Why you shouldn’t leave a charger in an outlet when not in use

So, what can happen? Well, even in standby mode, a component within the charger will continue to take power. Sure, the power consumption is low, but it does still exist, meaning you are using electricity even when you’re not charging anything.

On top of that, leaving chargers constantly plugged into an outlet can accelerate the wear and tear of its internal components. Sudden voltage changes can result in extreme overheating, potentially causing the charger to smoke and – in an absolute worst case scenario – maybe even start a fire.

And that’s not to mention what can happen should the tip of the charger come into contact with water or something metal-based (thus making a full circuit).

Not only that, but if your home is like mine then you’ll have children or animals roaming around more often that not. Aside from the risk of them doing damage to the charger should they rip it from the wall, there’s also the possibility that they see it as some sort of toy, thus increasing the chance of them (children, I mean) becoming more curious about playing with the outlet itself.

Now… we want to make it clear that most of the information out there points to the fact that there is an extremely small risk (if at all) regarding your plugged-in charger causing a house fire.

On the contrary, modern safety checks and rules mean that it should be safe for you to leave your charger plugged in, although that doesn’t account for the problems outlined above, which you may also want to take into consideration.

Do you usually leave your charger plugged into the wall, even when it’s not being used? Let us know in the comments.