Is it worth the effort?
2007-09-18 10:43:23 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
No. Forget it. A couple cents per year.
2007-09-19 09:23:42 · answer #1 · answered by John himself 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That depends on the device. If it's an appliance (like a washing machine), then no. If it's an electronic device (like a TV) then probably.
Electronic equipment is powered by AC and contains an internal DC power supply. Some times the power switch will cut off the AC to the power supply to power off the equipment. But, usually the power switch is in line with the DC coming out of the power supply. That means the power supply is always on and it's taking up about 15 or 20 watts of power even when the device isn't on.
If you have 5 electronic devices that are plugged in all the time, that's about the equivalent of having a 100-watt bulb burning all the time. Every 10 hours, that's the equivalent of a kilowatt-hour (the unit they use to charge for electricity), In a 30-day month, that's 72 kilowatt-hours. But, assuming you actually use the devices 5 hours a day, that's 15 kilowatt-hours that are not being wasted by having the equipment sit idle. So, you are wasting about 51 kilowatt-hours of electicity every month which, conveniently, comes out to about 10 kilowatt-hours wasted each month per device.
San Diego Gas & Electric currently charges about 15 cents per kilowatt-hour (among the highest rates in the country). That means each device that you unplug when not in use will save you as much as $1.50 per month.
2007-09-18 18:00:42 · answer #2 · answered by Paul in San Diego 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's *DEFINITELY* not worth the effort! You might catch a stray watt or two, but is it worth the hassle? Your bill will be about the same, anyway. The utility bills are carefully engineered so that you pay alot no matter how little you use, with all the hidden fees and charges.
~Cindy! :)
2007-09-18 18:16:07 · answer #3 · answered by ♛ CindyBradyTooh ♛ 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
TVs and other appliances that do pre-warm use about four days worth of KWs rewarming than they do staying warm.
If you go on vacation, shut down the main power if you want, but I think you are obsessing a little. Just shut off the light when you leave the room.
2007-09-18 17:57:34 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
That would be on things that have pre warmers in them like TV sets, no it's not worth the effort.
2007-09-18 17:48:05 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's worth it to unplug chargers for cordless appliances and wall-warts that aren't used much-- not worth it for lamps and such.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/28/0746213
http://www.albemarleradio.org/features/wall_wart
2007-09-18 17:54:27 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
only if your going to be gone for a while,
the hot water heater is the one that will draw the most electricity,
2007-09-18 17:50:15 · answer #7 · answered by William B 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes, many electrical items will use electricty even when turned off if left pluged in, such as televisions, computers, and other items that will come on almost emediatly when turn on.
2007-09-18 17:50:52 · answer #8 · answered by ron 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
almost everything in the house draws something even when not on....check out popular mechanics web site they did an article on just this
2007-09-18 22:23:46 · answer #9 · answered by johnny r 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