[Falconoffury]

I have set up a system where I can disconnect the electrical flow to most of my electrical appliances in the home when I leave or sleep. I remember reading a long time ago that most appliances leech power even while turned off. Does anyone have a good website to help me get an idea of how much electricity I will be saving by disconnecting the power?

Also, does anyone know if flourescent or incandescent lights leech power while off? A stove and oven? A washing machine?

[gg3]

The way to tell is to get an AC ammeter and connect it in series with a plug and a socket, on the "hot" side. Then plug it in, plug the appliance in, and see if the ammeter shows any current.

If the above doesn't make sense, look for something called "Kill A Watt" which costs about $35 via online shops; it will give you various readouts one of which is watts. It won't catch stuff that draws less than 1/2 watt in idle mode, but most of your electrical parasites are drawing more than 1 watt in idle mode so it will catch those.

Power strips with on/off switches are a cheap way to turn off batches of stuff at one time.

Any appliance with a clock or timer or computer control probably draws current when idle. Oldfashioned mechanical stuff generally doesn't, i.e. a washer with a mechanical sequence controller, a toaster with a mechanical pop-up trigger, etc. But it's important to actually test to see what's happening.

[Frank]

If you haven't changed incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs, use the money for that instead. It's a guaranteed 75% savings in energy and saves you money too. The Kill-a-Watt is a great tool - if your fridge is over 8-10 years old you can probably buy one that uses half the electricity. How do you heat your water?

[Falconoffury]

I already use flourescent lightbulbs, and I don't even have any incandescent anymore.

I'll look into Kill-A-Watt. I estimate that I am saving 400 hours of wasted idle electricity per month on most of my electrical appliances.

I just wondered if anyone knew any websites with average amounts of idle electricity usage for most popular appliances.

[FishAreBest]

Does anyone have a good website to help me get an idea of how much electricity I will be saving by disconnecting the power?

Surely the easiest and most accurate way to measure this is to use the meter that is used for billing. Here in the UK, your average domestic electricity meter reads to the nearest 0.001 of a KWH.

Unplug everything except the devices you're interested in. Note the reading. Wait an hour. Note the new reading, subtract one from the other, and voila.

[PeakOiler]

I already use flourescent lightbulbs, and I don't even have any incandescent anymore.

I'll look into Kill-A-Watt. I estimate that I am saving 400 hours of wasted idle electricity per month on most of my electrical appliances.

I just wondered if anyone knew any websites with average amounts of idle electricity usage for most popular appliances.

Here's one website that gives a list of common household items and their typical power ratings: link

Or do a Google search using keywords "Appliance power ratings" or something like that.

And those Kill-A-Watt meters are great if you want to know exactly how much power an appliance uses. (115V only, won't work with 230V appliances)

[emailking]

Surely the easiest and most accurate way to measure this is to use the meter that is used for billing. Here in the UK, your average domestic electricity meter reads to the nearest 0.001 of a KWH.

Mine shows me only up to the KWH. I think most US meters are the same, or maybe a tenth of a KWH at the most.

[ChumpusRex2]

Surely the easiest and most accurate way to measure this is to use the meter that is used for billing. Here in the UK, your average domestic electricity meter reads to the nearest 0.001 of a KWH.

Mine shows me only up to the KWH. I think most US meters are the same, or maybe a tenth of a KWH at the most.

That's correct - the older mechanical ones used to read down to the nearest 0.1 kWh.

The newer digital ones only show whole kWh.

[Denny]

The "leaching" refers to power consumed by the power supply of electronic operated appliances. One simple way to determine what appliances leach power is simply to feel them while they are turned off, and if they are warm, they are leaching. If they use such a minor amount of juice that they do not give off any discernable warmth, then they aren't using enough power to give them a second thought. For instance, a typical old electric clock uses just 2 watts. Leave it on all year and it will consume just 17 kilowatt hours, or about a dollar's worth of power.

Things you switch on and off with a mains type switch, or which you plug in to activate do not "leach". So, don't worry about lights or fans or toasters, etc. Just look at things which have an electronic aspect to them, such as television, computer printers and peripherals.

[mumbly]

Here in Ireland, I've purchased the local version of the Kill-a-watt: http://www.energyliberators.com/Product ... Meters.php

I have begun quizzing my kids about the typical power budget of an appliance, if I see them switching on something. If they don't know, I ask them to use the plug in meter so they can answer the next time. They are really becoming aware now of how easily electricity can be wasted. This may sound crazy but they seem to enjoy knowing more than dear old Dad.