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Unplug or ride out the storm?

In most years we have a couple of severe thunderstorms and to be safe I unplug everything. This summer is like twilight zone. Probably 15 or 20 significant electrical storms. I've been unplugging everything even though I have Furman surge protection and power conditioning. I'm confident it will work if called upon but don't want to put it to the test if I don't have to. Kind of like lifeboats on a ship. They probably work fine but you'd rather not have to test them out. The bad part (whether placebo or real) I'm convinced some of my components take anywhere from 2 hours to 2 days to really hit their stride when they've been unplugged and allowed to cool off. Just curious what everybody else does
milkdudd
cleeds
6,067 posts
 
audioguy85
Just shut the breaker off, that is if you took the time to put the hifi on a seperate circuit. No need to unplug if the breaker is off...
My equipment is all on dedicated lines. Why you think current from a lightning strike couldn’t easily jump a circuit breaker?

In my house, it’s more convenient to pull AC plugs that turn off circuit breakers. So this is all a moot point for me.
arsh
367 posts
 
Always safest to unplug, 
noromance's avatar
noromance
10,046 posts
 
Just shut the breaker off, that is if you took the time to put the hifi on a seperate circuit. No need to unplug if the breaker is off..
We had a direct lightning strike. Hit the flashing on the brick chimney. Fried two breakers whereby the flipswitch was seized. Lots of other things zapped including a $2000 refrigerator. Stereo gear survived with a blown glass fuse.
noromance's avatar
noromance
10,046 posts
 
@millercarbon. Impressive damage. 
pauly
1,012 posts
 
Ah yes, lightning is worse today than it was in the past {roll eyes}

I'm unplugged always as I run off batteries. While I was plugged in I had surge protection and never bothered to unplug. I cannot say if my surge protection would have been sufficient in the event of a strike, so best do what you feel comfortable with. 


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