Those with lightning storms, how do you protect electronics?

[Fuddy1952]

Where I grew up 15 miles from here (central Va) the two houses on farm got hit every year until Dad and Grandad put lightning rods on the chimneys. That was over 50 years ago and no problem.
I need lightning rods on my chimneys! I've been hit several times. First time my insurance company recommended taking everything to this place which turned out to be my company...weird because I was paid to work on my stuff.
What I did do is put a surge protector on secondary of my main breaker. If we're at home we throw the main, my reasoning is lightning would have to jump breaker then the protector is there.
As suggested...unplugging is the best.

 

[s219]

I was actually planning to put a surge protector in my main panel this weekend when I was in there adding a circuit. For convenience, it would have gone at the far end of the panel opposite of the main breaker, since that is where I have room to add stuff. Well, the instructions said it should be mounted as close to the main breaker as possible, and of course that is where all the high-amp breakers and generator backfeed are located, with heavy gauge wire, which would be a chore to move around, and/or I'd be playing dominos with all the other breakers to open up a double-pole spot near the main.

So I held off, not sure what to do -- I was planning for a 5-10 minute project, not rearranging the whole panel. Does anyone know if a surge protector would still have any value if mounted in the panel on the far end, all the way opposite of the main breaker?

 

[k0ua]

Couple of things. As a person with towers and aluminum antennas in the air and copper antennas running around, I have some small experience. I also worked in the telecommunications industry for many decades.

First things first. There isn't any surge arrestor gonna stop something you can see in the way of blue fire and flame. If you have lightning in the house you can see, well all bets are off. But that doesn't mean the better ones can't work for you. Because they can help clamp those surges from strikes down the street that can and will kill your electronics.
We have whole house surge arrestor, and individual ones and UPS's on more sensitive things. TV's and Amateur radio equipment. I also unplug all antennas connections. and all connection from the Ham gear to any PC's etc.

Grounding and bonding is extremely important in your ham station build, but you are talking about refrigerators freezers and TV's. Make sure the electrical panel is properly grounded, you would be surprised how many are not. "electricians apprentice, Hey boss I can't get this darn ground rod pounded in, too much rock. "boss" Aw just cut it off, they will never know"

If you have the money and want to do it you can have a PE (professional engineer) or a good electrician you really trust to perform a test on you ground system. I have recommended it as a telephone professional to building owners on buildings that were getting hit all the time and destroying our telephone and audio equipment. Each time the building was found by the PE to be at fault. The problems was original electrician was the problem. Too **** lazy to do their jobs. It is more common than you think.

But these things cost money, and most homeowners assume that the system was installed and inspected correctly. I am telling you that in the commercial buildings I have been involved that cost millions of dollars it is not uncommon. I have seen it, I have seen the results after the buildings were built, I have seen what competent electricians can do to fix it, and I have seen or rather not seen the problems after proper grounding. But hopefully your home is A OK.

So bottom line: Whole house surge. Extra surge and UPS's for sensitive equipment. and if you see a doozie storm coming and can do so safely unplug your crap.

Funny story from long ago, that begins with "and this is no chit" Friend of mine who happened to be a TV repair man, was proud of new TV in his home. Storm was on the way, so he unplugged TV and Antenna and rolled TV to center of room. The storm was a biggun. with lots of lightning. His home got struck and a lot of wiring damaged, and TV in center of room was facing an AC receptacle that was struck and it blew a chunk of the receptacle out of the wall and struck the TV in the picture tube puncturing it.

So sometimes your crap is just gonna get destroyed and their aint much you can do but keep your homeowners payed up.

 

[Fuddy1952]

It shouldn't matter. Mine I mounted on side of box near main breaker. For safety I would throw the main and then unplug the power meter. I worked with electricity 43 years until retired and you can't be too careful.

 

[Jstpssng]

Where I grew up 15 miles from here (central Va) the two houses on farm got hit every year until Dad and Grandad put lightning rods on the chimneys. That was over 50 years ago and no problem.
I need lightning rods on my chimneys! I've been hit several times. First time my insurance company recommended taking everything to this place which turned out to be my company...weird because I was paid to work on my stuff.
What I did do is put a surge protector on secondary of my main breaker. If we're at home we throw the main, my reasoning is lightning would have to jump breaker then the protector is there.
.
As suggested...unplugging is the best.

We had storms one summer which seemed to come in hard, and follow the river down to the ocean. I was renting a small 20 foot square 2 story building, and lightning was hitting all around. I threw the main breaker and huddled in the middle of the building, hoping that we didn't get a direct hit. I love thunder and lightning storms and this was the only time that I've ever been scared of one. The next day dawned sunny and bright, I turned on the water and started doing dishes. All of a sudden I heard a sound like an arc welder- I pulled my hands out of the dish water. When the pump came on it had burned up the lightning protector

 

[japody]

It shouldn't matter. Mine I mounted on side of box near main breaker. For safety I would throw the main and then unplug the power meter. I worked with electricity 43 years until retired and you can't be too careful.

With all of these thunderstorms we are having everyday, you must be very busy.

 

[mikester]

Here we rarely have dangerous lightning (once in 5 years). My brother just moved to Central Texas and is unsure how to cope with frequent lightning storms (in season).

I found this old thread with useful info: value-good-whole-house-surge

So much 'stuff' to protect nowadays, computers, TVs, cable boxes, routers, wifi, cell phones while charging, cameras, security, solar panels, refrig, freezer, heat pump, A/C well pump.

How do those of you facing electrical storms protect your electronics and motors? Whole house, item-by-item, combo? Surge protection, UPS, both?

Thanks!

Whole home surge is cheap protection. Our insurance gave us a 10% discount for installing so it paid for itself in the first year. It's worth asking your insurance about it.

I installed it after a lightning strike hit our TV antenna and took out every plugged in electronic device in the house. I also have UPS surge protection on all computer devices now and try to unplug important stuff, including ethernet cables, during storms. FYI I had UPS surge protection on all my computer devices except for one network switch prior to the strike. That network switch caused every networked device to get fried even with UPS's attached.

Don't forget surges happen even without lightning strikes. Trees fall on lines, cars hit utility poles, transformers and/or substations blow,...we've had all of the above.

Ultimately a direct lightning hit can and will fry anything and everything and it's impossible to predict the surge paths. Surge protection just helps mitigate problems.

 

[GolfAddict]

You know every garage sale has an old set of golf clubs or two. I search through every golf bag for a 1 iron and buy every one I find. I have one irons protecting everything. It works great because not even God can hit a 1 iron.

:laughing: Had me going right up to the punch line! :laughing:

 

[Ritothebull]

I had installed extra grounding and used surge protectors everywhere but kept getting spikes that damaged electronic devices. My power line used to run about 1000' through the woods and we used to get surges all the time from branches falling on it, lightning strikes and all kinds of crazy stuff including squirrels chewing the wires. Over a period of 10 years the line was broken by large limbs falling on it 4 times and naturally it was allways at night or on a weekend when there were less power crews available. The power company used to trim along the line every year but they would only trim to clear the lines by 15' so the never bothered with the branches that were high above the lines. Anyway 3 years ago when they were out trimming I asked a supervisor why they didnt just run the line underground since it would save them money in the long run and he said he didnt know but he would look into it. Well about a month later a boring crew showed up and ran the line underground all the way from the main road to the house and since then we havent had any more problems.

 

[txdon]

1. Have the power company put a lightning surge protector on top of pole.

2. Get a all house surge protector.

3. Get individual outlet surge protectors.

After loosing the electronics in my ac, washer, oven, I did all three and have not had another problem.