Just wondering.

[Bruce Lewane]

Is it really important to unplug your lathe when your not using it?
I have a Jet 1221 VS and I have to admit when I'm in the shop doing other stuff
every now and again I hear a bit of electronic "noise" coming from it's motor
when it's off but plugged in.
As I said, just wondering.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Bruce - I unplug my lathes - actually all power tools - when I am done with them. Part of it is for safety - the other is to protect them from power surges.

[Randy Red Bemont]

Yes, unplug. One flash of Texas lightning outside your shop and everything plugged in could be toast.

Red

[Steve Peterson]

I don't bother unplugging anything. There aren't many lightning storms in my area, too many tall mountains around that take all the lightning hits.

Steve

[daryl moses]

I use a disconnect switch between the lathe and breaker box.

[William C Rogers]

I don't unplug mine, but I don't have electronics except in the Jet midi variable speed.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Guys, around here we get power outages caused by squirrels jumping onto the power transformers, winds blowing trees into the lines, lightning and even cars running off the road and taking out power poles. We have had each of these things happen multiple times over the 21 years I have lived here and any one of them can cause damage to my lathes if they were left plugged in.

[Brian McInturff]

I have mine set up like Daryl above. I have a disconnect for my 220 right by the door. Flip it whenever I exit the shop. Takes care of my bandsaw, lathe, and table saw.

[Hilel Salomon]

I'm with Steve. Recently, lightning hit our house in Columbia and burned a TV, telephone system and some of the wiring in our house. I use surge protectors, but lighting hit the cable. I also live in the mountains in Virginia and we get power surges all the time. In fact, one of the incidents was caused by a squirrel. When I leave my house or shop for more than a day, I generally disconnect most everything. Lightning can not only fry appliances, but cause fires. Protecting a 220 device is more complicated than those using 110. You can go a lifetime without being hit by lightning, but all it takes is one time for the inconvenience and danger to bite you.

[Dan Hintz]

Bruce - I unplug my lathes - actually all power tools - when I am done with them. Part of it is for safety - the other is to protect them from power surges.

This ^^^. Same reasons.

[Adam Petersen]

I have young kids so everything gets unplugged. I also don't like leaving the little energy vampires in the plug. Our T storms can be pretty impressive up here in the north plains too, so that is a concern too, though less than my first reason.

[Bruce Lewane]

Advice appreciated and acted upon.
Thanks guys.
The last few years we have transitioned to solar for most household needs leaving the refrigeration (A/C, fridge and freezer, power tools) to the grid.
The solar is protected to an almost absurd degree so I don't much think about surges.

[Marty Tippin]

If the power is off (whether via a switch on the device or a switch on the wall as some of you use), the potential for a power surge to do any damage is pretty minimal -- provided the switch is a physical disconnect and not a "soft" disconnect as found in most consumer electronics. I don't worry at all about leaving my band saw, planer, jointer or tablesaw plugged in, though I'm probably running a big risk by leaving my PM3520B plugged in all the time (I don't understand why Powermatic didn't put an actual "on/off" power switch on the PM3520 lathes -- seems pretty stupid to me.) I do have whole-house surge suppression installed at the breaker box so I'm fairly confident any big transients will be caught.

[Dan Hintz]

If the power is off (whether via a switch on the device or a switch on the wall as some of you use), the potential for a power surge to do any damage is pretty minimal -- provided the switch is a physical disconnect and not a "soft" disconnect as found in most consumer electronics. I don't worry at all about leaving my band saw, planer, jointer or tablesaw plugged in, though I'm probably running a big risk by leaving my PM3520B plugged in all the time (I don't understand why Powermatic didn't put an actual "on/off" power switch on the PM3520 lathes -- seems pretty stupid to me.) I do have whole-house surge suppression installed at the breaker box so I'm fairly confident any big transients will be caught.

General surges, yes, but close lightning strikes have no problem jumping the gap. Nothing like losing a shop full of equipmentin a heartbeat that could have been saved with unplugging.