Lightning

A

akivory

Joined
Feb 5, 2001
Messages
808
Lightning and computers do not mix. A week ago Friday we had the most incredible lighting storm I had ever seen.Strikes were hitting trees and houses all around us.There was six inches of rain in the road and our basement got flooded.I have spent all week getting my computer problems straightened out.I have a surge protector and a firewall on my computer but my cable modem got fried.I went in the office on Monday and got a new one and I still could not get on line.I then hooked up to dial up (man is that a a trip). I could not get a service call until Thursday.It took the cable guy about 15 minutes to figure out that I had a filter at the pole that was not compatible with my new digital modem.
I guess that I should run my cable through a surge protector before it gets to the modem.
 
Surge protectors are helpful, but they're not called "SURGE protectors" for no reason. They're intended to protect against powerline surges which can be upwards of maybe 500V, not against lightening which can be upwards of 50KV. There's only one way to guarantee no lightening damage: unplug! That includes unplugging the cable from the modem, the telephone line from the computer, and, obviously, the power from the wall. Turning off the outlet strip is not good enough. A lightening strike can easily jump the gap in the switch. I strongly recommend unplugging the strip from the wall even if it is a surge protector. A lightening strike can easily leave a surge protector on fire which has potential to start a house fire.

During a local lightening storm, unplug all other appliances in the house, even table lamps, clock radios, etc. The storm is only going to last a fraction of an hour, typically. You can do without your appliances for that time. Besides, the power is probably going to fail anyway. You might as well just unplug and get it over with. Also disconnect cable TV cables from TVs, stereos, etc. And unplug unnecessary telephones from their phone jacks too. You should avoid using the phone during a local lightening storm anyway.

If you have external antennas on your house including satellite dishes, unplug those from their indoor equipment too. Even if they don't get struck, they can pick up electrical charge from the air and conduct it down into your appliances causing damage that might manifest itself as reduced performance or as a failure at some later date.

The bottom line: when there's megavolts of electricity arcing around outside, it's best to disconnect anything that might tend to conduct electricity from the outside of the house into the house.
 
Good advice Gollnick.When I was in the cable office the guy behind me lost all the equipment in his production studio. He figured his loss was over $10,000. The repairman had been replacing modems all week.I was told there were over 7000 strikes in our valley
 
As an amateur radio operator [antennas etc] I've spent time studying the subject . Lightning can get antennas but can also hit a mile or more away and travel down the lines [telephone ,power, cable]. Yes I have surge protectors of various kinds .But the experts say ,as do the makers of the surge protectors ,there is no garantee so when the storm comes unplug everything !! The surge may be enough to jump switches and jump the whole protector !Perhaps not convenient but much safer. I've heard too many stories about lightning to ignore that advice.
 
Any time that there is a lightning storm in my area I immediately turn off the main breaker to my house. This shuts down everything. Like Chuck said, lightning storms don't last long and a surge protector will not protect your valuable electronics should you get zapped.
 
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