Electrical appliances with clocks

My microwave is in my laundry, it gets used once a week maximum. It is turned off at the wall so the clock is never going to be correct.

It’s been there for 13 years with no problems so far.

All of our appliances are switched off at the wall when not in use.

I turn everything off , well obviously not the freezer or fridge , but I dither about the tv
If I turn it off at the wall it’s on the same circuit as the Sky box and the internet , so I leave it , unless I’m going away for holiday

I always turn the microwave off when not in use, the clock is never right. I also turn the oven off as I use it about once a fortnight, so the clock is never right. Everything else gets switched off at wall at bedtime.

I don’t switch my cooker off at the wall, I like to have the correct time on the clock.

Allsorts

I have five electric clocks on different kitchen appliances. Does anyone else switch off thingss at the wall? Love my microwave but nor that clock, so I switch it off when not using it, do wonder if it's detrimental to the thing though. Leaving things running when you only use them perhaps once a day seems so wasteful or am I being mean.?

It won't harm the microwave if the clock isn't correct. The timer for your food is separate from it telling the right time.

However, leaving things on standby can cost you in electricity. Somewhere on the internet is a table of what things use when they are switched on but not in use.
Found it! blog.loop.homes/the-cost-of-leaving-appliances-in-standby-mode dated Oct 01, 2023. They say that "the average household could be wasting £325 a year"

There are other sources which show different costs - in the spring of 2022 several newspapers, such as the Sun, the Mirror and the Metro, had articles poo-pooing that it was wasting money to leave things on standby, but that was before the big hike in energy costs.

I turn everything possible off at the wall. It's not just the cost, but I'm paranoid about safety too. I have ordinary clocks in every room to tell me the time.

Kitchen wise everything is turned off apart from the microwave as it’s my kitchen clock. Oven always turned off as a) I hardly use it and b) my current post degree education does not qualify me to set its clock.

Because of this thread, I looked up the cost of leaving appliances on, I was surprised that Alexa costs £1 a month to run which I think is worth having but if you have a few around the house that are not used it may be worth unplugging some.

I also read that although leaving a charging lead plugged in whilst not charging does not cost a lot it shortens the life of the charger.

I would need to be a contortionist to be able to get behind the TV to switch it off so sadly it stays on.

I dont have Alexa etc and switch off as much as possible but not things that I have programmed up and would lose the programme. I live alone and therefore have things set to how I keep them so nothing left on which is not necessary. But coming up is the next annoying things. When the clocks go back etc. Things like turning the timers of things and my watch and the clock in the car etc. Some I can do but my hands are painful and I am very independant, but have to ask for help with things like the clock, as I not only get stressed out by it being the wrong time , but even more annoyed that I cant do it any more!!! Oh well at 78 I suppose I have to accept a bit of help gracefully!!

I turn my oven off at the wall, the clock is difficult to set and I have to get the book out every time I needed to reset it. On top of which my cat used to lay on the hob if he wanted feeding to make it beep at me!!

Everything here, apart from fridge and freezer, switched off at the wall when not in use.

Elegran i had a look at that site and it said the amount of electricity used by appliances pluggedin or on standby is negligible.

The £325 was based on people leaving electric towel rails on 24/7, underfloor heating and halogen spotlights plus extra computers, spare fridges and spare set top boxes left on and operational when not in use.

Since I use none of the items mentioned inthe above para, I am quite relaxed about the very small amount of electricity being used by the clocks on various appliances like ovens, microwaves etc.

I switch things off, but not at the wall.

my oven will not work unless the clock is set to a time very annoying as we often get power cuts some times for just a few seconds but i have to go and set the clock every tie

I switch everything off at the wall. My oven defaults to 12.00 when I switch on at the wall and I just have to press the centre button once to use it without resetting the display each time.

I have a battery-operated wall clock in the kitchen, so switch everything off at the wall when not in use.

Whyis everybody so concerned about turning off appliances at the wall. Do you do this for bedside lights etc.

As the aricle Elegran quoted shows, the energy saving is minute. So for what other reason do people switch off at the wall? What do you do if you have any sockets without switches?

I have long tried to have as small a carbon footprint as possible. Since energy prices rocketed last year, I have been even more mindful of how I use energy and the costs that phantom load can build up. By being careful not to leave things plugged in or on standby, my summer energy now costs about the same as it has done over the four years despite the price increases. I’ve been on different contracts over those years but my bills have remained virtually the same:

September 2019 £59 fixed contract wth higher standing charges and lower unit prices
September 2020 £60 fixed same
September 2021 £52 variable
September 2022 £53 variable
September 2023 £64 variable different supplier

Higher standing charges give low users of electricity like me little scope to save money but this in one way to do it. And while the savings may seem small per appliance, they do add up.

September 2021 my electricity standing charge was 27.77 and unit price was 18.906.
September 2023 my electricity standing charge was 41.57 and unit price was 29.25.

Despite those higher charges I am only paying 40p a day more than I was two years ago. Nothing else has changed about the way I use electricity. I cook with electricity using a conventional fan oven and hob.

I have always been a saver and believe in looking after the pennies so that, hopefully, the pounds look after themselves. If I can save, say 30p a day on energy by eliminating phantom load, that’s £10 a month and £120 a year, enough almost to pay those bills for two months. That’s a substantial saving for a small consumer.

There is a difference between an appliance being turned off at the wall and being on stand by. For example, our television is never on standby, but we do not ever turn it off at the wall, it isn't necessary. If it is not on standby it is off.

The same with the dishwasher. The plug for that is on the wall, under the worktop behind the appliance and I am not going to keep pulling the dishwasher out everytime I use it to turn it on at the wall and do it again afterwards to switch it off. When not in use my DW has no little lights on telling me the time or anything else. When it is not switched on it is compltely off and using no electricity, i do not need to switch it off at the wall.

Ditto all the bedside table lights, my radio, washing machine, air fryer and many other appliances. When they are switched off at the machine they are off and it is not necessary to switch them off at the wall, no electricity will be 'leaking' as a result.

The only ones with litttle LED lights are my microwave, and cooker, and those connected with my computer, and as the wattage of those tiny appliance lights is so small, and, again, the sockets they are plugged into are not easily accessible. I will use more energy and need to consume more calories - and food costs money - heaving appliances around the kitchen to turn them off, than I will save in my electricity bills.

I am not going to keep pulling the dishwasher out everytime I use it to turn it on at the wall and do it again afterwards to switch it off

Nor am I!

But I don't have anything on "Standby" - except my boiler (which kicks into action even in Summer when I turn on the hot tap) and my oven (which has a digital clock). Everything else is switch-offable.

Apparently even if an appliance is switched off it can still draw a small amount of electricity and if you have multiple things off but plugs still on it must add up over the year. I turn as much as I can off at the plug.