A lot of people think when they turn off an electrical appliance that it doesn’t use any power. Time to think again, most electrical devices in your home still use electricity while turned off! Crazy! Some appliances never actually turn off, they are still consuming power in a standby power mode. Some electrical appliances in your home aren’t in a standby power mode, but still consume power because the way their power supplies are built. This is called many things, vampire energy, phantom energy, electricity leak, or leaking electricity. Continue reading this go green tip to learn how you can save electricity and save money!
What Electrical Appliances Still Use Electricity When Turned Off
Any electrical device that has an external power supply connected to it will still use electricity while powered off. Such as cellphone chargers, computer speakers, any of those electrical devices with a cubed power supply on it. Also any electrical appliances that have a clock, LED, light, or LCD panel on it will also still use electricity while turned off. Such as microwaves, coffee makers, TVs, VCR’s, DVD players, etc. Also any devices that have a standby or sleep power modes will still consume electricity. Most TV’s and set top cable boxes never actually turn off, they just go into a standby mode. Computer monitors and computers are the same. Most computers will still keep power to the motherboard for different functions such as ethernet cards/network cards, modems, USB hubs, etc.
How Much Energy is Consumed by Appliances While Turned Off
The electricity consumed by electrical appliances while they are turned off depends on the electrical appliance. The range of electricity used by these electricity leaking appliances are anywhere from 1 watt to 50 watts of electricity! Now 1 watt doesn’t sound like a lot, which it isn’t, but when you have 20+ electrical appliances in your home using just 1 watt of power, that’s 20 watts being used!
A single cellphone charger will consume 1 watt while plugged into the wall, even without a phone plugged into it! The same cellphone charger will also consume 4.5 watts of electricity with a cellphone plugged into it that is already fully charged! The same cellphone charger will consume 8 watts of power while charging a cellphone.
A stand-alone DVR set top box will consume 48.5 watts of power while turned off. A digital cable DVR set top box will consume 43.5 watts of electricity while turned off, while a digital cable box without DVR will consume 33 watts of electricity. A satellite set top box with or without DVR will consume 33.5 watts of power while turned off.
Almost everyone has a TV in their home, so how much electricity do TVs consume while turned off? Rear projection TV will consume 48.5 watts of electricity while it is turned off! A standard CRT TV will consume 13 watts while turned off.
Most of you will have a mini stereo system, one of those with speakers, CD player, AM/FM radio, etc all built into one unit. They will consume 24.5 watts of power while turned off! I’m sure most of you have one of these in your bedroom, living room, or kids bedroom.
A home theatre audio receiver that most of you will have hooked up to your TV in your living room will consume 19.5 watts of electricity while it is turned off.
So with just the few things I’ve mentioned here, that’s a total of $127.69/year just for electrical devices turned off for 16 hours every day. Most of you probably have more than 1 of each of those items in your home that are turned off, but still plugged in consuming power.
How Much Money Do These Appliances Consume While Turned Off
So now I’m going to calculate an average family of 4, and see how much electricity is leaking in their home, and how much it costs them. Well the parents are leaking 2369.74 kWh a year of electricity, which costs $236.97/year! Each of the children leak around 920.43 kWh of power each year, which costs $92.04 each child! So we have a total of $421.05/year being wasted because of electricity leaking on your electrical devices in your home!
How Can I Save Money by Stopping Electricity Leaking Appliances
There are 3 ways you can save money and save electricity by stopping these electrical appliances from leaking electricity. I will provide all 3 methods of stopping electrical devices from leaking electricity so you can save electricity. Some methods work better than others, but are not as convenient.
The cheapest and most effective is just by unplugging electrical appliances when you are not using them, which can become a major pain.This method works great as there will be no electrical usage at all since the electrical appliance is completely unplugged and can not use any electricity at all. As this method is the cheapest as you don’t have to buy anything new.
The next cheapest and least effective method is buying a standard surge protector and plugging your devices into surge protectors, when not in use, turn off the power switch which will cut off power to all the devices plugged into the power strip. Standard power strips and surge protectors are priced well and will pay for themselves if you turn them off and stop your electrical appliances from using electricity while turned off. The reason this method is not as effective as you would think, is that each surge protector will still consume electricity, so even though all your electrical appliances are not, the surge protector will still consume around 6 watts of electricity. So it is still a great method to use and cheap as well.
The next cheapest method and second most effective is using a smart power strip or smart surge protector. The smart surge protectors will cut off power automatically to only the devices that are turned off, while still powering the devices that are turned on and in use! These smart surge protectors cost about the same or slightly more than regular surge protectors, but use less electricity and you don’t have to turn off the power button when you’re done with your devices, just simply turn that appliance off! The smart surge protectors will still consume electricity when not in use, but not as much as normal surge protectors. The smart surge protectors will consume around 1 watt while in use, and less than 0.25 watts while turned off!
