This has been a good thread. We are in the process of purchasing a home in TV. I can't recall any seller that has listed lightning protection as an asset, either surge protection or LPS. Which is a little surprising given the lightning intensity of the region. We live on Long Island which gets occasional intense lightning storms. My house has never been struck but other houses in the neighborhood have. One near neighbor had his front brick steps blown apart when the metal handrail was struck and another neighbor had his cable box blown off the garage wall by a strike. LPS or whole house surge protection is not common here. As a result of nearby strikes I've lost a TV, a garage door opener, an answering machine and a computer. The computer was individually surge protected, but the surge came through a land phone line to a modem board in the computer. The surge effects are as random as the strikes. A direct or indirect strike can cost anywhere from hundreds to many thousands of dollars and maybe the loss of things that money can't buy. Getting protection is a matter of risk assessment much like travel insurance, how much is at stake. You don't get it if you're traveling to the coast for a long weekend. But if you're doing a two-week cruise to Europe, you probably get it. To me, in Florida having whole house surge protection looks to be essential. The cost of a LPS seems to be less than 1% of the cost of the houses I'm considering. I expect I will get one.
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