Do our plug sockets leak electricy?

grizzly1911

I think one of the reasons for physically removing plugs was also to do with the belief in power surges blowing up your items if there was a lightning strike.

Of course they often happen in the dead of night in this country:p

I am not convinced that chargers actually leak if they are not attached to anything to charge either.

angelaloveschocolate

Hi everyone and thank you all so much for your replies.

I'm now convinced that I'm right. I will continue switching off at the socket despite DH's protests. Sorry if my title was a bit confusing what I actually meant was does an appliance which is not in use still consume power if not switched off at the plug. The term 'leaking electricity' is a term used by my DH to scoff at me when I'm in power saving mode.

But he can scoff, I'm right

birkee

Biggles wrote: »

The OP understood that. She was concerned that it could 'leak' via an appliance (one that was switched off) if the power wasn't switched off at the socket.

As you appear not to have read my whole post, then suffice it to say, appliances do not LEAK electricity! They consume it holding equipment in 'stand-by' mode.

birkee

grizzly1911 wrote: »

I think one of the reasons for physically removing plugs was also to do with the belief in power surges blowing up your items if there was a lightning strike.

Of course they often happen in the dead of night in this country:p

I am not convinced that chargers actually leak if they are not attached to anything to charge either.

Do you know, that even with all my knowledge, (ex Electronics Eng) this is something that has never occurred to me!!

No, the equipment used for charging is not consuming (lets get rid of this stupid 'leaking' word) electricity for the batteries being charged, the transformer is still in circuit and carrying power to create a magnetic field though.
They must use some power, but you can forget the cost, as it's probably in the fractions of 1 watt.

Fascinating question, and in the realms of educational establishments and electrical engineers.
Never heard it raised before, as it's usually a case of 'if you aren't using it, turn it off, or disconnect it'.

Lady_S

I agree about the energy saving lightbulbs too.

I suffer from poor eyesight which isn't 100% corrected by glasses. We had those stupid energy saving bulbs and it stopped me from reading in the evenings etc because I was straining my eyes.

We moved to Halogen bulbs and while they are expensive the light from them is sooo much better and it is on straight away at maximum brightness. Halogen all the way in our house now.