Where does one draw the line on safety vs. convenience? Fear vs. need? Think about the millions of electrical devices that are running everywhere. Computers and network equipment, water pumps and water heaters and septic systems and irrigation equipment, stoplights, ice machines, self-serve gasoline pumps, clocks, idle VCRs, refrigerators and freezers, security lights, air conditioning and heating systems, and on and on. Accidents happen. How many people are willing to kill the main electric feed to their house and go live in a cave? How many people disconnect their electric range after every cooking session? Those burner switches and oven thermostats can go wonky, too. Safety is a good thing, but paranoia is crippling.
In my house right now, there are three candle warmers running. Two refrigerators, one with an ice maker that may trigger the water well to turn on during a fill cycle. A septic system with an aerator motor that runs for a few mins out of every hour and a sump pump that runs on a timer scheduled for 3:30 AM daily. A computer on a UPS (monitor is turned off). Two VCRs. Outside lighting run by a wall-switch timer that turns on at 6:30 PM, off at 4:00 AM. Several pieces of A/V equipment in stand-by mode. Four clocks. HVAC on a setback thermostat. A yard-sprinkler system that's set to Off mode but the timer is still powered. A blood-pressure monitor that's plugged in but off. Several lamps. Electric range, OTR microwave, and dishwasher all plugged in, "off" but actually in standby mode. Washer and dryer plugged in, "off" but also in stand-by mode. A tankless water heater in standby mode. I think that's everything.