March 9th, 2010 at 10:11 AM
The best policy is to remember every time you turn on you
remember to turn the switch off. #Thanks
April 29th, 2010 at 1:52 PM
No….I mean, does an appliance still hold a charge when unplugged? My food processor was unplugged and turned off and it cut m finger OFF!!! Thank God it was reattatched, but it will never be the same. I am asking because I am wonderng if this has ever happened to anyone else, or heard of this happening. Powered off & unplugged! Thank you
May 4th, 2010 at 8:46 AM
Some appliances will still hold a charge when unplugged. Usually this is because there is a slow leaking capacitor in the unit, which will store electricity. Usually this is not very much electricity, but could be enough to make the blade spin a few times. I wouldn’t think a food processor would have any larger capacitors that could hold enough power to turn the motor on as that is a safety hazard. Most units that have the potential to injure someone like a food processor would have the mains enter the unit, go to a power switch/variable switch, then directly to motor. This way there is no electricity being stored anywhere.
May 11th, 2010 at 1:17 PM
@Jenny, well I hope your finger is doing well, I wouldnt want to be a girl without fingers, might get boring.
June 10th, 2010 at 10:46 AM
if i turned off my wall switch will the appliances plugged into it still use power ?
June 30th, 2010 at 9:40 PM
If the wall switch turns off power to the outlet the appliances are plugged into then no those appliances will not use power as the switch basically “unplugs” them.
October 22nd, 2010 at 2:59 AM
hi good to hear your comments and experience…while i promote and use solar powered products since i manufacture them, i feel it is a great way of saving this planet for the future generations…i have always been confused about the fact that is the power still being consumed when the plug is still into the wall bracket but the on / off switch is off…or should the plug itself from the wall socket should be taken out and when needed, we put the plug back into the wall and switch on…cheers…ajay
October 24th, 2010 at 12:06 AM
Depends which on/off switch you are talking about? If the electrical device’s on/off switch is turned off the device will not consume power, IF the on/off switch disconnects total power. If the device is wired.. from wall plug, to switch on device, then to rest of circuitry. But if the device is wired.. from wall plug to circuit, then switch, it will still consume power even if turned off. The only way these types of devices will not consume power is if they are unplugged, the outlet is connected to a wall switch, or the device is plugged into a surge protector and the surge protector is a smart surge protector, or switched off. But remember the surge protector maybe switched off, but it will still consume power.
Example, powering off a desktop computer will still consume power, unless you turn off the toggle switch on the back of the power supply. This toggle switch will disconnect all power before it touches any resistors, capacitors, etc.
April 14th, 2011 at 12:04 AM
this site is really helpful, but could someone please include ways to help people remeber to turn house hold appliances off, thank you
April 21st, 2011 at 12:34 AM
If a circuit is closed it will consume energy. If it is open it will not.
May 19th, 2011 at 7:54 PM
Lollypop,
Best I can say is look at your electric bill then look at your bank account, think of what you could have saved!
July 25th, 2011 at 10:49 PM
Would you recommend unplugging something like a laptop at the outlet or would unplugging the laptop charger at its port on the laptop do the same to reduce phantom energy use? Is one way of unplugging a laptop better than the other?
July 26th, 2011 at 6:00 PM
Teresa,
You would either have to unplug the charger from the outlet, or unplug the cord from the charger (the cord that runs from outlet to charger, if this cord unplugs on your charger) some of them are built in. Unplugging the laptop does nothing, it’s not the laptop eating the power when it’s turned off, its the power supply (usually black box). Hope this helps you! Have a great day!
July 30th, 2011 at 2:23 PM
Awesome! Thanks for the help!
August 16th, 2011 at 6:18 AM
Hi,
The TV in my living room is a 6-7 year old 20″ CRT model. It is always turned off (front panel switch) when not in use, never left on standby (button on remote). Could it still be using power when its plugged in? I’m guessing the tube is powered from the AC mains but the electronics run on DC so would use a transformer? There doesn’t seem to be any “humming” from the TV when switched off. Thanks in advance
August 18th, 2011 at 5:17 PM
Rowan,
If you can turn the TV on from your remote when turning off by the switch on front panel than yes it still uses power. If you can’t turn on the TV when you turn it off from switch on front panel then most likely the switch on front disconnects the AC before it hits a transformer, therefore it will not consume electricity while turned off. If there are any lights, leds, lit up while in this mode power is still going through a transformer and using power.
