Bern et al,

Lightning is a definitely a phenomenon. I had a friend with a computer with
two surge protectors, and a voltage regulator on his computer system and
when his home got zapped the electrical discharge traveled through the two
surge protectors destroying them, and then, evidently followed on the
outside of his voltage regulator and when it got to the end of the line
where his computer was it melted the case on his monitor and fried the
inside of the CPU case and blew up his printer.

I had an electrical surge take out one of the telephone jacks and kill my
modem. Now-a-days, if it is raining, and certainly if there is thunder, the
computer does not get turned on and if heard while being used, it is
immediately shut off. I also the unplug the main plug from the wall socket.
I have a surge protector and a UPS, put I certainly don't take chances with
lightning. In addition, when I got a new phone jack I setup the line to my
computer where when I am finished with using my computer I disconnected the
telephone line to isolate the computer from telephone line.

Tom L.L.
===============================
"bmuller" wrote in message
s.com...

"Anne Lurie" wrote in message
.com...

Well, I happened to have the paperwork from one of our APC UPS units
right
here, and it says (in part): "Power line transients that APC products
have
been designed to protect against, as recognized by industry standards,
include spikes and surges on AC power lines."
This reply is not targeted at the last poster, but at what seems to be a
general bit of confusion in the group.

There are spikes and surges on power lines as a result of everyday
industrial usage in the general area. Surge suppressors work well for
these. Most commercial surge suppressors these days use a 3 prong plug
which should provide an adequate ground for this purpose. A lightning
strike miles away may also lead to a spike which is amenable to
a surge suppressor. But, a direct lightning strike in the close
neighborhood
can generate lots of power, and no surge suppressor will protect from
that
(lightning, in fact, acts so bizzarrely that I doubt anything (including
lightning rods)will provide 100% protection.) I agree that a surge
suppressor without a ground is next to useless, but most have such a
ground
these days.

By the way, lightning rods are not supposed to "draw the lightning" away
from the protected structure. Any wire you might use would be far too
flimsy
to carry such a load. What a lightning rod does is to slowly discharge the
atmosphere surrounding it (that is why it should have a sharp point) and
to
lessen the probability of a strike in the area (look in any physics book).

An earlier poster mentioned a ground fault interrputer circuit (GFI).
This
is intended to save your life from electrocution if you should happen to
touch a live power line while your feet (or other part) is grounded. The
GFI
senses that there is current going from hot directly to ground (through
you)
without going back through the GFI and the unit shuts off the juice
before
any damage can be done. All bathroom and outdoor sockets should be
equipped with GFIs for safety. However, a GFI does nothing to protect
equipment
from surges, spikes, or lightning.

I have several friends whe have had their surge suppressor "blow up" (it
was doing its job) in response to a massive line surge, and the attached
equipment was not damaged. Other equipment in the house did not fare so
well. This is by no means "proof" of effectiveness, but I do not believe a
good surge suppressor is as useless as one correspondent seems to believe.

bern muller