You have given us all pause with your experience. I, for one, will be mindful of the dangers of not unplugging. I am really bad about it. I do have my sewing machines plugged into surge protectors. One time a few years ago, we had a drastic drop in power and it did very major damage to the circuitry in my Bernina 1130. It was quite an expensive fix as the mother board and computer boards were damaged. But, unplugging will ease minds when away from the house.