Lightning hit my house yesterday
 

Yesterday during a big storm we heard a loud BANG and then what sounded like a light bulb breaking.

Turns out the light bulb was a light switch that exploded and sent bits of the light switch cover flying all over the basement. I am assuming that is where the lightning exited.

There are no burns outside the house and everyone is fine.

My telephone system is totally dead even the line to the house is fried.

Funny thing is all the equipment was on surge protectors.

I have lost about 20k worth of home theatre equipment, telephones and some wireless networking equipment.

Now I get to go through the insurance claim process. :)

At least you're all fine.
Shitty thing about the surge protectors not protecting against the surge, though. :(

were all your surge protectors hooked up correctly etc? Also what kind were you using on your home theater?

All my computer equipment is on APC 1000 UPS systems. They are all fine. It's the cheap powerbars that failed me.

I am going to Costco to buy more APC units since they are on sale for $150 each. I will buy a bunch to protect anything valuable from now on.

Feck so the cheap ones didnt do shit? Hmm Ive got APC here all over one trust for my gfs laptop. I know the trusts have 10k insurance, but the cheap ones the like $10 ones have nothing no.

Damn well I hope everything gets settled. At least youre ok.

shouldn't you have some kind of ground outside to prevent this? I have a big copper bar stuck in the ground. right outside by the fuse box.

got these 4 of them older types but still fine

http://www.orient-logic.com/apc/saview.jpg

dont you guys have earth connection and earthleak switches?

Man I'm sorry to hear that. We had massive cloud to ground lightning here yesterday as well and I shut down and *unplugged* my computers from every outside cable.. Regardless of surge protectors, nothing can or will prevent against a direct strike, nor are they rated to.. Your better bet is to not claim a direct strike, just a surge.
I used to sell electronics and can not tell you how many times I had people come in after large storms needing insurance estimates on replacement equipment :( Most damage is done when the power comes back On.. (surge)

Phone lines are the most dangerous wires in the house in a lightning storm. Never use the phone line in a storm..

Well no I don't think I do have this for my breaker panel. You can bet on me getting an electrician in to install one now though. Thanks for the advice!

i ran inside during a storm once, dove unpulled my bigscreen, yanked the lappy out of the wall POP!
good bye 2 desktops

damm that sucks, oh well time to claim on insurance

Hey Brad, Sorry to hear. That's awful. We had a lighting storm in my neighborhood last night it was the first time that I ever saw lighting touch ground not once but 3 times in the span of 10 minutes. Not in the same place but at the top of 3 power poles within viewing distance of my front door.

I just moved in and the moving truck hasn't arrived with all of my stuff yet, but now it's a good reason for me to buy good surge protectors.

What kind of surge protector is good to get? For all of my computer and entertainment equipment I use those $50 Belkin ones, are those ok?

good to know you're fine

I would say nothing short of an APC power backup at this point since everything hooked to those units is still ticking.

Any other surge protector is going to fail. I am looking at 4 powerbars that were all different (one was belkin) and they all failed me.

I will be paying whatever the electrician wants to prevent this from happening again.

My biggest worry was the 4 terrabyte drives Claire uses to edit vids. If she lost those we would loose 2 months of work. They are all fine thankfully.

Can someone link me?

I've been upgrading my entertainment setup. What's funny is it isn't the actual TV or receiver thats incredibly expensive, its all the damn extra stuff you need to buy with it. Cables, power strips, insurance, etc.

Belkins arent ok. Spend the extra dime and get a decent APC or a UPS combined surge protector unit, theyre cheap nowadays.

I buy these at Costco for $150 CDN each

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/def...spx?EDC=496786

I have 6 of them now and I am buying 10 more this week.

Thats because theres no profit margin on the big ticket products, but theres huge margin on the cables and accessories ;)

good luck with the claim

those are cool, 600watts is enough for a pc and stuff plus the powerchute software rocks.

sorry to hear that...at least your fine and you got insurance:D