Can unplugging the PC repeatedly from the wall harm it?

[ty_ger]

Mental illness requires treatment and monitoring. Try to swerve them away from this habit. Almost zero good can come of it, and plenty of potential bad.

 

[Harlow]

I note in some countries, the wall outlets are controlled by a switch anyway, and I've not read of harm caused by using those.

I constructed a 10-way mains strip using five dual 13A switched sockets and used it to switch off various computers under the desk. It was easier than pulling out the tower systems to reach the switches on the back of the ATX PSUs.

Unfortunately I "cheaped out" on the 13A sockets and after two years, some of the switches in the dual sockets were fried (burnt out contacts). I blame this on repeated 60 to 80A switch on surges into the ATX PSUs. My fault for spending the equivalent of $2 instead of $10 to $20 for better quality dual sockets.

On the positive side, it was much cheaper to replace the switched mains sockets than a bunch of ATX PSUs with overworked on/off switches.

 

[R-T-B]

Mental illness requires treatment and monitoring. Try to swerve them away from this habit. Almost zero good can come of it, and plenty of potential bad.

Please don't confuse a maybe overcautious habit with mental illness.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Please don't confuse a maybe overcautious habit with mental illness.

Good point. I will note almost every owner's manual and user guide says to unplug if away for awhile. That said, I recognize that is mostly shyster-talk.

 

[Assimilator]

I'm willing to guarantee that years of this idiotic behaviour have resulted in arcing between the socket and plug (especially if we're talking about shitty US plugs). What impact that may have had on the PSU and PC I have no idea, but it will certainly have an impact on the safety of the circuit as a whole.

Just tell your relative to stop being literally insane.

 

[harm9963]

Never had a issue ,shut down and use the switch from surge protector

Belkin Surge Protector Power Strip w/ 8 Rotating & 4 Standard Outlets - 8ft Sturdy Extension Cord w/ Flat Pivot Plug for Home, Office, Travel, Desktop & Charging Brick - 4320 Joules of Protection​

, never unplug wall socked , unplug from power supply for maintenance on my Rig, have a 9 year old EVGA 1300G , now in second Rig .

 

[thesmokingman]

He wants to save energy.

I really wonder about ppl who think power waste from an led amounts anything appreciable.

 

[Chrispy_]

So, one of my relatives likes to unplug all his stuff from the wall when he's not using it.

He shuts the PC down and then unplugs the PC, monitor and TV from the wall, sometimes up to six times/day.

That's some serious OCD but as long as he's shutting down the PC before turning off the mains supply there are zero issues.

Do you know why he does that? And why not just turn off the switch at the wall socket? At least that way the PC is still earthed properly!

I really wonder about ppl who think power waste from an led amounts anything appreciable.

Vampiric standby of an ATX PC and monitors is something like 0.5W per monitor and the PSU is out of spec if it's drawing more than 1W

If you have an 8KW electric oven, and it takes 20 minutes to get up to temperature to cook one meal, thats 2.5KWh, equivalent to 70 days of leaving the PC in standby.

So, it's not nothing, but he's better off eating a salad for lunch 2-3 more times a year than constantly shutting down and unplugging his PC from the wall

 

[Vayra86]

, it's not nothing,

Well I believe you can put two pins in a, maybe two potatoes and generate enough power for standby...

 

[Bill_Bright]

I really wonder about ppl who think power waste from an led amounts anything appreciable.

It is not the LED. As you noted, that is nothing appreciable. But it is the circuit behind the LED can matters. And for sure, one or two such devices won't amount to anything appreciable either. But most homes have way more devices than that.

the PSU is out of spec if it's drawing more than 1W

If talking about the PSU alone, that is isolated, with no components attached, then I fully agree. But when installed in a computer, then depending on the attached components, it could be more than that - but not a lot more. DDR4 and DDR5 RAM, for example, consume some power during standby as, by default, the system maintains data in RAM (in a low voltage state) for fasters startups. If you have 4 sticks instead of just 1 or 2, it will consume more power. If your mouse and keyboard are designed to wake the computer, they will consume power, even more if wireless. That means the motherboard itself, while in standby is still "alive" and consuming some power.

