My office colleagues unplug the coffeemaker when they leave for the day. Is this necessary? I assume if it is off, it isn’t a fire risk. Do you do this?
No. But better safe than sorry…
How about a timer? With a 7-day timer, you could feel good about it being most assuredly off when it’s not business hours.
A hybrid solution that makes all feel more confident.
No. If I did that, I’d have to reprogram it every day! It automatically shuts off after two hours - it’s safe enough. I bet your coworkers don’t use a crockpot either, huh?
Beltrix, I don’t think it is about it being off. I have watched them, and they both turn it off, then unplug it. I think that they think that it might somehow come back to life. 
They’re weird in many ways.
I unplug mine at home since I accidentally bumped the switch and turned it on once. Maybe your co-workers are concerned about that.
If the building is hit by lightning, which is extremely unlikely, a plugged in appliance will be fried. After traveling many miles, lightning is not scared of a mere open on-off switch.
Most timers are built to handle a 100 w lamp. An 800 w coffeemaker will go through several timer switches.
I unplug mine so that I know it is off. It’s either that, or I have to say out loud that I’m turning it off and fix it in my head as a memory. Otherwise, I’ll freak out all day long about whether I left it on or off. I’m a bit of a worrier…
bufftabby, I think you win. One of my colleagues is a neurotic worrier. Interestingly enough, our office is in the Boro. You don’t know him, do you?
I’ve noticed Europeans and Russians tend to unplug things when they’re done with them. I asked an older Russian one time and she said “so it doesn’t catch fire.” I guess that worries some people.
Mine has a digital clock and it bugs me if the time isn’t right, so I don’t unplug it (or else the clock resets to 12:00). I’d like to unplug it though. Stupid clock.
My parents never unplugged their coffeemaker but at Christmas time this year they’d pulled it to plug in a crockpot and found that the outlet and plug and been almost entirely melted together. Not sure what would make this more common among coffeemakers, but it certainly has made them a little more wary of them.
Aren’t coffee makers really high on the list of things that get recalled because they randomly burst into flames?
CMC +fnord!
I know that’s how I got my KitchenAid 7-Cup Food Processor …
free (MSRP $129.99) 
! Yeah, I’ll cut off the coffee maker’s cord and mail it to ya KitchenAid, someday.
You could apply this to every plugged in device/appliance everywhere. I highly doubt those that are unplugging at the office are unplugging everything at their home before they leave their homes. That could potentially be 100 items easily. Better safe than sorry…
You don’t note what type of coffeemaker you have at the office. I’m assuming it’s a standard drip type. However, there are units that store and preheat water (Bunn) - unplugging them would completely defeat one of their design features. As for the normal household drip type makers, I don’t see any reason to unplug them on a daily basis.
On the other hand, if you utilize an old percolator urn type maker, then it should be unplugged.
We have a Bunn coffeemaker at church that needs to stay plugged in, yet I cannot break some of the older people of the habit of unplugging it.
My husband also wants to unplug things, but I’ve got him trained to leave the coffeepot alone since it turns itself off quite reliably. The crockpot drives him crazy, so I try not to bring it to his attention if I’m going to be gone while it’s cooking. He would go insane if I were to leave somethng cooking in the oven while I ran to the grocery store!
I remember reading in the washing machine instructions that when you are finished with a laundry session you are supposed to turn off the water to the washer and unplug it. I’ve never done that and I don’t personally know anyone who does.
I think unplugging the coffee pot is being overly worried. We’ve left it on overnight at work tons of times (usually because the last guy out doesn’t think about it).
no.
At a previous job we had a coffeemaker that had a “reservoir” for the water.
When you poured a pot of water in to make the coffee, it would instantly release the coffee from the reservoir so you wouldn’t have to wait for the water to heat. The water that you just poured in replaced the reservoir water after your pot was done, and it would start heating at that point.
We had to leave it plugged in. Last thing I’d check before locking up for the night was the coffeemaker, to make sure the burners were off and the pots were empty and off the burners.
If you’re relying on morning coffee, this was the way to go. Took about 5 minutes for that first, sweet, morning nectar of the gods to be ready.