Switch off & unplug

AgentOrange

Are these two things the same? How much energy is wasted if I switch things off at the plug but leave them plugged in I wonder?

gromituk

Switching off at the plug guarantees you will use no energy. I guess "switch off and unplug" applies to sockets without switches on them.

emily_jackson

Does anyone know if you harm your electrical appliances by switching them off at the wall?

gromituk

If you could, they'd be broken when you got them, having been subjected to no electrical supply for some time.

ollyk

gromituk wrote:

If you could, they'd be broken when you got them, having been subjected to no electrical supply for some time.

I don't think Emily meant it quite like that....
If your telly has a clunky mechanical switch on the front instead of a tiny push button affair, then this will likely switch mains potential (test with remote) so unplugging is clearly unnescesary.
Unplugging somthing designed to remain in standby harmfull? well, considering stuff doesn't last as long these days (whether engineered or just fashion) I doubt it will make much difference.
Personally, I only switch my telly & computer monitor off at the front, any more than this and I would start to worry I had an OCD - if you care that much about the environment, don't use these non essential items anyway!

CannyAnnie_3

AgentOrange wrote:

Are these two things the same? How much energy is wasted if I switch things off at the plug but leave them plugged in I wonder?

I think the point is that switching off, usually saves as much energy as unplugging, but if you had an electrical fault in your house wiring or the plug itself, unplugging would dramatically reduce the fire risk. Personally (despite working for the Fire Service!) I switch off EVERYTHING at the wall as far as possible when I'm out of the house or going to bed, but I don't unplug things unless I am going away on holiday so the house will be unattended for much longer.

Annie

sarerb18

Am I being daft. I thought that mobile phone chargers still drew power even when they were switched off. That's why they say unplug! Sarer

sarerb18

Just found this hope it's not against the rules to copy.

Did you know that 95% of the energy used by the UK’s mobile phone chargers is wasted energy? Only 5% is actually used to charge phones, the rest is used when the charger is plugged into the wall but not switched off at the socket. That’s over 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions that could be avoided if we all just unplugged our chargers after use – the equivalent of almost 500 football pitches’ worth of forest every year. Sarer

vegansaver

CannyAnnie wrote:

I think the point is that switching off, usually saves as much energy as unplugging, but if you had an electrical fault in your house wiring or the plug itself, unplugging would dramatically reduce the fire risk. Personally (despite working for the Fire Service!) I switch off EVERYTHING at the wall as far as possible when I'm out of the house or going to bed, but I don't unplug things unless I am going away on holiday so the house will be unattended for much longer.

Annie

What about the video? This is my biggest problem as I get fed up having to reset the time everytime I turn it back on.

gromituk

sarerb18 wrote:

Am I being daft. I thought that mobile phone chargers still drew power even when they were switched off.

No, mobile phone chargers still draw power when there is no mobile phone plugged into them. Nothing can draw power from a switched socket which is switched off!

Altarf

gromituk wrote:

No, mobile phone chargers still draw power when there is no mobile phone plugged into them.

Wrong. Some mobile phone chargers still draw power when there is no mobile phone plugged into them, but not all of them do.