Keeping appliances unplugged

[kwired]

I had one which my "Kill A Watt" said drew 60W off ... but its replacement is in the 2W range (wall-wart powered now).

The box manufacturers have improved things LOTS.

Not only was it drawing 58 watts more, it was adding to your air conditioning load.

But was lessening the heating load.

Everything always impacts something else.

 

[Besoeker]

Yes, and he jury is out on how that will work out for engine wear.

One of my colleagues has a Lexus 450h. Some years old now and over 150k miles on the clock.
Still runs sweetly.

Every start with 0 oil pressure adds to the wear on the engine.

All running adds wear on the engine.

My wife would, and does, I pointed that out above.

Now do I always pre-start and let it warm up? No, if I have to go quickly I will start it and drive gently, it will warm up much faster than sitting in my driveway.

But IMPO given the choice in cold weather I would rather warm up first, both for the engine and my own comfort.[/quote]
Your PO noted.

You had mentioned that at a low crank RPM the oil pump speed is low. I agree (of course), but I have never had a vehicle that did not show higher oil pressure when cold due to thicker oil. To me that is an indication the pump is doing all it can to move the thick oil through the engine passages.

But maybe all it can is pressure rather than flow. You need flow all round the crankshaft and camshaft bearings. Both Ford and Vauxhall (GM) here have had problems with insufficient oil flow to overhead camshafts. You know the sound when you hear it. My brother in law had a Ford with the "Pinto" engine. He was mechanically inept. I twice replaced the bearings during his short tenure of the car. The basic fault was the feed to the bearings. Actually, it was a pretty rubbish car overall.

But ....... it's car talk, and you are a gear head too, which means we will never change each others views.

But we can exchange them politely. And that's important.

Now, it is 23F and I have to run out and start my truck.

You absolute hothead!!!!

 

[Article 90.1]

This may have been covered already (I'm not reading every post on three pages), but I'm not going around unplugging anything gin my home- just open the breaker or main for that matter!

 

[kwired]

This may have been covered already (I'm not reading every post on three pages), but I'm not going around unplugging anything gin my home- just open the breaker or main for that matter!

Opening the main means you lose refrigerator, heating and cooling, and any other critical loads, or if you have automatic standby generator it will take over.

 

[Article 90.1]

Opening the main means you lose refrigerator, heating and cooling, and any other critical loads, or if you have automatic standby generator it will take over.

Yeah, but you won't have to worry about phantom loads and wasting electricity!

Ok, so don't open the main, but HO could more easily open the desired breakers and drop out whole circuits.

 

[kwired]

Yeah, but you won't have to worry about phantom loads and wasting electricity!

Ok, so don't open the main, but HO could more easily open the desired breakers and drop out whole circuits.

In a small apartment maybe, but then you may just turn off more than you want turned off. In a large house - the panel may be two floors down from what you wish to turn off - it probably gets unplugged or a power strip or something else before turning off the breaker.

 

[weressl]

In a small apartment maybe, but then you may just turn off more than you want turned off. In a large house - the panel may be two floors down from what you wish to turn off - it probably gets unplugged or a power strip or something else before turning off the breaker.

Breakers, unless specifically designed and labeled, are NOT designed for switching duty, they are designed to automatically isolate faults and provide isolation for maintenance purposes.

 

[kwired]

Breakers, unless specifically designed and labeled, are NOT designed for switching duty, they are designed to automatically isolate faults and provide isolation for maintenance purposes.

And the 15 and 20 amp single pole breakers typically found in dwellings are designed for switching duty. Not sure about the AFCI's now that we have to consider that for almost all new circuits in a dwelling that would apply here, but we don't normally use breakers in dwellings as switching devices so the topic does not really ever come up.

 

[weressl]

And the 15 and 20 amp single pole breakers typically found in dwellings are designed for switching duty. Not sure about the AFCI's now that we have to consider that for almost all new circuits in a dwelling that would apply here, but we don't normally use breakers in dwellings as switching devices so the topic does not really ever come up.

Qualified correct: QO and QOB circuit breakers are suitable for switching 120 Vac fluorescent lighting loads.(But not tested for other type loads.) The switching duty (SWD) listing applies only to one-pole 15 and 20 A circuit breakers rated at 347 Vac or less.(So switching off for example your water heater fed by a two pole breaker would fall outside of this provision, not to mention that tungsten loads have a much higher inrush than fluorescent ballasts.)

Small italics are my narrative.

My response was to the suggestion that folks switch off their breakers routinely as an energy saving measure.

 

[Besoeker]

Yeah, but you won't have to worry about phantom loads and wasting electricity!

Just wasting food.

 

[jim dungar]

My response was to the suggestion that folks switch off their breakers routinely as an energy saving measure.