But still, this does not amount to much. If the computer (including the PSU) demand more than 10w from the wall when in standby, something is not right.

Years ago, I had to keep nightlights around the house for the kids and grandkids when they were little. These days, I have to wear my sunglasses in the middle of the night when walking around the house due to all the illuminated clocks and LEDs.

 

[Knight47]

Just tell your relative to stop being literally insane.

He even convinced his mom to unplug it too. Now that PC suffers from no post sometimes, boot into bios, the screen that asks if you want to boot normally or in safe mode, windows repair. I put in a brand new Crucial MX500 and worked fine for me.

I only unplug my PC when there's thunderstorm, planned power outage or if i'm away for at least a week, my AM4 PC haven't had any issues since I bought it in 2017 aside from some HDD/sata cable issues..

That's some serious OCD but as long as he's shutting down the PC before turning off the mains supply there are zero issues.

Why not just turn off the switch at the wall socket? At least that way the PC is still earthed properly!

He still unplugs it even if he turn off the switch at the wall.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I live in Tornado Alley and the only time I unplug (or flip the master power switch) is when doing maintenance inside the case. And since it has been a very reliable system, the only two times I had to do maintenance is when I added two more sticks of RAM and when I added another hard drive. The only other time I open the case is to clean out heat trapping dust. But since I only use cases with removable, washable filters, I think in the last 4 years, I've had to do that twice.

Now I must add that all my computers are supported by quality UPS with AVR too.

He even convinced his mom to unplug it too.

Mom's are good at complying, even to nonsense, just avoid conflicts and maintain peace in the home.

 

[Chrispy_]

He even convinced his mom to unplug it too. Now that PC suffers from no post sometimes, boot into bios, the screen that asks if you want to boot normally or in safe mode, windows repair.

Ah hang on, now that I think about it more thoroughly, there *IS* a downside to always unplugging.

CMOS batteries discharge only when the device is unpowered. Standby power can keep the BIOS clock going without discharging the CR2032 coin cell and they have a ridiculous 7-10 year shelf life if they're not being drained but an unpowered system is discharging that coin cell. Typically a brand new motherboard that's been sitting unopened on a shelf for more than about 3 years will have a flat battery by that point.

Low CMOS battery voltage can cause all kind of BIOS weirdness, rarely (but not never) including POST issues.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Yes, CMOS data could suffer from a low charge on the CMOS battery. So that and out-of-date security and critical updates, as mentioned earlier, are definite downsides.

 

[Ferrum Master]

I was going to say the same thing. But there is no bases to this myth. Cheap PSU tend to die because of the components inside, not because of lack of power.

It is a decade since I have seen a shot PSU with blown stand by part...

I don't do it as my PSU bulk caps like to trip my 16A type breaker, not uncommon, I can power it up through a bulb, but oh well that's elder knowledge... then you think where is the damn flashlight...

 

[natr0n]

old peeps do what we find weird.

In the days thats how it was done. Like with irons for clothes. Get them a power strip with lighted switch perhaps

 

[sLowEnd]

His behaviour sounds like a good way to wear out the power outlet. If he's paranoid about vampire power, he should get a power strip to plug things into, and turn that off instead. (Or if he wants to stick to the unplugging behaviour, unplug from the power strip - It's much less of a hassle to replace a power strip than a wall outlet.)

 

[SalemTheKit]

Mental illness requires treatment and monitoring.

As someone doing this for my career, hopefully getting my official certification for trauma counseling in a couple months, this is almost certainly NOT mental illness in any capacity. If the goal is to save power like OP said then it's very likely just misinformation regarding energy savings that used to be based on good advice.

