Standby Buttons on Household appliances

moonrakerz

We are obviously going to continue to disagree to some extent on this, so we'll call a halt.

My two mains points were:-

1. There are far more effective ways of saving energy than banning standby buttons.
2. There are much higher fire risks in the average household than the afore mentioned button.

Are those really such contentious issues ?

Good night.

dounome

ok moonrakerz we'll agree to disagree and leave it at that.

Cardew

dounome wrote: »

Apologies for not being up on the stats but i know from experience i personally have been to a fire on xmas day last year where the tv was left on stand by and over heated, (im told it uses 80% of popwer on stand by) the poor girls flat was gutted and she was in rented accomodation for about 5 months.

Who told you it uses 80% of power on standby? Few TVs use more than 2% on standby -usually it is less than 1%.

Pehaps you can point us to the official incident report that gave standby as the cause of that TV fire. If you give me the address I can get it myself(for 25th Dec 2006) - a PM will do. These reports are not classified, some authorities publish them on line, and it is in all our interests to find out facts.

As a qualified fire fighter you will know that it is possible(but extremely rare) for any electrical appliance to have a short and cause a 'hot spot' that can become the source of a fire hours later - long after power is switched off.

In the same way it is possible for a 'hot spot' to form in house wiring or an empty wall socket(and these are carrying 240v all the time).

The Government website on fire safety above does not advise you to avoid standby.

You haven't given any answers about all of the other appliances that are left on. Alarm clocks, burglar alarms, smoke alarms, timers on a whole host of appliances - including CH timers. Are you aware that all light switches have 240v connected to them 24/7?

I am sorry but your theory of standby being dangerous just doesn't hold water.

tr3mor

dounome wrote: »

All the items you mention are designed to be left on, fridge etc

Obviously a TV is not designed to be left in standby?

Cardew

dounome,

I make no pretence to know anything about firefighting at the grass roots level, but I am a chartered electrical engineer and know something about electricity. I also have sat on two formal Government Boards of Enquiry on fires and listened to (and read and re-read) evidence from forensic experts.

I also spent many months with senior fire service officers and was involved with their training of firefighters; so I have a little knowledge of this field; but it is only a little.

I note from your other posts that you are a full time postman. So presumably you are a retained firefighter? If so I admire your dedication to work on Xmas day after such a busy period for Postmen.

I don’t doubt that your advice to not leave things on standby is well meant. However your advice and the comments below will cause extreme concern to many who read this thread and should be substantiated.

i know from experience i personally have been to a fire on xmas day last year where the tv was left on stand by and over heated, (im told it uses 80% of popwer on stand by) the poor girls flat was gutted

telling you from experience as a firefighter what actually happened to an unattended tv left on standby

I must say I have reservations about your experience of attending a house fire which was caused by a TV left on standby.

I noted in another thread, to which we both contributed, the subject of safety of hair straighteners came up.

As in this thread, to re-enforce your views in an earlier post, you made this comment.

Ur welcome just as a matter of info im in the fire service and ive been to 2 house fires started by hair straightners. The room was gutted and the women who left it on distraught.

It does seem a remarkable co-incidence that you can back up your views with practical examples of situations that you have personally experienced. As you are at best part time, and have personally experienced such fires, is it not reasonable to assume that there statistically should be hundreds if not thousands of similar incidents across the country?

My understanding is that every call out incident is logged, damage recorded and investigations into the cause(s) are published internally and sometimes more widely. I assume your Fire Service(East Lothian?) do the same? As said earlier, why not silence us sceptics, by publishing details. They are a matter of public record.

stebiz

Cardew wrote: »

dounome,

I make no pretence to know anything about firefighting at the grass roots level, but I am a chartered electrical engineer and know something about electricity. I also have sat on two formal Government Boards of Enquiry on fires and listened to (and read and re-read) evidence from forensic experts.

I also spent many months with senior fire service officers and was involved with their training of firefighters; so I have a little knowledge of this field; but it is only a little.

I note from your other posts that you are a full time postman. So presumably you are a retained firefighter? If so I admire your dedication to work on Xmas day after such a busy period for Postmen.

I don’t doubt that your advice to not leave things on standby is well meant. However your advice and the comments below will cause extreme concern to many who read this thread and should be substantiated.


I must say I have reservations about your experience of attending a house fire which was caused by a TV left on standby.

I noted in another thread, to which we both contributed, the subject of safety of hair straighteners came up.

As in this thread, to re-enforce your views in an earlier post, you made this comment.



It does seem a remarkable co-incidence that you can back up your views with practical examples of situations that you have personally experienced. As you are at best part time, and have personally experienced such fires, is it not reasonable to assume that there statistically should be hundreds if not thousands of similar incidents across the country?

My understanding is that every call out incident is logged, damage recorded and investigations into the cause(s) are published internally and sometimes more widely. I assume your Fire Service(East Lothian?) do the same? As said earlier, why not silence us sceptics, by publishing details. They are a matter of public record.

Are you saying that all electrical appliances are so safe that you can leave them on indefinately?? I certainly wouldn't leave any appliances on such as irons, hair straightners etc Not only is it a fire risk but will cost money.

Stebiz

Cardew

stebiz wrote: »

Are you saying that all electrical appliances are so safe that you can leave them on indefinately?? I certainly wouldn't leave any appliances on such as irons, hair straightners etc Not only is it a fire risk but will cost money.

Stebiz

No I am not saying anything is 100% safe and it it would be silly from an economic as well as safety point of view to leave on any heating appliance.

The title of this thread is standby consumption and my comments were on that subject.
However as discussed above we all leave mains connected to appliances, switches, sockets 24/7.

RichardJohn_2

Things don't just burst into flames.

RichardJohn_2

stebiz wrote: »

that could light hundreds of villages for a year.

I hate it when that's brought up. Where are these villages? Why aren't they paying for their own electricity?

stebiz

RichardJohn wrote: »

Things don't just burst into flames.

No they overheat. Then they burst into flames.

Stebiz