I'm so thankful that you and your hubby weren't hurt and your house is okay too, but that tv is toast now. What kind of surge protection do you have?

Scary! I'm glad it wasn't worse. A lightning strike caused a house on my road to burn to ground some years ago.

I have surge protection, but I still unplug my TVs and phone in a t-storm. Back in the days of VCRs and dial-up, I lost a couple to power surges, and several modems.

Linda....we have individual surge on the outlets. Like this. Then surge strips for a few items. We had forgotton about the sprinkler system controller....it was fried!

Susan...we lost TV's, dvd players, the cordless phone, 1 atomic clock(just taking the batteries out and putting them back in saved 2 of them)....

Nicole, what kind of surge protector do u hv? I am unclear re: your posting. Theoretically electronics plugged directly into wall s/h been damaged. Only items plugged to SP s/h been protected. Could it be that lightning hit power line, not your house, indirectly damaging your tv

glad u were not close to tv!

bossy.....we have surge protected outlets and strips. Like this. The protection all worked unless an antenna or comcast cable was hooked to them.

DS had a similar experience, but in his case the transformer in his backyard was hit by lightning. As I remember, only his TV was ruined. Did any of your neighbors have damage?

Sorry you had that very scary experience!

At the sign of a thunderstorm, I unplug the tv and computers, internet router, etc. Even though I have surge protectors on them, it's a sure safety bed to unplug them completely.

One thing I'm terrified of, is working during a thunderstorm. I work for a virtual call center and I despise talking to people with my headset on during a storm.

Wow, Nicole, what a shocking thing to have happen!! What about Peeka? Did he freak out, pass out or just take it in stride? I'm sorry that happened to you, but sounds like you were able to minimize the worst of it. So smart.

chisue....It was VERY scary! We are the highest point of our hill/mountain, then we sit back on a point behind everyone. My closest neighbors heard the "BOOM!", but didn't get hit. No one in my walking club had any lightning hits....they all live in nearby areas.

Jasdip.....VERY smart to disconnect! You'll stay safe that way and work does get in the way.

Murraysmom.....he was just entering the garage to see DH, found him in a little ball under my office chair downstairs. He's forgotton all about it now. So many new boxes to sniff and get in! :0) I keep thinking I should get him chipped?

How frightening! I'm glad you are okay and had minimal damage.

I'm glad you are OK. Sounds totally scary, but I'm glad you had the surge protectors in place. Maybe I'm overly cautious, but when I hear thunder I don't bathe or shower or wash dishes, I don't know if it would actually happen that the electricity from a lightning strike would travel through the water lines, but I'm staying on the safe side.

So you have 1 of those protectors in laundry room then w/d are plugged into SP? Just making sure I'm clear. Being highest point definitely increases your risk

DH says elec is very unpredictable. A neighbor's house was struck by lightning and it travelled thru his copper plumbing, which burst in all kinds of places. House had to be practically rebuilt. Scary stuff!

bossy....my counter depth refrigerator with digital readout has protection, but I never thought much of the 2 CL microwaves, they had no protection and they're fine too. All 3 GFI's were tripped. One programmable light switch was fried....but another one is fine. The HDMI on the surround sound is fried, that means it won't work on the TV only w/ the stereo, but the rest of the system works. I was told HDMI is "very" sensitive. Very scary stuff!

Wow! How frightening is that! So glad that no one and no thing was hurt. Lightning is such a weird thing. I remember reading about a man who was struck in his basement...you wouldn't expect it, but he was working on the plumbing at the time and it traveled through the system.

We did get surge protection added at the main breaker box as so much of our lives are electronic these days.

Sorry to hear about this "event". I'm glad people and most things are safe.

A $25 "surge protector" provides limited protection from power service hiccups coming from your electricity provider or created within the house. It isn't going to protect anything from a near lighting strike coming through the power system.

Power system surges are less common than they used to be. I myself don't use surge protectors in my house other than as a power strip in a few locations where I need multi-sockets. It's also less a problem in my area than elsewhere because lightning is very rare here.

