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Original poster

Electricity

19 replies

nannyme · 30/09/2006 20:27

I have always pondered, somewhat boringly, whether a PC uses more electricity to turn on and boot up than it would being left on all the time.

That is, considering the PC in question is used several times a day.

Just been on another forum discussing electricity bills and ours is shockingly high but we have the PC on all day.

Thanks IA for any help on this.

OP posts:
southeastastra · 30/09/2006 20:31

mm don't know!

hairymclary · 30/09/2006 20:31

afaik it doesn't use extra electricity just by booting up.
so yes, you'd save money by turning it off between uses

Original poster
nannyme · 30/09/2006 21:03

Hmmmm, could explain the 200GBP per month bill then.

Thnx.

OP posts:
hub2dee · 30/09/2006 21:07

But turing on and off presents more wear and tear to the hard drive IYSWIM.

Maybe put it into 'sleep' mode (very low energy draw, very quick to turn on again IYSWIM).

Original poster
nannyme · 30/09/2006 21:12

Ta H2D, if it were on 24 hours a day would that still be less wear and tear than turning it on, say, 5 plus times a day?

OP posts:
hub2dee · 30/09/2006 21:17

Yes, that's why they leave servers on all the time - increases reliability, reduces likelihood of drives dieing etc. But having said that there is a contrary argument that 'using them less' means they'll last longer etc. etc.

You can check the wattage consumption of your machine. You might be surprised how little it is. The power supply itself might be capable of supplyhing 250 - 350 watts, but if it's not loaded with funky cards, multiple hard drives, CD / DVD player is rarely used etc. it won't be drawing much power.

In your situation I'd perhaps be tempted to leave it on during the day (maybe optimise your energy saving settings though so it turns the screen off after a few minutes of non activity etc. etc.) and turn it off at night. Oh, and back up your data !

PretendFriend · 30/09/2006 21:26

£200 a month won't be down to the PC

Original poster
nannyme · 30/09/2006 21:28

Thanks again, I could, despite my non-science brain, become quite interested in all of this.

I remember going round the house aged 11 checking the wattage of all appliances and what size fuse was in the plug.

OP posts:
PretendFriend · 30/09/2006 21:29

Ours gets slow and cranky when it's been on for hours though, and has to be rebooted or it drives us nuts. Is that just a sign of a crappy old PC?

Original poster
nannyme · 30/09/2006 21:30

Pretendfriend, I am clueless as to what the f*ck it was using up all that electricity. No electric kettle, rare use of tumble drier.

We do have a dishwasher...

Is the price of electricity, within one company, the same up and down the country?

OP posts:
PretendFriend · 30/09/2006 21:31

Heat generators use the most, nannyme - tumbledryers and heaters - do you use those much?

PretendFriend · 30/09/2006 21:33

No, I don't think it is the same nationally - there are regional prices within a company - ours went up recently and we were sent a letter with a price table. The range was c 9p per kwh - c 11p IIRC.

PretendFriend · 30/09/2006 21:38

Our house is a medium-sized terrace and our DD for leccy is £55 (it was £45 but we just had first bill since the increase and have asked them to increase it). I use dishwasher once a day, washing machine 1-2 times, tumble-dryer very little (air-dry most things and finish off in dryer); oven is electric, hob is gas, CH is gas, lots of our lightbulbs are low-energy now. TVs are the only other highish users (colour TV uses 500watts?)

£200 is a huge amount - is that per month or per quarter?

Original poster
nannyme · 30/09/2006 21:42

Per month - 400 for both electricity and gas.

We made limited use of TV, Washing machine on, on average, 2-3 times per day, Tumble drier on very wet days so probably only once a week-ish, dishwasher once a day, gas hob, electric oven.

Was a 3 bed bungalow with gas heating. In London.

Part of that was paying for winter use too but still, ridiculously expensive.

OP posts:
PretendFriend · 30/09/2006 21:53

Are you still in it? Have you challenged the amount? I have heard of people having street lights or the house next door wired into their meters!

Original poster
nannyme · 30/09/2006 21:55

We have just been sat here discussing it (OH and I)! We moved out in July and were just saying how we'd have to be even more careful about lights off, etc. as we are now in France where the electric is a little more expensive still.

I hope we weren't paying for the street lighting, gawd...!

OP posts:
PretendFriend · 30/09/2006 22:08

Interesting to see what your first French bill is like then!

Have you sold the bungalow or rented it? (Or were you renting it?)

Original poster
nannyme · 30/09/2006 22:15

We were renting. Do you think we could question it?

OP posts:
PretendFriend · 30/09/2006 22:22

Well if you were paying £200 a month the whole time you were there it's got to be worth a try!

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