There's a debate going on at my house, anyone know where I can find the answer?

Question

One person says that it's cheaper to turn off the computer every night, but the other says that it's cheaper (and more time efficient) to leave it on 24/7.

Answer 1

Hello Riona:

This debate that you have is a HUGE subject, which is asked and answered all over the world, 10 times a day, and is on every single technical forum around the world, and there is, as you can see from all the answers, EXACT OPPOSITE answers, from almost everyone. How are you expected to take 1000 completely OPPOSITE opinions and sort through them all to get even a hint at the answer????

Your question is really a whole GROUP of questions which are all interrelated...

1/ What does is COST to run your computer? ( subcategories, A/ the electrical cost B/ the cost of wear and tear and thermal cycling C/ the cost of dirt clogging the fins and cooling areas, D/ the cost of injury due to brownouts, greyouts, greenouts, blueouts, blackouts, spikes, cycle inconsistencies, etc. etc. that hit your computer when it is on, and E/ what is the cost of buying, running and maintaining battery AVR backups to prevent all the crap in D/ ? )

2/ What is the reliability of the power grid that you are using? ( subcategories A/ what kind of power feed do you have in your home? B/ what other devices are on the line in your home?, C/ What is the electrical system like in your home and to the Electrical Panel? )

3/ What are the environmental conditions around your computer ? ( subcategories A/ What is the average Humidity, 24/7, and how are you obtaining the statistics?, B/ What static Prevention Measures are in place around your computer - grounded, static proof desk, floor coverings, grounded wrist straps, Industry Standard HV static grounds on the monitors, Static proof sprays on carpets and static prone wall and floor coverings, etc. etc. etc., B/ Temperature - what is the average temperature of the room 24/7 and how are you measuring the statistics that you are using? - Is the computer in an area where sunlight can reach the computer components? Is the computer near a heater which THERMAL CYCLES the components 24/7? ( bad), etc. etc. )

4/ What security measures do you have in place 24/7 to physically and logically protect your computer, 24/7 both within your operating environment, and from the outside, such as the WEB? ( subcategories A/ can anyone use ( abuse ) the computer, turn it on or off, hammer at the keyboard, use a floppy to put on viruses or steal files, 24/7? B/ are your internet connections running 24/7? with or without password encryption, can hackers hammer at your computer 24/7 with password crackers ( 6000 a second ) and you never turn off the modem ( ADSL ) to re-set the IP address? Do you have a HARDWARE Firewall, and a Software Firewall both running? Do you regularly change your passwords? Are you using Spybot, Ad Aware, and other free anti spy programs on a regular basis? Are you using Antivirus software and updating regularly? )

Here is a typical answer that I give on the whole question:

My general feeling is that HOME USERS should turn things off the second they are done using any computer. HOMES do NOT have the same safety power and surge protection that Corporation Server Stations have, and HOME users are totally un-aware of hundreds of other factors that would be considered within a professional Business setup...

I will CUT AND PASTE a long answer I wrote earlier - and you can decide yourself, after reading it, what you want to do !!

Generally, I find laptops are HOTTER, and wear out faster than desktop PCs, so my warnings below would apply even MORE to your situation ( user asked about running a laptop 24/7 ) !!


My typical answer is below....

Since your "house" could be a boat in Hong Kong harbour with relative humidity at 85, and temperature at Zero, powered with a diesel generator, or a house trailer outside Phoenix Arizona
at a mean temperature of 85 f., and the relative humidity at ZERO, each situation is different, and
anyone who follows a " RULE " is not thinking clearly...

______________________________...
______________________________...

Does it damage your computer in anyway to leave it on all the time and NEVER turn it off?

I really get a kick out of the "debate" which has raged on for
years about this topic... it is actually funny.

