Is this damaging to my reciever? (1 Viewer)

[Mark Fitzsimmons]

My brother came home from college a week ago. Ever since, he has been sleeping in my theater room. What he is doing is, he never turns the reciever off, it just sits there turned on throughout the night, every night. Is this going to hurt anything?

 

[Bill_Weinreich]

As with all electronics, there is a useful life. Many different conditions will play a role in how long they will last. Obviously leaving it on 24/7 will shorten its life but probably not enough to cause any near future problem. Hey you always need an excuse to upgrade right? Just make sure the equipment is well ventilated because heat is very damaging.

P.S. my system is on probably 18+ hours a day. Between me and my GF.

Bill

 

[Peter Overduin]

This seems to be an ongoing debate. There are those who say that you should leave electronic appliances on, inlcuding computers. Apparently, the act of turning them off an on sends electrical surges that will shorten the life of the item sooner than just leaving them on. Mine stays on always.

 

[JohnSC]

Not to mention the impact on components from the heat up/cool down process when they are turned on/off.

 

[Evan S]

I leave my computer on 24/7 and I've had it for over 4 years without a problem and if it wasn't for the fact it's slower than molasses due to outdated technology, I could see it lasting many more years.

By contrast, I tend to turn my audio gear on and off each night, but except for weekends, my system is in active use only about 8 hours a day tops, so leaving it all on everyday non-stop would probably be a little frivious and cost prohibitive with electricity. But that's just a guess on my part.

 

[Dave Moritz]

I would just make sure you have extreamly good surge protection for your gear. Other than that as long as you have adidquite ventaltion for your gear. IMHO it is not going to have a serious impact on the life of your receiver. I would not even worry about it.

 

[Anthony June]

They say the the worst thing you can do for your car is turn it off! If you leave it on its fine, good points from the others, ventilation,ventilation,ventilation.

 

[Mark Fitzsimmons]

Like many of you said, my computers are all on 24/7 but I thought it might have been different with the reciever, due to the amps or whatever
I have a Monster Cable surge protector, it was like $80 or whatever. The Best Buy salesman conned my parents into getting it when we got our Vega. But hey, you can't beat 24 months same as cash right?

 

[Mark Larson]

One of those blindingly obvious things, which might have been tried out - why not ask him to use the Sleep feature? Or get an X10?

 

[Mark Fitzsimmons]

Sleep feature? I don't think I have one.
X10? No money :frowning:
I'm still saving so I can get a new sub and JBL Studio series all the way around.

 

[Aslam Imran]

If the component is properly ventilated and put on a power conditioner it will outlast most movie formats, cats, dogs and a small percentage of humans even if left on 24/7. You will probably end up changing your receiver for lack of useful formats (outdated EX, ES, PLII, etc.) than for anything else related to its life.

So rest easy and let your brother do the same. He probably needs the extra heat from the receiver to keep him warm.

 

[Warren_Sc]

I work for an electronics manufacturer and I have had this discussion with and engineer that does materials testing and failure analysis. His though on the subject is that leaving electronics on reduces the amount of thermal cycling of the components, which should prolong the life of the equipment.

I leave my PC on all day. I'd leave me old receiver on all day because of the way it was hooked up. My new one is hooked up differently and for now, I turn it off.

 

[Todd Hochard]

His though on the subject is that leaving electronics on reduces the amount of thermal cycling of the components, which should prolong the life of the equipment.

This is true, but for most consumer electronics, the number of cycles to failure is typically far beyond the useful life of the product.

Knowing that, I find it unnecessarily wasteful to leave electronics on (and unused) 24/7. Higher end amps, in particular, consume a significant amount of power when on, even when not playing anything (idle). For instance, the Bryston 4B consumes 186W with no signal applied. That's 133Kw-hrs/month if left on 24/7. That's a WHOLE LOT of CO2 from a fossil-fueled electric plant going into the atmosphere.

Todd

P.S. Bryston provides a 20-year warranty on their amps, so they are obviously not worried about high failure rates.

 

[Warren_Sc]

In a forum where people discuss the merits of wires, cables and power cords, I'll let the end-user decide
Besides, do you want to guess if your piece of electronics is in the "most" category? Btw, my new receiver (Sony DA5ES) is energy star rated. I'm not sure how much power it consumes at idle, or how it even knows it's idling.

 

[Larry B]

Anthony:

They say the the worst thing you can do for your car is turn it off!

Turning it off is fine. It's starting it up that's so damaging to the engine. (Low oil presure, and all.)
Larry

 

[Jay Morrissette]

They say the the worst thing you can do for your car is turn it off!

That's why I've decided to let mine run 24/7... It's hard on gas, but great on a cold morning!
~Jay