I’ve learned a lot from other memebers on this site, so I thought I’d share my learnings from a recent power surge caused by a nearby lightning strike.
We had a really bad storm about 3 weeks ago. Lightning was striking all around us. I woke up and went to unplug my only pin (HSII) since I’ve read about other pinsiders having board damage from lightning strikes.
Not long after I unplugged it, I turned the backyard flood lights on to see what was happening outside. When I flipped the switch off, the lightning hit nearby and it shocked me (literally, it was like touching an electric fence)
We ended up losing: 2 TV’s, sound bar, Blu-ray player, 2 garage door openers, thermostat, outside and inside HVAC units, router, modem, gfci, etc..
Our home theater equipment was connected to a Monster Cable surge protector. Needless to say, it didn’t work.
We got really lucky that our large appliances were spared.
One thing I found interesting is that it’s cheaper to repair a $1,000 tv than a $150 garage door opener.
The surge took out logic boards on all of the equipment. There’s only ~5 parts to modern TV’s and they’re easier to fix than a pinball machine.
The tv’s only required logic boards which were <$100.
I’ve since installed 2 whole home surge protectors on our main panel and sub panel.
The Siemens FS140 ($250) is the recess mounted surge protector that was recommended by another member.
The GE surge protector ($50) is on the main panel.
They’re both really easy to install, but make sure you have a qualified person doing it because you supposedly get warranty protection. It takes less than 30 minutes start to finish.
If you want to do something similar just find out the make/model of your electrical panel and most likely they make a surge protection device for it.
It’s very cheap insurance considering the amount ($) of things you have plugged into the wall.
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