[olug] One Point Twenty-One Jigawatts

[Dave Hull]

On Tue, 13 May 2003, Joe Catanzaro wrote:

> When a storm rolls in, do you turn off the computer? Rely on a cheap surge 
> protector? Rely on an expensive surge protector? Unplug everything?

I've got a cheap (actually it was free) UPS which protects my systems from 
power surges.

> How does the lightning get to my computer? Does it strike the power pole in 
> the back ally and then travel through the circuits in my house? Or does it 
> hit my house directly?

I spoke to my mom on Sunday and she told me they had a storm this weekend and 
lighting struck the electric pole (which then caught fire) in their backyard, 
travelled down the line and fried their answering machine, everything else is 
plugged into power strips and two of those were fried, but the computer, 
monitor, scanner, microwave, t.v., fridge, etc. were all ok.

My folks live in a small town (pop. < 100) and several other people in town 
had electronic items destroyed as a result of the surge travelling down the 
line to the rest of the town.

A friend of mine just had it breaker box replaced last weekend and opted to 
have a whole house surge protector installed. It's much cheaper to replace 
that than it is to replace computers, t.v.s, etc.

Good luck.

-- 
Dave Hull
http://insipid.com

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