Regarding lightbulbs

[roundpegsquareholes]

This may be a stupid question BUT please bear with me... I'm debating whether to take out some of the lightbulbs in our house to stop the kids leaving lights on... does it still use power if they switch them to "on" or not? I don't think it would as the circuits not completed but don't want to be basically a crazy person for no reason. Thanks in advance for answers!

It isn't safe to do.

The electric current would flow to the fitting and there is a very small chance that something could complete the circuit and cause a fire.
Bit of fluff or lint or some thing.
It is a very very slim chance, but I'm not sure I'd want to risk it.

You'd be better off getting some very dim light LED bulbs. You can run them for hours for pennies.

Your washer, dish washer, kettle, microwave, freezer.etc. would be using many many many times more than an led bulb.

Definitely change to LED bulbs, whilst there is an initial outlay it makes a hug difference.

An electric blanket/throw cost about the same as a 100w bulb per hour. A new, modern 7w LED gives out plenty of light and costs fractions of pennies - like you would have to leave a 7w LED on for nearly a week solidly before you use a single kw (which is what we are charged for)

that's a huge difference - but you are very welcome to a hug too 😂

I've started doing this. When a lightbulb goes, just not replacing in.

I don't take it out though, I just leave it there. Surely that can't be dangerous?

I’m not sure, but wouldn’t it still be using energy? I really don’t know with modern bulbs! With the old filament lights they still drew energy, even though the filament had gone. (Showing my age now!)

it depends on the situation, and saving is likely to be slight.
what about risk from moving about in poorly lit areas.
can you not get those switches that you push in and they gradually come back out to switch off the light, as seen in communal hallways.
so they won't be left on for long unnecessarily.
never leave an empty bulb socket, esp where there are children. hazardous.

Depends.

If it's an old filament bulb, I wouldn't trust it. The filament would be getting electric current and if something happened, say someone jumped in their bedroom and it made the filaments touch, that could possibly in a very slim chance cause a spark and a spark can cause a flame and a flame.. well, fire..

But it's all a game of chance.

Leave a bulb out with the switch on and you might in some weird slim chance get a moth fly up and cause a fire ball with moth wings.
Leave a filament bulb in and a charge run to it and the filament might spark etc.

The safest option is a low watt led. They cost something silly like £0.0004p to run for an hour.
A kid leaving a light on for an hour before it's turned off uses bugger all compared to say a microwave that could be using 50p for 10 minutes just to heat a ready meal or a kettle using 10p every time you have a cuppa. Etc.

As Moist Bandana + : Please, never ever leave any potentially 'live' electrical contact points exposed (in this case inside the light bulb socket). Always have a bulb securely fitted, even if it's not working. We all get tired and do careless things without thinking, like putting fingers inside bulb sockets. The main trip should protect you but -!!. If the light bulb is not illuminated, for any reason, it will not be consuming electricity.

Swap your bulbs for LED ones, a 15w LED costs something like 2or 3p to run for 10 hours.

Omg I had no idea about fire risk but that does make sense. I think we have a mix of LED and old style bulbs, will have a check and see if we can afford to swap them all over. Thanks so much