Lightning strike damage

[lazylivin]

Had a major lighting strike close to house tonight. It took out internet cable modem, tv switcher and Apex controller. Ugh... Unexpected major costs suck! Wife is away; when she comes home to no internet, no tv and a $550 charge for replacement aquarium controller she is not going to be happy. If I go missing check back yard for fresh turned dirt

[Kenn]

Oh My!  Start out with "Thank goodness no one was hurt, but..." 

[Steve]

Will house insurance cover it?

[kellyj]

Lazy,
Did you have a surge protector?  Some of them come with insurance if damage gets through.
Kelly

[lazylivin]

My home owners insurance deductible is $1000 and total loss is about $750. I have a basic lowes surge protector on the cable modem and AV switcher but not Apex. Neither of the two surge protectors flipped and there are other devices on it that was not affected. As of right now damage appears to only be these 3 items.

[Twizted1]

Sorry to hear that. If you stop posting, I'll come check the back yard lol.

[vickiwilson]

Wow sorry to hear that!  I hope you manage to get things sorted and your wife isn't too mad.  I unplugged my tanks before the storm hit and we lost power for a while, luckily the fish didn't even notice.

[Bucknutz]

I had this happen a few weeks ago. It took out my modem, and directv boxes. External fuses to the central air, and furnace were fried as well.

[lazylivin]

I was home and saw the storm coming in, I knew it was going to be nasty, thought about unplugging the Apex but I didn't.
Should I consider getting a surge protector to put on it. I never had one actually flip before. Maybe it's a quality issue?

[Kenn]

It is usually a quality issue Brian. However, surge protectors really are not designed to help against lightning strikes. They help best against surges from the Electrical Provider during outages when power is going on and off. During a strike there is so much voltage and amperage, the power just leaps across the connections ( think of the gap in a spark plug ). The expensive ones will protect you better due to their design and give you a better chance. nothing beats "unplugging"

[lazylivin]

Good to know thanks Kenn

[Kenn]

It sounds like it came through your cable lines... is this correct ?

[lazylivin]

It sounds like it came through your cable lines... is this correct ?

I am not sure. It fried a device on each floor. Basement, main floor and upstairs. All on different power circuits

when I stopped at Time Warner to pick up to the cable modem there was a whole bunch of people in there who lost their also in storm yesterday

[Kenn]

Just a thought It sounds like the stuff that got fried were all hooked into the cable system in some way. either TV or Internet.

BTW sorry about the Apex, that truly SUCKS

[Bucknutz]

All my devices were on surge protectors and they didn't help.

[lazylivin]

The cable modem does have both cable/Ethernet attachment. The apex and switcher is on wireless.

[lazylivin]

Kenn your right it must have went through network as well. After hooking up the replacement cable modem I found all the LAN ports on the router fried and network card in one of three PC's

[Kenn]

Kenn your right it must have went through network as well. After hooking up the replacement cable modem I found all the LAN ports on the router fried and network card in one of three PC's

Well crap. Sorry to hear that. Well at least it sounds like the PCs survived.

[lazylivin]

Yes just the nic card so that is good

[Miles]

Sorry to hear this happened to you Lazy, we had the same thing happen to us on the 20th. It appears that it came in through our DirecTV dish. Damaged a few things, but not enough damage for an insurance claim.