WTF is with old people and turning things off/unplugging them?

[Pliablemoose]

Consumer appliances used to have a nasty habit of bursting into flames back in the day too...

http://www.donpearman.com/article.php?articleId=31&sectionId=3

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: Arkitech
My wife has that annoying habit, at least when it comes to turning off lights. It drives me nuts, especially if I only left the room for a minute or two to get something to drink or use the bathroom

we need to trade, i am like your wife, i turn off lights whenever i pass by them. when i get home from work i make a tour of the house and kill 3-10 lights

 

[Scarpozzi]

Lightning is one thing. The other problem is fires.

Glass-fuse boxes have been replaced with breaker boxes. The true problem with glass fuses aren't that they don't work. They actually work really well when too many things are being used on a circuit. The problem comes from people when the fuses blow. People get tired of replacing fuses, so they increase the fuses from 15amp to 20amp to 30amp.... You end up with overfused circuits that draw too much current and overheat.... In the early days of electricity, wire didn't have the good insulation and load capacity it has now. Electrical fires were a problem and this is why old people often unplug things.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
Lightning is one thing. The other problem is fires... Electrical fires were a problem and this is why old people often unplug things.

Bingo that was drilled into every persons head for many years in school. It is all true, but they have quite a small chance of happening. Money is also a big issue. Many devices (such as monitors and TVs) look like they are turned off but still have internal heaters that remain on at anytime the device is plugged in. The heaters waste electricity ($5 a month isn't unheard of for one of these devices) especially when you have the AC running), lower the life of the device.

I do draw the line when it comes to devices which require lots of effort if they lose power. For example, TVs that lose their channel lineup or alarm clocks that lose the time, etc.

If you won't use the toaster for 1 month, why not unplug it? If you are going to use it in a short time, then it is silly to keep it plugged.

 

[Gurck]

Agreed, this (and the light thing - often while I needed said light) used to annoy the living siht out of me. I'm not irresponsible; I do turn off lights when I'm done in a room/area, I do turn off things I'm not using (my monitor, etc), but unplugging things and being a light-nazi is just baffling.

 

[Fritzo]

My grandma used to- swear to Bob - take out the batteries of the remote controls so they don't "cause a fire". Ughhhh

 

[Trey22]

We'll see how they like it when they're lying there on life support and we pull the plug on them!

 

[dman]

Originally posted by: Trey22
We'll see how they like it when they're lying there on life support and we pull the plug on them!

LOL. Gold Medal for you.

 

[slpaulson]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
My grandma used to- swear to Bob - take out the batteries of the remote controls so they don't "cause a fire". Ughhhh

That'd be a pain in the ass if she had a universal remote.

 

[rbrandon]

Originally posted by: Trey22
We'll see how they like it when they're lying there on life support and we pull the plug on them!

ROFL

 

[dragonballgtz]

My grandfather use to turned every thing off and unplug everything. If it was on you were wasting electricity.

But god do I miss him yelling at me.

 

[dragonballgtz]

We'll see how they like it when they're lying there on life support and we pull the plug on them

LOL. :thumbsup:

 

[Pocatello]

I know a lot people like that, such as my parents, it's annoying.

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
My grandma used to- swear to Bob - take out the batteries of the remote controls so they don't "cause a fire". Ughhhh

Damn, that's hardcore :Q

 

[lokiju]

Well my father used to work on appliances for most of his life and he said that a toaster oven is the most likely thing to short out and start a fire, even when not in use. So he always unplugged it after using it, which rubbed of on me when I lived at home with the parents, but now i don't unplug anything not even my PC's in a lighting storm. Oh well. Just lost my cable modem, router and my roommates PC got fried just 2 days ago because of lighting.

 

[Kalvin00]

We leave things plugged in unless we're going on a trip.

We get all of 2 lightning storms consisting of 3 strikes per year.

 

[notfred]

I live in Northern California. We don't get lightning. One lightning storm every three years is probably more than we get. I don't know anyone, young or old, who unplugs appliances when not using them.

 

[Kroze]

you should take a hint. THey're trying to tell you something duh!

pull the plug!

turn it off permanently!


LOL>

 

[Brutuskend]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
This has to be singularly the most annoying thing about some older people. My mother, for instance, unplugs the f@(king coffee machine/toaster when she's not using it. WHY. GOD WHY?!

My father in law is here now. HE UNPLUGS THE SATELLITE RECEIVER AT NIGHT. GOD PLEASE TELL ME WHY. He also turns off my monitor every night, even though it powers off after 20 min.

You better hope they don't see this thread!

 

[WobbleWobble]

I turn off my monitor if I walk away for more than a few minutes even though it is set to stand-by in 20 minutes.

While I don't unplug my digital cable box, TV or most things in general I have a habit of unplugging my toaster oven any small appliance in the kitchen save for the microwave. Fire and shock prevention as well

 

[SkunkApe]

My parents are exactly the opposite. They leave everything on all the time. We'll be down in the basement watching the bigscreen and I go upstairs and all the lights are on. The other TV's all over the house are all turned on. Every computer in the house is turned on. It's crazy. So I always go around and turn everything off. Why have stuff turned on if you aren't watching or using it.