Am I using electricity when hairdryer plugged in?

Is that an advert? Reported.

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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.

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.

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

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

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.

Not even that.

Guess.

edecries bike!

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

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.

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.

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?

Thank you crun

NFK My cousin, as a child, was fascinated by electrical sockets and tried the knitting needle trick, but was lucky, I think in choosing the right (wrong?) hole. He grew up to be an electrical engineer.

Yesterday, DH cut the lawn and plugged the mower into a circuit breaker which we leave permanently in that socket. When he unplugged the mower, he didn't turn the socket switch off. Hours later, before we went to bed, I noticed it was still on, and when I put my hand on the circuit breaker, it was warm. When the socket is switched off, it is cold . Does the circuit breaker constitute a connection in its own right?

And if they're that daft then the world would be a safer place if they were removed from the gene pool.

I've always wondered why anyone would stick a knitting needle into a socket. If a person is that daft, they shouldn't be allowed to play with knitting needles anyway.

Like when we had a gas leak, and I put a bucket under it...

"I don't how a charger can use power if nothing is charging on it"

Because the charger circuit itself needs power, but not a lot, perhaps 10% or so of what it draws whilst charging.

"However, sticking a knitting needle into the connection if it is switched ON will complete the circuit and cause power to flow - THROUGH YOU - to the ground."

I'm not quite sure where you're talking about sticking it, but if it's in the little plug that goes in the phone it won't hurt you for two reasons. Firstly the charger output is isolated from the mains, and from ground, and secondly it's only low voltage.

If you stick the needle in the bottom right hole of the mains socket you will get electrocuted if the switch is on, and you're touching something grounded at the same time. There's a safety shutter in there to stop you doing it though, unless you open the shutter by sticking something into the top (earth) pin.

Kettles and hairdryers don't draw anything when switched off at the appliance. TVs don't cost as much as they used to since they set new lower standards for standby current, my TV costs about 50p a year on standby.

If you leave a light fitting on but with no bulb in, does the electicity drip out onto the floor .

A kettle or hairdryer that uses power directly will not be using any power unless it is in use. The switch at the plug can be on, but if the one on the appliance is off there is no complete circuit.

A charger will be trying to charge whatever is plugged into it if it detects that it needs charging. If it is fully charged it will not be putting any more electricity into it, so not using any power. I don't how a charger can use power if nothing is charging on it, but an electrician might have a different answer.

If the phone (or whatever is being charged) is not plugged into the charger, then there is not a complete circuit, so surely no power should be flowing? (nowhere to flow to, the connections that the phone makes are not made when it is not there.) However, sticking a knitting needle into the connection if it is switched ON will complete the circuit and cause power to flow - THROUGH YOU - to the ground.

If it is switched off at the power point, the knitting needle should be safe but not advisable (sometimes switches are wired up wrongly!

Whereas the phone charger is turned on once the socket is switched on. It doesn't have it's own on/off switch. The phone then charges when it in turn is connected. (I can hear my father's voice here - I hope he's telling me right!)

Surely it's not a case of 'connection' but of a completed circuit when power is drawn... When the hairdryer is switched on, the switch completes a circuit, and the current flows.

I understand chargers still use a little electricity. My phone charger gets warm so I always switch the socket off when the phone isn't connected to the charger.

A hairdryer wouldn't. Nor would a kettle unless it had LED lights and what they use is negligible.