I was raised up by an electrician who learned all his electro-info in the 50’s and 60’s. He always told us to unplug the toaster, blender, etc when we weren’t using it so that a sudden spark couldn’t spread from the appliance to the house circuit and start a fire. Is this still true w/ today’s technology in appliances and newer home electric techonology? I still unplug out of habit and i see no benefit to leaving them plugged in, but I’m curious to know if I’m unplugging needlessly. I hate to expend those 2 calories for naught!
He never said to unplug unused lamps, though, hmmm.
(I must trust his knowledge somewhat, as I still use a lamp he made for me as a child and has never been rewired.)
Actually, you’re probably * very * slightly increasing the risk of failure by plugging and unplugging, as it increases the amount of mechanical stress on the plug, cord and outlet. While you can’t dismiss outright the chances of a faulty switch in an appliance causing it to turn on and overheat (or say, the cat stepping on the button), the odds are very, very slim.
I’d say, if it makes you more comfortable when you leave the house, then there’s not much harm to it.
Unplugging an appliance when you’re not using it is certainly the safest option. Not only does it virtually eliminate any chance of electrocution, but it protects the appliance from voltage transients brought upon by lightning strikes.
Having said that, it is certainly inconvenient to be constantly plugging/unplugging appliances. An argument could also be made that the act of plugging/unplugging an appliance creates its own risk; your fingers are in close proximity to the prongs, and you’re fatiguing the spring contacts in the receptacle.
So it’s a classic tradeoff between convenience and safety. So here’s the question you need to answer: Is the inconvenience of constantly plugging/unplugging appliances worth the slight improvement in safety?
My opinion is that, for most appliances and in most circumstances, I am willing to keep it plugged in in return for greater convenience. We have young children, so I do make some exceptions. For example:
I never leave my electric razor plugged in. The AC cord easily disconnects from the razor, and our 2 y.o. son might put it in his mouth.
I never leave a power tool plugged in for the fear that one of our children will turn it on.
Unplugging all appliances is certainly inconvenient and I don’t do it, but I probably ought to.
In my opinion, as expressed here several times, is that the electrical code is seriously deficient in that appliances are not required to have individual fuzes or circuit breakers sized to their particular current carrying capacity.
Most appliances have relatively small wire, #18 or so stranded wire, in the power cord. When plugged into a circuit with a 15 or 20 Amp. circuit breaker these can develop and internal short circuit because of old age or misuse and start a fire. And I believe this has happened and will happen again.
On another board I post to, one of our posters just had to replace his entire kitchen because of a fire started by - a toaster oven that wasn’t even being used. I’ve always unplugged mine, but now I do it more vigilantly.
If they aren’t plugged into the device they’re supposed to be powering, then they aren’t using any electricity – except for the absurdly small amount to power any sort of LED that might be there.
Incorrect. They use power all the time. Put your hand on one that is plugged up to a device that is turned off, and you will notice it is warm from the electricty it is using.
Well, depends on the type. Okay, strictly speaking, they all use some power, but in many cases it’s totally negligible. Mostly it depends if you have a cheap-o transformer based power supply, or a better-but-more-expensive switching power supply. The transformers use a lot of power even when there’s no load compared to a switcher.
The only one I unplug is my coffee maker. I watched a TV news item about them years ago where they disclosed that they are composed of cheap plastic, a cheap circuit breaker (on/off switch) and a pretty hefty heating element. Since most people park them on a kitchen counter underneath a kitchen cabinet, they are a kitchen fire waiting to happen. Made sense to me.
Put me down as a coffee maker unplugger, too. That one was handed down to me by both parents, although I think they were always more scared of the “automatic” coffee makers, which would turn on and make coffee like an alarm clock. I can see the logic in that being a Very Bad Thing.
I have 9 computers and 4 monitors running in my home office 24/7. When I go on vacation, I never think about shutting these down due to fear of fire.
Then again, they are all doing something useful and I wouldn’t think of turning them off.
Anecdotal evidence sucks, just as in my case… if you have a known faulty appliance then unplug it… but then again if you knew it was faulty, you probably wouldn’t be using it in the first place. = )
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Since I do have many machines running in my office, and I live in an old farmhouse (1930’s), I contracted an electrician to install and new breaker for these machines, and while he was at it, check the existing wiring. That gave me a lot of peace of mind on my equipment and on the other general wiring in the house.
We take for granted all the electric appliances we use today. Today they are ubiquitous and cheap. If it breaks, we throw it out and buy a new one. In the old days, these things cost some bucks. We only ever had one toaster. Appliance stores was not only a place to buy appliances but a place where old appliances were repaired. Coffee was made on the stove and the stove & oven was gas. Houses built in the forties and fifties were not built to have all these appliances. Having to run to the fuse box when the vacuum cleaner was being used because the the electric water heater clicked on was not usual. The electric circuit were not adequate. So unplugging unused appliances is not so strange.
Yes, I know this is an anecdote, but it is my anecdote. A few months ago my hairdryer, which was plugged in but turned off for a couple of days, spontaneously shorted out and caught fire. It was not in use, hadn’t been used in days.
I have a friend who recently retired from Underwriters Laboratories. She said both the hairdryer and the outlet (we have a new home, built in 2000) should have had safety features to prevent this. In other words, this shouldn’t have happened, but it did.
I was always one of those “oh, the risk is miniscule, who has the time” type of people, but the experience has made me change my tune.
I don’t unplug either. It would be a nuisance. However, it isn’t the wiring or the circuit breakers in your house that causes the fire. It is the overcurrent in the appliance tthat isn’t enough to trip the circuit breaker but is enough to start the appliance burning.
I say again. The electrical code should require each appliance to be protected against conducting more current than its construction will tolerate without starting a fire.
Appliance plugs in the UK have switches and fuses built right in. I’ve not been there in years, but I’d guess that the fuses vary in capacity based on the needs of the appliance.
Yes; most wall outlets are switched (although you can still buy brand new, unswitched faceplates everywhere and they’re still not an uncommon sight). There isn’t normally a fuse in the socket/faceplate itself, but separate fuse-holder faceplates are available, mainly for permanently-wired appliances, but I think I’ve seen them used in conjunction with sockets.
All mains-powered appliances are now supplied with a moulded, fused plug, supposedly containing a suitably-rated fuse for the appliance (the fuse can be removed for replacement, even though the plug cannot be fully disassembled).
