Lightning Storms
 

I have noticed the last two storms, made my phone ring once, and the smoke alarms, went off. The latest storm had this occurrence, happening twice.

Is this a sign that lightning is hitting close to my house?

I'm pretty sure the original owner had nothing installed, to protect it from storms. Is this a sign I should get lightning rods and surge protection?

Thank GOD that all appliances worked after the storms. :smiley:

Please advise.

Joe, I think everyone should have a whole house surge protector installed. Seco will do it for you for two-three hundred dollars or something like five dollars a month on your bill. Also at that time they give you several individual surge protectors for appliances and computers. We had to buy more than they gave us, but they aren't expensive at the hardware store.

I think you mean SECO. They are the electric peoples. TECO is gas.

And yes I agree that the whole house surge protector is a good idea.

Z

you should make sure you buy a surge protector rated at of 600 joules or better for good protection.

Joe:

Summer t'storms are scarier than we ever thought up north (whether MN or MO).

I, and several neighbors, taking advantage of a group discount, installed lightning rods a number of years [at least 5] ago. For designer homes, all of $1,300 per home.

None of us are completely confident that we are "fully protected," but we are highly confident that we are!

Frequently, the resident's comfort level is all that matters!

SWR
:beer3:

Joe, we just had A-1 Lightning Protection do our home and they installed a whole house surge protector along with the lightning rods. Very happy and more relaxed!!

Several neighbors have mentioned to me that their smoke alarms have gone off during the past few severe lightening storms. Both of them had the firemen come in to check them.Most of the alarms were old and needed to be replaced. Lynnhaven village.

Our three year old smoke alarms were defective going off whenever. Company replaced them

We just had SECO install the whole house surge suppressor. They did it between 2 of the 3 storms we had Thursday.

Yep!
 

I'm sitting here looking at a check from my homeowner's insurance company for damage from an electrical sure during an afternoon storm on June 11. Thank goodness I had a robust surge protector installed shortly after we moved in. That limited our cost to the amount of our deductible.

In our case, the damage occurred when the lightning surge hit outside underground wiring. The surge protector worked to block the surge from entering the house, but an outside circuit, a couple GFI's and an outdoor refrigerator were damaged.

Had the surge occurred within the first five years after installation of the surge protector, ALL damage would have been paid for by an insurance policy attached to to surge protector. In the future I'm just going to replace the surge protector every five years to renew the coverage of that special policy.

'Nuff said??

Until you can get the surge protection installed, just unplug as many appliances as you can when there is lightning in the area. This includes unplugging all cables and telephone lines.

So far the lightning bolt that hit our palm tree on Friday knocked out garage door opener. Irrigation . One tv 2 cordless phones and all Comcast boxes.. We have seco surge on Meter. So damage not as bad as could have been . Stones from below tree flew five houses down street ! Can't believe force of blast . Oh. . Burned light post outside also !!

Glad it wasn't any worse. You might still get some further damage from lightning in ground. Happened to a friend of mine -- house two away from hers got a direct hit. Two months later, it fried her cable and GFIs. Hope the surge protector can stop this.

Oh, and welcome back. Haven't seen a post from you in awhile. :icon_wink:

As TOTV often does, it gets me to looking into stuff. Today, I learned I need to look into surge protection a bit more upon my return if our house is still there :D

Couple of easy reads for your down time...

HowStuffWorks "Power Surges"

Above was a high level easy read. Take away for me is some surge protect power strips are useless and tips on what to look for when buying one.

Lightning Myths - Surge protectors and UPS devices provide total lightning protection :: Storm Highway Weather Library

I need to educate myself more on how to best mitigate, but sounds like lightening wins in almost all cases :22yikes:

We just had Pikes Electric install Surge protectors on the cable box and the whole house surge protector. The company that makes them insures up to $75,000 any damage from a surge. About $400-450 for both installed.

Everyone also urges you to have the individual surge suppressors on the garage door opener and the irrigation system as well as electronics in the house.