Turning Off and On/Tube Life

[tim273]

I apologize if this has been asked before but what is the best practice for turning on/off the Crack (or any of tube amp for that matter) to extend the life of the components and tubes?  Right now I'm turning it on/off once a day, sometimes for a couple hours, sometimes for 4+ hours but I try to make it a point to only turn it on and off once a day. 

Would it be better to leave it on 24/7 or is turning it off/on once a day better or about the same?

Thanks,
Tim

[Paul Joppa]

I've heard everything from 10 minutes to 10 hours as the dividing line; it undoubtedly depends on the specific tube so there is no general rule. Some tubes are specifically made for many on/off cycles, some others are made for continuous operation 24/7.

I tend to turn my amps off if I'm going to be away from them for more than an hour or so.

Crack is pretty gentle on the tubes, but it does get fairly warm, which shortens the life of other components such as the capacitors.

[Doc B.]

In a perfect world you turn it on 20 minutes before you listen. Run it only when you are listening. Turn it off when you are done. That will give the longest tube lifetime and the best sound (since the amp will be warmed up to a stable thermal state after 20 minutes). Leaving it on all the time will just use up the emissive material in the heaters.

[AB2KH]

I will park my camper next to Doc's. My personal opinion (not worth to much) is that the worst thing you can do to a thermionic valve is turn it on!

Chris/AB2KH

[tim273]

Makes sense, thanks for the replies!

[cddc]

I agree with all the recommendations above.

I will also add that it depends on the value of the tubes that are in your Crack.

For casual listening sessions you throw in some  $10-$30-ish tubes, you really don't care too much about how long these tubes will last. Most NOS tubes live in the 5,000 hours lifespan ballpark (some are rated for 10K hours), that will last many years, so no concerns there. But say if you throw in some $100+ tubes for serious listening sessions, you'd be concerned with too many ON/OFF switching times.

As as PJ, if I know I will come back for listen within an hour, I will just leave the Crack on. Otherwise, I'll turn it off to save some wear and tear on the tubes.

Also, I don't wait 20mins for the Crack to reach its full potential, actually I normally start to listen to it a few mins after it's turned on. The Crack already sounds wonderful after 3 mins (the difference from its full potential is hardly discernible).

[Doc B.]

This forum is getting like the espresso forums where guys actually log the pressure data when they pull a shot on a manual lever machine and read the graph on their iPhone.

Stop worrying about whether your tubes are going to last 5,000 hours or 10,000 hours. Stop worrying about cycling the heaters. The 6AS7 was designed as a damper for TV use and it was so rugged that the 6080 version ended up being used by Tek and HP as series regulators in their mil spec stuff. They are almost impossible to kill with daily use in a Crack amp.

Turn that amp on and redirect that energy into finding new music to listen to instead. It will be much more rewarding.