Phantom Load or Vampire electricity use

[Moe]

Has anyone here calculated how much devices that use small amounts of
electricity add up to? This sounds like a good Sunday morning project.
I've got things around the house that I rarely use. A TV and clock
radio upstairs. Battery chargers plugged in, VCRs and DVD players I
don't use, phone recorder, camera holder, power supplies for computer
speakers, a couple of CO detectors, cable box, cable modem power supply,
router power supply, too many clocks, oh yeah, the VOIC has a power
supply, etc. Every time I think I've thought of them all I think of
some more. These things must add up to
a lot of energy use each month and a lot of it is not needed. I guess
I'll head to big lots and get some power strips and consolidate the
power users I don't need and put them on the power strips and see what
it amounts to on a month's electric bill.
http://www.kouba-cavallo.com/phantom.html

 

[[email protected]]

Has anyone here calculated how much devices that use small amounts of
electricity add up to? This sounds like a good Sunday morning project.

It is a subject that was covered on a TV program in the UK a few
months ago but I don't remember the details.

The cost of standby consumption is estimated to be £38 ($72) per year
in the UK.

 

[Eeyore]

Has anyone here calculated how much devices that use small amounts of
electricity add up to? This sounds like a good Sunday morning project.
I've got things around the house that I rarely use. A TV and clock
radio upstairs. Battery chargers plugged in, VCRs and DVD players I
don't use, phone recorder, camera holder, power supplies for computer
speakers, a couple of CO detectors, cable box, cable modem power supply,
router power supply, too many clocks, oh yeah, the VOIC has a power
supply, etc. Every time I think I've thought of them all I think of
some more. These things must add up to
a lot of energy use each month and a lot of it is not needed. I guess
I'll head to big lots and get some power strips and consolidate the
power users I don't need and put them on the power strips and see what
it amounts to on a month's electric bill.
http://www.kouba-cavallo.com/phantom.html

A recent study in the UK reckoned that devices in 'standby' alone accounted for
the output of 2 major power stations.

Graham

 

[Eeyore]

It is a subject that was covered on a TV program in the UK a few
months ago but I don't remember the details.

The cost of standby consumption is estimated to be £38 ($72) per year
in the UK.

Per *household* !!!

Graham

 

[[email protected]]

Per *household* !!!

Yes, per household, I don't know what everything else adds up to.

 

[no one that you know]

I did two years ago.
For three months I shut off the main breakers to everything when I went to
work except the fridge. The wall warts were more than half of my monthly
use.
I went from 800 kwh a month to 350 kwh.
I bought some of those remote controlled plugs from rad shack to kill power
to the tv, dvd, dct, vcr, pc, lcd, etc.

 

[Wayne W]

Would you believe my 35" TV, Tivo box, DVD player and cable digital box
consumes 64 watts when ALL ARE OFF !..

I'm in SE NY where the electric rates are near .23/KWH including all taxes
and surcharges.

So, the above set up, $11.82/month
110G fish tank (2 filters, one air pump), $6.28/month
Freezer $17.52/month
Refrig, brand new...$13.35/month
One night light left on 12 hrs/day 32¢/month
One CF 40 watt bulb, 24hrs day.. $3.28/month

All done with WATTS UP meter

 

[[email protected]]

in general, if it has a remote control, or a clock in it, it is
a phantom source of power consumption. couputers, dvd, vcr,
computer perpherals such as speacker power supply, microwave,
air conditioners, stereos, the list goes on. i put most of
these devices on power strips so it is easy to turn them on and off.
so far, it is saving about 300 Kwhr/month.

Paul

 

[Derek Broughton]

Thats 400 Watts, really?

400 watts doesn't sound completely unreasonable. It's not entirely the
phantom loads - once you start putting things on switched power, you tend
to turn them off more often when they might otherwise be operating but not
productive. I don't think I ever could have accounted for 400 watts
_completely_ by phantom loads.

 

[Tom Peel]

400 watts doesn't sound completely unreasonable. It's not entirely the
phantom loads - once you start putting things on switched power, you tend
to turn them off more often when they might otherwise be operating but not
productive. I don't think I ever could have accounted for 400 watts
_completely_ by phantom loads.

It does sound a lot. I did an inventory of all the power I was using and
found the biggest single unnecessary user was an old refrigerator in the
basement that was just keeping some drinks cold. All the standby stuff
amounted to about 100 watts- thats 2.4 kwH per day! I bought some power
strips with switches and I have reduced consumption by about 25% over
the year.

T.