Keeping appliances unplugged

[kwired]

It would get stolen here if you did that.
I never leave the keys in my car. I even lock it at a gas station when I go to pay the bill.
Car's just been fueled - what better time to nick it....

One of the things I like about where I live. Not that cars are never stolen. If someone does take it he will likely be seen by someone that knows the owner and ask himself who is driving owner's car?

Bigger problems here is in remote areas in middle of night - nobody notices anything because nobody is there to notice.

There were some copper thieves caught somewhat recently. They were burning insulation off wires on a farmplace, A neighbor wondered what the smoke was from he saw from some distance and checked it out. Did not recognize any vehicles at the site and thought something was suspicious and called authorities.

 

[Besoeker]

One of the things I like about where I live. Not that cars are never stolen. If someone does take it he will likely be seen by someone that knows the owner and ask himself who is driving owner's car?

Bit like that where I grew up. Rural Scotland.

 

[K8MHZ]

It's like that here.

I live in the house my grandparents built and after my grandmother died, I rented it out for a while. One guy had lived there for over six years. When I needed the key, he said he had no clue where it was because in all the years he lived there, he never locked the doors.

I still lock stuff up. I spent too many years in town where everything had to be locked and am stuck in the habit.

 

[G0049]

Another Reason

Another Reason

Why would the local power board suggest keeping certain appliances unplugged?

Another reason to unplug is fire safety. I have a little 4 cup coffee maker on my kitchen counter. The on/off switch is badly placed on the front, lower edge of the unit. Until we started unplugging every time we were done with it, we frequently found it on and empty. When placing items on the counter top, it is way too easy to bump the switch. Luckily, no damage or fire, but a total waste of 600 watts.

 

[Besoeker]

Another reason to unplug is fire safety. I have a little 4 cup coffee maker on my kitchen counter. The on/off switch is badly placed on the front, lower edge of the unit. Until we started unplugging every time we were done with it, we frequently found it on and empty. When placing items on the counter top, it is way too easy to bump the switch. Luckily, no damage or fire, but a total waste of 600 watts.

I imagine it must have had a thermostat so wouldn't have continuously consumed 600W.
Ours does. And a timer.
After the coffee is made, it will keep hot for a couple of hours. Then turn off.
If it stayed on the coffee would boil dry. But it doesn't.

 

[Hv&Lv]

120101-1240 EST

Hv&Lv:

$10 is 0.6% of my bill. If I eliminated all of that cost by going around and unplugging all sorts of small devices I would accomplish nothing of major value. I would have wasted time, and caused deterioration of the plug components. The costs would be greater than the gain.

I have encountered a number persons that have fallen for this unplugging advise and think that their effort is saving the planet, but at the same time they are unaware of more significant changes they could make that really would save a lot of energy.

Some of these same people are opposed to electronic meters that are remotely read because of the RF radiation. They probably receive many times more background radiation from all sources, than from one of these new electric meters.

.

Counterpoint: You are correct that only $10 savings per year might be a waste of time. I was using your numbers, and probably shouldn't have as most articles report much higher numbers. Before you make your mind up to leave everything plugged in and never try to save any money, read some of the articles by several different sources. I have yet to see an article that has your viewpoint, that saving is a waste of time. Some articles report that 15% could be saved by "unplugging", whether by actually unplugging or power strips. Yes, I could believe that these figures come from houses full of kids with electronic "stuff" plugged in every outlet. At 15%, I could save around $540 per year. For the record, I don't unplug. That doesn't mean I don't believe it will save, it just means I'm too lazy, or it is a waste of time.

 

[George Stolz]

I'm with Gar on this one. Show me a handful of wall warts drawing enough to buy a burger, and I'll show you a well pump that racked up $300-$600 a month for over a year extra because of a misadjusted pressure switch. Much ado about nothing.

 

[Besoeker]

I'm with Gar on this one. Show me a handful of wall warts drawing enough to buy a burger, and I'll show you a well pump that racked up $300-$600 a month for over a year extra because of a misadjusted pressure switch. Much ado about nothing.

Yes. I think Gar summed it up perfectly with this:

This is an area where common sense needs to apply rather than blindly following the ignorant comments of ignorant politicians.

 

[Hv&Lv]

I'm with Gar on this one. Show me a handful of wall warts drawing enough to buy a burger, and I'll show you a well pump that racked up $300-$600 a month for over a year extra because of a misadjusted pressure switch. Much ado about nothing.

Here we are talking about things like desktop computers, some use 4.5 watts when turned off. 200 watts at full power. Cable boxes that are in most homes are the worst offenders. http://money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=557278e9-fd30-48e3-aa8b-da82864b9c43 I have 5 televisions that are plugged in constantly, along with a desktop computer, printer/fax combo, 2 cableboxes, 2 stereos, and various other appliances that have a clock or a timer working. SMPS's aren't the biggest offenders.
On a selfish note, I work for a utility. I get paid by the hour. We make profit by selling energy. Use all you can, that way I keep getting raises every year. It seems ridiculous to talk people into NOT using the product we sell, but the proof is out there...

