I use a 1000 watt transformer for my tv, dvd player, cd player, game cube and nintendo (only 2 can be plugged in at a time or it is a fire hazard). The transformer is very strong and flips the circuit breaker if anything else in the house is plugged in and I try to plug that in. I'd rather not have to unplug everything to plug it in but I am worried I am wasting electricity if I keep it plugged in. So my question is does transformers use energy if they are plugged in and the appliances plugged into it aren't turned on? Also, do you think I can use a smaller transformer for those items listed above if it does use energy? The boxes that I buy them in don't say, they just say what watt they are.I've tried to look it up but I can't understand any of it so thank you in advance for helping me.
all transformers have leakage current, so anytime the primary is energized it will draw a little power. i am afraid what you have is a shorted turn in the winding which is causing the unusual high power consumption. An electrician can test this, with nothing connected to the output, put a 100 watt 240v light bulb in series with the input. If it lights you got a bad transformer. If it does not, it's ok. 1000 watts does sound excessive to your needs but it is a standard size and should not cause the symptoms you noted.
I can't say that I fully understand your situation but, transformers do use energy even when the load is in an off state. The transformers job is to convert and provide power. It does this if the device is either on or off.
Any transformer will use electricity when the device is not turned oncell phone chargers are the most common. A transformer or is just a coil of wire going from one prong to the other in that plug.
NO But there's some exceptions Any appliance that turns on with a remote does not turn fully off (up to 20 Watts can be lost in standby mode) The modern PC has a logic level on / off switch which turns off only part of the Power Supply To the other PEDANTS of this world, I know I said NO as my first word to answer this question as soon as you increase the capacitance by allowing electricity to connect to the cable (of the hairdryer) extra electricity flows .but it's very small and it's not in phase (90 deg) so compared to the hair dryer in operation it's absolutely negligible
