TV Aerial Amplifier Money and Life Saving Tip

mmmmikey

Moved house a few months back and finally got round to setting up the energy monitor and checking things out.

Investigation lead me to the loft and the TV aerial amplifier/splitter thingy. Not only was it consuming about 10W it had that slightly dodgy hot electrical smell. To make things worse it was hardwired into a junction box without plug or fuse. It's now in the bin, saving me money and quite possibly a house fire and my life. TV works fine without it, haven't even bothered replacing it.

A bit melodramatic perhaps, but has anyone else had a similar experience with an out of sight, out of mind electrical device, either dangerous or just wasting energy?

ASavvyBuyer

mmmmikey wrote: »

A bit melodramatic perhaps, but has anyone else had a similar experience with an out of sight, out of mind electrical device, either dangerous or just wasting energy?

When we first got one of the free energy monitors we were supprised to find what was using power when it was supposedly OFF. For example, there was a fan/light in the conservatory at our old house that used about 20watts all the time, even if the fan or light was not on, just to have the convenience of having the remote control facility turned on. That got turned off, except for the few times we actually needed it.

We now use the free energy monitor to show our total electric consumption, and another one we got off ebay for a tenner, to show how much our solar panels are producing. Makes it easy to spot when it's a good time to put the washing machine on, or any other high use electric appliance.

WobblyDog

mmmmikey wrote: »

A bit melodramatic perhaps, but has anyone else had a similar experience with an out of sight, out of mind electrical device, either dangerous or just wasting energy?

My 12 year old washing machine draws about 10 Watts when switched "off" via its front panel buttons, so that always gets switched off at the wall.

The alarm system in my loft has an inefficient linear power supply and is warm to the touch, but I can't be bothered to replace that yet.

My Glow Worm Ultimate 40BF boiler has a pilot light that shamelessly burns 5kWh of gas per day, but again the hassle of replacing it is prohibitive.

ASavvyBuyer

WobblyDog wrote: »

My 12 year old washing machine draws about 10 Watts when switched "off" via its front panel buttons, so that always gets switched off at the wall..

We found that too with our hob, washing machine & dishwasher. They all use about 10 watts each just for keeping the touch controls active; so they all get switched off at the socket/fused spur when not actually in use.

Ben84

As far as I know, the old analogue era aerial amplifiers aren't a lot of use any more. In the UK broadcasts are now all digital data which is converted back in to the picture/sound inside the set top box - or TV set, if you have a newish TV. A very wide range of signal strengths produce the exact same picture/sound now.

So, I would encourage anyone with an old TV aerial amplifier to try unplugging it and seeing if there's any difference. Many set top boxes and TVs will tell you each channel's signal strength somewhere in the on screen menu. If it's reasonable and you're still getting break up and picture loss, chances are you need a filter, not an amplifier. Many people 'fix' their reception problems with amplifiers which also happen to include a filter inside them - buy they could have just bought a filter for less money, and filters don't use electricity.

pinnks

When I bought a monitor socket I tested everything - I know, I'm a geek - and was astounded by what I found.

In standby/off:
Coffee machine 1.5W
An extension lead in the garage with earth leakage detection 2W!! Velux window power 3W
AV Amp (with feed-through) 39W!
Microwave 4W
Dyson power supply - 1W
PC - 3W
Monitors - 1W
Docking station - 3W

These are now all off at the wall when not in use, along with a few other things, saving a 24/7 load of about 60W - or an astonishing 525kWh or £70 per year.

Then the always on things that don't need to be always on:
TV amps - 7W (We have sat TV, so only need the amps when using Freeview on non-main TV for an hour or so per day max.)
Network Switch - 8W (Only used when printing and a few other things)
DVD and Blue Ray players - 6W
Alarm clock - 5W (replaced with phone)

So, another 24/7 load of 25W or so kicked into touch, or 220kWh per year, saving another £28 or so.

So, by spending £15 on a monitor I have found ways to knock £100 per year off our leccy use (I guess about half of that is soaked up by the PV but still, I'll settle for saving the balance of about £50 per year hard cash.:beer:

DCFC79

Im intrigued to find out which devices use power when not in use, can I ask what would be a good make for a monitor socket ?

pinnks

I am not at home at the moment but will look and post my make when I get back in a couple of weeks as I am happy with it.

zeupater

DCFC79 wrote: »

Im intrigued to find out which devices use power when not in use, can I ask what would be a good make for a monitor socket ?

Hi

For about £10-£15 you can get hold of an in-line plug-in monitor which will provide a pretty accurate reading of the power/energy consumed by individual items ... we bought our latest one (Energenie) from Dune1m (of all places!) a few years back for <£10 .. 5crewfix currently have them for £12.99, but there's quite a few different makes available elsewhere ...

Accuracy is the key on low power devices - many of the issues you'll find reported on items 'eating' power on standby are simply down to monitoring without taking the AC power factor into consideration, therefore often exaggerating the power/energy being consumed ....

HTH
Z

mmmmikey

Thanks all, some more things for me to check out. ASavvyBuyer, your tip about the remote fan led me to thinking about remotes and I realised the electric garage door must be using some power in standby mode (came with the house, not something I'd spend my own money on). Monitor plug connected, I'll check tomorrow how much it's used. Also turned the Fischer electric heaters off properly at the wall instead of the remote controls saving a few watts - many mickles make a muckle

molerat

Aldi / Lidl regularly have them for around £8.