Does Your Thai Wife Unplug The Microwave Oven?

[OlRedEyes]

Probably has more to do with earthing, or lack thereof, in most homes.

I used to fight it until a power surge at night caused by a lightening strike nearby blew the shits outta my pc, even though the extension it was on was switched off.

Then there is the tickle you get touching a lot of appliances that are plugged in because the house is not grounded.

[raslin]

It is also worth remembering that ordinary sockets are NOT made for constant plugging/unplugging. Haven't seen any switched wall sockets yet.

Another alarming thing is that appliances that should be earthed, e.g. microwaves, washing machines, fridges, irons etc. are not fitted with earthed mains lead and three pin plugs.

Edited December 6, 2006 by raslin

[leisurely]

Obviously I don't have a Thai wife, but my Farang husband insists on having every light in the house on our home help switches everything off - telly, dvd, cooker at the wall, microwave........when she first started working for us, even the fish tank was included. her finest hour was when she took the batteries out of the torches to save them . Wish my Mr was as economical mind

[Neeranam]

I have a problem with my wife wanting to keep the lights on - the xmas lights are up already and must stay on all night, as does the outside light so the dog doesn't get scared of ghosts.

[leisurely]

LOL at the christmas tree lights, our home help keeps switching them off 'they use all the electricity up!' What ALL the electric in the world?

[Scott]

This country is an electrical mess. Nothing is properly grounded (that's why periodically students are electrocuted by water coolers). If I am barefooted, I get constant little electrical shocks off things--it's taught me to wear flip flops.

The springs inside plugs are not made for constant unplugging. Where I work, we are required to turn everything off, then unplug everything and then turn off the breaker in the switch box! If we don't do all of them, we are threatened with a fine of 50 Baht. There actually is a person who goes to every office and checks everything and has a check list!

I have a USP on my computer that can't get enough charge to last 10 seconds because everything is ALWAYS turned off.

As for myself and my place, I don't unplug things, but I do periodically switch the breakers to everything (except the refrigerator) if I am going to be done for a couple of days. Actually, I worry more about the water pump--you can have a real mess if a pipe breaks. I have that set so I can turn it off when I am gone.

[Soju]

Power surges are also more common in thailand than in the west and a lot of houses are made of wood so it is a sensible precaution. My husband used to go around our old wood house in samui checking all plugs were unplugged & appliances off before we went out. Drives me mad but I know why he does it.

Regarding the cost of standby power, there are adverts here in the UK telling consumers that leaving 1 television on standby for a year costs approx 40 pounds a year. We have 3 tv's in our house so thats 120 pounds a year. A lot of money for something that isn't being used!!!

Universally you cannot say that appliances left in standby mode consume a lot of electricity. Some do and some don't. Even with TVs it's different, depending on the model and the technology used. The old style tube TVs typically have a quick-power-on feature where they consume some current in order to keep the picture tube ready to display quickly. Back in the old days, before this feature was standard on TVs, you had to wait a minute or so before a picture would appear. New LCD TVs don't use CRT tubes, so don't need to consume much electricity when in standby mode. For things like a LCD TV, DVD player, microwave, etc, the standby mode only needs to keep a computer chip running which might store the time and needs to run in order to power on via a remote control or an electronic switch. If the device is designed properly, extremely minute amounts of electricity are necessary for this standby operation. However, many manufacturers are lazy and don't optimize their design to use the least amount of power as possible. You should check the specifications of the appliance to see what it's power usage is when in standby mode before blindly unplugging everything, thinking you're saving a lot of money.

[Donz]

I would do it too if I wasnt such a lazy prick.

[qualtrough]

We unplug most appliances when leaving the house for more than a day. I did a stint at an insurance adjusters here and I remember one claim for a room destroyed by a faulty fan that caught fire. Came with picture attached of standing fan in the middle of the room that had clearly self-combusted, melted, and charred the surrounding area. Something to think about if leaving youngs kids alone in a room.

[toptuan]

...partner unplugs everything but the iron....

