Should I turn off my Wi-Fi Router system at night to save power

In this new world we find ourselves in, should I turn off my home Wi-Fi Router to save power consumption and will the benefits outweigh the dissadvantage and inconveniences.

Advantages of turning off your Wi-Fi router and any additional equiment that your home Wi-Fi depends on.

• You will save electricity if you do this.

• How much will I save? That will depend on if it's just a router or if there are additional parts of that system such as Wi-Fi repeaters or extenders or Whole Home Discs.

• There is no one answer fits every situation here, but a good approach is:

Any device that is switched on 24/7 AND feels warm to the touch, then that will make a noticable yearly consumption difference, if it is switched off overnight, every night. Every additional Wi-Fi device will multiply this amount.

Disadvantages of turning off your Wi-Fi router and any additional equiment that your home Wi-Fi depends on.

• You will have to either turn each device off and on manually every morning and evening OR you could install a timer switch (will use power too but not much) to do the switching off and on. This daily process will add some inconvenience .

• One important thing you MUST consider, is whether you have any smart home devices such as door bells, Hive thermostats, Wi-Fi Aga's (yes, they exist), etc. that may not work if the Wi-Fi is turned off. This may be a deal breaker for those with such devices.

• You may lose access to your telephone home system if you have a digital system which BT have been installing, apparently. To check, turn your router off, and then check your phone system works as expected.

• Your router will establish a new IP address which may in rare events (such as using FTP software), upset you system. To test for this, switch your router off for a few mintes and then back on. If your equiment and software works, then this will not be an issue.

• Also remember that a Wi-Fi router and system than take at least several minutes to start working after switch on, so this will add some further inconvenience.

Remember that the more time your Wi-Fi system is turned off, the more you will save.

This may sound obvious, but if you home is empty when you are at work during the day, then consider turning off then too.

Summary

If your router gets warm then consider switching it off when not in use. If it's not warm, then may not be worth the inconvenience.