There’s also no real reason to unplug something, even if the plug isn’t switched. Modern electrical appliances have idle power draws of less than a watt.
Rule of thumb: If a small electronic appliance (e.g. phone charger, power brick etc…) isn’t warm to the touch, it’s using less than 1 Watt of power, which at UK electric prices, is less than half a penny per 24 hours.
If you value your own time at UK minimum wage, and it takes you 5 seconds to unplug, and 5 seconds to replug, you won’t break even unless you keep it unplugged for at least 7 days. So maybe worth it if you’re going on holiday. As an everyday thing, unplugging idle electronics to save power is a complete waste of time.
As for electrical safety, generally speaking if something is unsafe whilst plugged in but switched off, it’s typically not legal to sell in countries with properly enforced standards anyway. And with whole house RCD protection being relatively universal in western europe, even if something were to go wrong, chances are the RCD, or AFCI if the breaker panel is real fancy, will stop the bad thing happening real quick.
Oh and quick PSA: Regardless of it’s whole house protection, or individual socket protection, you should test the function of your RCDs every now and again. Officially at least once a month. Every RCD breaker has a little button somewhere labeled “test”, that connects L to GND across a resistor, to check if the breaker actually does it’s job. If you’ve never done this (and haven’t recently had the RCD trip for an actual fault) GO DO IT NOW. THOSE THINGS ARE LITERALLY LIFE SAVERS AND IT’S IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE THEY’RE ACTUALLY WORKING.
Oh and quick PSA: Regardless of it’s whole house protection, or individual socket protection, you should test the function of your RCDs every now and again. Officially at least once a month. Every RCD breaker has a little button somewhere labeled “test”, that connects L to GND across a resistor, to check if the breaker actually does it’s job. If you’ve never done this (and haven’t recently had the RCD trip for an actual fault) GO DO IT NOW. THOSE THINGS ARE LITERALLY LIFE SAVERS AND IT’S IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE THEY’RE ACTUALLY WORKING.
Oh yes, definitely. Otherwise the Minotaur might escape and frighten the other railway station users when he should be enforcing the unwritten rules of the urinal.
I think the switches are nice but in the modern world you really don’t need to unplug a vast majority of things. Even my $30 120V USA space heater shuts itself off if it tips over or gets too hot. My cell phone charger pulls functionally 0W while idling.
Lego vs Legos appears to be another North America vs The rest of the English speaking world thing. A collective noun feels weird to my American ears since they are individual pieces that are countable. It’s not a big deal though. I enjoy having different ways of talking.
The word “lego” doesn’t originate from before the 15th century—in fact Legos themselves don’t go nearly that far back—so the common rules for modern English grammar apply.
Eh, well, in your profile pic you look a lot balder, beardier and purple than she does in her Instagram posts, but it could just be bad lighting I suppose.
If you look at the picture, that’s clearly the front part of a plug without the back cover, disconnected from all wiring and kept on the ground, with the pins facing upwards, to pierce some fascia.
If someone were to insert that plug into a socket as-is, it would still be a death trap as long as the power switch is on.
But what about when you need to plug your hair dryer in and need to remove a lamps plug and it ends up on the floor and then you get a knock at the door and its your friend and you go out and forget all about it until you get home and completely fuck your own feet
this is something I’ve heard a lot from people in the UK, do UK electronics not have switches on them or something? all electronics I’ve ever seen living in the US have a power switch on them, do you think we unplug our stuff to turn them off?
Lots of devices have status lights and other circuutry that still gets powered when “off”. Its not a huge difference, but its nice to skip the unnecessary draw.
Rule of thumb: If a small electronic appliance (e.g. phone charger, power brick etc…) isn’t warm to the touch, it’s using less than 1 Watt of power, which at UK electric prices, is less than half a penny per 24 hours.
If you value your own time at UK minimum wage, and it takes you 3 seconds to switch off, and 3 seconds to switch back on, you won’t break even unless you keep it switched off for at least 4 days. So maybe worth it if you’re going on holiday. As an everyday thing, unplugging/switching off idle electronics to save power is a complete waste of time.
Weighing the benefits of an action vs its effort is a bizzare way to look at things for you ? Interesting stance to have, I’m curious how you decide if something is worth it or not.
And the goal of my comment was obviously not to make or save money, so that’s a shit comparison. If you take an action with the explicit and singular goal of saving money, I do think it’s absolutely worth it to consider if you even save enough money to be worth the bother. Yes switching on and off an outlet is only a tiny effort, but you’re literally doing it JUST to save money, and the amount of money you save is EVEN MORE tiny and miniscule.
Im not getting paid for every second of my life. If you want to be all logical you must use actual logic. The opportunity cost you’ve projected on the action is not a real one.
I also dont think i ever mentioned saving money, did I? You just want to put words in my mouth and then argue about it.
UK sockets usually have switches on them. There’s no need to unplug things when you’re not using them.
Also, Lego is a collective noun. Saying legos is exactly like saying sheeps.
There’s also no real reason to unplug something, even if the plug isn’t switched. Modern electrical appliances have idle power draws of less than a watt.
