Best Way To Maximize Preamp Tube Life?


I would love to learn how to best maximize tube life. Tubes have a limited lifespan, of course. So when you're not listening for a time, is it best to shut everything off to preserve the "hours" left on the tube's life? OR does the act of powering off/on itself shorten tube length as well? If so, by how much? Something like "powering off/on costs 3 hrs of tube life, so taking a music break of less than 3 hours, better to just leave it powered on." Or 1 hr, or 10 minutes, 6 hours, etc? Where is the tradeoff point?

In my system FYI, I am running a Don Sachs preamp with 4 6SN7s and 1 6BY5 rectifier.  Don says the preamp is only running the tubes at 40% of their rating. I would greatly appreciate some input from people with tube knowledge. Thanks in advance!
sid-hoff-frenchman
I have purchased a spare set of tubes for all my components. In the unlikely need to trouble shoot they are there. Also, when the 3,000 hours are up. Sure, they may last longer.
I also have the DS preamp and the 6by5 and its variants are anywhere from 6 to 20 bucks for NOS that should last 8 to 10k hours...at least.  The 6sn7 tube is not in short supply and aren't very expensive for NOS either.  I happen to like the Shuguang Dawning series WE6SN7PLUS tube and have a spare set.  Unfortunately they are out of production but if you get past 50 hours or so on them they should last you thousands of hours......especially in Don's preamp.  Basically, buy a few spares of the 6by5 and a spare set of the 6sn7 and you'll be good to go for many years assuming you get a reliable set.
No 24 hours on.  No waiting an hour or two for warm up.
Speaking of testers, can someone recommend a simple, cheap unit that I can use at home?  Just recently got several tube units (Schiit pre, Decware amp) and have a bunch of tubes from prior systems.
I’m surrounded by tubes - many hundreds of them - in gear and in boxes awaiting use. I build/repair tube guitar amps as a hobby, and have built tube mono block audio amps, and repaired tube audio preamps. So, while I’m not an EE or professional technician or designer, I’ve worked with tubes for a long time, so I’ll offer my comments.
I agree with Don Sachs’ comments. In addition, the equipment design is very important. For example, those that run very high plate voltage will wear out tubes quickly. Those with incorrectly high heater voltage will do the same. Preamp tubes will last a long time if they are not run at the upper end of their plate voltage capacity, and if biased properly, will still provide good sound. If biased too cool, distortion will result and if biased too hot, there will be too much current through the tube, increasing heat and reducing life. Some audio designers like to run preamp tubes at their limit in an attempt to maximize gain and headroom, and in the case of many guitar amps, the preamp and output tubes are run well beyond the tube’s specified limit.

NOS and vintage tubes will eventually lose emissions, become gassy, develop leakage, or other problems, even when not in use. I have had to discard many NOS tubes that test fine until placed into service in equipment that pushes them hard.

Pulling tubes, as Don said, is potentially a huge problem. Tubes draw substantial current through the heaters and in passing signals. A power supply designed for all tubes drawing current will, when tubes are pulled, potentially exceed the voltage rating of capacitors or other components, and put more voltage into the remaining tubes. Audible Illusions, as just one example, warns against that practice. I am not a fan of leaving tube gear on all the time, and don’t like equipment that keeps the heaters powered up all the time either. Properly designed circuits together with proper turnon/turnoff procedures will keep your tubes happy.

New preamp tubes are not that expensive, and should last a long time. When they start to fail or emissions fall, replace them with other good quality tubes. You may decide to do some "tube rolling" to hear how different tubes make your preamp sound; in that case, you won’t worry about lifespan in your preamp because you’ll have other tubes. Have fun!