[DFCarlson]

It is also worth remembering that ordinary sockets are NOT made for constant plugging/unplugging. Haven't seen any switched wall sockets yet.

My wife likes to turn everything off if it's not being used also. We had the problems with the loose plugs in the wall socket and identifying which plug went with which appliance.

Now we use one of those power strips with switched outlets for the coffee hot water heater, the rice cooker and the microwave. Everything stays plugged in, the power strip to the wall socket and the appliances to the power strip.

When you want to turn on (or turn off) the microwave (for instance) you just flick the appropriate switch on the power strip. The power strip also comes fitted with a circuit breaker which occasionally shuts the strip off if you're trying to run too many things at once, so we're not always having to reset the main breaker.

Obviously we don't rely on the microwave for a clock!

[Donz]

My gf has labelled all our plugs, as my tv, surround sound etc have about 8 plugs that all look the same.

[Neeranam]

My Aberdonian grandmother would turn the tv down low to save electricity!

[BigSnake]

Yes, she does always, so does my girlfriend.

[Crossy]

Since this topic is drifting towards electrical safety (or lack of it) in Thailand everyone should read this thread http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=67644 and visit this website http://www.crossy.co.uk/wiring/

[corkscrew]

Since this topic is drifting towards electrical safety (or lack of it) in Thailand everyone should read this thread http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=67644 and visit this website http://www.crossy.co.uk/wiring/

Crossy, I read parts of your web site: now I am scared. I wish I hadn't brought this whole subject up in the first place. Almost under my feet lay a mass of tangled wires that feed my computers, printer, lights, i-Pods, phone chargers, camera chargers, etc.

I think I am safer crossing Sukhumvit at rush hour than sitting here in my office.

[lingling]

In the car or truck, my wife insists on turning off the aircon, radio and headlights before swtiching off the ignition

Must be related to that Thai thing with using the headlights as late as possible after sunset.

...because the next time you start the car the engine is cold and "dry" (i.e. it will take a few seconds before oil is flowing everywhere). If you minimize the load on the engine for the first minute or so (by not having a/c, radio, headlights etc on) every time you start it then you engine will stay healthy longer.

[SeanBangkok]

unplugs everything. drives me out of my mind.

[jgm005]

My wife is very savy, tech wise. But she always unplugs the microwave oven after using it. Her mother does the same thing. Is this common?

Yep, She sure does. Every darn time and if I do not I get sassed at. Oddly enough, then maybe not really, the microwave in our home in the States is never unplugged by the wife.

[Bagwan]

In the car or truck, my wife insists on turning off the aircon, radio and headlights before swtiching off the ignition

Must be related to that Thai thing with using the headlights as late as possible after sunset.

...because the next time you start the car the engine is cold and "dry" (i.e. it will take a few seconds before oil is flowing everywhere). If you minimize the load on the engine for the first minute or so (by not having a/c, radio, headlights etc on) every time you start it then you engine will stay healthy longer.

Huh?

The alternator is driven when the engine is started whether the lights, radio, CD player etc are on or not. All that changes is how the electrical power is distributed. It does however make sense to turn the A/C off so that the pump drive is disconnected from the engine This, plus depresssing the clutch when starting a cold engine, will significantly reduce the load on the battery.

It will take about 15 minutes in normal running for the battery to be recharged to its former level. Modern oils more than adequately take care of excessive engine wear when starting from cold - even in northern climes.

[marshall stanley]

My wife is very savy, tech wise. But she always unplugs the microwave oven after using it. Her mother does the same thing. Is this common?

Problem is when she is doing the ironing and the phone rings.......ouch

When Helen Keller did that she burned her ear - She answered the iron.

Her other ear also got burned because they called her back.

[manutoo]

Regarding the cost of standby power, there are adverts here in the UK telling consumers that leaving 1 television on standby for a year costs approx 40 pounds a year. We have 3 tv's in our house so thats 120 pounds a year. A lot of money for something that isn't being used!!!

I'm French, so i'm going to translate this in euros, and using french price for electricity.