There are two factions, both well represented here:

1/ your motors in the harddrive and CDs and fans are wearing
out the bearings, and the capacitors are drying out and losing
tolerances, the resistors are losing tolerances from generating
heat, the CRT is loosing its tolerances and burning out the
cathodes, you are using a LOT of electricity, you are vaccuuming
the air and clogging all the parts inside the machine so that
overheating heatsinks and components get even hotter, causing
even more tolerance failures, transient line voltages from brown outs, lightning, power fluctuations from other equipment surging or spiking hits your machine while it is NOT being used, ...
AND the list goes on and on, and is VERY accurate.

THEN 2/

Extremely experienced experts run huge computers and Networks with hundreds of computers in large Corporate Buildings 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with all computers
ON , all the time, and find they have fewer problems, than
if the machines are constantly turned off and on... Turning on
a computer causes a surge of power, and cold resistors and
capacitors and transistors EXPAND with the heat from turning
on, and CONTRACT everytime they are turned off, so that a
constant temperature will lessen premature failure from mechanically induced thermal cycling....

OK.

Here is the catch.

I worked in large Corporate buildings with emergency back up
generators providing switchmode 400 cycle mechanical and
battery backup, absolutely thermostatically controlled, humidity
controlled, air, 24 hours a day, with anti-static carpets, specially
designed power distribution, with numerous power distribution,
communications cabling, and electrostatic precautions. The
computers never shut off, and run in electrostatically cleaned,
temperature modified, humidity modified, ionization modified,
air purification channels...

I also see home computers run in large rooms, near huge plate glass windows, which allow the sun to raise the temperature from freezing cold on a winter night, to burning hot on a sunny
afternoon, sitting on a carpet with NO static reduction, with air that changes from swampy steam on a rainy hot afternoon, to dry as a bone ( static magnet ) on a cold winter day, with dogs and cats producing hair balls, people smoking, someone taking a vaccuum cleaner every couple of days and rubbing all over the carpet, and then sweeping the keyboard, the mouse, the printer,
and the outside of the computer with the vaccuum brush, kids randomly pushing the floppy, the CD, the RESET, the ON/OFF
and any other buttons on the front etc. etc. etc.
There is no Battery Back Up, no Ethernet, and Telephone
surge or lightning protector, no regulated power bar. The wall
outlet they are using for the entire computer and components is
on a 15 AMP circuit that powers half the house, so the washing
machine, the TV, vaccuum cleaner, the garage door opener motor, and a dozen other high amperage devices, all DIM the
line, every time they turn on, sending spikes and brown outs
through the computer. Great stuff.

BUT..... These people tell me that the " EXPERTS " say to
leave the computer running 24 hours a day, since it will last
twice as long....

A few of the answers indicate that IFF you have a UPS and
Iff you have surge and AVR and IFF you ..... whatever, then
it is better to leave the computer on 24 / 7, but no one
makes even a CLOSE list to the LONG, LONG, LONG
list of things you MUST do to run a computer 24 hours a day
saftley and properly.

The argument usually involves people from vastly different
situations arguing about Apples and Oranges, as if they were
the same thing....

Prepare a simple list here .....

1/ What is the relative humidity of your air, 24/7 ?
2/ What is the absolute temperature or your air, 24/7?
3/ What is mean, standard deviation and error of the 167 volts
A.C. power supply peak power supply 24/7?
4/ What is micron filtering capacity of your air handling unit, 24/7?
5/ what anit-static compounds are sprayed on or manufactured into all floor coverings used in the " computer room" 24/7?
6/ What surge protection, and AVR protection is supplied to the
computer, and ALL its peripherals, 24/7?
7/ What security measures are affected in the " computer " room
to prevent unauthorized usage or miss-useage by unauthorized personnel 24/7 ?
8/ What are the sampled ION levels in the airflow 24/7?

This is just a teeny, tiny, SHORT list.

