Struck by Lightning, What Can Help???

There have been some bad T-storms lately. A few days ago, my house was struck by lightning. A bunch of electronics got fried. Thankfully I think that my MLs and my Anthem amp are both okay. However, my Denon 3806 can only output audio now. I have already ordered a Denon 3808 as a replacement but just wanted to see what people are doing to help minimize the damage caused by a lightning strike? Any help/suggestion would be appreciated. Thank you very much in advance.

Yang1815 said:

There have been some bad T-storms lately. A few days ago, my house was struck by lightning. A bunch of electronics got fried. Thankfully I think that my MLs and my Anthem amp are both okay. However, my Denon 3806 can only output audio now. I have already ordered a Denon 3808 as a replacement but just wanted to see what people are doing to help minimize the damage caused by a lightning strike? Any help/suggestion would be appreciated. Thank you very much in advance.

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In my experience, the damage caused to amps and preamps is usually less expensive to repair than if the cd player got hit. One has to open things up, of course, to find out what got fried.

Good Luck!

For a true direct strike on the house, there is nothing that will protect you. Surge protectors et al can minimize effects from induced surge current (ie - lightning hitting near wires, inducing current the way a transformer or antenna does). Lightning goes wherever it wants to, and it doesn't need a normally-conductive path like a wire to do so.

The protection against direct strikes is insurance ... (or converting your house into a Farraday cage).

There is one very simple and cheap way. Works pretty much 100%.
Unplug everything - AC - antenna cables - etc.

I live in Tampa, considered the lightning capital of the world, and our local power company offers the "Zap Cap," which is their version of the Meter Treater (http://www.metertreater.com/), a whole-house surge protector. That, combined with local indoor surge protectors, offers some degree of lightning protection, insofar that it includes $500,000 loss coverage (but max $5000 per damaged device). You can check with your local power company and see if they offer it. Unfortunately, lightning can still travel via your TV/cable/phone lines, or wired ethernet, or via a direct "hit" as mentioned above.

In my case, the Zap Cap has definitely "saved" me a couple times, including a next-door lightning strike (that surged through neighbors homes), and a major household surge when the power transformer in front of my house blew up!

If possible, you can also unplug all critical components when not using them, but if they have ethernet or coax antenna connections, they are still "at risk." Obviously, your household insurance coverage is the "last resort."