Polar Cutter, better to keep on or turn off...

[kburton]

Does anyone know if your cutter uses more energy when turning on and off, or is it just better to leave it on all day?

My boss keeps going around and turning it off it nobody is using it right then and with its 2-3 minute start up has to use more electricity.

Before the flamers come on here, I am having this debate with my boss on several things, he is trying to save every penny, but not sure this penny is worth saving.

 

[Tpyo]

One thing is sure, if you're in a hot (ohmigoshyoudon'thaveAC) shop, it makes it even hotter.

 

[ondemandbindery]

Turning it on and off is wasting energy. That makes no sense. This is one of the machines in Printing that typically just stays on. Tell ya what, combat him with a time study of lost productivity during the day waiting for it to power back up Lol. I won't even go into the wear and tear on the machine.

JW

 

[rbailleu]

as a boss, it pisses me of to no end to see a press idling for 10 minutes while someone goes to the rest room. yes its only $1.00. but to the cutter I am sure it saves power if off for more that 5 minutes. and when you need to use it. turn it on before grabbing the paper. by the time your get the paper and jog it the cutter is up and running. my back gauge works while the motor starts up so I can get the program up and to the start point. bam ready to go. do you leave the blower going too. and if the cutter is off for 50% of the time its probably $2/day x2 or 3 machine that buys a computer over the year. yes the boss can go too far. I have and I am trying to do better. but atleast I dont turn the lights off and noon and on at 1:00. although

 

[viswanaathan_r]

It all depends on the duty cycle. You have to take a call based on the 'on production' and 'idle' time. If the machine is idle for say 15 minutes between sucessive jobs, it makes sense to switch off. The hydraulic clamp motor will continue to consume energy.

RV

 

[HPC]

I am a boss too, and while it ticks me off to see idle running equipment, there has to be a happy medium. My beef is not so much wasting power... hell I'm a printer, I can heat half my building with all the running motors. What gets to me is the wear and tear. On a cutter basically its just brushes and a motor, but a motor from Hiedleberg will set ya back a few bucks. It all depends on the shop.

 

[kburton]

I am just trying to see if what he is doing is actually helping or if he is making things worse. He will shut off or copiers even when they are in energy mode, computers and other stuff just because he thinks he will save big on energy. So I was hoping that someone had some sort of concrete evidence to how much energy is being used on an idle machine to power up.

 

[chevalier]

I see that you are in SoCal. Has you boss looked into solar? Solar Panels, Solar Power Energy Systems & Energy Efficiency – SolarCity

 

[rbailleu]

I am just trying to see if what he is doing is actually helping or if he is making things worse. He will shut off or copiers even when they are in energy mode, computers and other stuff just because he thinks he will save big on energy. So I was hoping that someone had some sort of concrete evidence to how much energy is being used on an idle machine to power up.

copiers and computers another point all together. I set computers power settings to 4 hours plugged in, and monitors to power save at 1 hour. copiers at 4 hours. I was hard drive spin down was an easy consistant option, but I set those to never as it seems to be more stable for me. we arent a big shop, but at $800 /month in gas and electric. I can save some money on things. the biggies to me are laminators, shrink wrappers, press dryers when air conditioning. I do everything I can to shut those down when possible. also tell your boss to energy shop if you can. in illinois we are able to switch. I am going down to .04/kwh electric.

 

[MidwestPrinting]

I am the Plant Manager at my shop and my opinion is this... Employees leave equipment ON/Idling because they are too lazy to turn it off. It DOES waste electricity and it DOES add wear and tear to the equipment. My policy is to turn off equipment when its not in use... PERIOD. You guys can defend those who leave machines running all you want but there is nothing worse then premature wear and tear and utility bills that are higher then they need to be.