Am I using electricity when hairdryer plugged in?

Thank you crun

nelluiemoser I had a friend who got very agitated because I had left the microwave open when I took something out (it had stopped cooking). She thought the microwaves would all be still bouncing around in there and would jump out at us. This was not very long ago - microwaves were not a new invention.

But when radar was a new thing, the men operating it were said to go and stand in front of the beam before a heavy date, as prophylaxis. I wonder whether it affected their future productivity?

I did an experiment on this very issue and worked out that I was paying £6 a year or 50p a month for keeping necessary items (fridge, freezer, washing machine etc) plugged in all the time, including items on standby and charging my tablet, phone and computer. Personally I am quite prepared to pay 50p a month for the convenience of not having to pull plugs out everytime as I can't get to some of them.

Greyduster, the circuit breaker shouldn't be getting hot with nothing connected unless it more than just a circuit breaker, with other electronics in it as well.

mischief your food will thaw if the fridge & freezer don't stay plugged in, and they cost a lot more than £6 a year.

When I leave my excise switched on at the wall, the plug gets hot. It's got some kind of clunky plug thing.

edecries bike!

Not even that.

Guess.

Having the TV and PC on standby uses power, so it is worth turning them right off overnight. Fridges and freezers don't have a standby mode, as far as I know. they are either on or completely off (and if they are off the food gradually gets warmer until it thaws and is uneatable, so they have to stay on) They do have a thermostat which cuts in if it drops below the set temperature to keep the food suitably cold. That obviously uses power. When the temperature is as set, the power goes off again until needed.

What's happening to the socket on the wall when there's nothing plugged into it? Is that hot?

No. Nothing else gets hot. I just need to remember to switch it off!

Many years ago, when my younger daughter was small I took her to the hairdressers with me. The plugs were at bench height and switched on ready for the hairdresser to plug hairdryer etc in. There were also steel tail combs. Of course small daughter did the obvious thing and tried to fit the end of the comb into the socket. She survived but I've never forgotten it.

When I was a small child we used to have a telly which had a mains cable that would unplug from the back of the TV. One day a repair man took the telly away for repair, but left the mains lead behind with it still plugged into the wall.

My mum came into the lounge later and found me sat on the floor sucking the plug on the end of the cable like a dummy.

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Is that an advert? Reported.