Do You Unplug Equipment During Thunderstorms?

Starting in March I unplug the rig from the wall every time I’m done with a listening session. I start leaving the rig plugged into the wall around late October.

A fellow audiophile had his new AR integrated tube amp blow up from a lightning strike last year!

@jimintally I went to the precaution of throwing my coax back out the window as well!

@mtaudio406 Hey my handle of Guscreek refers to my old place outside of Missoula and Alberton.  Summers in the Rockies brought very predictable thunderstorms building around 330.  The possibility of severe lightning was certain so I unplugged every morning.  That was nothing compared to eastern Montana.  HOURS of unending lightning (way funner to watch when its not going set the forest around you on fire).  Again, about 330 the Monster Cumulonimbus would start to build and the portable music came on.  Had a bolt hit the street and you would have thought a bomb had just gone off. 

So Yes ;) 

One of those smaller storms.  Dropped an EF3 on Circle MT.  50000' high

Absolutely unplug. I have Furman 15PFI but that didn’t save my equipment when lightning struck the ground outside my house last August. It struck the ground above my lawn sprinkler pipe which had the valve wiring in the same trench. So, the lightning strike reached the main electrical panel via the lawn sprinkler control box. I lost several outlets, the ac air handler blower, electric car charger, the Furman plus several pieces of gear plugged into it. I have insurance (5000 deductible) but it was quit a hassle proving the lightning strike and it took 3 months to get equipment repairs and music playing again. I sent everything in for inspection, including pieces that seemed to work, just to be sure that everything met the original specifications. Lesson learned - UNPLUG if there’s a chance of a lightning storm.