What does your house idle at?

[Just Steve]

What is your idle electric consumption?

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[Bob Moffit]

Our baseline at night (furnace fan on circulate and porch light on + any minor loads like clocks, tv in off position, etc) we see 0.15 KW.
It bounces between 0.15 and 0.40 when the fridge comes on. Over a 6 hour period between midnight and 6 am when no significant HVAC is in use, we consume about 2 KWh, so average is about 0.33 during that period.

[bcroe]

At my previous house, when the fridge and furnace where not
running, that spinning disc appeared to be motionless. Lots of
electric bills under $20.

Moving I picked up Vampire loads the previous owner left, and
some more 2 of us brought. That disc was spinning at 300W.
After a couple years running down everything on 60 circuits, I
got it down to 60W, things like door opener radios, furnace
transformer, security system with cameras, GFIs, smoke and
CO detectors, some appliance clocks, etc. Bruce Roe

[J.P.M.]

Similar to Bruce and his findings, When I bought the house I started with vampire (idling) loads of about 200 W.
With a few kill-a-watt meters and a stopwatch/good eyeball on the old electric meter and some patience, I traced/chased the loads down to all but maybe ~ 30 W +/- some as unknown which are probably GFI's, leaky transformers etc., and/or inaccurate measuring equipment.

[Just Steve]

I can probably guess where most of my idle draw comes from.

1 refrigerator
1 beverage refrigerator
1 chest freezer
3 tv's in standby mode with cable boxes
2 x-boxes in sleep mode
1 desktop in sleep mode
1 electric water heater
2 bidet toilet seats, heated seats, heated water tanks
10 GFI's

This is just off the top of my head, so that has to add up to close to what I use at idle.

[J.P.M.]

I can probably guess where most of my idle draw comes from.

1 refrigerator
1 beverage refrigerator
1 chest freezer
3 tv's in standby mode with cable boxes
2 x-boxes in sleep mode
1 desktop in sleep mode
1 electric water heater
2 bidet toilet seats, heated seats, heated water tanks
10 GFI's

This is just off the top of my head, so that has to add up to close to what I use at idle.

Usually, some of those loads, like refrigeration and water heating are not considered "idle", but intermittent. Food and water usually need to stay at temperature on standby even when not in immediate use.
Not possible for everything, but if you want to cut loads, put as much of the rest of the stuff as possible on timers.
Example: I've got 2 TV's and cable boxes that draw ~ 12 W each. They're off most of the time.
Start looking for what a lot of folks call "vampire" loads - things like motor transformers, garage door opener electronics, outdoor lights that don't turn off, etc.

The idea is to first identify loads, not necessarily to eliminate them. I've got a garage fridge that only gets plugged in and used when friends show up here in the winter. It's a known load and so, to me anyway, not a vampire load. It's about 1 kWh/24 hrs. when in operation and draws about 100 W when running.

Use personal preference to get rid of loads you don't need and/or probably didn't know about.
An example: My guess is a heated crapper seat is probably not an unknown load. If you're unsure about keeping it, put a kill-a-watt meter on it and see what it uses and calc the cost of the power it draws. Then put a $ figure on a warm butt.
Your lifestyle and the priorities it sets will tell you what to unplug and when to stop looking. Example : I use a heated mattress pad because I like a hot bed. It's on a timer and runs 30 minutes/24 hrs.
BTW: Does the bidet have thermostats for the seat and the water ?

[azdave]

We recently took a 5-day vacation so it is easy to see the numbers for the fall season. Ambient temps were 75-100 and with no one at home (no A/C or heating) the house gets to about 85 inside. Our home consistently used 12 kWh per day for things like the fridge, freezer, pool, lighting, etc. Can you tell from the graph which days we were away from home? Usage SRP Power - Google Chrome 10172022 125344 PM.jpg

[OCJ]

300 watts without wine fridge, 400 watts with wine fridge.

[RichardCullip]

235 watts per hour while we are sleeping

[J.P.M.]

About 55 W, 30 of which are known, 2 cable boxes, 1 GDO sensor and a weird 3.5 W from the A/C blower motor.

[RichardCullip]

About 55 W, 30 of which are known, 2 cable boxes, 1 GDO sensor an a weird 3.5 W from the S/C blower motor.

Impressive

[jflorey2]

Lowest is about 300 watts, which includes cable modem, router and all the vampire devices (mostly remote switches.)

[J.P.M.]

Impressive

Not really. At least not to me. I'm a Luddite and an existentialist by nature, probably more than a bit eccentric, and so cheap I take my glasses off when not looking at anything.

Besides, I've got little use for a lot of stuff that most people seem to deem essential these days that also seem to have unnecessary idle loads - like heated crapper seats and toasters with clocks, etc.

I also keep a of stuff unplugged when not in use like the 2 TVs and microwaves, and HVAC stuff when not in season - which seasons are shorter than most through around here because of conservation measures I've taken and practice, and also because I "sail" the house a lot to minimize energy use.
That ~ 55 W idle load I claim is with all the extraneous stuff such as it exists around here unplugged.

It's all about attitude, goals and priorities. I have a very comfortable lifestyle, but I get that most other folks probably wouldn't care to have it.

[DanS26]

I run 700 to 900w all night long. I like my gadgets and all that stuff running makes my life easier and safer.

[J.P.M.]

I run 700 to 900w all night long. I like my gadgets and all that stuff running makes my life easier and safer.

Respectfully, and even though I'm sure it's at least partly delusional, I like the feeling of some self-reliance and (apparently) unlike you, feel safer in some proportion to whatever self-reliance I do achieve.
Different strokes I guess (but not a prepper BTW).