Who needs Lightning anyhow?

Less

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Jun 23, 2002
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Ever smoke a power supply, motherboard and hard drive in one shot? Mother Nature did!

Surge suppressor - what a joke!
I heard UPSs don't work either.

Any tips besides unplug - FAST?
Sympathy? Unlikely, but thanks anyway!
Was it bad Karma?
"Be Nice on the Grumble" shouted the heavens!!!!

Ron? Is that you?
 
In surge protectors, as in framing, you kinda get what you pay for. Some of them come with "insurance." If your system fries while you're using the surge protector, they replace it. I don't know anyone who's ever filed a claim, so I don't know if it's anything other than hype.

I use a UPS. I like it because I don't lose my work or my cool when we get one of those .5-second power outages that seem to plague us - the ones that require resetting the digital clocks, the microwave, the VCRs - everything but the computers.

So far I haven't had a computer fried while using a UPS. Maybe there's no connection. I don't plan to test it by removing the UPS.

I hit a deer with my car a few years ago. After we got the car fixed (the deer could not be fixed) I put "deer whistles" on it and haven't had any other deer incidents. My wife took the deer whistles off of her car 'cause they weren't aesthetically pleasing. She hit two deer in six months. Deer whistles cost about $3.95/pair.

Maybe it is bad karma, Less, but I believe you're trying to be good. ;)

Kit is the Goddess of Thunderstorms, so she may have some insight.
 
If lightning hits, a surge protector won't help too much. They contain ferrite beads and are designed for small spikes/surges. The Lightning surge is so powerful that it can jump right through the thing and have its way.

I feel for you. It's terrible to lose everything like that in one shot.

A place where I once worked had a whole batch of 30 machines go like that, but in their case it was due to a bad batch of power supplies. (problem from within) They worked for about 6 months before a machine or two went daily. It took the motherboard, hard drive, video card, network card, etc.

The vendor stood behind it and replaced the parts, but I had the unfortunate experience of re-installing everyones programs/files.

The house we are in now was hit by lightning once in 95. It fried light bulbs, stereo, tv, fridge, computer, and just about anything that plugged in. It MELTED the power/surge strips
The insurance company said that several people in the area got hit.

no more weather experiments for me!
 
Your best bet is to unplug if possible when bad weather threatens. We learned that the hard way too. By the way, most lightning damage to computers comes through the phone line, not the electric outlet, make sure you unplug that too. Phone lines are heavily effected by lightning, our phone even rings when there a lightning strikes near our house! :eek: The one thing that has saved our place from direct strikes hasn't been surge protectors but an old fashioned lighting rod system we have on the house (circa 1900 and still working.) We have taken several direct hits and had little or no damage because the lightning rods have grounded it out.
 
Anne, I still maintain that Wautoma has the worst weather in the state. Nice people, but really bad weather!
 
You're best bet is to unplug your system from the wall during a lightning storm. I had an expensive UPS attached to my computer, and even had the phone line plugged in through the UPS (Important!). When my house was hit by lightning 2 years ago, it travelled through the phone line, melted the UPS, the Modem, and most of the Motherboard. My computer was only 2 months old. The UPS company was very good at replacing the UPS (uh, if it didn't work the first time, what good is the replacement?), and helping get my computer replaced. Funny, but they only replaced the actual melted portions and I still have problems with that system. Now, I only rely on the UPS if I don't happen to be home, but will unplug the UPS from the wall if there is a big lightning storm nearby. Thank goodness we don't have too many of those up here in the NW.
 
Originally posted by RonEggers:
Anne, I still maintain that Wautoma has the worst weather in the state. Nice people, but really bad weather!
Ron, I think you have us confused with Rhinelander, there always seems to be a storm on the radar there. We're south west of Appleton, not northwest ! ;) While we had some much needed rain last night, they had high winds, hail, and a possible tornado up there! :eek:
 
Kit, I always assumed you read everything - but this forum first!

Would you prefer to be the Snow Queen?
 
Been there, done that.

Come sit by me
And I will tell you
What the snow is.
For I have seen
The Lady of the Winter.
She is tall and terrible;
Her hair is the color of a candle flame
And her eyes are gray like December dawns.
She wears a long white cloak and hood
Embroidered with frost ferns
And lined with milkweed down.
Around her throat
Icicles hang like diamonds
And on her thin fingers
Are rings of holly wood.
She rides a dappled horse caled Israefel
And when they gallop through the sky
His silver hooves strike flecks loose from the clouds.
That is what the snow is.
 
O.k. Here's a story for you! FORGET THE UNPLUG THEORY - IT DOESN'T WORK!!

In 1997 we had our house struck by lightening - it hit the chiminey, blew the siding off and we ended up with about $5k of electronic stuff fried. The stuff that was plugged in made sense, but the items that were in the basement on or near the wall that the chiminey was on, did not make sense. These items were UNPLUGGED!!!! :confused: The computer was unplugged - the motherboard was fried and the hard drive was wiped clean and a few other things. The radio was sitting on a shelf unplugged - nothing but static after that storm!!!

On Sunday, Skaneateles was hit by a tornado - very uncommon for this area. After 1997, I killed the power on everything major except the house (pool, AC, hottub, studo,etc) Left the house power on, the electrical faired well except this time it was the PHONES!!! I have to replace the modem in the computer - hard drive, etc. was okay, replace 2 phones, answering machine, and fax machine!!

I don't think there is a safe bet, or someone is out to get me!! :D They just don't know that I'm stubborn as **** and won't give up!! My husband wants to build an underground house!!

my 2 cents worth of experience!

Elaine
 
I remember, as a kid, my parent's store got hit by lightning. They had an old television there that wasn't plugged in, but somehow it was WORKING for about 5 minutes.
 
Anne, that's one of the creepiest things I've read so far! Our house/yard gets hit by lightening pretty often. I saw a bolt hit the driveway last year. It shook the whole house and the sound of it cracking was incredible! We tend to unplug whenever a storm is brewing. So far we've replaces two well pumps. Last summer a bolt hit the ground about 30 yards from the house and we had to replace computer chips in the pump, the furnace, and the antennae. My mom lives with us now and is terrified of thunderstorms. We tried to tell her once that she has a better chance of winning the lottery than of getting hit by lightening, but for some odd reason she doesn't believe us! :rolleyes:
 
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