Thunderstorms And Sewing Safety will give you the tips on how to protect your sewing machine from being burned by a lighting hitting nearby your home.
When you love to sew, you might leave you’re sewing machine set up and ready to start sewing, I must say I belong to this group, my sewing machine is always on the table and ready to work with it on a new project.
There is no question that as weather is changing from one day to the next one, we all are facing different problems of what we used to have when we talk about the weather.
Living in the province of Quebec, weather used to be reliable and we didn’t get many thunderstorms like we do today, and at the beginning of this year, after a lightning that hit from nowhere, I lost my computer.
As weather has been changing in the last weeks, and we get more storm warnings from the weather channel, I got used to unplugging my computer anytime I’m not working with it, but what about my sewing machine?
I guess I’m not the only one who would feel lost with no sewing machine to work on my projects, can lightning damage a sewing machine too?
Thunderstorms And Sewing Safety
After looking for information on this topic and talking with my husband who knows a lot about machines, I see the importance to leave the sewing machine always unplugged.
When you’re at home and you see a bad storm is coming, you might have enough time to unplug everything, from your TV, computers, microwave oven and other devices, but to be honest, not everyone will think to unplug your sewing machine.
As a new rule, the sewing machine should be unplugged always, and anytime you want to get back to sew, it will take only a few seconds to plug it back in.
Your Sewing Machine Is Your Investment
Whether you have a basic cheap sewing machine, or if you have a top end machine that can cost a few thousand of dollars, you’re sewing machine is your investment.
Sewers beginners and more advanced, we all rely on our sewing machine, many of us have made a big effort to save enough money to buy our machine, for this reason it’s always better to learn how to use it and how to protect it, so it will stay in good condition to work with it for many years.
Beside how you work with it, and the maintenance program you keep you’re sewing machine on its best conditions, today I will say it will be always better to leave the sewing machine unplugged, and as soon you see the weather is turning stormy, stop sewing, turn your machine off and unplug it.
Do You Need A UPS – Uninterruptible Power Supply?
As your sewing machine is your main tool to work on all your projects, and it’s also a big investment, you should protect it the best you can, and a UPS will give your sewing machine the protection it needs anytime, weather you’re sewing on it or not at the time of a stormy weather hitting your area.
The UPS not only gives a layer of protection as the power as it comes from the outlet from the wall to your sewing machine. It works as a power back up, and surge protection. It makes the power your machine receives all the time is equalized and your machine will receive the steady stream of power all the time.
The UPS will give you from 5 to 15 minutes of power to finish the seam you were working on, this might seem important, but for some sewers who are working on an embroidery or on a computerized sewing machine, they need time to finish that stitching before turning their machines off.
Check the UPS latest price on Amazon.com here.
Mechanical Vs Computerized Sewing Machine?
When you live in a place where the power source is not reliable, and you love to sew, it will be always better to have a mechanical sewing machine, and keep it unplugged during a thunderstorm, and if a thunderstorm is happening while you’re sewing, it will be always better to stop sewing, turn off you’re sewing machine and unplug it.
Computerized sewing machines are more at risk to be damaged if a thunderstorm happens when you’re sewing or if your machine was left plugged. As these machines are in the higher range price, it will be always better to leave it unplugged.
Thunderstorms And Sewing Safety, Closing Thoughts
After you finish sewing, it’s always better to leave your sewing machine unpluged.
Thanks for reading our blog today, happy sewing!
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Hello Alex,
I have to say, great title! I wasn’t even looking for anything related to sewing but when I saw Thunderstorms and Sewing Safety, I had to take a look!
Great idea for looking out too, for all of your equipment. I am not into sewing but have been the victim of a lightning strike before and had to replace other electronic equipment. This is good information and if someone has anything electric they leave plugged in, this is good advice!
Thanks for sharing!
Chad
I used to own a sewing machine when i was younger and my nan would always tell me to be careful of what i was doing. But i nevr knew thunder storms/ lighting hit near your home could be so dangerous to it until now. These sewing machies are our investment of course. Very good information you have gave me here.
I would never have thought of this. Thunderstorms don’t happen often here on the East Coast of Yorkshire, but we had one last night. It never even crossed my mind to go around unplugging everything. least of all the sewing machine that I just had out to make a medieval cloak for the comic con. You must get some really bad storms out there for lightning to be an issue, either that or I have spent my life taking risks with the odd thunderstorm that blows this way.
Hey Alex, great post! This article is a great reminder to people who are new to sewing and can help prevent a learning curve that could cause a financial setback. I’ve used a mechanical sewing machine when I was taking art classes in high school and found it a fun activity to do. Your article points out a lot of things to consider like using an UPS and choosing between a mechanical and electronic sewing machine. Thanks for this awesome article and hope you have a wonderful summer!