 

[Besoeker]

I have 5 televisions that are plugged in constantly

Five??
Doesn't seem to you to be just a tad profligate?

 

[iwire]

Five??
Doesn't seem to you to be just a tad profligate?

Have you met us? We are Americans.:lol:

I only have three TVs set up and couple of PCs.

I am using my PC to post, my Ipod and external amp to crank some tunes while watching one of my TVs.

 

[Hv&Lv]

It's like that here.

I live in the house my grandparents built and after my grandmother died, I rented it out for a while. One guy had lived there for over six years. When I needed the key, he said he had no clue where it was because in all the years he lived there, he never locked the doors.

I still lock stuff up. I spent too many years in town where everything had to be locked and am stuck in the habit.

Where I grew up, we never locked the doors either. When my dad finally decided to start locking the house 15 years ago, he had to change the lockset. We never had a key to the old one. According to him, when he bought the house, he was never given a key to the doors.
Wouldn't it be nice to "know" you could leave your truck outside, unlocked, and all the tools still be in it in the morning...
Now you can't go to any big box store without locking everything on your vehicle. Took me only three reese hitches to learn to put a lock on them.

 

[Hv&Lv]

Five??
Doesn't seem to you to be just a tad profligate?

I'm wth Iwire here... We're Americans... One in the master bedroom, one in the living room, one in the gameroom, one out in the shop, and one TV in only one of the upstairs bedrooms, not every bedroom.
What part of that is profligate? :lol:

 

[Besoeker]

Have you met us? We are Americans.:lol:

My wife is American.......

 

[Besoeker]

I am using my PC to post, my Ipod and external amp to crank some tunes while watching one of my TVs.

I'm using my PC to post here, on a couple of other forums where I'm a moderator, one other that is mainly about motor sport, playing three simultaneous games of Scrabble, AND listening to Silvan Zingg...
Amazing pianoforte player....crank up the base....

OK mods. It's the festive season.

 

[gar]

120101-1912-EST

Hv&Lv:

I was not suggesting that all small power supplies be left in a continuous plugged in standby condition. What I am complaining about is the the stupidity of worrying about devices that are fractional watt loads, and not putting adequate emphasis on turning off things that do add up to a lot of energy.

There are persons that suggest that I raise my freezer temperature to 10 F instead of 0 F. This would save way more energy than if never plugged in any of my three cellphone chargers. But I am not going to change my freezer temperature and degrade the long term storage of food from last year, or the year before. With the very minimal amount of energy my TV requires I am not going to unplug it.

What you do is make quantitative measurements on various devices and determine what makes sense in terms of new equipment, changes in your operating mode, or life style.

In the book I am just now printing I illustrate the energy cost to heat a quart of water in a hot pot vs a microwave. The microwave requires 0.18 kWh vs 0.08 kWh for the hot pot. This is for a temperature change of from 75 F to 200 F. Also it takes about an average of 100 W to maintain the 1 quart of water at 180 F in the hot pot. This difference in energy will not determine whether you heat water in the hot pot or microwave. Other factors will determine this decision.

More people need to be making quantitative measurements to make intelligent decisions.

.

 

[George Stolz]

I'm wth Iwire here... We're Americans... One in the master bedroom, one in the living room, one in the gameroom, one out in the shop, and one TV in only one of the upstairs bedrooms, not every bedroom.
What part of that is profligate? :lol:

My own lifestyle remind me lately of an old Alan Jackson song.

 

[Little Bill]

I am guilty of leaving my truck needlessly idle a lot. Everybody complains about fuel prices - except the oil pumpers and refiners of course.

I haven't heard of it here in my town, but in a large city near here, it is against the law to leave your vehicle running while unattended. You aren't even allowed to start it in the morning, then go inside to let it warm up.:rant: I believe that is stepping over the line a bit, being it is on your own property.

I believe the insurance companies lobbied for this law, along with the "green people".

 

[gar]

120101-2017 EST

Little bill:

Their trying to do that in our town. There are also other big government controls they are trying to put on us in town. We have a city owned bus system that runs at a cost of about $4 per passenger mile. True they are using mostly hybrid buses now. These probably do make energy sense, and maybe economic sense. We have some hybrid city bucket trucks, and the elimination of much idling when the bucket is used probably will have a short time pay back.

Big push for LED lights in the city.

We do have one very big house in town that uses a lot of electricity, at least is nickname is "The Big House", I don't know the amount electricity, and it may not be large per person since it holds over 110,000 people, and it does not consume much total power per year. Probably insignificant per person and we can ignore it.

.

 

[Besoeker]

I haven't heard of it here in my town, but in a large city near here, it is against the law to leave your vehicle running while unattended. You aren't even allowed to start it in the morning, then go inside to let it warm up.:rant: I believe that is stepping over the line a bit, being it is on your own property.

I've read that it's not good for the engine to idle when cold. The basis for this was that the oil pump is crankshaft driven and at low revs it doesn't pump the oil round as well as it would at normal operating speeds, particularly when the oil is cold.