Lightning Strikes

My wife and I just experienced a little taste of what Florida weather has to offer the other day: we lost two TVs, our garage door opener, cable modem, network router, two PC network cards, a ceiling fan and a VCR to either a power surge or lightning strike last week. We're not sure which it was; I would think it was a power surge that came in through the cable since we had surge suppressors on all the power plugs, however that doesn't explain the fan, garage door opener, etc. getting fried.

Whatever it was, all I know is that electricity can do some funny things sometimes. The ironic thing is that we'd been away for a long weekend in the North Carolina mountains and everything was fine when we returned, only to have this little event occur while we ran out on some errands.

So, we're going to be out at least $500, which is our deductible, of course, but I guess it could have been worse. We'd unplugged the TVs for our trip but it never occurred to me to put a surge protector on the cable itself. (A resounding DUH.) I have already ordered three of these (two for the TVs, which we've already replaced, and one for the cable modem) and I would recommend anyone reading this to do the same. Especially if you live in Florida, lightning capital of the world. These run anywhere from $5 to $25, and I ordered mine on eBay. I've also ordered a special surge protector for the garage door. At $30, I think it's worth it.

To think this cheapo (as in, $5) little item could've possibly saved our TVs!

Strangely enough, the insurance company told me that they don't give any breaks on our premiums for having surge supressors. Hmm.