Your thoughts

RobH1

RobH1

Well-Known Member
We tend to take extended holidays and usually switch off all electical goods, but now armed with RS, I'm relishing the prospect of scheduling programmes whilst away, particularly new series.
We're away enough that the catch up channels are not always complete and we miss the first episodes.
Safety first has always been priority and the Insurance company doesn't stipulate, so, any thoughts?
 
I know somebody who had a house fire due to a faulty electrical extension, and I recommend disconnecting any and all unnecessary wall warts (particularly potentially cheap import USB chargers), but other than that I can't see there's much problem.

It's far more relevant to turn off the water (and that probably extends to a gas supply) - I had a water pipe rupture for absolutely no apparent reason, and fortunately I wasn't far away when it did (and I was very lucky that the split occurred in an accessible place and where the water could get out of the house without damaging anything). Before that I never imagined a copper pipe could just "let go", but now I turn the water off just like my parents did (and I regarded as OCD).

My parents also used to unplug everything in case of lightning, but if you get a direct hit or a close miss you've got more to worry about than a few fried electronics goods!

Ultimately it's a trade-off. You have to decide whether the convenience of leaving equipment running while you are away outweighs the (incredibly slight) risk of failure and potential fire.
 
Sure, we do the water and gas, but this time I'll leave the router and FoxT2 on. If owt goes wrong I'll refer the insurance company to BH! :eek:
 
From the fire point of view I'm far more worried about it happening while we're asleep upstairs than when we aren't in the house.
That said I do tend to turn off unnecessary appliances if we are away for a while - wallwarts are a particular concern, though to be fair I've not actually known myself of one that has been a problem; only distant reports. Also, unless essential, I wouldn't want to leave a new device powered up while away; I like to see it's been working OK (and not exploded) for a while before trusting it.
Gas and water (and most electrics) stay on as a rule, mainly because quite often the heating is needed to keep the house dry and in the winter to stop pipes freezing.

Interesting about the water pipe BH. I wonder if your mains pressure varies much - a 'peak' while you were out might have done it.
 
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