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Leave Power On or Turn it Off?

Talk_Louder

Talk_Louder

Member
I am an industrial electrical/ instrumentation manager. In my thirty four year career, I have learned that almost everything in my world lasts longer when left to idle instead of turned off. The theory is that moisture cannot build up and wick into the electronics if the equipment is kept warm. And since not everything in an industrial facility is climate controlled, including humidity, my (our) equipment thrives better when left on.

I have carried this practice over to home as well. I rarely ever turn off my amp, preamp, or CD deck. They are 1987 vintage and have probably only been cold for a total of a month or two. I also never turn off my computer unless it requires a cold reboot. I have never had a minute's issue with my stereo gear. I cannot comment on the computer longevity because I buy new every two or three years.

What is your opinion? Left on or turned off?

BTW- It probably won't change my mind, but I am curious. And it might provoke some thought by some who otherwise would never even entertain it.

Cheers,
Mark
 
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i turn stuff off.. your home is much more climate controlled (except the ice fortress known as my parents house..but that is another story) than a industrial production building...


in socal electrical rates are high.. and so just on that i'd turn stuff off unless i'm coming back to it in the next hour or so... and a lot of my stuff is 30+ years old.. not really stoked on leaving that stuff on unattended honestly... might keep it much warmer than intended (temporarily at least) if it malfunctions and starts a fire.. the fire hose would probably wick more moisture in also vs... powering it off ????
 
Been discussed many times.
6-O-1, half dozen of the other.
Turning off contributes to startup stress, leaving on leaves you hostage tof the electrical grid and the weather
 
Industrial test equipment is meant to be left on. Much like a Police car. Do you leave your car running all the time?

How about the cost?

What about brown outs and surges?
 
Talk_Louder said:
I am an industrial electrical/ instrumentation manager. In my thirty four year career, I have learned that almost everything in my world lasts longer when left to idle instead of turned off. The theory is that moisture cannot build up and wick into the electronics if the equipment is kept warm. And since not everything in an industrial facility is climate controlled, including humidity, my (our) equipment thrives better when left on.
Click to expand...

I can back up this thought. Been an Instrumentation tech for 15 years. We are actually afraid to power down some equipment for fear it will not function properly once re powered. :) However I power down all my stuff at home.
 
This has been discussed many times but to be fair, might be a tricky thing to search for. In those past threads people seem to come into the discussion with an opinion and leave with that opinion unchanged, lol. There are definitely pros and cons on both sides of the argument.

Here's my deciding factor for turning off amps when not in use: that individual components inside an amp sometimes run fairly hot. Yeah, you can put your hand over the top of the case and it may seem to be just a little warm. But inside there are likely to be individual transistors, resistors, and diodes that are running hot. I would be concerned not only about these components, but if any of these are near any electrolytic caps, the lifespan of those caps would be compromised as well.
 
mars_volta said:
Industrial test equipment is meant to be left on. Much like a Police car. Do you leave your car running all the time?

How about the cost?

What about brown outs and surges?
Click to expand...


Since 80% of mechanical wear and tear happens during non oil startup conditions, I would actually be sensible to leave a car on. Stupid gas prices stop that idea though.

Since we have many, many 40 yo gear that has been turned on and off several thousand times with long off periods in between, I will venture to say it doesn't matter.

Turn it off or leave it on. But with older gear, I'd rather have peace of mind and turn it off when I'm not around using it. I even unplug it during storms or when on vacation.
 
Here in the Midwest, every time I visit my tech friends at work after a good storm, their repair benches and work benches are overflowing with lightning damaged gear. I have yet to meet a surge protector that works against lightning.

I have also seen equipment catch fire, ruined, and create house fires when unattended.

Always amazed that this thread pops up every six months or so.....
 
Who care?

Leave it on or shut it down,your decision period much like buy what you like not what others like,listen to what you like,it's your tastes and finally it's your money you're the one paying so keep it KISS:)
 
Perhaps all gear should be brought up slowly on a variac each time it is powered up. Then to shut down, just reverse the process back down to zero
 
My house must look like a disco-tech from the outside at night from turning lights on and off, maybe because I can still hear the 'rents yelling, TURN OFF THE LIGHTS. Amazing what a little training can do. I'm in my '50's.

Pretty much the same with my gear. I have to force myself to leave the stuff on when I'm just going to be away from it for a few minutes. I don't want to cycle it too much.
Accidentally left my tube amp on over night once, just about had a stroke the next morning.
 
OFF when not in use - then on again ½ hour before use - and remaining on all day if listening intermittently.
 
I turn my stuff off. Also unplug it if i will be gone for any more than a few days.

Also when buying used equipment i would much rather buy something that has been stored for 30 years versus something that has been ON for 30 years. Im going to recap anyways
 
I always turn off when not in use as stated/recomended in many manufacturers operating manuals. No point in wearing out my gear or wasting electric... not to mention it's safer.
 
In the winter I'll often but not always leave some SS stuff on, unless nobody will be home for awhile. It helps heat the house. :yes:

Tube power amps or Class A power amps (if I ever get one) are turned off when not in use or anticipated use.

I once accidentally rebooted the wrong computer in a machine room. It had been up for nearly two years (Linux ;) ), to the point that the sysadmins were afraid to reboot it, and told me not to worry - that I kinda did them a favor...
 
I turn off audio equipment, and pretty much anything else not in use.

I could be apathetic and think that I will never have a fault like some others do, but I know that is not a certainty. So i turn off, at the wall too.
 
I turn my stuff off now except for my daily driver PC.

ofc it's running Windows 10 Pro Technical Preview (9926) as my daily driver OS and it calls home to mama every night now
at least until Win 10 Pro (or whatever they call it ) final comes out in ~ OCT '15.

I left it on or napped it B4 W10 depending on my task schedule *and patch Tuesdays ☺

Audio visual stuff PS3 & TV's ...Off at nite here DVR's and STB's only off if I think about it Modem/Routers 24/7 ofc
Powered 5.1 PC speakers.... off if I remember . Everything in the Studio including PC ,all HDWE and screens off at nite .
I think the Rokus go to sleep on thier own .

I did try leaving an Sony ES AVR and powered Sub on 24/7 in ~ 2005 for a few mo. .......both of them died rather unpleasantly that convinced me !
 
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