Should I turn appliances off at the wall?

This question gets answered as if it were only about money, and the money part turns out to be small. The more useful version is about risk. Washing machines, tumble dryers and dishwashers combine a heating element, a motor, water and lint or detergent residue, and they are consistently over-represented in accidental domestic fires. Fire services do not advise switching them off at the wall to save electricity; they advise not running them unattended at all. That reframes the whole question, and it changes which sockets you actually walk over to.

Safety

What you'll need

• An accessible switch or socket for each appliance (optional)
• A switched extension block for a cluster of electronics (optional)

Step by step

1. Separate the safety question from the money question.They point at different appliances. The safety case is about high-power appliances with heat, water and a motor. The money case is about low-power electronics left drawing a couple of watts. Confusing them leads to switching off the television every night while running the dryer overnight.
2. Do not run washing machines, dryers or dishwashers unattended.Not overnight, and not while the house is empty. This is standard fire service advice in the UK and it is the single most useful change in this whole area. Run them when someone is awake and in the house, and switch them off at the wall afterwards.
3. Switch off the wet appliances at the socket when not in use.Washing machine, tumble dryer and dishwasher. It costs nothing, it removes them as a source of an overnight fault, and none of them cares about being isolated. Many kitchens have a labelled switch above the worktop for exactly this.
4. Leave the appliances that must stay on, on.Fridges and freezers, burglar and fire alarms, telecare and medical equipment, boilers and heating controls, smart thermostats, and the router if a phone service or a monitoring device depends on it. Also anything with a defrost cycle or a clock that governs a timed function.
5. Use one switch for a cluster of electronics.A switched extension block behind the TV covers the television, the sound bar, the console and the set-top box in one action. It is more likely to be used than four separate reaches behind furniture, and it is where the money saving actually is.
6. Change device settings instead of switching, where possible.Disabling instant-on or rest mode on a console, quick-start on a television, and setting sleep timers on printers reduces the draw permanently without depending on anyone's memory.
7. Do not switch off a machine mid-cycle to save power.Interrupting a washing machine, dishwasher or dryer mid-cycle can leave water in the drum, a door locked, or a program in an error state. Let it finish, then switch off.
8. Think about who else is in the house.A switch that gets flicked absent-mindedly can turn off a freezer or a medical device. Label the ones that must stay on, and think twice before putting a critical appliance behind a convenient switch.
9. Consider a smart plug for a schedule you would otherwise forget.For an AV cluster or an office setup, a schedule is more reliable than a habit. Check the smart plug's rated load first — most are not suitable for high-power appliances such as heaters, dryers or kettles, and should not be used for anything that must not switch on unattended.
10. Never use a switch as a fix for an electrical warning sign.A warm plug, a discoloured or buzzing socket, or a burning smell is not solved by turning it off and continuing to use it. Stop using that socket, switch the circuit off at the consumer unit and get an electrician.

Tips

• The one change worth making from this whole subject is not running the washing machine or dryer overnight. It is free and it is the one that fire services actually ask for.
• Label the sockets that must stay on — the freezer especially. A freezer switched off by accident is discovered three days later.
• Switched extension blocks with individually switched sockets are inexpensive and turn a nightly chore into a single press.
• If a socket is behind a heavy appliance and unreachable, a labelled switched fused spur above the worktop is a small electrician's job and makes isolation practical.

Common mistakes

• Switching off the fridge or freezer — The saving is illusory — the compartment warms and the appliance simply works harder afterwards — and the food safety consequence is real. Freezers in particular should never be switched off casually.
• Running the washing machine or dryer overnight to use a cheaper tariff — It puts a heating element, a motor and water on unattended for hours. Fire services advise against it, and a cheaper unit rate is not worth that trade. If you are on a time-of-use tariff, run them in the cheap period while awake.
• Treating switching off at the wall as a serious money-saving strategy — In a modern home the total standby load is small. The real electricity savings are in heating, hot water, the dryer and the oven, and time spent here is time not spent there.

Questions people ask