Power Surges

[mousexpert]

What exactly is the recommended procedure when there is a thunder and lightning storm? Some people say that you should shut down your computer, others say having a surge bar isn't enough and you should unplug it, do you unplug the phone line or cable line as well. Is this a case of better safe than sorry??

Thanks!!

 

[Grenage]

I'm in the UK in a low lying residential area so lightning storms aren't too common or dangerous.

As long as I have a surge protector on the power I am happy, although to be perfectly honest I have only ever seen lightning come down the phone line before around here. I've seen plently of smoked modems(external modems) and smoked computers(internal modems) but never found anything for the phone line that might stop it.

 

[mcmanusa]

I keep my computer on 24/7 unless there is a massive thunder storm, in which case I turn it off. However, I do not unplug it from my surge protector.

If you are concerned about lightning coming down the phone line, you may want to think about purchasing a surge protector that has a built in phone jack.

While surge protectors aren't 100% failsafe, the better ones come with warranties ($10,000 - $25,000 CDN) in case of the slim chance that your computer does get hit.

If you have very sensative data on your machine, and no way of backing it up regularly, then I guess I can see unplugging your machine to be 100% safe. However, this is kind of overkill.

 

[HKinNYC]

Have I lost equipment due to weather? Yes. Depending on your budget, you might consider a Uninterrupted Power Soure/Supply (UPS). That will let you work during storms without a worry. Without one, I wouldn't count on a power surge against lighting strikes and would personally turn off a system for the cheapest solution.

Never went as far as to unplug everything.

 

[edfair]

After you have seen a surge protector blown apart and the computer behind it totally smoked you will realize that unplugging everything is the only really safe way. That includes the phone line, any printer cable more than 10 feet long, and network cables.
That being said, I generally have mine powered down only. I've lost 4 modems in 20 years, 3 at one shot, in an active area.
My customers lose modems often enough that I keep spares in the car.

Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[JimInKS]

I live in the central US and we tend to have quite a few thunderstorms in the spring.
I use UPS's religiously. It's not uncommon to have 6 or 7 power hits a week that trigger the UPS. Of course, we leave our computer on 24x7 too.

I also recommend having a surge suppressor on the telephone line and a good modem. Most current UPS's have telephone surge protection built in.

Most of the modems I see that get fried are the cheap no-name versions. I prefer Zoom brand modems, they are reasonably priced, seem to work well, and advertise they have built in lightning protection. I have never had one go bad.

I also tend to use external modems. I like the additional features, I think they are more reliable, and in the event you do get a surge on the phone line you have one more box between the line and your computer.

If you run the computer rather infrequently just get a good power strip with built-in protection, you probably have a power strip anyway. The difference in price is not that great. $5 for cheap strip, $15 for decent strip. Pick a good brand and look at the Joule rating (the amount of energy the surge suppressor can absorb) the higher the better. Here is a good example from tripplite:

http://www.tripplite.com/products/product.cfm?productID=135

 

[ceh4702]

A storm can damage a computer Or an expensive TV or satelite equipment. One problem can arise from when the electricity cuts out and then comes back on. Often when the electricity comes back on, there is a big jolt in power. This creates a surge that is pretty strong and can do some damage.

In some places you can also get brown outs. The danger here is the voltage or the available wattage may drop or fluctuate. A computer power supply needs a constant supply of voltage. This can play havoc with a computer and cause a computer to crash or reboot, which will probably cause damage to files and can cause damage to components.

Lightning itself can also cause surges. This is extremely dangerous if you have a tranformer nearby. They are like a lightning magnet. If a telephone pole with a transformer is struck by lightning you can receive a power surge accross the power lines, accross the phone lines and accross the Cable TV Lines. This is most dangerous to the Cable TV Lines or the telephone lines in my experience.

I have incurred damage to netwroking equipment from lightning. A Hub I had was completely damaged due to lightning. This applies to Networking or cable/DSL/Modem equipment more than anything else. Hubs and switches are most vulnerable. This is because they operate with very weak signals. Therefore, It does not take a very large surge to damage them. Owners of satelite systems and home networking equipment may want to use some inline cable surge protectors. I think they often sell them at Radio Shack for about $9.00 or so. I have heard some people suggest using 2 of them. One where the cable comes into the house and one where the most expensive cable devices are like an expensive TV, Satelite System, or an entrance to a cable or DSL network device. These devices just screw onto the cable TV Cable.

I think if I had one of those TV's that cost over $1,000.00 this would be a wise investment; especially a nice Plasma High-definition TV or a projection TV.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.