Standby power consumption

[Magpie]

How many of us pull the plug out when we are finished with using appliances? Must admit I thought my sister was a little nutty (unlike me, of course!) when she started doing this, but I can now see her point....

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.c ... id=5571582

[Shirley]

That is a brilliant article... thanks for posting that.

We are not a standby family here - I'm always nagging the kids to turn off at the plug... even to pull the plug out. Not only does it save money but I was told that it reduces fire risks too.

[Goodlife1970]

Since hearing that my other halves parents tv and other appliances were blown up by a freak lightening strike that entered the TV areial (so the tale goes,OH was a baby at the time) Ive got a bit paranoid about unplugging stuff when its not on (much to the annoyance of OH) and it really gets me mad that every appliance seems to hae a clock on it (why? dont we hae a clock on the wall?) I deliberately chose a microwave that didnt hae an computerised clock or touch buttons,just a timer dial that "pings" when its done! Didnt realise that these took so much electricity so Im glad that I chose to keep it simple! Oh,has anyone heard of Saver Plugs that you plug into the fridge/freezer to reduce the amount of electricity they use? I think they work on some kind of thermostat that switches them off when the correct tempreture is reached.If anyones tried these,or knows where to get them,Id be most grateful to hear.

[Ranter]

I don't unplug things, but do switch off at the plug. However, I have a freeview box & a dvd player which both come with instructions not to switch them off at the mains. There isn't a power on/off button that turns off the little red standby light.
Does anyone know if it will cause any problems to the internal workings of these items if I turn them off at the plug?

[herbwormwood]

I don't unplug things, but do switch off at the plug. However, I have a freeview box & a dvd player which both come with instructions not to switch them off at the mains. There isn't a power on/off button that turns off the little red standby light.
Does anyone know if it will cause any problems to the internal workings of these items if I turn them off at the plug?

I think that when you turn off stuff which has an internal battery you force the machine to run from its internal battery, which will eventually run the battery down. You will then have to replace the battery, which can be costly and not environmentally freindly. Its up to you. Computers and things with computer chips in them usually have internal batteries.

[herbwormwood]

How many of us pull the plug out when we are finished with using appliances? Must admit I thought my sister was a little nutty (unlike me, of course!) when she started doing this, but I can now see her point....

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.c ... id=5571582

I couldn't read the full story without logging in

I know some parts of the world have different electrical outlets, without an on-off switch.
If you do have an outlet with a modern on -off switch, and you turn the off switch off, surely off means off if your power point is properly installed and up to date?

[Wombat]

I noticed that where we were in Belgium there was no off switch...........Pretty silly and also unsafe!

Nev

[ina]

Not just Belgium - sockets in Germany come without a switch, too. Would be interesting to know which countries have that - is it just the English-speaking countries? That's where I have seen them so far (Southafrica as well, for example).

Also: "Computers and things with computer chips in them usually have internal batteries."
I noticed that the computers in the office still have small lights on at the back when they are switched off. When I switch them off at the wall, the lights disappear - so I thought that they are then "properly" off, and don't use any energy any more, even from a battery?

[Wombat]

Needless to say, here in Aus we have switch on every outlet!

Nev

[herbwormwood]

Not just Belgium - sockets in Germany come without a switch, too. Would be interesting to know which countries have that - is it just the English-speaking countries? That's where I have seen them so far (Southafrica as well, for example).

Also: "Computers and things with computer chips in them usually have internal batteries."
I noticed that the computers in the office still have small lights on at the back when they are switched off. When I switch them off at the wall, the lights disappear - so I thought that they are then "properly" off, and don't use any energy any more, even from a battery?

Power outlets without on off swith are found in Texas too!

As for the on off switch on computers etc, the internal battery runs when the machine is switched off at the mains to keep the internal clock etc running.
A battery low message may start appearing if the computer is regularly turned off at the mains.
Lights being off are not an indication that the computer is not being powered by is iternal battery, just that it is no longer using mains power.

[albert onglebod]

When I was little we lived in a house with no off switches on the sockets.They were very old fashioned.Mum just unplugged everything . I think leaving things plugged into the socket is quite a modern thing.
Mum also used to turn the supply to the guyser(water heater in the kitchen) off so that the pilot light wasn't burning.When we wanted to use the hot water,we had to turn it on and light the pilot light first.

[ina]

Power outlets without on off swith are found in Texas too!

Lights being off are not an indication that the computer is not being powered by is iternal battery, just that it is no longer using mains power.

Well, I suppose Texas might count as partly Spanish speaking... Does anybody know what it's like in Spain? And - so it's not the same all over the US?

And if I turn off the computer at the mains, I run down the internal battery, but save the electricity for the little lights at the back (what are they for, anyway ?) That's a dilemma, now - what does actually save more? Couldn't the battery be a re-chargeable one that gets charged while the computer is running?

[Muddypause]

And if I turn off the computer at the mains, I run down the internal battery, but save the electricity for the little lights at the back (what are they for, anyway ?) That's a dilemma, now - what does actually save more? Couldn't the battery be a re-chargeable one that gets charged while the computer is running?

If it's what I think it is, the little battery that keeps the clock going in the computer will last for years - probably the life of the computer. Think of the tiddly little battery in a digital watch; that will often last for years before it needs changing. To save power, I'd go for switching it off at the socket. Unfortunately, my computer will lose some of it's settings if I do that to mine. But as I understand it, when it is off-but-still-switched-on-at-the-socket, its power consumption is greatly reduced from when it is "on". Still not zero, though.

[ina]

Discussing this online has probably used more energy than we could save by pulling the plug for a year!

[albert onglebod]

I turn my PC off every night and unplug it and it keeps all its settings. The battery is for keeping the settings in the BIOS.They are very cheap to replace and you'll probably never need to anyway.We've got a pentium 100 which has been rebulit a couple of times when different computers have died and is still using the original battery. It must be 10 years old.
This year,I have been turning off the cooker and microwave at the power switch as they both have clocks.