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Cost of Keeping Components on All the Time?

Hi Everyone,

The original poster in the thread below asked whether he should keep his equipment on at all times. The answer was pretty much "it depends."

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?htech&1228170308&openflup&39&4#39

My question is more about cost: I'm curious if anyone has noticed an increase in their electric bill from keeping things like SS power amps, tube amps, AVRs on all the time. Of course I realize that too would depend on various factors, but I'm just looking for some overall guidance. Are we talking a few bucks a month, or more/less? My components are listed below to give you a sense of the scale I'm talking about. I'd prefer to leave everything on all the time except when I'll be away overnight.

Logitech Squeezebox (for streaming WAVs from my PC)
Cambridge Audio DacMagic
Cary SLP-05 (for stereo pre)
Adcom GFA-555 (for stereo amp)
Arcam AVR-600 (for HT/surround)
Oppo BDP-103 (Blu-ray video and SACD)
Vandersteen 2ceSig IIs (mains; bi-amp/bi-wire capable)
Vandersteen 2W (subwoofer)
Vandersteen VSM-1 (surrounds)
meowist
mitch4t's avatar
mitch4t
1,603 posts
 
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The first electric bill after I got my Pass Labs X-600 monoblocs (4 monoblocs)that were left on 24-7 nearly gave me a coronary. Now I only turn them on when I play the system. No 30 minute warmup and I turn them off after every listening session. I don't leave any components on 24-7 any longer.
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justlisten's avatar
justlisten
489 posts
 
My bill was running $230 a month. In mid December I decided to remove a PS Audio p600 and just run my monoblocks off the wall. My bill just dropped to $194 in 2 weeks without the p600. I would not power the p600 on unless I planned to listen , but even just plugged in the p600 still sucked a lot of power.

I leave my front end gear on 24/7.

Where I live has really odd ways to charge for power. PGE in California. If you lack periods of only essential power most of the day, you get penalized. I imagine a full month without the p600 will lower my bill even more significantly next month.
jedinite24's avatar
jedinite24
1,503 posts
 
The best thing to do in your case is to get a Kill-A-Watt and measure the consumption of each of your components at various times during playback.

Then you can take your electric bill and figure what the rates you are charged and input it into the Kill-A-Watt. It can give you an idea of what it would cost to run your system 24/7.

you could also do it the hard way and leave your system on 24/7 for a month and compare what you were charged.

I spoke to a guy who had Threshold SA-1 monoblocks and he kept them on 24/7 a long with the rest of his predominantly SS system and it added $25 to his first monthly bill after he got everything set-up.
internetmin
258 posts
 
Jedinite24 is correct. Try using a Kill-A-Watt meter. It's very simple to use. I use one at my house. Otherwise, you're just guessing. You enter in the cost of your electric rate and then plug in your devices. It then calculates the daily, monthly, and yearly cost. Leave it on with the equipment running on idle for about an hour and that's all you need. The Kill-A-Watt is designed to go between equipment and then accurately calculate draw. However, since you only want to figure idle time, that's all you need to do is plug it in and leave it. In reality, you will have results in as little as 5-10 minutes.

In your case, plug everything into a power strip and then put the power strip into the Kill-A-Watt and you'll have an accurate idea of the total draw of the entire system.
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