NEMA AB 1 standard is for breakers to be tested for full load (.8 PF) 'on-off' switching (for <100A breaker the specs are: at least 6x/min for 6,000 operations as well as 4,000 at no-load).
UL listing requires all breakers, 50A max 120/240V, to be 'investigated' for use with tungsten-filament lamp loads. SWD and HID ratings are for the particular in-rush characteristics of lamp ballasts which may affect the contact heating.

 

[Besoeker]

120102-1155 EST

I believe we were originally going to Edinburgh by the north route, but we were driven way south by the storm, and therefore most likely came up the English Channel.

That can be rough at times too.
I've been across it a few times on the Dover to Calais ferry and mostly it was plain sailing. One time it was quite stormy and when we got to Calais, the horbour master wouldn't let the vessel into the harbour so we laid off for a few hours while most of the passengers got somewhere between panicking and puking in equal measure. Not pleasant.

But I think the worst sea journey I had was on a Canadian icebreaker.
I was there commissioning our drives for deck machinery. Vessel sea trials took precedence and my work went on the back burner.
Nothing I could do but I was invited to go out with the vessel and crew on the trials. It was out one day and back the next. And rough. Bl00dy rough.
In the morning I was a tad queasy. But I was among sailors, foreigners at that, and I didn't want to let the side down.
So I pitched up for breakfast in the mess only to discover that most of the professional mariners were absent.
Evidently suffering from the same problem I had - just more so.
Brightened my spirits some. Not that I wished them ill, of course. Just that I wasn't going to look the wimp and face the teasing that I expected.
Face as the Chinese would say.

 

[T.M.Haja Sahib]

Couldnt you just turn it off?

Yes.See the following energy saving tips from Tamil Nadu Electricity Supply Corporation,India.

X. COMPUTERS:

1. Turn off your home office equipment when not in use. A computer that runs 24
hours a day, for instance, uses - more power than an energy-efficient refrigerator.

2. If your computer must be left on, turn off the monitor; this
device alone uses more than half the system's energy.

3. Setting computers, monitors, and copiers to use
sleep-mode when not in use helps cut energy costs by
approximately 40%.

 

[Besoeker]

Yes.See the following energy saving tips from Tamil Nadu Electricity Supply Corporation,India.

See posts #3 and #5.

 

[K8MHZ]

Yes.See the following energy saving tips from Tamil Nadu Electricity Supply Corporation,India.

X. COMPUTERS:

1. Turn off your home office equipment when not in use. A computer that runs 24
hours a day, for instance, uses - more power than an energy-efficient refrigerator.

I checked my computer and refrigerator with a Kill-a-Watt and you are pretty much on the money. My desktop computer with a 250 watt power supply was using almost exactly the same amount as the refrigerator if I left the computer on 24/7. The results were within pennies a month from each other.

 

[Besoeker]

I checked my computer and refrigerator with a Kill-a-Watt and you are pretty much on the money. My desktop computer with a 250 watt power supply was using almost exactly the same amount as the refrigerator if I left the computer on 24/7. The results were within pennies a month from each other.

And that tells you what?
If it's on and doesn't need to be, turn if off.
Common sense. You don't need to check how much it uses. Just turn if off.

 

[weressl]

I checked my computer and refrigerator with a Kill-a-Watt and you are pretty much on the money. My desktop computer with a 250 watt power supply was using almost exactly the same amount as the refrigerator if I left the computer on 24/7. The results were within pennies a month from each other.

250W PS indicates either a fairly old machine or an industrial computer that is working 24/7. In either case, as it was pointed out elsewhere, computers have a sleep mode where they use far less power AND newer machines are built to recent regulations where the sleep mode is limited to 5W, or so.

 

[Hv&Lv]

15% is missing some decimal points, like 0.15%. The current guidelines are 1W and 0.5W for currently produced appliances. Don't ask though how much it costs or how much energy and resources it takes to actually accomplish those numbers. Show me a series, independently conducted, peer verified study that confirms the 15% and I am willing to listen.

As smart as you are, you can't honestly believe the percentage is that low... With all the power supplies in a house nowadays, the utilities are having a time keeping up with triplen harmonics. It isn't just VSD's anymore...

 

[K8MHZ]

And that tells you what?
If it's on and doesn't need to be, turn if off.
Common sense. You don't need to check how much it uses. Just turn if off.

It's a computer and needs an orderly shut down. Then , when it comes back on, it needs to boot up and load all the config.sys programs and log onto the Internet, check for updates and virii which takes time.

If I left the computer on, I didn't have to wait to use it in the morning like I do when I shut it off at night; it was just there in the same state I left it the night before.

It's not a light bulb. It can take up to 10 minutes to get to the point where the computer is up to it's optimal speed after boot up.

That is a matter of convenience, not common sense.

 

[K8MHZ]

250W PS indicates either a fairly old machine or an industrial computer that is working 24/7. In either case, as it was pointed out elsewhere, computers have a sleep mode where they use far less power AND newer machines are built to recent regulations where the sleep mode is limited to 5W, or so.

Yep, older desktop. Works great.

Just got a new monitor that draws .3 watts when not in use.