leaving gear on vs. turning it off occasionally

[jdsowa]

Is there a consensus here?

Before I got into recording I guess I always assumed that the less wear you put on a piece of gear, the longer it would last.

Studios will leave their gear on all the time, overnight, etc. until it dies or they get rid of it. And I've also read that some engineers will frequently turn knobs on unused gear, just to keep it "warm". Is this truly an issue? Do knobs and faders atrophy? Is a keyboard left in the closet for 15 years worse than a keyboard that has been left on for the last 15 years? Or is this really only an issue for things with major mechanical parts?

[JGriffin]

Turning the knobs on a seldom-used piece of gear actually keeps dust from settling in there and making the knob "scratchy." Or rather, if there is dust in there it knocks it loose. That's my understanding, I may be wrong.

[Disasteradio]

Walter Sear did a pretty good article on this sort of thing:
http://members.aol.com/searsound/frmcont/onoff.html
from here
http://members.aol.com/searsound/articles2.html

[hammertime]

I used to leave my stuff on but that changed one night. I woke up in the middle of the night when my lights were dimming for some reason, and I smelled something burning. The next day my computer wouldn't start. I opened it up, and my power supply was fried (remember your p.s. is always on, unless you flip the switch on the back; you can fry it even when your computer is off). A surge protector didn't help because it only protects your gear if there's a power surge, not a dip. Also, a couple of high-end pieces of gear went bad on me very soon after buying them, when I left them on for extended periods. Now I turn my stuff off, and also unplug it when I'm not using it. And I haven't had any problems since.

[jdsowa]

Thanks for the replies and the link. I've almost overloaded on Walter Sear idealism.