Once you have filled it out, then you have a better idea of whether or not you can run your computer.... 24/7 /

FURTHERMORE.... If you go into any computer repair shop,
you will find in the corner a stack of burnt out motherboards, and
burnt out power supplies, all ATX, the new, common standard.
Most of the boards look like brand new on a casual inspection,
and many of the power supplies look perfectly new if opened.
A good number of power supplies, however, when opened will
have a heat resistant resistor and at least one capacitor bloated
split or blown apart. This resistor and capacitor are usually the
5 VOLT VSB supply related components....
The reason for this common failure is that ATX power supplies
and motherboards NEVER TURN OFF. A great many computer
cases now, have NO OFF SWITCH on the back on the power
supply, and people, not realizing this, " turn off " their computers
during electrical storms, thunder storms, tornadoes, etc. and
the front panel lights go off, and the monitor "goes off", and they
think that the computer is " OFF ". It is not off. You can set
an ATX computer to turn on with WOL Wake on LAN, so that
if the ethernet cable signals the ethernet card, the ATX power supply
turns on. The Connector for WOL is on the motherbord. You can set and ATX computer to come with WOR Wake on Ring from
the modem PCI card , so that if the phone rings, the computer
turns on. You can set many ATX machines to turn on with movement of the mouse, or with a key sequence from the keyboard. You can set most ATX computers to turn on at a pre-set clock time. You can check the available options by going into your BIOS on BOOT, by pressing " DEL " or whatever key sequence, and go into the pages of settings.
What people are not thinking is " how can the keyboard, the mouse, the Modem, the LAN, or the clock turn on the computer?
How does the computer " Know " that I moved the mouse?
The answer is that the power supply NEVER turns off, and a
5 volt rail always is supplied to the USB, the Mouse, the Keyboard, and throughout the motherboard. So that when the
computer is "OFF" during a fierce thunderstorm, with brownouts,
spikes, blackouts, phase shifts, and repeated ON/OFF power
fluctuations, the entire computer is subjected to all the "BAD"
power coming in on the 110 volt plug. I get many blown up
motherboards on a regular basis, and the people say " I turned
it OFF during the storm" but now it won't go...
The light on the front of the panel is ZERO indication of whether
an ATX machine is " off ". and .... if you note on most monitors
today, the light never goes off, it just changes colour, since the
low voltage control circuits are, again always on, and ALWAYS subjected to power fluctuations, spikes, and transients.
The only way to turn off a computer in many instances is to
plug everything associated with the computer into a power bar,
with an ON/OFF mechanical switch on the BAR.


AND, don't forget, of course, ALL buildings, and ALL houses,
around the world, are IDENTICAL, so that there is only ONE
answer to this question, and it is always the SAME answer...

robin
Source(s):
SOURCE :
After the first few hundred computers, I sort of got an idea
of some things to do or not do to keep them working.

------------------------------...

I hope this analysis gets some people who would otherwise blindly follow a " RULE " to think a bit ... first...


AND,,,, FURTHERMORE.... there is a RULE amongst HACKERS,
who deliberately try to spread the word that leaving your computer on 24 hours a day is " GOOD "... for the hackers that is...
Millions of people around the world have their home computer online, 24 hours a day, with no firewall, no passwords, no security whatsoever, other than the " DEFAULTS " which were shipped with their devices, which the hackers all know.
By encouraging people to have their computers running 24 hours a day, hackers can have complete access to anyone's computer,
anytime they want, and can put hidden, entire virtual harddrives on all these computers, to use them as virtual storage, "WEB" drives. A typical new computer ships with a 100 or 120 or more GIGABYTE harddrive, which the average home user uses only 6 or 8 GIGS. The hackers can install a hidden harddrive on the back end of the harddrive with 80 or 100 gigs of free, online, drive space, WHICH THEY SHARE with all their friends to upload and download software. They can even use the entire computer to help speed up their own web files downloads, by having the " ON, 24 hour a day, high speed connection" of the hacked computer, download parts of the files that they want, so that by using a dozen or more high speed connections at the same time, they can access huge, multi GIG downloads in a few minutes. Great stuff. Most people will never know that their computer is being used 24 hours a day to upload and download Files and store DVD movies, and huge software DC;s and DVD collections, on
the behalf of the hackers. Their computer becomes an excellent source of data storage for a "select " group of people around the world. Not only this, but all the photographs, the downloads, the accounts, the passwords, the connections, the email, is also open to the public, 24 hours a day, and becomes a great source of amusement, -- ( Go to such and such an address to see this TXT file or DOC or download or email etc. ).. Great stuff. ( So and so is having an affair with so and so, or you won't believe this photograph, etc. ) You "want" this stuff online 24/7.
The other reason that hackers WANT your computer online 24./7
is that each time you turn off your computer and reboot, your ISP
( Internet Provider ) assigns your computer a NEW internet connection ( like 169.122.198.097 ), so that the hackers would
be constantly " ANNOYED" in having to re-search your address every time they wanted to " USE " your computer to download
or store files for them... and of course, you don't want to "annoy"
hackers ... so... be nice, help a hacker today... stay 24/7..