Most true surge protectors, even the whole house kind, are sacrificial like old fashioned fuses. If they intervene to stop a problem, they die. If one is working after an power event or surge, then it likely didn't do anything.

Nicole, that must have been terrifying! I'm glad everyone is ok. Stuff can be replaced.

Elmer....I agree with the idea the surge protected outlets should not be working, we've been questioning that. The green light is still on. There are "no" burn marks either. Out of 5 TV's, why did 1 make it...? We just keep shaking our heads.

Green light or no green light...I would replace the surge protectors after a direct hit. I have a very high end, expensive surge protector for my computer system and all cable related connections. I've had it for about 4 years and I will be replacing it this year. The light is still green...but I know that it's probably protected my system a few times from line surges and despite all that's written about these pieces of equipment...the more surges they block...the weaker their resistance becomes.

I live in an area that I call lightening alley. When we have storms...which are prevalent at this time of the year...the lightening comes to ground outside my windows...and seems to roll along the ground to the electrical substations. All our services are underground here...so the strike seems to follow the underground utility path. Scary...but pretty sometimes. I follow Jasdip's example. If I'm home...I unplug and/or throw the breakers to larger appliances.

As for your surviving TV, Nicole...if it was on its own protector...the surge may have been weak enough by the time it reached that particular TV that it wasn't strong enough to blow the set. From what you've described above...your home/equipment took a direct hit and would be identified as an electrical spike. A spike is different from a surge....and along with being much stronger...it's much more dangerous.

So very glad you, your hubby, beautiful kittie and your home are OK.

I would never have thought to unplug the irrigation control box when expecting a big storm.

I wonder if it would be smart to get a whole-house surge protector. Big deal? Electrician has to install? We are not in an especially storm-prone area.

I can't remember when I last saw a house built with a lightning rod.

The night of the storm that led to the flood our house was struck by lightning. It hit 2 of our huge trees blew out the entire top of the big oak tree which fell partly on the sun room roof partly on the big ac unit outside. It bounced from the pine tree to the oak to the house. We still have no idea what is damaged and what isn't because that happened at 4 am and in a few hours our house was filling with water. I know my atomic alarm clock was smoking and the numbers were dancing. We could not try the TV or electronics because we were dealing with the flood and trying to save stuff. So when we finally get back into the house and set stuff up we may find more that was damaged. We did let our homeowners insurance company know we were hit by lightning during the storm. It did take out the entire electronic portion of our heating and cooling system which had to be replaced. I tell you what that is a very scary situation! I am so glad y'all were not injured. I was just looking through the rv window at the big oak tree and it appears that it's a dying and the giant pine has a large portion at the top that's brown and looks burned. Taking that tree down will be extremely dangerous it's so tall right next to power lines and between me and my neighbors house . Lightening strikes are so strange some stuff is dead immediately some stuff not touched. Good luck with your repairs! And yes chip Peeka!

We just had the whole house rewired because of the flood and probably the lighting, it was shooting fire out of the outlets. I told my husband I want a whole house surge protector on the panel. They are not cheap but once this happens you know how valuable they are.

Check with a knowledgeable professional - I don't think whole house surge protectors provide any protection against a direct lightning strike as you describe having suffered. There are lightning protection systems that can be engineered for strikes on your house itself, but a surge from a lightning strike coming through the service wire is going to do what it will do. It's VERY high voltage.

I hope your repairs will soon finish to return you to your house.

Trees near homes are dangerous for many reasons, none more so than because of the danger they present in lightning-prone areas.

I can't even imagine how LOUD that must have been. I unplug my computer and hide downstairs if lightning seems really near. I wouldn't know where to begin unplugging, so I don't even try.

Wow, so glad you and yours are all ok. What a scare! We got hit by a large power surge a few years back and agree, it's important as it saved our tv but it was fried and I don't know what we replaced it with. I'm thankful for the reminder.

I'm happy for you that it wasn't too bad.

