Lightning almost hit my house, fried most of my electronics and AC

[Millhouse]

Yeah good to hear house is ok.

Best advice to protect the pricey electronic stuff like a 4k tv, or new pc, etc, is to unplug it basically. I unplug my surge strip for my tv, blu ray, xbox. Then remove the coaxial cable into cable box to get all my stuff completely 'off the grid'. Also do the same with my pcs, modem, router, etc.

I got nailed few years ago from a lightning hit, not again (hopefully).

[*Go Cards*]

At least nobody was hurt and the house did not get damaged.

Sucks about the rest though.

[*Go Cards*]

(09-06-2018, 09:18 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: Lightning is serious stuff. I was in Germany Prestorm playing softball and a lightning strike ran right over us and landed right outside right field fence. My friggen heart fluttered and I tasted aluminum and mouth got real dry. But my name is Michael, so I was named after an archangel, so I guess that helped me get through. Your electronics had no chance.

Not trying to make light of your situation, I’m glad your ok and house is ok. Everything else can be replaced. Well, House could too, but painful to do so. Sorry for all the crap you going through.

Was playing softball in a tournament at Grand Canyon when the same thing happened over the right field fence. 

Scared the heck out of everyone but nobody got hurt except for my buddy who was at bat. 

Must have came through bat and put him straight down and out for a minute or so.

Thought it killed him momentarily. 

Was not present at this one but my uncle and his family were in Florida when lightning struck in water out a little ways and knocked my uncle out who was on walking on beach. Did not get his kids but knocked the heck out of him. 

Lightning does not play that is for sure.  

[grampahol]

Years ago in Illinois I was up under a bridge during a storm and lighting hit the guard rail directly in front of me which made me jump and my head hit the bottom of the bridge ..nearly knocked me out.. Turned out that a tornado went over the top of the bridge around the same time and destroyed all the signs out there ... I still have strange dreams from that night 40 years ago.. I was up under the bridge with a friend and we had a tarp wrapped around us and still got soaked..The wind ripped the tarp away from us and we never did find it the next morning.  I keep hearing news people tell you to never get under a bridge during a tornado ,but two things..it probably saved our lives and I don't ever want to do that again the rest of my days .  

[grampahol]

I'm guessing that the wires outside your house are all underground because the vast majority of lighting damage to home electronics via lighting happen around buried cables.. 
In Texas lighting hit the transformer up on a pole less than a block away and nothing was damaged except for the transformer and we were without power for a few days. Twas really really loud and the pole burned down, but that was it..

[George Cantstandya]

(09-08-2018, 11:22 AM)grampahol Wrote: I'm guessing that the wires outside your house are all underground because the vast majority of lighting damage to home electronics via lighting happen around buried cables.. 
In Texas lighting hit the transformer up on a pole less than a block away and nothing was damaged except for the transformer and we were without power for a few days. Twas really really loud and the pole burned down, but that was it..

Yeah the are all underground. 

Also thanks all for the kind words.  Again, I'm glad it wasn't worse and didn't injure myself or my dog. It has been more of a ,"You have to be f'ing kidding me," type of stress event. Especially since I just bought the house less than a year ago and spent a fair amount of money already on some upgrades and such.

Things are slowly getting sorted out.  Insurance sent a guy out to inspect all my fried electronics so he could submit a report to them.  Luckily it has cooled so being without AC is not as much of an issue.  I just noticed today it seems to have also messed up my dishwasher. I'd not had a reason to use it since the lightning event until today. It starts to run but won't go through the cycles.  Just runs like it is first washing but never progresses past that to draining, rinsing etc, just runs forever at the first step of the cycle.  So I suppose insurance will have send someone out to look at that as well.  Luckily I have two back up dishwashers in the form of a right and left hand.  :)

More importantly I have TV and cable back up and running so I can watch the game tomorrow and maybe make some lame jokes in the game day thread.

[grampahol]

At the very least you have a good excuse for being late for work tomorrow since your alarm clock got fried.. Even if it wasn't use the excuse anyway and sleep in tomorrow.. 
I'm just looking out for your excuses. Don't take it personally.  

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

Wow!  Glad you are ok my friend, and it didn't directly hit the house.  Sucks about the rest, but looks like your insurance will get you set back up.  Just lucky to not have the house burnt.

[George Cantstandya]

(09-12-2018, 03:52 PM)Wyche Wrote: Wow!  Glad you are ok my friend, and it didn't directly hit the house.  Sucks about the rest, but looks like your insurance will get you set back up.  Just lucky to not have the house burnt.

