What are electrical vampires and how to identify these devices that silently ‘suck’ your money
throughout the day we use many devices at home: we charge our cell phones, use computers, watch television or use household appliances such as the microwave or oven. air fryer to cook. Then, the electricity bill may seem correct to us, but little by little the ghost, ant and vampire expenses They can affect our budget in the long term and prevent us from saving.
What are electric vampires?
It has been defined as ‘electronic vampires’ to devices that consume energy despite being in sleep mode or being turned off. This same term also includes those that are connected to the network on a regular basis, such as routers or smart speakers. If these tools are older, they will consume even more energy, since newly created ones have to spend little due to current European regulations.
These devices in standby mode imply a very small expense on your electricity bill, but They ‘suck’ your money in a silent and continuous way and this in the long term can affect your savings. The recommendation of most organizations is to avoid this phantom consumption with the use of power strips with switchwhich allow you to easily turn them off when you don’t need to use it.
In addition to the router or smart speakers, the devices that can be electrical vampires are watches, television, sound bars, consoles, chargers that you keep plugged in, microwaves with a clock, repeaters, computers, air conditioners, printers or even the boiler. To reduce the impact of these on your bill, it is better to use smart plugs or meters that allow you to know the energy they use.
Also, it is advisable make a detailed record of all your expenses for a certain time. Thus, you will be able to establish in a more adequate way the amount and percentage that these electrical vampires represent within our income. Knowing how much of our budget they are taking, it is much easier to make a decision about whether to eliminate them or not.
Tips to put an end to these electrical vampires
- It is best to have the devices connected to a power strip with a switch to turn it off when you leave the house or go to sleep.
- Unplug the chargers when you are not using them.
- Avoid leaving your cell phone or computer charging all night.
- If you have smart plugs, you can schedule them to automatically turn off at night or when you’re not home.
- Configure the computer’s ‘sleep’ function.
- Disable quick turn on of the television in case it maintains network services when it is not working.
- Use models that comply with ecodesign regulations, since they have much lower standby consumption.
