How To Identify And Measure Phantom Loads In Your Home
What Is a Phantom Load? “Phantom load” is a phrase commonly used to refer to the standby power consumed by appliances and devices when they are not in active use. If you’re listening to music through your home stereo setup and the consumption is 80 watts, that is the active load. When the stereo is off, and it’s still consuming 5 watts of power, that’s the phantom load. Not all phantom loads are inherently bad, however, even if your initial reaction is to assume that any power used when you’re not actively using a device or appliance is wasted power....