Lightning Strikes

[DavidWW]

I'm taking the fairly unusual measure of cutting and pasting a post from a non-genealogical newsletter, - that of Fred Langa, which can be found at http://www.langa.com/ - there's a free version of his newsletter as well as the subscriber version. A lot of the content of the newsletter is highly technical, but a lot is also like below.

This is the best summary that I've seen of the situation. Please note that this is the copyright of Fred Langa, and if you forward it to anyone else, you must please credit Fred Langa at http://www.langa.com/

QUOTE
Bolts From Above

Hi Fred, - I think there must be a hundred answers to some
questions. I live in South Florida and we get a lot of
thunderstorms. I have APC Back Up Pro surge protector. A
newspaper Computer Tech columnist had written to unplug the
power and the phone line to prevent loosing your computer to a
lightning strike. Even is properly hooked up to a surge
protector. Some have said that a surge protector is only good
to have a few minutes to shut down if power goes out and is not
meant to save you from strikes. A friend that has a computer
video business says yes and he does do that. Others say I am OK
to stay plugged in. A Navy ET told me it is worse on the
computer to even shut them off at all. What is the best thing
to do? It would hurt to have to replace a burned computer now.
So what is one, on the low end of computer knowledge, to
do? One reason I like your web site. Learn a lot here!
Sincerely, - Burnham Neill

Yes, there's a lot of conflicting advice out there, and lightning has its
own little cluster of myths about it.

The safest thing is to unplug sensitive electronics. When you think about
it, the reason's clear: A lightning bolt that can jump through literally
miles/kilometers of empty air isn't going to be stopped by the tiny air
gap inside an on/off switch, right? And a lightning bolt that can set
trees afire, or melt holes in steel, isn't going to even notice the
"surge protection" electronics in a power strip or UPS.

A good UPS/surge protector can help with power flickers, voltage sags,
momentary outages, and the like. But if lightning hits the wiring in or
anywhere even in the vicinity of your home or office, the only thing that
will save your gear is to have it physically disconnected--- unplugged.

It's a judgment call you have to make, based on the severity, proximity,
and frequency of storms in your area. I have all my PCs connected via
surge protectors/UPSes, but unplug them only rarely because we don't
often get violent electrical storms here in New Hampshire. If or when you
*do* get them in your area, then pulling the plug is the safest thing.

(An aside about another lightning myth: Cars are safe in a lightning
storm, but not because of any supposed insulation provided by rubber
tires. Again, a lightning bolt that can bore through huge distances of
insulating empty air isn't going to be stopped by a little rubber. The
tires have nothing to do with it: Rather, it's the steel cage of the
car's body that allows the current to flow *around* the occupants, and
then through or around the tires into the ground.)

See also: items #1-3 in http://langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-06-18.htm
; and also http://langa.com/u/5c.htm . Plus! subscribers can find
additional, Plus!-only coverage by searching the Plus! standalone
archives ( http://langalist.com/plus/archives/archives.asp ) for the
following:
ENDQUOTE

David

[Andy]

Never answer the phone during a thunderstorm at least 4 people a year die in Singapore getting zapped while on the phone.

[DavidWW]

Andy makes an excellent point. It's not made clear at all in the Fred Langa material that "unplugging" should also mean disconnecting the phone/cable connection

Even if the phone connection comes via a power point extension with built-in power surge protection that also has a phone line connection, pulling out the power plug from the wall socket will still leave a path into the computer via the telephone connection.

The Golden Rule is "if in doubt, shutdown, and disconnect all power, telephone and cable connections".

David