Rule of thumb: If a small electronic appliance (e.g. phone charger, power brick etc…) isn’t warm to the touch, it’s using less than 1 Watt of power, which at UK electric prices, is less than half a penny per 24 hours.
If you value your own time at UK minimum wage, and it takes you 5 seconds to unplug, and 5 seconds to replug, you won’t break even unless you keep it unplugged for at least 7 days. So maybe worth it if you’re going on holiday. As an everyday thing, unplugging idle electronics to save power is a complete waste of time.
As for electrical safety, generally speaking if something is unsafe whilst plugged in but switched off, it’s typically not legal to sell in countries with properly enforced standards anyway. And with whole house RCD protection being relatively universal in western europe, even if something were to go wrong, chances are the RCD, or AFCI if the breaker panel is real fancy, will stop the bad thing happening real quick.
Oh and quick PSA: Regardless of it’s whole house protection, or individual socket protection, you should test the function of your RCDs every now and again. Officially at least once a month. Every RCD breaker has a little button somewhere labeled “test”, that connects L to GND across a resistor, to check if the breaker actually does it’s job. If you’ve never done this (and haven’t recently had the RCD trip for an actual fault) GO DO IT NOW. THOSE THINGS ARE LITERALLY LIFE SAVERS AND IT’S IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE THEY’RE ACTUALLY WORKING.
Such good advice.
They do some things right in the UK. But does every toilet need to be hidden in a basement labyrinth?
Oh yes, definitely. Otherwise the Minotaur might escape and frighten the other railway station users when he should be enforcing the unwritten rules of the urinal.
I think the switches are nice but in the modern world you really don’t need to unplug a vast majority of things. Even my $30 120V USA space heater shuts itself off if it tips over or gets too hot. My cell phone charger pulls functionally 0W while idling.
Boy I bet youre fun at parties
The ladies flock to me for my witty pedantic corrections.
it’s sheeple.
Lego vs Legos appears to be another North America vs The rest of the English speaking world thing. A collective noun feels weird to my American ears since they are individual pieces that are countable. It’s not a big deal though. I enjoy having different ways of talking.
So are sheep.
The word “lego” doesn’t originate from before the 15th century—in fact Legos themselves don’t go nearly that far back—so the common rules for modern English grammar apply.
Lego is Danish. They are lego bricks or lego blocks or lego pieces or just lego. Not legos.
I think you mean sheeps.
Are you my older sister? She does this to me too.
No. Definitely not. But maybe. But most certainly probably no.
Eh, well, in your profile pic you look a lot balder, beardier and purple than she does in her Instagram posts, but it could just be bad lighting I suppose.
Which makes it extra amusing to me that they coat the pins or whatever with plastic so you cant accidentally touch live while inserting it.
If you look at the picture, that’s clearly the front part of a plug without the back cover, disconnected from all wiring and kept on the ground, with the pins facing upwards, to pierce some fascia.
If someone were to insert that plug into a socket as-is, it would still be a death trap as long as the power switch is on.
But what about when you need to plug your hair dryer in and need to remove a lamps plug and it ends up on the floor and then you get a knock at the door and its your friend and you go out and forget all about it until you get home and completely fuck your own feet
Why not drop the plug at the wall instead of in the middle of the floor where you walk, or get a multisocket? £3.99 at Argos for a little one.
All these questions and more will be asked on the floor, clutching ones foot
Thanks for the chuckle.
this is something I’ve heard a lot from people in the UK, do UK electronics not have switches on them or something? all electronics I’ve ever seen living in the US have a power switch on them, do you think we unplug our stuff to turn them off?
I didn’t know you people had only one of them.
I have:
All the switches. All the joy. No need for plugs left on the floor.
Lots of devices have status lights and other circuutry that still gets powered when “off”. Its not a huge difference, but its nice to skip the unnecessary draw.
Rule of thumb: If a small electronic appliance (e.g. phone charger, power brick etc…) isn’t warm to the touch, it’s using less than 1 Watt of power, which at UK electric prices, is less than half a penny per 24 hours. If you value your own time at UK minimum wage, and it takes you 3 seconds to switch off, and 3 seconds to switch back on, you won’t break even unless you keep it switched off for at least 4 days. So maybe worth it if you’re going on holiday. As an everyday thing, unplugging/switching off idle electronics to save power is a complete waste of time.
What a bizarre way to look at things. Did you break even on writing that comment, or was it a waste of time?
Weighing the benefits of an action vs its effort is a bizzare way to look at things for you ? Interesting stance to have, I’m curious how you decide if something is worth it or not.
And the goal of my comment was obviously not to make or save money, so that’s a shit comparison. If you take an action with the explicit and singular goal of saving money, I do think it’s absolutely worth it to consider if you even save enough money to be worth the bother. Yes switching on and off an outlet is only a tiny effort, but you’re literally doing it JUST to save money, and the amount of money you save is EVEN MORE tiny and miniscule.
Im not getting paid for every second of my life. If you want to be all logical you must use actual logic. The opportunity cost you’ve projected on the action is not a real one.
I also dont think i ever mentioned saving money, did I? You just want to put words in my mouth and then argue about it.
No, but my point was that there’s no need to unplug something and leave the plug on the floor if there’s a switch.