Hope this helps add some dimensions to your answers..

______________________________...

I have stacks of laptops, and I would NEVER leave any of them running, even with a Really good AVR power backup. Ordinary backups just allow a large voltage range to hit your laptop - AVRs will filter any incoming waveform, and put out 100% clean 110 Volts. If the incoming waveform is way out of bounds, then, the battery kicks in - and the AVR still puts out a clean 110...

You can read my other answers on Battery backups, and laptops, etc, which may help...

The other issue is HOW MUCH POWER IS BEING USED?

See this link on ANSWERS for a discussion on power use:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmWhsJSksOzOv_.kNVtJp6Dsy6IX?qid=20061113124337AArumGo&show=7#profile-info-AA10007781

There are many other issues, and the " ANSWER " is NOT a simple YES or NO, and where the computer is, and who has access, and what the power grid is like, and what the temperature and environment is like, and what software is running, and what internet connections are used ,,,,, etc. etc. all affect the REAL ANSWER. For every single case, the answer is probably different, and the debate on the subject is caused by different people, in different parts of the world, with different houses, and different computers, and different electricity, all arguing as though they were all IDENTICAL.... which they are NOT. !!!

Hope this discussion helps you to get a good perspective on all the factors involved and make a rational decision on how to operate your computer.

Getting an AVR battery backup, surge protectors, HARDWARE Firewalls, password encryption, and security measures in place always is a good idea... Locally, where I am located this minute, we have "world class" electrical distribution, rated very high world wide. However, with most AVR UPS battery backups, you now get a software package and USB cable to connect to your computer, that provide feedback on the ACTUAL power reliability. We get 17 power anomalies a DAY here, and most people are unaware of any of them. Looking at the power printout results shows how bad the situation really is - and this is in a " good " location.

good luck

robin

Answer 2

It's most definately cheaper to turn it off.

But it's only marginally cheaper. You might save close to $100 over a full year assuming you have it turned off more than 12 hours a day on average. That's still less than 30¢ a day savings.

There is an old saying that time is money. Is that few minutes saved not waiting for the computer to boot worth more than 30¢ to you?

Some compare the total cost savings attributed to increased computer life due to less usage. That really is a good debate. Some say computers actually last LONGER if left on all the time. There are valid points on both sides of that debate, so much so that anyone that swears one way or the other is probably wrong.

So, the one person is right...it is cheaper to turn them off each night. However, the other person is correct that if saves time keeping them on.

If you really want to compromise then use your computer's sleep or hibernate mode...it comes on instantly, uses much less power and keeps the chips and PSU warm so as not to incur as many cold to hot cycles.

Answer 3

In my opinion you should leave the computer on 24/7. My PC has been running continuously since it was new and it has no noticeable wear. A normal power supply in a PC is around 300-400 Watts so it won't make a huge difference in the bill at the end of the month. The only thing you really should make sure of is that all of the cooling fans are working. Leaving the computer on can save you lots of time. And also most damage is done to software at boot-up because of random power failures while the system is reading important system files... If you limit the number of boot-ups you may actually save yourself future headaches. Power failures and freeze-ups are much less damaging to operating system software once all of the important system files have been placed into RAM.
You may also save your computer from thermal shock and condensation damage if you leave it running, which will maintain a consistent operating temperature.
Hope all of that helps!

