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Category:
Published: November 2007
The Evil Phantom Load
This month, I am going to talk about the often overlooked and insidious evil that is lurking in every room of your home or business: the "phantom load."
These are the energy-eating devices that you don't even think of as being a major part of your electric bill, but over their lifetime can consume a huge amount of energy.
Some of the biggest phantom loads are your "entertainment electronics," such as your TV, VCR, cable box, satellite receiver, DVD player, etc. Many of these products no longer turn off when you hit the power button; they go into a standby mode where they continue to use electricity. Granted, it may only be a couple of watts an hour, but over the course of a year that can add up to a considerable amount of electricity. Over their lifetime, many of these devices will consume more electricity when they are off than when they are being used! I have a small bookshelf stereo system in my showroom for demo purposes.
When it is on it uses about 15watts, when it is "off" it still consumes 10 watts of power. As utility rates continue to rise, just having that stereo plugged in could cost me almost $20 a year!
Enter the wonderful and humble power strip. Plug all of your electronics into a power strip and when you are done for the night, turn it off. Most of today's electronics will save all of your channel settings in memory, so you don't have to worry about reprogramming them or have that silly clock blinking at you for weeks until you get your 5-year-old to reset it for you.
Another major consumer of electricity (although it may not be a true "phantom load") is the must-have coffee maker. Most coffee makers use at least 400 watts or more and are left on all day to keep the coffee hot. Many businesses are now moving to units that brew directly into an insulated carafe. You've probably seen those black pump thingies at your local convenience store, too. There are smaller versions of these coffee makers available for your home or small office. They brew into a carafe, turn off when the brewing is done and have no hot plate that stays on and cooks your coffee into thick, smelly syrup when the last guy leaves just a spoonful of coffee in the bottom because he is to lazy to make another pot.
There are many other small, seemingly insignificant devices in your home or office that are phantom loads, like all of those charger units for your cell phones, laptops, and rechargeable tools. You know those little black boxes that get warm when they are plugged in? They all consume electricity even when they are not recharging anything. For example, my cell phone charger uses 2 watts of power and my laptop charger uses 4 watts just being plugged into the wall!
There is a simple and fairly inexpensive device (around $40) that can help you get a handle on phantom loads and your general electric usage: the Kill-a-Watt meter.
You plug this unit into an outlet; then plug your TV, toaster oven, laptop charger or any other 110v appliance into the meter and it will provide you with an LCD readout of how much power that device is using. Leave it plugged in for several days and it will monitor the total power consumption for as long as a device is plugged into it. Put all of your entertainment electronics on a power strip and then plug that strip into the Kill-a-Watt meter and see how much power you used to watch TV for a week, or how much power those electronics consumed when "off." You will be amazed and will become more conscious of your power usage. It will also help to make a significant reduction in your utility bill.
So put on your hunting cap, prowl around the office looking for phantom loads, and become more energy-independent!
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