Power off or leave on Standby

S

Samson77

Guest
Ok..
I live with a guy who powers off everything in the hosue going to bed.
Including the toaster and kettle!!

It is my theory that it uses more electricity to power up the 36" Plasma HD TV and the UPC box, twice a day sometimes, than it does to leave them on standby between the hours of 12.30am and 18.00pm.

Would anyone have any ideas/proof/suggestions to confirm or deny my theory?

Many thanks

K
 
Either way, his is a safer way of doing things. If its plugged out it wont go on fire!
 
Stand by or Off

If it's plugged in it won't go on fire either!
If the plug or socket is faulty there's a chance it may go on fire.
 
The programme Mythbusters on Discovery channel carried out that exact test to see if the myth to leave everything on is cheaper over switching off and on again, and the result was "Myth Busted". It was more expensive to leave on!

There was no more power used when switching on than there is when it is on, therefore it is cheaper to switch off.
 
a friend confirmed to me that a Fire Brigade officer visited his office workplace for a safety meeting and stressed the importance of unplugging appliances at night, it wasn't sufficient to just turn switches off. At home I always unplug appliances before bed, apart from the fridge. I wouldn't expect switching on an appliance to use more power than being on standby all the time. Leaving any appliance on standby is just a waste of electricity.
 
STEINER said:
At home I always unplug appliances before bed, apart from the fridge.
Click to expand...

I wonder why we trust our fridges but trust nothing else. I always leave mine on when I go abroad on holiday etc however I always unplug everything else.
 
I flick the switches on the sockets off but leave "turned off" appliances plugged in...is that enough (from a fire prevention perspective)?
 
Samson77 said:
If it's plugged in it won't go on fire either!
If the plug or socket is faulty there's a chance it may go on fire.
Click to expand...


Wrong im afraid,half of all domestic fires are caused by cooking, next up is electrical appliances.. As i said, they wont go on fire if they're plugged out. They can if they're plugged in..
 
bullworth said:
I wonder why we trust our fridges but trust nothing else. I always leave mine on when I go abroad on holiday etc however I always unplug everything else.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's trust.

It's a fridge. It has food in it and maybe a freezer. Turn it off and you return to a puddle on your floor.

Turning off other applicances won't have such an affect.
 
+1 with Clubman
I would recommend you buy him one of these for xmas
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Owl-Cm119-Wireless-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B001JJCLS0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319570337&sr=8-1
 
Hi,

It's absolutely more expensive to leave them running than the initial startup 'surge'. These devices are not like inductive motors, etc. that have large starting currents as they spin up - and that is also a myth that people in workshops say so they don't have to turn off the saws when they're walking about.

Surge current for devices such as the UPC box and TVs are maybe 1.5x of nominal running wattage for much less than 0.5 seconds.

Hope this helps,
Burmo (Electronic Engineer)
 
I've heard/read that while on "standby" appliances such as TVs use approximately 20% of the electricity that they use when "on".

Is that accurate?
 
NorfBank said:
I don't think it's trust.

It's a fridge. It has food in it and maybe a freezer. Turn it off and you return to a puddle on your floor.

Turning off other applicances won't have such an affect.
Click to expand...


I know I'd rather have an easily mopped up puddle than a fire so how can it not be trust ? If you don't worry about leaving a fridge plugged in and turned on unattended when you go away on holidays then is this lack of worry sensible ?
 
not sure why posters here are so worried about electric stuff catching fire just because it is plugged in - it is very unlikely to happen if the device itself is turned off.

@gekko: the 20% figure is rubbish, plugged out of thin air. The manual of your TV should have the standby wattage somewhere. I have checked my electric devices and they generally use less in standby than what's in the handbook.

I leave some things on standby (convenience more than anything) as I know how "much" it costs me, but also have switched sockets throughout and eg turn off sockets with the phone chargers etc when not in use, and turn off everything apart from fridge and heating system when going away for more than a few days - but to safe on the energy not because i am worried about fires.
 
Gekko said:
I've heard/read that while on "standby" appliances such as TVs use approximately 20% of the electricity that they use when "on".

Is that accurate?
Click to expand...

No.
It used to be true on older TVs, and the numbers ar still bandied around, but these days the standby current is minimal. I don't have figures to hand, but its more like 1-3% than 20%.
 
Is there a danger that phone chargers would overheat and catch fire if left plugged in for a longish period of time after use. I always tell my children (without much success ) to plug them out because of this.
 
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