Ow.

[alfreda89]

Following lightning strike to south yard:

PC board for older hot tub, from New England store (the last board on Earth, apparently):

$450.00

Shipping from New England store, the last store on Earth, apparently:

$20.00

Installation of same:

$85.00

Cost yet to be determined:

Garage Door opener -- replaced.
Wall socket behind stereo system -- replaced.


Once, we'll do it. If it happens again, we may need to see if madspark can be creative with the board. A new hot tub is not in the budget this fall, and W. has become addicted!

I repeat -- OW.

Comments

[mongo42.livejournal.com]

Ow, indeed! Sorry you got bezapped.

[madspark.livejournal.com]

Ouch, that's not pretty.

I'd happily re-engineer the hot tub's control system this winter in trade for being able to use it from time to time!

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Yiiii.

Humans and animals are OK? Computers are OK?

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Astonishingly, yes --

I was even working then, starting to shut down the system, when I saw a bright light out of the corner of my eye. If you've ever been within 100 feet, say, of a strike, you know it -- or if an electrical box gets hit. At work once we saw the boxes in series along the highway blow from the current shift.

I thought the stereo was fried, but I plugged it in once more before dumping it, and it works -- but half the wall socket no longer works! So, next time we get an electrician (to move the bedroom wing thermostat, so the big room doesn't always trigger the A/C) I'll ask him to check the sockets in that room.

And I'll start backing up to the gig stick again (I have an Iomega backing up, but the stick is easier to sort out!)

[noiseinmyhead.livejournal.com]

and this is why we have a whole house surge protector...and surge protectors on almost all items...

Interesting --

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I didn't know they made them. I'll mention it to W.

[madspark.livejournal.com]

Interesting; fried some of your sockets?

If it's not dead breakers (it wouldn't be if the socket is split in function, unless half of it is a GFC type) -- it's dead socket or wires in the walls. If it's dead wires, especially, I would worry a LOT about fire hazard.

How dead is the wire? A small break, some intermittent contact, and you could get some unpleasant resistive heating. I really don't know what kinds of failure modes lightning will give, but all in all, I'd poke around the wiring sooner than later.

Hummm....

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I think we checked that breaker, but maybe not. W has a tester for wall sockets somewhere -- I'll look for it. Thanks --

Whoa --

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Floor tiles and trim? ARGGHH!

Now I'm wondering about whether my UPS is good enough....

Re: Whoa --

[madspark.livejournal.com]

Really, almost nothing will protect you from a direct or near-direct strike; the voltage will jump across any piddly barrier we put in its way.

The protectors are only good for more distant strikes, to stop the already attenuated surge flowing out from the center.

Michael at work, I believe, had his house struck a couple years back and cooked it solid, killed almost everything electronic within.

Yes --

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

It was Michael -- can't remember if it was the house, or the yard, I remember...it knocked him off the couch? -- everything fried, and of course his insurance would only pay for the cheapest unit and would not let him contribute to a better one.

We occasionally talk about the martian spaceship buried under his cove -- there have been a HIGH percentage of hits to that neighborhood.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

Yiiii.

Humans and animals are OK? Computers are OK?

Yup --

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Your expanded answer is at the site!

Hope all is well; haven't seen your pixels for a while.