In article , Serge Auckland
wrote:
tony sayer wrote:


With the last increase in energy costs, I went round the house working
out what the approximate consumption is of all the stuff left on standby
or on permanently, and I come to something around 400W. That's 3500KWh
per year! Some of the stuff, like fridge, freezer, cooker hob, ovens
etc can't be switched off without risking damaged food or the hassle of
resetting clocks, but other stuff certainly can be. Turning off just the
hi-fi and TV equipment when not being used saves 584KWh a year, more if
I also turn off the wireless router and the computer at night.


FWIW all the tuners, etc, I have encountered no problems with being
switched off (i.e. unpowered) when not in use. This includes a Pure DAB
tuner and a Nokia DTTV tuner. Even if the DAB tuner has been unpowered for
a week irt still remembers the user settings, etc, when powered up again.

I leave items like a fridge or the central heating control on for obvious
reasons. Also the DVD recorder. But I routinely switch off other things.

I would suggest that our domestic consumption is typical, even lower
than average as our children have left home, so if more people turned
off stuff on standby, the power saving would be very considerable.

Indeed. I suspect that it will not be long before the UK/EU regulations
*mandate* that units have to be designed with this in mind, and pressure is
applied on manufacturers *not* to produce units which have to be 'on
standaby' simply to recall 'user settings'. Even our fridge and freezed
don't 'forget' what temperature settings were made if they are
accidentially unpowered for a while. It is quite clear that most
electronics could do this - provided the makers design appropriately.

There is the anecdotal evidence that equipment left on standby or
permanently on seems to be more reliable, but I'm happy to take that
chance.

I haven't seen any reliable evidence one way or the other that would
concern me. If equipment was poorly designed, I'd be more worried by
leaving it on unattended. More concerned by a fire risk than by unit
failures. If it is well designed, then it really should not seriously
affect its reliability to be unpowered overnight.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html