£40 = ~€60

1 KWH in France = 0.1€ (it's about the same price in Thailand, I don't know the price in UK)

60 / 0.1 = 600 KWH used over a year

600 KWH / (365 days * 24 hours) = 0.0685 KW per hour => instant power of 68.5 W

This is _NOT_ the consumption of the standby mode, it's the consumption of a average TV (56cm) turned on !!

We got the same b*llshit served in France by all news, a couple of years ago (it allows to check that most journalists aren't able to check an info, nor do 2 divisions and 1 multiplication).

In real, a standby mode of an old TV (10 ~ 15 years old) is from 1 to 5W. 3W leads to a yearly cost of €2.6 / £1.75 .

Recent TVs (CRT & LCD) standby mode are usually between 1 and 3W, a few ones are even close of 0.1W !

so if u want to save electricity (and money), turn off the light when u leave a room, if u want to save energy (and money), walk instead of taking ur car when doing less than 600m, etc, etc...

[autonomous_unit]

In the car or truck, my wife insists on turning off the aircon, radio and headlights before swtiching off the ignition

My dad (American) taught me the same thing, plus set the parking brake and take your foot off the brake pedal (to turn off the rear brake lights) before killing the engine, and NEVER EVER using the interior lights in the passenger cabin when the engine was not running. He would also obsessively "gravity start" the truck on hills instead of using the starter motor.

However, I have to admit that the truck we had at the time is the only vehicle I have ever used long term where the factory original battery lasted for 10 years... so reducing the electrical load on the battery during that brief period just might make a difference?

I still have a twinge of guilt when I drive a rental car and it insists on shining the headlights for a minute after I park.

[autonomous_unit]

[oops, duplicate post deleted]

Edited December 10, 2006 by autonomous_unit

[mikeinminburi]

what i found more annoying is we live in a serviced apartment, and more than one occasion, ( im talking about 15 times now ) ive come back early from work and found the cleaners sitting on my couch watching my tv with the air con running.

i asked why? and she just cries and walks away.

she sleeps on the floor in the laundary room!!

thing is the apartment is about 16,000 baht a month, and there are 8 rooms!

i dont know why she sleeps there and does this!

so what i did, and i know its the right thing to do, because its my room, and my elec bill, so i bought a wall cage box thing, bolted it to the wall, put a padlock on it. it covers the fuse box. so now when i leave the room, i turn off all the switches.

she complained to the manager about it. i didnt want her to get fired so i didnt tell him about the cleaner using my apartment to "relax" the reason she complained apparently was she couldnt use the power when using a vaccum cleaner.

i bought her a nice brush and a scooper

serves her right for doing it.

last month my elec bill was 6,500 baht.

ok, most of that is mine, about 5,000 but come on! she cost me money!

i think i was nice about not getting her sacked but enough is enough.

as to the topic, i always use to turn off the power in the whole room at the fuse box. when i leave the house and when i go to sleep...

just makes me feel safer knowing that nothing can overheat, spart etc when im asleep or gone out.

the reason i mentioned everything above is because before i bought the box for the wall, the cleaner turned the power back on and left it on...

i didnt feel safe when i found it was on all day when i was at work...

i was an electrician when i lived back home and after reading everything about thailand wiring, and just looking at the power cables outside the window im not taking ANY chances WHAT SO EVER.

forget about the money, its pennies savings by turning it off...

its the fire, and over surge you should be worried about.

IF YOU HAVE A COMPUTER, AND LEAVE IT ON DURING THE DAY, FINE IT WONT EAT UP THE ELEC BILL...

BUT MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A UPS SYSTEM AS IVE SEEN SOME NASTY STUFF BECAUSE OF IT.

[fxm88]

How does one say "obsessive compulsive disorder" in Thai?

See also Obsessive Compulsive Mailman

Edited December 31, 2006 by fxm88

[Little Black Duck]

How does one say "obsessive compulsive disorder" in Thai?

See also Obsessive Compulsive Mailman

Love your handle man, Its so applicable

[astral]

She might just as well turn it off,

the clock will not keep time due to the lousy frequency regulation on the Thai electricity supply.