My neighbors tv antenna got hit by lightning several years ago right after we had gone to bed. We heard it through the electrical line. Then they came running over. The house was filling up with smoke. We ran over with our water hoses and my dad was able to get some water on the roof before the fire department showed up. The house was saved, but there was a lot of smoke and water damage. They realized after that that they did not have adequate escape routes. The upstairs got a deck and stairs down. The antenna was put under the roof.

That is scary. I have one surge protector in the living room that i have my tv, laptop and other electronics plugged into and I turn it off when I go to bed at night, leave the house or during a storm. I only have 1 grounded outlet in the living room so I have to use it. My window air conditioner in the kitchen comes with its own breaker. My large appliances are all plugged into grounded outlets but no surge protection. I don't know how but a few years ago I was on my cordless phone during a storm and I stood up to look out the front door and there was a bolt of lightening and i received a huge shock and couldn't get the phone out of my hand. That was scary enough for me. I don't do dishes, take showers or use the telephone during a lightening storm. Glad you were all safe

Super scary! I can imagine how loud that must have been!

Lightning is just terrifying when it's nearby. I'm glad that all the living beings are safe and sound and sorry for the loss of your electronics.

Nicole wrote: "I agree with the idea the surge protected outlets should not be working, ... Out of 5 TV's, why did 1 make it...? We just keep shaking our heads."

Everything observed is consistent with how and why surges do damage. Either a surge connects low impedance (ie less than 10 feet) to earth before entering. Or that surge is all but invited inside to hunt for earth destructively via appliances.

Assume a surge was incoming on a typical path - AC electric. A surge is incoming to every household appliance. Are all damaged? Of course not. It is called electricity. That means a current is incoming on one port while that same current at a same time is outgoing on another to earth. If both paths do not exist, then no electricity and no damage. That explains why some are damaged; others are not.

If plug-in protectors did as assumed, then everything without one was damaged - including a dishwasher, furnace, all clocks, any recharging electronics, door bell, smoke detectors, all GFCIs, central air, telephone appliances, etc. Knowledge means not ignoring exceptions. Best protection at each appliance was already inside each appliance. Plug-in protector did what its specification numbers said it would do for this type of surge - nothing.

If one appliance makes a better and destructive connection to earth, then it is protecting robust protection inside other appliances.

TV cable must already have best protection - as required by regulations, codes, industry standards, etc. So what is a best outgoing path to earth? Appliances connected to cable. Damage is often on the outgoing path (ie cable); not the incoming path (ie AC electric).

Damage is a human failure. Effective protection has been well understood and installed over 100 years ago. Unfortunately, most consumers ignore spec numbers and science. Most consumers listen to naive friends, wild speculation, sales brochures, and advertising.

Protection is always about where hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly dissipate? How many joules does each protector claim to absorb? Hundreds? A thousand? Just enough above zero so that a consumer *knows* it is 100% protection.

Cable company installs best protection for free - a hardwire connected low impedance (ie less than 10 feet) to single point earth ground. Earth ground does protection. No protector required.

Other incoming utilities (ie telephone, AC electric) cannot connect directly to earth. So a 'whole house' protector does what that hardwire does better. Makes a low impedance (ie less than 10 foot) connection to earth. Telco installs this for free. It only exists on AC electric if a homeowner installs it. Then a surge dissipates harmlessly outside in earth. Then a surge is not inside hunting for earth destructively via appliances.

More numbers. Lightning is typically 20,000 amps. So a minimal 'whole house' protector is 50,000 amps. Any protector that fails is ineffective protection. This 'whole house' solution costs about $1 per protected appliance. How much was that plug-in protector that does not even claim to protect from destructive surges? $25? $85?

Protection means one says where hundreds of thousands of joules are harmlessly absorbed. A protector is only as effective as THE most critical item in every protection system: single point earth ground. Then nobody knows a surge existed. Only that is effective protection - as found in every facility that cannot have damage. They also do not waste money on 'magic box' plug-in protectors. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground - that a plug-in protector does not have and will not discuss.

It takes a humongous transient protector to handle a lightening bolt, even a small one. I think your TV set shorted and served as a path to ground to dissipate the charge to ground.

