has your house been hit by lightning?

[django]

I think my house was hit by lightning Monday morning because my computer monitor was purple like a magnet flew by it. my 30" wide-screen does not turn on anymore my game cube power block is dead and my telephone no longer works. all that was plugged into a surge protector and my xbox360 was not buts its fine the house is also ok. has this ever happened to anyone else? also check your surge protector you might need a new one i just bought the power squid and it came with a paper that said the element in the surge protector can expire with age and normal use. i didn't think stuff like that had an expiration date.

[K/H_Addict]

that sucks ass django. hope you can replace this stuff. is your Heroscape stuff OK?

[django]

yeah heroscape is ok but i had to buy another tv the dead one was only 1yo but that's ok i upgraded to a 30" widescreen hdtv and i had an extra power block for the game cube but i still need a phone so im gonna check wally world see if they have something on clearance.

[geddy lifeson]

We had lightning strike in our front yard once and we lost out TV. It was only plugged into the wall and fortunately that was all that was lost. This was many, many years ago before people started using surge protectors for everything.

Sorry about your loss :(

[bunjee]

Surge can travel through phone lines and cable lines also, many people do not have these running through surge protectors although protectors with those connectors are getting easier and easier to find.

I used to do support for a modem manufacturer and spoke to any number of people who lost their modem, and on occasion, their computer logic board, from lightning strikes.

As Geddy mentioned, a lightning strike in the ground near by will do this.

A tip for any one in lightning prone areas, if there is a storm, disconnect everything from the walls and jacks that you can. And if you are leaving town, disconnect these items just in case something happens while you are gone.

[django]

i was talking to my dad and he said one time lightning hit there house and this was back in the 70's when they had antennas on the roof and he said that every other house and both sides on the street had there TVs blown out.

[Codeman]

Yes some of that sounds familiar… the transformer near our house got hit about 10-15 years ago and the lighting went thru our house everywhere. Had the head of a screw from a terminal on a receptacle approx 1/8” from the metal box…. It arced across and blew the switch plate off the wall right past our birdcage (bird survived). The router for our antenna also blew apart. A couple of the TV antenna rods blew off the antenna. You could see the tiny wires on the phone jack all were fused together. Lost 4 TV’s a stereo, a few other electroniconic equipment but the computer made it thru all right. Just came home from picking up ditches and we were all wet (raining) and dirty, need to get cleaned up and then BANG the lighting hit... took out our well pump also.... no water! It was a long night.

[K/H_Addict]

Sorry about your loss :(


man, you make it sound like his imaginary friend passed away! :lol:


seriously, i'm glad you replaced everything, Django!

[-Zim-]

Last summer lighting hit a tree in my backyard, the enegry blasted out the laundry/stroage room window (it was right next the tree) and and flames from the tree caught the clothes on fire that ending up burning my house down. Lucky my family got out safely. :)

[Revdyer]

When I was being ordained, in 1974, lightning hit the manse (parsonage) and blew out the electric stove. Some people thought it was a sign from above. I thought it meant "Thou shalt not try to cook." I've since learned better, though, and love to cook.

In Houston, in 1984 we had ligtning hit the transformer behind our house. Suddenly we were getting (at least) 220 v. current through the house, all the lights got very bright and then started to explode, the TV smoked and died, the microwave went crazy, and a Vic-20 computer and Atarai 2600 died, along with a stereo amp and an electric can opener. The best part of it was that within four hours the electric company was there, collected the burned out stuff and wrote me a check to buy all new stuff. I was amazed at that more than at the lightning itself!

Since, I've lost a couple of modems, but that's all.

[skyknight]

When I was a boy I remeber my father turned on a light switch just as lightning hit. He made it all the way to the other side of the garage in the air :lol: After he woke up he was fine :P I am sorry I cannot help but laugh at this, it was long ago and like I said he was fine.

[Revdyer]

I did something similar when I was a teenager, working on an old television (with tubes!). I was sitting on the floor, poking around in the back of the set, when I let my hand brush against the open high voltage cage. The next thing I knew I was, literally, flying through the air and ended up against the opposite wall! I don't think it did any damage to me, and I did get the TV fixed! My mom, who was downstairs at the time, said it sounded like I'd fallen out of bed or something. She yelled up the stairwell for me to be quiet! For several minutes I was, as I just sat there trying to figure out if I was hurt or not.