Answer 4

When do most light bulbs fail? When you switch them on. Thermal cycling is a "Bad Thing"! Everytime something is turned on, it heats up to some temperature about 30Degrees F above room temperature.

The inrush of high current, compounded by the temperature shock, blows weak parts, in a lightbulb that is the tungsten filament.

In computers, it is the micro junctions of wires 100 times smaller than a human hair, that hook up all the power and ground connections internally in all the Integrated Circuit chips and Regulators! And, the current inrush isn't so great on the Electrolytic capacitors.

I run ALL delicate TV, Audio, CD/DVDs, Game Consoles, and Computers, on UPSes, 24/7/365!

But, in Florida, we see upto 10 power brown-outs per day! There is no real 'power grid' as our power plants and transmission lines are more like three parallel lines from North to South.

Whenever they switch generators (mornings and evenings) or there is a lightning strike or power transformer failure, folks up and down the 'line' suffer brownouts and outages.

Florida is the Lightning Capital of the United States.

So, your "mileage might vary!"

My 'Kil-a-watt' meter shows that a typical computer costs about $2 to $6 a month to run. How much is a repair or replacement of a PSU, or mainboard, or CPU?

Answer 5

It's 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. Your computer draws power all the time if it is left on 24/7. That costs money. BUT...turning it off and on, off and on, off and on, causes it to heat up and cool down over and over again, which can wreak havoc on your components, particulary solder, and that leads to whole new computer. So it's your choice. I have had the same machine for 7 years, leaving it on nearly all the time, and it does fine.

Answer 6

If it is a matter of being on or off, and being considerate of energy usage, then keep it off during long periods of no use. But for maintainability, you would want to keep it on during the period that people might use it.

So if nobody is home during the day, because of work and school, turn it off.

If nobody is going to use the computer from midnight to 7am, then turn it off.

But if the computer is used in the morning from 6am to 8am, leave it on for the period. Then again a 4pm, turn it on until midnight, or when the family is done with it for the night. This plan takes time to set in motion, so you might try using the POWER OPTIONS. Just right click on the desktop and pick PROPERTIES. Pick the Screen Saver options. I would set the screensaver to NONE, but click on the POWER OPTIONS. Set it to a reasonable time like 30 minutes, then let NO USE cause the computer to put itself to an energy saving sleep mode.

Good luck and Happy Computing!

Answer 7

depending on your requirement you may configure the computer's power saving. You can confifure the system to power down the most resource hungry components after a fixed idle time. In such a case, you would be better off just turning off your monitor at the day end and rest will be taken care by windows (you didnt mentioned but I am asuming Windows). But its always good to power down your system at least once in 4 days.

Answer 8

Why bother to televise (D)eception when, as Nancy Pelosi explained, (and I quote) there was a lot of "promises made in the Campaign that are unfulfilled, ha-ha-ha-ha" (end quote). Payola, bribes, and LIES need not be hidden from the American People behind closed doors when Progressives/ Socialistists can do it openly... without blow-back. The government no longer fears it's People...

Answer 9

My friend is an EXPERT in an office tower with over 1000 computers, and he says ALWAYS leave your computers running 24/7

Answer 10

Believe it or not it is better to either leave it on all the time, or leave it off. Cycling the power causes what is known as chip creep. You turn it on it gets hot and the chips expand away from there connectors. You turn it off, they cool down but don't "creep" back in. Eventually it just won't start until you physically push the chips back in place. Typical repair bill for this is around $75.00 cost of electricity is much less. It is not good to leave your monitor on though, that is a fire hazzard. I have one I run as a server that hasn't been shut off in about a year, and only then for cleaning out the dust mites. Hope this helps and Happy New Year

Answer 11

it is:
a-cheaper top leave it on than to keep turning it on and off all the time
b-the disadvantage is you will be buying pc's more frequently due to the fact that is continually left on.
So you are at a crossroads basically.
My advice-leave it on during the day,turn it off at night when the last person turns in and then do not turn it back on until the first person is ready to use it the next day