August 21st, 2011 at 1:00 PM
Thanks, my TV is like you described in the second sentence, and the LED is not lit. Good to know that I don’t need to unplug it! Thanks once again
November 2nd, 2011 at 3:57 AM
If all my electrical devices that have clocks built into them are unplugged, Will other appliances like a wash machine or clothes dryer (or even a lamp that’s plugged into a wall but is turned off) draw electrical current. Thanks.
November 5th, 2011 at 1:43 PM
Steve,
The only lamps that will draw electric while turned off but plugged in are the remote controlled lamps. I haven’t seen a washer or dryer that will consume electric while not in use, but I haven’t seen how a lot of the new ones work.
November 17th, 2011 at 8:49 AM
I must that this has been an eye opener for me as I have just installed a prepaid meter in my house and see that all equipment is switched off but the meter shows that i am still using electricity. I tested to see how may amps are drawn by each appliance and still came to no solid conclusion were the usage was NO I KNOW AND THANKS A MILLION
December 31st, 2011 at 3:40 AM
I’ve got a new sattelite dish connected to the tv, and have been advised to keep it plugged into the wall even when not in use. I’ve unplugged it a couple of times, but its such a hassle when i do switch it on as I have to set the time and date and leave it for about 5 mins so it can find all the channels. Do you have any advice or shall I just continue leaving it plugged in. After all, this is the only thing I have this problem with,
Regards,
December 31st, 2011 at 10:34 PM
Andrew,
I’ve seen this in some receivers as they don’t keep any settings in the system. I hate to say this, but best to leave it plugged in. Only unplug it if you know you’re going to not be using it for a couple days or so. If it at least kept the time I’d say put it on an efficient timer, to unplug power when you are away or sleeping and then power up 5 – 10 minutes before you come home or wake up, but even with that setup you would still have to set time and date each time, which would be a pain. Sorry I couldn’t help much. Happy new year!
January 6th, 2012 at 5:48 PM
If you have a toaster or kettle plugged in and on at the powerpoint but not using, is that still using power ?
January 6th, 2012 at 10:51 PM
Hi, if you have a lamp plugged in to the wall switched on, but the lamp is switched of by the switch on the lamp, are you using electric?
January 7th, 2012 at 9:51 PM
Gail,
Most likely no, most of these appliances the power is disconnected before any transformer, capacitor, etc. Although I have seen some crockpots and blenders that still use ower while off but plugged in. Does yours have any lights or anything that remain on? If not yours probably does not use power while off. I have a GE blender and crockpot stainless version, both use power while off yet plugged in, due to the display and lights.
January 7th, 2012 at 9:52 PM
Katie,
No, most lamps cut power off before any electrical components are powered. So they will not use power unless the light itself is on.
February 3rd, 2012 at 2:51 PM
Thank you for all of your great bits of advise for the layman to observe and practice. I to have a question.I live a mile inland on the treasure coast of florida. After two cat. 3 & 4 hurricans Frances and Jeanne struck in 2004, I bought a 65K portable generator. I also purchased a line conditioner to prevent electrical surges. The conditioner is pluged in at all times, and has eight 110 Volt plugins. I always have my flat screen tv, satelite receiver/DVR, CD player, and my Bose radio as the sound system for tv , plus a 25′ extension cord that I plug my computer, and modem into by way of a power strip. If I switch off the line conditioner will this take care of my downline wasteful energy sources? My computer is not used everyday. But will I damage it by eliminating all the power source? Sorry for length of my question.
February 3rd, 2012 at 5:44 PM
Jae E.,
I’m not sure how your line conditioner works. I’ve seen some line conditioners that still allowed electricity to be passed through even when off so you could still turn on PC, TV, etc., but the electric is not filtered. Then turning the conditioner on filtered the electric. Some conditioners will cut off all power leaving it like a surge protector. I’ve also seen others that will cut off power to it’s outlets, but yet the conditioner itself will still use a bit of power.
I would say cut the power to the conditioner itself. I’d imagine you have it on it’s own breaker. Turn off the breaker going to the conditioner to save. Then when you need the power turn the unit back on.
No, giving the PC no power at all will not harm it. The only thing that could ever happen from this is the CMOS battery dying. This is a small watch type battery in the computer to basically keep track of time and date. Not really needed. I have a few PC’s that this battery is dead and it causes no problems. I have my computer to get time and date from the internet when it turns on, so if time does get screwed up, it gets set as soon as it gets an internet connection.
Don’t worry about the length of your questions. It’s not a problem at all. I hope this answers your question. If you have any more, feel free to ask.