Is electricity consumed even if the thing is not in use?

last SG · 2006-02-26T01:47:07+00:00

i should say anything that is doing work or producing energy is consuming electricity and thus costs money lor.....for some electrical/ electronics appliance...

kendoboi SG

Eletricity bills are soaring up, my dad is scolding me for using the pc too often. I sometimes tend to forget to off switch for example the fan and pc.

Let me quote an example, my fan switch is on. But the fan isn't on, as in it's not moving which means it's not in use, so in this case, is the fan consuming electricity?

Same goes for computers also, i see alot of people, even schools, always leaving the computers switch on, unless someone wants to use it, they will go and on the cpu, therefore activating both the cp and monitor, so before activating, is electricity consumed even the switch in on and yet not in use?

Please advise

hiphop2009 SG

erm if u wan play safe den juz switch the power off.......

^tamago^ SG

my guess is no, since the circuit is open.

zhaozhilong SG

For the fan, it most probably do not consume any electricity when it is turned off. For the PC, it might consume a very small amount of electricity.

But anyway, I doubt that'll contribute any significant amount to your monthly bill.

R3SsH|n SG

*takes popcorn*
*sits down*
*eagerly waiting for answer*

Mr. Green

ditzy SG

For the fan, if there is a light indicating its use is lit, electricity is consumed, if else, its a no. Laughing For the comps, its a yes.

kendoboi SG

wah..got people say yes, got people say no..ZzZzZ

i tend to forget to off the switch sometimes..and sometimes, i also don't know what to do with myself..haiz..i ask lotsa people, their answer is that, electricity is not consumed, as the switch acts only as a double protection. It's only comsumed when the appliances is in use

dark_snowboy SG

theres a external device that connects to the power socket. on that device, theres the 3 holes for you to plug your plug in. then you can set a timer for it to switch off automatically after a prefixed time Wink

you can put a 5mins timer for it when you press the off button on ur pc

ditzy SG

Fan: No movement, no sound, no light = No electricity consumed

Computer and Monitor: No sound, no light, no heat = No electricity consumed

For both cases above, all three conditions must be met to satisfy the no electricity consumed criteria. Laughing

chanff8 SG

Unless theres a LED light on anyway on the fan, electricity is consumed. The little red light on televisions can cost you $40 a year.

For computers, electricity is consumed as long as the main power is switched on

Aveme SG

actually yes they do consume electricity but not at full power consumption as if it is on.They consume enough electricity just to maintain a standby status for the appliance.Worked in customer service for our public utility board b4 and learned this there.A very common and needed reason used to explain to customer who asked why the electricity usuage is so high even though they did not use their appliances frequently.We even have information on how much electricity certain common appliances uses to maintain the standby status and you will be surprised that some uses alot just on this.

well just found an article on this if anyone is interested.

http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/washington/fcscience/articles/ccewash_vampireappliances.html

kendoboi SG

wow thanks..that's really helpful..

Ponders SG

how the utility charge you is by KW/h (kilowatts per hour)

So if your appliances is using power (wattages), there is a current flow and thus you will be charged for that usage.

e.g. The wall socket switch is on, the fan is connected to it, the fan has no lights, fan is off. = No power consumed.

e.g. The wall socket switch is on, the fan is connected to it, the fan has lights to indicate that there is electricity powering the fan. But the fan is not in use.
There IS power consumed, but just to light up that LED light which is in the region of 0.01 W or lesser. You will need to keep the light on for 10 million hours before you hit 1 kilowatt.

For PC is a different case, PC nowadays maintain a standby state to prevent ROM loss. They take in very small current to charge the battery on the motherboard. Again this is very small current.

But when your PC is on, it will take quite abit of power, in the region of 250-500 W depending on your computer set up.

The appliances that take up most power are usually, Water Heater, Iron, Air Con, Oven, Microwave and a accumulation of light bulbs/tubes.

stellazio SG

yesnoyesnoyesnoyesnoyesnoyesnoyesnoyesnoyesnoyesnoyesno.. Laughing

targa4 SG

Not true. The standby power is to allow soft power down and soft power up.

UandMe SG

so expensive? over $2 a month for a small red light?

abao SG

use a laptop lor. it consumes less power Very Happy

alexkusu SG

if u left it on like that, at most you spend $3-7 a year Wink

ditzy SG

That's coz the converter steps the input down and wastes the rest as heat. Laughing

^tamago^ SG

tat's the same wat..... sometimes an indicator of whether a electrical applicance will use a lot of energy is how much heat it produces e.g. TV, air-con, PC monitor, CD-ROM drive...