Sometimes I just feel cursed. We had a devastating hailstorm a couple months ago. Then in the wee hours of the morning last Thursday the 6th of September, lightning struck the neighbor’s house. Yeah, they got it worse – blew a 3-foot hole in the top of their roof. But the effect of the strike impacted us harshly, as well. Here is the complete list (as of mid-November) of the electronic equipment lost:
Solar Inverter ($$$)
Sunfire Subwoofer ($$$$)
Both TVs
Server (recovered just last night – so you can see this! 😉
2 PCs – not even turned on
Garage Door Opener
2 UPS
Wineguard 8200U Long-Range Antenna
Aquarium Timer
Hot Tub Breaker (tub survived – yay!)
Security Cam DVR
8 of 10 Security Cams
5 of 6 network switches
Cable Modem
UV Sterilizer in the pond
2 Outdoor lighting transformers
2 Outdoor Lighting Timers
2 Outlaw 975 Preamp/Processors
2 Surround Amps
1 circuit in the garage (loose wire knocked clear out)
Numerous Wall Warts
Recumbent Exercise Bike
Elliptical Exercise Machine
2 USB chargers
1 Nano iPod
1 iPhone6
6 cans of beer
It was a big one – enough to open up the neighbor’s house and disintegrate the light pole on the corner it arc’d to ground on. It blew the nails out of the drywall in the rooms near where it hit and left black marks around the electrical outlets throughout their house. I can’t imagine what they are dealing with right now. Fortunately we had only 3 big ticket items not covered by warranty – the Sharp 70″ TV, Sunfire Sub and the server. The rest of it is either being replaced under warranty, or out-of-pocket. After a little fuzzy math, I determined the tipping point for filing an insurance claim considering expected future premium hikes was not quite reached. I would recoup only a couple thousand $’s after the deductible, so it’s just not worth the hassle and time spent doing that.
Basically anything with a chip in the direct dissipation path got smoked. The garage door and track seemed to focus the blast into the garage, despite being farthest from the strike. Only the parked cars and a couple primitive pieces like the bench grinder and compressor were OK, but everything else in there was fried. The basement was also hit hard, where it came in right through the ground. The last item on that list is telling in the nature of the strike on us. The blast effect did not appear to travel primarily in the wiring. It was ionizing radiation dissipating directly through the air and ground. It literally opened tiny pinholes in cans of beer sitting on the floor in our basement. Some of the damaged electronics was attached to apparently unhurt UPS units.
Sounded like an artillery shell hitting right outside the house. Scary. I’m tired.