How Vampire Power Works

A person is holding a power strip filled with several plugs, representing vampire power.

Do you want to know what vampire power or vampire energy is? You’re probably already conjuring up images of Dracula stalking around your home, sucking the power out of appliances before he sucks the blood from your body….

In fact, it has nothing to do with the myth or vampires, but it does refer to electrical leakage, where power is literally drawn away from your home and wasted. Interestingly you can invoke the power of Tiger Tails to help you deal with this vampire issue and return to normality!

What Is Vampire Power?

In short, vampire power is simply electricity that is used for no reason. It is often referred to as standby power as the most common electrical leakage in your home is appliances that are plugged in but not being used.

You may not have realized it but a cell phone charger that is plugged into your power supply will draw electricity; even if there is no phone connected! This isn’t the only device that does this, in fact, virtually everything that can be plugged in will cause a power drain even when the appliance is turned off or not connected.

You can see this for yourself, leave the charger plugged in without your cell phone and then feel it when you get home from work; it’ll be warm.

The Cost Issue

By itself the cost can seem minuscule, after all, how much power does a cell phone charger draw if it’s not actually in use? Estimates in the US suggest that a single phone charge could cost you 35 cents a year.  

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That’s not a lot, but when you multiply it by the number of charging devices in your home and then the country you’ll quickly see it adds up to a significant amount.

This isn’t just a problem for your household electric bill, it’s one that affects the entire world.

You should also note that the cell phone charger isn’t the biggest user. Leaving a desktop computer in standby can use 4 or 5 times as much power as your cell phone.

In fact, it is estimated that 25% of the power you use at home is simply vampire power; think of how much money you could save while helping the environment!

Deciding Usage

Some gadgets are worth leaving plugged in. For instance, your refrigerator will use a constant power supply to monitor the temperature of the inside. When the temperature goes too high the cooling system will fire up. You need to leave this on to allow your refrigerator to work properly.

But, your cell phone charger takes power from the grid as soon as it is plugged in, whether the cell phone is attached or not, and even if it is but is fully charged!

That’s one you definitely need to unplug!

You’ll need to assess every piece of electrical equipment in your home to decide if it is drawing power and, if it is, whether you should leave it plugged in when not in use or not. If you’re not sure about whether it is drawing power a simple electrical meter will tell you.

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