Thanks and yes I was lucky.  The local news last week said 6 houses in my area got hit by lightning and caught fire during the same storm.

As for updates on insurance.  They sent out people to check things.  It seems my HVAC was not totally fried and can be repaired, something about the flame sensor on the heater and circuit board.  Also they sent someone to check the garage door opener and electronics and the report was damaged beyond repair.  The total cost of repairing the HVAC and replacing the other items is below my $2500 deductible. So I'll be paying out of pocket. Fortunately before I bought the house I set money aside in the event I needed the money for repairs. I just wasn't expecting to have to dip in to those funds so soon as I bought the house last December.

One other thing that happened that I will mention as sort of an FYI in the event someone else here experiences a similar situation was related to my electrical.  A few of my GFI outlets seemed to have been damaged as well so I had an electrician come out. He replaced them but when he heard it was a lightning strike he asked me if my smoke alarms still worked.  I assumed they did because the light for all of them was still on. However, they are all connected so if one goes off it is supposed to make the others go off and that seems to have failed as they didn't do that during testing.  I would have never thought of that.  He also checked the water ground to the house because he said that could have been damaged as well.  I'd never even heard of that so would not have even known the check it. Fortunately it wasn't damaged.

So all in all this has been a bit stressful but nothing I can't deal with.  Mostly it has been a interesting learning experience although a costly one.  I have to say my insurance representative was awesome and extremely helpful during this whole process.  I'll be sure to write a nice letter to his supervisor when I get a chance over the next few days.

[grampahol]

Unrelated, but maybe related..I just got an update on my storm tracker app and apparently Florence is heading straight towards us. It'll be downgraded quite a bit before it gets here, but a BUNCH OF rain and some pretty hefty winds.. We're still 134 miles from Myrtle Beach so I'm not panicked or anything..quite a bit of high ground to pass through before it gets here.
Looks like I'll be mowing a lot of grass in the coming weeks . That's always fun when it's hot and humid.  

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(09-12-2018, 05:52 PM)George Cantstandya Wrote: Thanks and yes I was lucky.  The local news last week said 6 houses in my area got hit by lightning and caught fire during the same storm.

As for updates on insurance.  They sent out people to check things.  It seems my HVAC was not totally fried and can be repaired, something about the flame sensor on the heater and circuit board.  Also they sent someone to check the garage door opener and electronics and the report was damaged beyond repair.  The total cost of repairing the HVAC and replacing the other items is below my $2500 deductible. So I'll be paying out of pocket.  Fortunately before I bought the house I set money aside in the event I needed the money for repairs.  I just wasn't expecting to have to dip in to those funds so soon as I bought the house last December.

One other thing that happened that I will mention as sort of an FYI in the event someone else here experiences a similar situation was related to my electrical.  A few of my GFI outlets seemed to have been damaged as well so I had an electrician come out. He replaced them but when he heard it was a lightning strike he asked me if my smoke alarms still worked.  I assumed they did because the light for all of them was still on. However, they are all connected so if one goes off it is supposed to make the others go off and that seems to have failed as they didn't do that during testing.  I would have never thought of that.  He also checked the water ground to the house because he said that could have been damaged as well.  I'd never even heard of that so would not have even known the check it. Fortunately it wasn't damaged.

So all in all this has been a bit stressful but nothing I can't deal with.  Mostly it has been a interesting learning experience although a costly one.  I have to say my insurance representative was awesome and extremely helpful during this whole process.  I'll be sure to write a nice letter to his supervisor when I get a chance over the next few days.

Man, I sure hate that for those people.  Seems you really were very fortunate in that regard.

Interesting, and helpful tips....appreciate the heads up.  I know what you mean about funds and new houses.  It's taken me years to get mine to where I'm at least happy with the outside.  Now for some flooring and a few updates inside.  Deductibles are a *****.  It sure isn't cool to have to dip into your reserves for that.

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(09-12-2018, 10:14 PM)grampahol Wrote: Unrelated, but maybe related..I just got an update on my storm tracker app and apparently Florence is heading straight towards us. It'll be downgraded quite a bit before it gets here, but a BUNCH OF rain and some pretty hefty winds.. We're still 134 miles from Myrtle Beach so I'm not panicked or anything..quite a bit of high ground to pass through before it gets here.
Looks like I'll be mowing a lot of grass in the coming weeks . That's always fun when it's hot and humid.  

Stay safe gramps.....we were just in Darlington over the Labor Day weekend, and damn it was HOT...and humid.  Oh, and fire ants.