I'm willing to guarantee that years of this idiotic behaviour have resulted in arcing between the socket and plug (especially if we're talking about shitty US plugs). What impact that may have had on the PSU and PC I have no idea, but it will certainly have an impact on the safety of the circuit as a whole.

Just tell your relative to stop being literally insane.

...I'll be real with you, if clinical insanity's worst aspects were traits like chronic unplugging of things, my job would be FAR easier. Again, I feel like if the dude just understood how little power his stuff used while plugged in versus the likely damage of inrush currents and damage to the wall socket then he'll change his behavior more or less immediately. People get wrong information all the time. That doesn't make them mentally ill, that makes them a victim of a society that doesn't preach critical thinking or investigative curiosity into the world around them because of how mentally exhausted we all are 99% of the time.

I live in Tornado Alley and the only time I unplug (or flip the master power switch) is when doing maintenance inside the case. And since it has been a very reliable system, the only two times I had to do maintenance is when I added two more sticks of RAM and when I added another hard drive. The only other time I open the case is to clean out heat trapping dust. But since I only use cases with removable, washable filters, I think in the last 4 years, I've had to do that twice.

Now I must add that all my computers are supported by quality UPS with AVR too.

Just a heads up: If you have power going to your house via an above-ground power line, then no UPS is gonna save you from a direct lightning strike. I've had friends who thought they were safe with a UPS/surge protector only to find their stuff got fried because of a strike. If you don't have that then you're good to keep them plugged in, but it's a common misconception I see.

I really wonder about ppl who think power waste from an led amounts anything appreciable.

Keep in mind: back in the day having a light like that could use a TON of energy. That kind of mindset doesn't go away unless people really understand the difference between an LED and an old incandescent standby light. There have been standby lights on consumer electronics that used to use well over 20w when in standby mode to light up a VU display, clock, or similar.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Just a heads up: If you have power going to your house via an above-ground power line, then no UPS is gonna save you from a direct lightning strike.

Umm, heads up. It does not matter how your service enters your house. If Mother Nature is out to get you, even underground power service will not protect you from a "direct" hit.

If you had friends who though an UPS would protect them from a direct hit, then sorry, but your friends were either ignorant, or misinformed and ignorant.

 

[Assimilator]

Get them a power strip with lighted switch perhaps

Or a toaster and a bathtub full of water.

 

[SalemTheKit]

Umm, heads up. It does not matter how your service enters your house. If Mother Nature is out to get you, even underground power service will not protect you from a "direct" hit.

If you had friends who though an UPS would protect them from a direct hit, then sorry, but your friends were either ignorant, or misinformed and ignorant.

They were both, and once they learned, they stopped doing that

 

[Bill_Bright]

I don't know what "they stopped doing that" means. If you mean they stopped assuming we mere humans are capable of stopping a "direct" lightning strike from doing damage, then good. I hope that lesson was not too costly.

 

[Wirko]

So, one of my relatives likes to unplug all his stuff from the wall when he's not using it.

He shuts the PC down and then unplugs the PC, monitor and TV from the wall, sometimes up to six times/day. Like when he takes a 10 minute break, he wont leave it running, he shuts it down, unplugs from the wall and 10 minute later plug it back again and turn it on.

Some bouncing may occur when he plugs the cable in, or less likely, when he unplugs it. If you don't have a steady hand or aren't careful, it's easy to make contact, break contact, make contact in quick succession, possibly more than once. It's even easier if the socket is not very easily accessible. I can see a possibility of this doing damage to the PSU electronics if done many times, sometimes hitting exactly the wrong time (wrong phase of the mains voltage). This is one reason a switch is better than plugging in and out.

 

[R-T-B]

Or a toaster and a bathtub full of water.

Really TPU? Death jokes about a guy just being a bit silly trying to save electricity? Seems kind of extreme.

 

[A Computer Guy]

Really TPU? Death jokes about a guy just being a bit silly trying to save electricity? Seems kind of extreme.

Based on information we know so far the toaster will likely NOT be plugged in at the time of bathing so there is no threat of death or serious injury under those conditions.