Ghost load

I became aware of ghost load about 2 years ago. It didn't affect me as I've always unplugged things anyway. I have OCD and am neurotic about the house catching on fire (whether or not this is rational) so I unplug and then check and recheck and recheck so on and so on. So though you've been wasting electricity for some time, it's obviously better to be you than it is to be me.

 

One of the Web sites I frequent is greenoptions.com
They have a 30-day "course" in greening up one's life and home.
One of the things that they target, is powerstrips and transformers.

If you have an electrical device that has a transformer (square box thing), it is ALWAYS pulling electricity... the transformer is, anyway.
Put all your transformer things on a powerstrip, and then TURN OFF THE POWERSTRIP when you are done with them

I've not yet moved our Audio/Video suite powerstrip out where I can access it, but I plan to, so that I can turn that monster off when we aren't watching a movie (we don't have cable, which means our TV is not on very often, anyway). With two DVD players and a VCR, plus the TV, I'm sure that it has a load on it all the time.

It's amazing how many little glowing lights we have in our house, when we walk through in the middle of the night!

 

Perhaps mentioned at Fred's already, but the Kill a watt is a handy thing. I do notice one vendor selling them for an unusually low price:

http://www.ambientweather.com/tdp4400.html

but I have no direct experience with that vendor.

You may find that the 'wall-warts' actually use a bit less than they say on the label, but check for yourselves. Full-sized home computers often have about 300-watt power supplies, but actually consume more like 90.

If you allow your house temperature to vary a bit with the seasons, you can also use the killawatt to see how much more power it takes when its surrounding air is warmer.

Killawatt does not do 220 volt appliances. The appropriate gadget there is a clamp on digital ammeter and a split power cord. Price similar to the above, at least if you are willing to buy Asian import things

 

We always unplug the following when they are not being used:

1. both computers
2. printer
3. tv
4. stereo
5. dvd player

Basically, anything with a remote control burns electricity 24/7 waiting on "standby" for you to hit the power button on the remote to send the signal to turn on the appliance. It has to be on standby so that it can recognize the signal from the remote when it is sent.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tripp @ Jun 20 2007, 12:04 PM) [snapback]465244[/snapback]</div>

Transformers. Newer ones may be switching power supplies. Normal transformers use some power even when under no load, due to eddy currents and hysteresis losses in the iron cores. The newer switching power supplies are much more efficient under load and especially when idling at no or low load. The whole Energy Star thing has recently targeted power bricks (wall warts) for improvement. Expect to see big gains in these over the next few years.

Tom

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tripp @ Jun 20 2007, 09:04 AM) [snapback]465244[/snapback]</div>

For the wattage figures you cite, are you looking at what the transformers say or are you actually measuring what they draw? My DSL modem's wall wart says 15W on it but it actually only pulls 3 watts from the plug. My router's tiny AC adapter says 100-120V ~0.5A (which would mean 50-60 watts) input and 5V 2.5A output (12.5 watts) yet it only draws 4 watts from the plug.

The biggest surprise for me was my projector (Infocus X1). When powered "off" (leaves the a fan running at low speed and is able to respond to the remote), it pulls 18 watts! Now, I make sure to turn it off via power strip or its hard power switch on the right.

I use a Kill-A-Watt (http://www.p3international.com/products/special/P4400/P4400-CE.html). It's virtually dead on accurate for all the incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs I've tried btw.

FWIW, my electric usage last month as 95 kWh and was 122, 135 and 213 for the months prior. My highest in the last year was 418 kWh during December 06.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tripp @ Jul 8 2007, 02:45 PM) [snapback]475188[/snapback]</div>

I'm actually in a 5 bedroom, 2500 sq. ft house. However, I'm living in it alone for the time being (semi-long story). So, w/me at work all day on weekdays and nobody else at home to consume much power, my usage is pretty low.

I have no AC at all, and have natural gas furnace and water heater. My dryer is electric. My electric and gas bills tend to be highest in winter as I use electric space heaters and avoid using the furnace (very costly to heat a whole house for just 1 person).

Unfortunately, the online usage history for my utility (PG&E) only goes back ~2 years. My highest monthly electric usage in a month was 3/06 at 465 kWh. My highest gas use was 46 therms in 1/07. It was 9 therms last month. Looking back, it seemed like my 2006 electricity consumption was much higher. I believe back then I used to leave my computers running 24/7. Now they only run when I'm at home (both when awake and sleeping). I also switched to LCDs on my computers from CRTs awhile ago, which definitely helps. Turning off the power pig idle projector after my discovery probably made a dent.

My refrigerator draws ~100 watts while the compressor is running.

 

Don't forget other appliances. I doubt my toaster or mixer are drawing much. I keep them in cupboards when not in use so they have to be unplugged.

But I have an automatic shutoff iron with a blinking light even when it's supposed to be 'off'. It's handy to keep it plugged in but off on the ironing board. I'm unplugging it now.

 

(Finally found my old post) I posted some power usage figures for various things I have at http://priuschat.com/index.php?s=&show...st&p=251006.

Some more figures below:
Xbox 360:
138 to 140 watts at idle in the dashboard
~ 110 W while playing a DVD
jumps around from ~140 to ~170 watts while playing games

Also, http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6475_7-6400401-2.html did a story and found that plasma and CRTs TV use about the same amount of power per square inch (not surprising). What was alarming was that some TVs use a huge amount of power while in standby/"off" like a Sharp 65" LCD that drew 76 watts when "off".