[Lightning]

Originally Posted by Villages PL

Speaking of guarantees, there might not be any guarantee that an expensive (whole house) lightning rod system will keep your house from catching fire from a massive lightning strike.

Did A-1 Lightning Protection give a guarantee? Not that I expect they would, I'm just asking.

The studies that I have reviewed show that the major reason for failure is simple neglect and failure to follow the maintance criteria in NFPA-780. They don’t take much maintenance as the have no moving parts. Are there are any manmade products that 100% reliable – never have a failure? Every transportation mode has a failure rate as does your appliances, computers and other electronics. Are automatic external deliberators (AED) 100% guaranteed when they are called on in a life & death situation? Yet wee had one fail last summer during a Villages softball game. My point is that anything manmade can fail but you have to agree that they all work a very high percentage of the time well into to the upper ninety percent range including LPS.

[Shimpy]

Originally Posted by Skip2MySue

I did have the surge protection provided by SECO and that was destroyed when they checked the meter. The very helpful rep told me that reimbursement from the surge protection company is minimal. You must have all your appliances plugged into individual surge protection outlets. He cited the refrigerator as a very iffy covered item because they can say that the surge came in thru the water line hooked up for the icemaker. He is processing a claim for my garage door operator that fried the PCB and both sensors. He warned that these might not be covered because they can claim lightning came in thru the sensors. So I keep all my receipts and will turn them into my homeowner's insurance.
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I was told the same thing by the SECO rep, that it would probably be denied because the surge probably came thru the water line into the sprinkler controller/timer. He also told me they usually say for refrigators the surge came thru the icemaker water line and don't pay the claim.
I was warned by the guy that replaced my sprinkler timer that it is nearly impossible to get SECO to pay any claim because they always have a reason why they are not at fault. There is no way to prove otherwise.

[NoMoSno]

I wonder what they would say if you use polyethylene tubing , to feed the ice maker?

[HiHoSteveO]

Originally Posted by NoMoSno

I wonder what they would say if you use polyethylene tubing , to feed the ice maker?

That likely wouldn't hold water (OOP! Pardon the pun)
The water within the polyethylene tubing is an excellent conductor of electricity.

[gustavo]

Originally Posted by HiHoSteveO

That likely wouldn't hold water (OOP! Pardon the pun)
The water within the polyethylene tubing is an excellent conductor of electricity.

Actually water is an excellent insulator, it's the stuff in water that conducts electricity.

[Skip2MySue]

Originally Posted by Shimpy

I was told the same thing by the SECO rep, that it would probably be denied because the surge probably came thru the water line into the sprinkler controller/timer. He also told me they usually say for refrigators the surge came thru the icemaker water line and don't pay the claim.
I was warned by the guy that replaced my sprinkler timer that it is nearly impossible to get SECO to pay any claim because they always have a reason why they are not at fault. There is no way to prove otherwise.

So here's what I ended up doing: Called SECO and had a long conversation about the best way to protect myself for the future boo-boo's. Purchased individual plug in surge protectors for the TV's, computer, microwave, telephone, garage door opener and irrigation system. They were delivered and that night we had another lightning storm that knocked out the irrigation and garage door. Thankfully, I went out and reset the breaker and all was fine so I guess the S.P.'s did there jobs on that storm. Another point they made is you have to have your Comcast cable run into a S.P. also to eliminate the potential of the surge coming in thru your cable line. Got the claim back from SECO and they covered none of my losses as the panel S.P. did it's job to protect the big stuff. Submitted all my claims to homeowner's and they paid for everything less the $500 deductible. I just had to submit invoice copies to cover any losses. American Integrity Insurance took care of everything. So fortunately it wasn't too bad of an ordeal except for the very poor support our fan favorite Comcast provided.
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