Switching off appliances

Castle_Rock

Hi, I was just wondering if you still use electricity if your appliances are switched on but not in use.  For example, kettles, steamers etc... 
I get that Sky, ovens, microwaves etc  would still be using electricity as there are lights on those.

I recently heard that your appliances only use electricity if the actual plug is warm.

Ectophile

Castle_Rock said:

I recently heard that your appliances only use electricity if the actual plug is warm.

Don't believe everything you hear.

Undisputedtruth

Castle_Rock said:

Hi, I was just wondering if you still use electricity if your appliances are switched on but not in use.  For example, kettles, steamers etc... 
I get that Sky, ovens, microwaves etc  would still be using electricity as there are lights on those.

I recently heard that your appliances only use electricity if the actual plug is warm.

Electricity is the flow of electrons. Some of the energy causing the electrons to flow are converted into heat.

Appliances with built in transformers can still consume electricity while plugged into an electrical outlet. The concept is well known and is called 'Vampire power'. Fortunately EU regulations have largely mitigated the against the effects of vampire energy.

Television sets commonly draws power even though you may have switch it off on the front of the set. Unplugging it or switch it off at the power socket will totally eliminate vampire power usage.

Products bought since 2013 shouldn't consume more than 0.5 watts while in an off position. It's always best to unplug the device from the power socket or flick the off switch on the power socket to totally eliminate the effects of 'vampire power'.

You may wish to visit the Centrica website to appreciate how your electricity bill is impacted by vampire power.

https://www.centrica.com/media-centre/news/2021/vampire-devices-drain-22bn-from-uk-households/

Ultrasonic

This thread may be of interest:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6343447/background-electricity-usage-8760-hours-a-year/p18

As TVs were mentioned above I'll just note that it's best to leave OLED TVs on standby rather than turning them fully off, or burn-in prevention cycles may not run. Mine uses less than 0.5 W in standby so it's not a big deal.

[Deleted User]

I doubted taking devices off standby would make much difference but I stand corrected. I have started turning off an Ethernet switch, PS4, Bluetooth hifi and HP printer overnight. That coupled with the one cup kettle I purchased; I have seen a small decline in energy usage. 

Undisputedtruth

Deleted_User said:

I doubted taking devices off standby would make much difference but I stand corrected. I have started turning off an Ethernet switch, PS4, Bluetooth hifi and HP printer overnight. That coupled with the one cup kettle I purchased; I have seen a small decline in energy usage. 

I came aware of 'Vampire Energy' back in 2011. My usage then was 4000 kWh. Now it's down to 950 kWh. I'm aiming to cut it down to 800 kWh by swapping out to newer devices in the next year or two.

Current EU regulation stipulates  that electrical products shouldn't use more than 0.5 watts on standby. So assuming your products were bought recently then the energy usage is quite low. The real problem is when you have about 30 to 40 devices on standby then the money adds up.

You could save around £4 per year by unplugging your devices after usage. This figure doesn't include your kettle as they don't usually draw energy on standby.

However, some people have older devices which can consume lots of energy. For example my old cable box was consuming 47 watts on standby meaning I was wasting about £115 a year in today's money. How money saving is that?

I would imagine many people would have a mixture of new and old appliances in their home.

merchcon55

Many years ago we stopped our service with SKY. However the satellite dish still gives many free stations, some of which are not on freeview. We had 3 TVs with sky boxes all on stand by, which we used quite infrequently. I was very surprised to find out that each box was using, on average 18W = 1.3KWH per day = 474KWH per year for the 3 boxes.
All 3 boxes were disconnected - should we need to watch something, it takes about 2-3 minutes for the Sky box to boot up - well worth saving on 474KWH.

We also had a large Bosch refrigerator which was more the "traditional" American style - smaller freezer on top and larger refrigerator on bottom. I knew it was an energy guzzler but we really liked the proportional size of the unit. Purchased a new refrigerator last March, and give or take, have saved 1KWH per day (nearly 400KWH per year).

Another older (11 years old) TV we have in a spare room, which we had on standby was using similar to our SKY box, so another 152KWH per year. Again, disconnected and used only when our son and future DIL come up from London to visit.

Lots of other stuff on standby consuming less that 1W. 1W on permanent standby is only 9KWH per year. Granted 20 such items would add up, but there is a convenience factor to consider as well.

london21

This was on my mind lately. Sems we have to be switching off the plugs when not in use. My Tv and microwave for example are always plugged on. 

MattMattMattUK

london21 said:

This was on my mind lately. Sems we have to be switching off the plugs when not in use. My Tv and microwave for example are always plugged on. 

If your TV is less than ten years old it probably uses less than 1w when on standby, if it is less than four years old it will be below 0.5w, your microwave, if the type with an LCD clock/display probably use a similar amount. 

razord

Castle_Rock said:

I recently heard that your appliances only use electricity if the actual plug is warm.

There are two reasons your plug could be warm: It's drawing a significant amount of power - so something like a kettle; or it's got a transformer in there which is losing some efficiency by generating heat.

The vast majority of devices will not warm a plug in normal use.