Man, oh man. That lightning is weird stuff, ain't it?

Remember when the Holloway Comet Observatory was hit by lightning? Well, now I can really appreciate what Mike had to deal with. We got nailed yesterday at about noon. Our house is powered by a feeder line from the main trunk that consists of 4 power poles - from the top of the driveway to the house. The nearest one has a transformer on it. The lightning strike hit the second pole from the road, blew the top off the pole, and charred the outside of the pole all the way down to the ground. The million-plus volts came down the line to the house, blew up the transformer, and then somehow found it's way underground from that pole to the other side of the house where the phone line is buried, and came in the house through the phone lines.

It completely smoked the Telephone Network Interface box on the outside of the house. Then, it traveled to everything connected to the phone wiring and then spread to the TV cable wiring. It also went from the DSL modem into some Ethernet network components.

Damage assessment:

• 1 high-voltage power line transformer


• 1 television


• 2 satellite TV receivers


• 3 telephone sets


• 1 DSL modem


• 1 broadband router


• 1 KVM switch


• 1 High-speed Powerline Ethernet Adapter


• 1 Laptop Motherboard (sustained CMOS damage)


• 1 Vonage IP Phone adapter

Anyway - we're still doing an assessment today. There may be more. I know in Mike's case just one of his items would probably pay for everything here, so I count myself lucky.

I had most everything but the phone themselves run through surge protection equipment - even the phone lines, and it sill got damaged. Lightning just does what it wants - there's no logic to what it strikes and what it leaves alone. One satellite TV receiver had a DVD/VCR combo and a TV on it that weren't damaged at all. On the other satellite receiver, the TV that was attached was cooked.

I had components other than the laptop attached to the router and they were left untouched. It's like the surge went down only certain paths on the network and not others. I have no idea why. And today's Friday the 13th. Hmm......

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Dave - Morrow, AR

Hi Dave

Sorry to hear about you electrifying experience, but I'm glad to here ,at least at first glance, it wasn't all that bad. Even though, it's still a pain in the a-- two have to deal with.

Let me know if I can help at all, I'll be glad to.

Ed

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Always look for the answer to the questions you do not know.

Dave,

I also am glad to hear that no one was injured.
Homeowner insurance claims are not fun because (depending upon the carrier) they will require receipts to prove the value of the damaged/destroyed items.

Jeff T.

Thanks for the offers of help, guys but I think we've got everything covered. I've had to pay some money out, but the cost ended up being minimal. I've been able to get some things replaced under warranty, and some for reduced cost. I'm just amazed at what got damaged.

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Dave - Morrow, AR