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

In article , Rob
wrote:


It's annoying (to say the least) how the recent rash of digital
receivers (DAB, Freeview) use almost as much electricity in standby as
when they're switched on.

Not once you've fitted a torpedo to their mains cable, and remove power
from them when they are not in active use. :-)

[snip]

Ah, all our problems could soon be solved :-)

I've just spent half an hour checking out this:

http://www.steorn.net/frontpage/default.aspx

In fact, if true, our problems could be just beginning ...

Not yet looked at the above...

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

On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 11:50:10 +0100, 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.


JeeZZsus!.... You sure about that?.....

More interesting would be the figure EXCLUDING 'fridge, freezer and
other essentials.

On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 12:06:14 +0100, Rob
wrote:

I remember reading it - quite staggering! It's annoying (to say the
least) how the recent rash of digital receivers (DAB, Freeview) use
almost as much electricity in standby as when they're switched on.

Just a small point - is that 400W taken over 24 hours? I could
understand the figure if things like the fridge and freezer were active,
but it does seem very high, as does your annual figure - my total use
for the last quarter was 509 kWh, almost half your 'background'
consumption, and I consider myself an environmental thug (relatively).
You seem to be using 400W per hour background - that's just bonkers!

"Watts per hour" isn't quite what you mean, I suspect :-)

On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 12:15:00 +0100, Eiron wrote:

Anyway, in a country which needs central heating for nine months of the year,
kit on standby merely means less gas, oil, coal or wood used to maintain the
same temperature.

How is a heating system "on standby"? It's on or it's off.

Or are you referring to that old myth that it's cheaper to leave the
heating on when you aren't in the house?

Jim Lesurf wrote:
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

The anecdotal evidence I was referring to is the failure which occurs
when power is reapplied. The conventional wisdom in broadcast is to
leave everything permanently powered whether in use or not, as the
thinking is that stuff fails most commonly on power-up. I too have never
seen any real evidence to this effect, but it has become enshrined in
"custom and practice". It possibly descends from the days of valved
equipment when the thermal shock of power-up could take out heater
filaments. Large valves (especially transmitting valves) were left on
standby with the heaters at just below dark red and no HT to avoid the
thermal shock on switch-on.

S.

Eiron wrote:
Rob wrote:

Just a small point - is that 400W taken over 24 hours? I could
understand the figure if things like the fridge and freezer were
active, but it does seem very high, as does your annual figure - my
total use for the last quarter was 509 kWh, almost half your
'background' consumption, and I consider myself an environmental thug
(relatively). You seem to be using 400W per hour background - that's
just bonkers!

Watts per hour seems to be a singulary pointless measure.


Why? I thought it's a pretty standard measure of electricity consumption.

Anyway, in a country which needs central heating for nine months of the
year,
kit on standby merely means less gas, oil, coal or wood used to maintain
the
same temperature.


The heating's usually on 6 hours a day for 6 months. I'm happy at 18C.

Rob

Laurence Payne wrote:
On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 12:06:14 +0100, Rob
wrote:

I remember reading it - quite staggering! It's annoying (to say the
least) how the recent rash of digital receivers (DAB, Freeview) use
almost as much electricity in standby as when they're switched on.

Just a small point - is that 400W taken over 24 hours? I could
understand the figure if things like the fridge and freezer were active,
but it does seem very high, as does your annual figure - my total use
for the last quarter was 509 kWh, almost half your 'background'
consumption, and I consider myself an environmental thug (relatively).
You seem to be using 400W per hour background - that's just bonkers!

"Watts per hour" isn't quite what you mean, I suspect :-)

Er, it was! Have I misunderstood something - wouldn't be the first/last
time :-)

I mean he consumes 400 Watts of electricity in one hour. Stand corrected
awaits ...

Rob

On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 15:34:37 +0100, Rob
wrote:

"Watts per hour" isn't quite what you mean, I suspect :-)

Er, it was! Have I misunderstood something - wouldn't be the first/last
time :-)

I mean he consumes 400 Watts of electricity in one hour. Stand corrected
awaits ...

Not quite. He consumes 400 watts FOR one hour.

Laurence Payne wrote:

On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 12:15:00 +0100, Eiron wrote:


Anyway, in a country which needs central heating for nine months of the year,
kit on standby merely means less gas, oil, coal or wood used to maintain the
same temperature.


How is a heating system "on standby"? It's on or it's off.

Or are you referring to that old myth that it's cheaper to leave the
heating on when you aren't in the house?

Do keep up at the back. We're discussing all the electrical kit that could be
turned off or left on standby. Leave it on standby and the central heating
will be on for less time to maintain the same temperature. This of course
doesn't apply in summer, which this year in England was between late June
and the beginning of August.

--
Eiron

No good deed ever goes unpunished.