FAO embedded C programmers

[Jack Hopson]

Hey!

We've got an electric shower in our apartment. As well as the controls on
the shower unit itself, there is a main on/off pull switch in the
bathroom.

My flatmate claims that we should turn off this main pull switch after
using the shower, because when it's on electricity is always being used
to keep a reserve of hot water.

I claim this is hokum and leaving the switch on is no different to
leaving the TV on standby.

Can anyone with inside knowledge settle our dispute? A meal at the local
taco place rests on it!

 

[Army1987]

My flatmate claims that we should turn off this main pull switch after
using the shower, because when it's on electricity is always being used
to keep a reserve of hot water.

I claim this is hokum and leaving the switch on is no different to
leaving the TV on standby.

Indeed, you shouldn't leave the TV on standby, either.

 

[Jack Hopson]

Army1987 typed...

Indeed, you shouldn't leave the TV on standby, either.

OK, but my point is that leaving the TV on standby uses a negligible
amount of energy - pennies a year probably. Isn't the same true of the
shower pull switch?

 

[Grant Edwards]

We've got an electric shower in our apartment. As well as the
controls on the shower unit itself, there is a main on/off pull
switch in the bathroom.

My flatmate claims that we should turn off this main pull switch
after using the shower, because when it's on electricity is always
being used to keep a reserve of hot water.
True.

I claim this is hokum and leaving the switch on is no different to
leaving the TV on standby.

Both use electricity. How much depends on the design of the TV and
how well insulated your hot water tank is. As the water sitting in
the tank looses heat, the water heater will turn on to heat it back up
again. The only way to determine how much electricity is used is to
measure it.

 

[Tom St Denis]

Army1987 typed...



OK, but my point is that leaving the TV on standby uses a negligible
amount of energy - pennies a year probably. Isn't the same true of the
shower pull switch?

Depends on the age of the TV. My current TV/Stereo [new as of last
year] don't even register on my UPS when off (in standby). My old
Nintendo Wii registers as 11W when in amber standby (so clearly the
UPS can measure things that low) which is why I just unplug the damn
thing when I'm not using it.

My brothers turn of the century [21st...] LCD TV ranks around 15-20W
when in standby.

So it depends really on the age of the gear. Get yourself a kill-a-
watt to be sure.

Tom

 

[Seebs]

OK, but my point is that leaving the TV on standby uses a negligible
amount of energy - pennies a year probably.

Wrong. It usually uses a surprisingly large amount of energy.

Isn't the same true of the
shower pull switch?

I have no idea. You'd have to know something about how it was built.

This has nothing to do with C, though. Followups set to alt.test since
I can't think of a more appropriate group.

-s