the appliance as the cause.

 

[Zeke]

I had the coffee maker do a Mission Impossible self destruct. It fell over into a trash can that just happened to be there. Started a fire in the can but I heard the noise of it hitting the rim (I guess). I jumped up in the middle of the night to find flames rising out of the plastic and and little ash floaters everywhere.

I threw the can out in the yard and put the fire out, but the sticky floaters took a day to clean up. There was a scorch mark on the Formica counter that reminded me not to leave cords plugged in.

I had a Sony console TV do the same, but it was on. That's one of the worst smells I have ever had in a house. And it wasn't too damn easy to wrestle that beast outside.

I do leave small appliance cords plugged in in my house, but nothing ever out in the garage or overnight at a job site.

 

[mrbreezeet1]

My goofy boss says to un-plug those wall warts that are for charging the cordless shop lights,(when not plugged in for charging) as they waste electric.
Makes no sense to me.
No I can't see a bench grinder drawing electric left plugged in either.

Hey. I have heard, and my wife keeps telling me, to unplug things that are not in use to save electrisity. I am no electrition, just an auto mechanic, but to me that makes no sense. I can see it being a problem with say computers or dvd players that keep a "memory". But what about things like a bench grinder or a lamp or even the toaster? I mean, if the switch is off than there is no power past that switch. It cant be any different than turning the switch off for your light in your ceiling, there is power up the wall to the switch and when the switch is on, power flowes to the light on the ceiling. Am I missing something, or is this just some hippy wives tale about being "green".

There's a tiny amount of power used by cell phone chargers and similar items when plugged in but not "working".

OK maybe I am wrong?