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Threat of fire from audio equipment

Just read Art Dudley's new piece in Stereophile, and found myself becoming all sorts of worried. For many, many years now, I've left solid state equipment powered on -- except during thunderstorms or when heading away from home for extended periods. Now, I'm rethinking this practice.

See Mr. Dudley's article here:

https://www.stereophile.com/content/listening-193-nordost-flatline-cables

My questions:

Is what happened to him the rarest of things, like someone's being struck by lightning? Is putting an amp (or another piece) into standby mode any better than leaving it on -- when it comes to preventing fire, that is -- or can a unit in standby mode burst into flames just like one that's powered on fully? Do others worry about fire? As much as I appreciate a fully warmed-up system, if fire is a legitimate concern, I'll routinely switch things off when I'm not around and listening. Or about to listen.

I'd love to learn what others -- especially those who understand engineering and electricity -- do with their equipment.

Thanks very much.

Howard
 
hodu

Showing 1 response by rcprince

rcprince
3,059 posts
 
I used to leave my tube preamp on all the time until one of the caps in the power supply went bad and caught on fire.  The fire was contained in the unit, but the smell hung around for a while (it was the reason we went down to see what was happening, so that was a good thing).  So I don't leave my electronics on 24/7 anymore.

If you read the article, you'll see why Dudley (properly in my view) didn't  name the maker of the amp.  Even the best of components in an amplifier can go bad.  Now if it was a design flaw, that might be a different matter.
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