Posted: 8/24/2006 5:44:42 AM EDT
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Well there I was sitting on the couch minding my own business watching TV. It was raining a little, but nothing out of the ordinary. The mantle clock strikes 6 o'clock and the next thing I hear is a loud buzzing sound. So I quickly turn my head to see all the framing on the screen patio glowing a bright orange. Then about two seconds later (it seemed like two minutes), BOOM!! My wife comes running out of the kitchen yelling Oh My God!! Oh My God!!!  I look over and the clock radio looks like it has been possessed. It is blinking in hieroglyphs it is smoking and playing music even though it is turned off. So I run over and knock the  demon clock's plug out of the wall. After we check the rest of the house it looks like we lost the garage door opener, the washing machine, two TVs, the Digital Cable box, the Air Conditioner, two ceiling fans, our computer monitor, the Jacuzzi Tub, and the lights in the back yard. Luckily there wasn't a fire and not too much damage where it hit the house. Hopefully the insurance adjuster can come out today or tomorrow and get us started with repairs and replacements. |
| Damn, that sucks...When I was a kid, probably about 10 years ago my parents bought a big screen tv. So we're all out in the back yard one day, bright and sunny, you could here a little thunder waayyyy off in the distance if you listened real hard when all the sudden lightning hits a tree about 50 feet behind the house, travels under the above ground pool causing a huge splash and into an outside outlet (probably the farthest outlet from that TV) frying nothing but the BRAND NEW TV. |
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Nah I am still going to the gun show. I have some rainy day money stashed away. ETA: and I will be investing in more surge protectors, now that I have seen what lightning can do to all your stuff. I had some, and they all got fried but most of the items I had plugged in to them are ok. |
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Get yourself a "Whole House" surge package (in conjunction with outlet protectors). Something along this line: Ditek WH5  Protects your service panel, incoming phone and, cable lines. They are available online for about $115-120.00 and simple to install. FWIW... I sell and install a ton of these and have had excellent results. |
Nice 
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So THATS what you do... 
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Get some good UPS's for the electronics in the house they cheap and really work to condition the line and most come with replacement warranty for equipment plugged into them. www.tripplite.com/products/product.cfm?productID=14 www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=21 |
  Glad everyone is ok. Did your wife think accidental discharge? Electrical can be tough sometimes especially when it involves traveler wires  getting the magic smoke back into the wires is also challenging 
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| I love my computer, I have it hooked up to a 35 buck surge protector and if the lighnting gets loud I'll turn it off and unplug it alltogether. My big screen the same way everything else I can live without for a few days. Well cold beer... maybe I'll go get another protector. hinking.gif |
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Yeah everything is slowly comming back together. Had the electric company, the A/C repair man and the cable guy all at the house this morning at the same time. They were getting a good laugh out of all the burnt wires in my house. Looks like the wires in the wall are all ok, but the cable outside was completely burnt in half! The A/C needs a new circuit board and probably won't be able to be fixed till next week. Sure is hot in the house! TV and the Computer monitor are at the repair shop for an estimate for insurance purposes. I'll be putting in a new fan and garage door opener in this weekend. And yes I will be buying better surge protectors for my TV and compter from now on. |