Do you have to turn electrical appliances off at the plug to save electricity ?

Question

Energy conservation is high on the agenda at the minute - does an electrical appliance (lets say a kettle) that shows no obvious sign of being on (lights etc) still consume electricity if the plug is at the "on" position ?

Answer 1

The simple answer is yes.

Washing Machines, Dishwashers, TVs Videos, DVD players, HiFis, Computers and monitors all draw power even when on stand-by. In most cases, they will draw 50-60% of the load that they would if fully operational.

Switch off all appliances you are not using at the time. Buy timer switches and energy-saving lightbulbs - it saves money, heat gas/oil/coal and ultimately biodiversity on this precious planet of ours.

Answer 2

Some appliances do not get turned off completely by the on/off switch. TVs especially. In the olden days you had sound but no picture for the first 20 or 30 seconds after the TV was turned on, it took that long for the picture tube to warm up. Now we have "instant on" TVs that keep a small current flowing in the picture tube to keep it warm. My computer's flat panel monitor has a little yellow light on all the time it is plugged in, even when it is off. All sorts of computer controlled appliances use some power when off to keep the computer memory from clearing. But the amount of energy is extremely small. To really save electricity, get a more efficient refrigerator or air conditioner, or set the thermostat higher in summer to use the A/C less, or even do without A/C altogether (not me though, I live in Texas, although people lived here before A/C was invented, we are such wimps). And do not use electric heaters at all. Heaters, refrigerators and A/Cs use thousands of times more power than an "off" TV ever could.

Answer 3

Well, it depends on the appliance being used really. Some appliances run on a different voltage level than the one coming out of your socket, therefore it will have an adapter attached with it which "transforms" voltage from one level to another. In this case, even though the unit is OFF, this transformation uses up energy nonetheless. Sometimes a good adapter is designed to use up only a trickle of energy, other poorer designs use up a lot.

My suggestion is to purchase sockets with a switch from your local hardware store, so you can control your "leaking" appliances. These may include TVs, VCRs, DVD players, CD Players, and PC's just to name a few.

If you want to EXTRA safe, you can always switch off the power from the main panel board for certain circuits in the house.

Answer 4

A kettle with a simple contactor type on/off switch on the appliance does not need to be unplugged.

A device with a transformer, eg mobile phone charger, will use power due to losses in the coils even if the phone isn't connected.

Electronic "stand-by" systems have an operating circuit continiously looking for the power-up signal unless mechanically switched off.

It is good practice to unplug, avoids any damage by power surges, lightning etc.
It can also help avoid tripping hazards

Answer 5

I don't know for a fact, but I think there is some small leakage of power. In most cases it can be negligible, but... I guess that depends on the condition of the device.

Also, if there is a storm, having your appliances unplugged may very well save them.

P.S. I recently found that a permanently switched on PC is a huge consumer of electricity, compared to the remainder of my one-person-and-one-cat household. Sigh.

Answer 6

If you have wall sockets that have switches (as they have in the UK, Australia, and maybe other places), switching power off is the same as pulling the plug, except if there is a neon indicator in the socket, in which that saves 1/3W more turning off the socket. As for batteries to keep settings, leaving the device off drains the battery, and charging rechargeable batteries takes more power that was expended, plus reduces the life of the battery. Costs of batteries might be more than that of the electricity saved.

Answer 7

going round unplugging all of your appliances will be a right ball ache. Plus you'll end up stepping on an upturned plug and that hurts like hell. Leave it on standby, small price to pay. If you want to do your bit for the environment turn the cold tap off when your brushing your teeth. Easy.

Answer 8

Technically yes, certainly on appliances which can be left on standby. Even if you turn them off, electricity is still being pumped to the socket, ready for you to use at the flick of a switch. Ok, you may not realise you are paying for this, but it still has to be produced, which costs someone, somewhere and you can bet that the price you pay for the electricity you do actively use, has that cost factored into the price somewhere.

Answer 9

i know that phone chargers use electric when plugged in but not attached to a phone even though they show no obvious signs of using electric so I suppose it could be true of other appliances. Oh God now you've got me thinking... my electric bill is all waste energy!

Answer 10

No not normally. Most items like lamps etc only consume electricity when they are on. There is some equipment like a DVD that may have a "standby" mode that consumes a small amount of electricity when left in that mode.