Greetings all. As of late we've been getting some incredible thunderstorms
with enough hits to think it's a war. Anyway some of my equipment has
suffered and I'm looking for ideas to better protect everything in my house.
Is a whole house surge protector the answer? Do I have to wrap the house in
a metal grid? Any help or ideas would help. Everything is properly grounded
just to start. I haven't had a direct hit but close enough....
Thanks for any input.

There are four main entry points for ligthning.
Radio antennas
AC main power
Telco
CATV/Satellite

http://www.polyphaser.com/ppc_ptd_home.aspx
Is a good place to start.

Good protection won't be cheap. And according to some
who live in FL, the strikes there are intense enough to
defeat even good protection.

I have survived on direct strick that vaporised coax and
antenna, and several near by strikes that took out nearby
trees with no damage.

Good protection will also require a good, low resistance
ground. Not a casual project.

Terry

I use a Brickwall surge filter,model 8R15 www.pricewheeler.com
www.brickwall.com For my computer,I use an APC model 1000 battery
back up. www.apc.com Your phone company can add a lightning strike
protector where your phone line enters your home or building,there might
be a monthly charge added to your phone bill for that.
cuhulin

On Tue, 02 Aug 2005 09:22:01 GMT, "finalquest"
wrote:


Greetings all. As of late we've been getting some incredible thunderstorms
with enough hits to think it's a war. Anyway some of my equipment has
suffered and I'm looking for ideas to better protect everything in my house.
Is a whole house surge protector the answer? Do I have to wrap the house in
a metal grid? Any help or ideas would help. Everything is properly grounded
just to start. I haven't had a direct hit but close enough....
Thanks for any input.


Move to the desert.

Hello.

I have whole-house protection as well as individual surge protectors
and/or UPS units on each and every one of my electronic components.
These certainly offer adequate protection except, of course, against a
direct lightning strike such as a "bolt from the blue," for which there
is no advance warning. (My antennas are all indoor types; my main
antenna, a Wellbrook ALA330S, is mounted in my attic. So these antennas
do not have to be physically disconnected from my radios during a storm
as it is imperative to do with outdoor ones.)

Even so, when my equipment is not in actual use, everything is
unplugged (including the power supply to the Wellbrook antenna). I have
written about this, and its importance, before. While it may seem a
"pain" to unplug all the time, believe me, you soon get used to it and
the peace-of-mind it affords makes it well-worth the small effort
required.

Best,

Joe

I'd like to thank everybody for the help..... I won't be moving to the
desert though. After speaking with the local electric utility I'm going for
the whole house surge protector with smaller plug in units for all
electronics. The APC units are under consideration.

Thanks !





"finalquest" wrote in message
ink.net...
Greetings all. As of late we've been getting some incredible thunderstorms
with enough hits to think it's a war. Anyway some of my equipment has
suffered and I'm looking for ideas to better protect everything in my
house. Is a whole house surge protector the answer? Do I have to wrap the
house in a metal grid? Any help or ideas would help. Everything is
properly grounded just to start. I haven't had a direct hit but close
enough....
Thanks for any input.

www.lightningstorm.com A few years ago I saw a science or discovery
tv program that said lightning starts at the bottom and travels up.
cuhulin

cuhulin:

absolutely, with ultra-high-speed-cams you can actually see it...

John

wrote in message
...
www.lightningstorm.com A few years ago I saw a science or discovery
tv program that said lightning starts at the bottom and travels up.
cuhulin

On Tue, 2 Aug 2005 17:59:42 -0700, "John Smith"
wrote:


cuhulin:

absolutely, with ultra-high-speed-cams you can actually see it...

John

wrote in message
...
www.lightningstorm.com A few years ago I saw a science or discovery
tv program that said lightning starts at the bottom and travels up.
cuhulin



There's a strike in each direction, no?

Welll.....Sorta... To me, it's almost in both directions at the same
time it's so quick. I guess you could consider the streamer as the
first part of the strike, but you need a down leader to complete
the strike. The downleader connects with the streamer, and you
have a strike, which can pulse more than once. If you have a streamer,

and no leaders find it, you ain't gonna have a strike. So it takes
both ends to make a strike. Saying it starts at the bottom is semi
misleading, to me anyway...It really goes both ways, and they meet
in the middle to complete a strike. Or thats the way I see it...
But, the streamer does form first of the two, so I guess that would
make it seem to start at the bottom... MK