Thank goodness, the TV was your only loss.

Power companies don't try transient protection from lightening. Instead, they hope to short it to ground. Next time you have a chance to see high voltage cross country transmission line, take a look at the top-most wires. You'll see those are mounted differently. Their insulators are small compared to the main transmission lines. The transmission lines, usually 3, are hanging from long insulators that are 2 to 3 ft long. Those top wires are above the main lines and are guard wires. These are connected to ground through a specialty braided cable. Hopefully, these guard wires will attract the lightening bolt and carry it to ground.

If you have an external aerial, lightening is a real hazard. Ham operators have dealt with this problem for many years, and devices have been developed to short the antenna to ground in the presence of a strong electric field. Western Electric of Chicago developed these many years ago. An el-cheapo version once employed by ham operators was an automotive spark plug. The plug did not drain too much radio signal from the aerial and when the electric field exceeded about 20,000 volts per quarter inch, the spark gap will break down and short the aerial to ground. It could not protect from some transients getting into the radio set, but could shunt enough energy to avoid fires. Sometimes, those old vacuum tube sets survived. Those old tube sets were rugged compared to solid state micro-circutry.

jemdandy wrote: "It takes a humongous transient protector to handle a lightening bolt, even a small one."

Quite true if that protector is adjacent to an appliance. Since an adjacent protector must somehow 'block' what three miles of sky cannot. Or that expensive protector, rated at thousands of joules, must somehow 'absorb' hundreds of thousands of joules.

Effective protectors that safely earth 50,000 amps and typically remain functional for decades are maybe 10 by 10 centimeters. Effective protectors (connected low impedance to earth) do not foolishly try to 'block' or 'absorb' a surge. Protection increases with increased separation between protector and appliance.

and make sure too you have the right surge protectors too for the wattage that is being plugged into it.

I use a separte for all the stuff at tv, lamp and fan those boxes.

Then another surge protector for computer stuff.

I have never had any problems at all.

My parents though noticed one day their surge protector was blinking and a guy came up and told my dad he needed bigger surge protector to protect what they had and they did and no problems after that.

We lived in an area where it was constantly loseage of power,etc.

and here where I live in condo it is bad but surge protectors have been good

and that is good.

kathleen44 wrote: "I use a separte for all the stuff at tv, lamp and fan those boxes. Then another surge protector for computer stuff. I have never had any problems at all."

It proves a furnace, dishwasher, all clocks, stove, washing machine, door bell, every kitchen and bathroom GFCI, central air, garage door opener, all smoke detectors, TVs, clock radios, recharging cell phones, and dimmer switches are on invisible protectors. Or you have used classic junk science reasoning. Most who believe myths ignore exceptions. If those other unprotected appliances were not damaged, then no surge existed. What then protected each surge protector?

Potentially destructive surge might occur once every seven years. Apparently you have not yet witnessed one.

No reason to believe protectors did anything. Otherwise other appliances are damaged.

Once a real surge exists, then learn that plug-in protector does virtually nothing - except enrich its manufacturer.. Or learn by reading manufacturer's specifications. Since even he does not claim those protectors protect from a destructive surge. Many want to be scammed; ignore spec numbers.

A repair guy knew he could sell a scam. If a protector was too small, then appliance damage existed. Or that protector's light reports it almost created a fire. Either the protector is completely failed. Or it remains fully functional.

Power has no relationship to a protector circuit. If plugs on that power strip are two rectangular prongs, then that power strip provides all power (ie 15 amps) that its wall receptacle can provide. Otherwise it would not have a UL label or appliances could not operate. He knew some people will not demand facts with numbers - therefore are easily scammed.

That power strip would have a 15 amp breaker meaning it provided 100% power. No other power strip can provide more power. But that is layman simple knowledge. He knew the parent did not even know layman simple numbers

Long before making any conclusion, first learn facts. Unfortunately a majority who *know* ignore numbers.

Those protector did nothing - as demonstrated by so many undamaged appliance that have no (or invisible) protectors.