Thunderstorms and Computers

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Why are we so “friggin” paranoid about being online while a thunderstorm is occuring?

I understand that any of the following may, or may not, occur while online during a thunderstorm. I do not dispute these possiblities. I do, however, dispute the probability.
[ul]
[li]Lightning may strike the power lines, causing a power surge which might fry the pc, and possibly the user.[/li][li]Lightning may strike the telephone lines, (if not buried) causing a power surge, which might fry the pc, and possibly the user.[/li][li]Lightning may strike the structure, or an item connected to said structure, “finding” a route to which the computer may be connected, more damage.[/li][li]A power failure may occur, causing loss of valuable un-saved data.[/li][/ul]

With the above said and duly noted, I still find this “apprehension” to be utterly ridiculous. I have remained online countless times during thunderstorms and have had no “problems” at all. The largest “problem” I have encountered has been any given number of my buddies disconnecting, like terrified rabbits running from a rabid rottweiler, because a thunderstorm is occuring.
quote: "Gotta go, it’s storming outside! bye "

I have known several people who have had one, or more, of the above happen to them while they were online. This would explain thier apprehensiveness. Obviously, these people survived, unscathed, with the possible exception of emotional distress, and repair bills. I can’t say I would fancy a second occurrence, myself.

I can/do understand people wanting to prevent damage or total destruction of their expensive computers. Computers aren’t cheap. Unfortunately, I too, have begun to join this cult of paranoia.
We have had major thunderstorms here this week, with lots of lightning.
I can’t resist but to go do the following:
Shut down computer(s), unplug power cord, unplug modem line

This revolts me. Why does this revolt me? Because, I find it highly improbable that anything other than a mere power failure will occur during a session online. Yet, I can’t help but wonder, “What if they were right all the long?”

I find this irrational apprehension as ludicrous as it’s cousins which have perservered over time, which I do not adhere to.
[ul]
[li]“Don’t take a bath or shower during a thunderstorm.”[/li][li]“Don’t use the telephone during a thunderstorm.”[/li][/ul]

Do such things happen? Yes
Have they happened to people that I know personally? Yes
Are these things scientifically possible? Yes
Are they worth living in fear over? NO but a lot of us do it anyway.

I guess all I am really saying here is: Whether or not these fears are justified, regardless if it has, or has not, happened to ME, I hate the fact that I have fallen into the trap.
I also do not like to be afraid of anything. I don’t think many other people do, either.

Maybe someday I will be put to the test, lightning will strike, and afterwards I will either:
(A) be glad I believed, and saved myself a lot of misery
(B) be sorry that I didn’t listen, and have a melted pile of plastic and metal for a computer
(C) won’t care either way, because my computer and I both got killed by lightning

I must make it known, that the storm/computer practice, is the only thing I do of that nature. No OCD here.
( “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.” - Jerry Seinfeld :wink: )

So, my fellow Dopers, I ask how many of you share in this ridiculous practice, and how does it make you feel?

2

Well, MSK, as you’ve already pointed out, improbable does not mean impossible. :frowning:

When a thunderstorm comes, I do shut down my computer and unplug everything. Why? Well, a couple of times I didn’t, and I ended up with a fried monitor and massive hard drive failure (thankfully I had backed everything up the day before).

So call me fearful or paranoid if you like; I’d rather think of myself as prudent. I know that a UPS is supposed to help protect equipment against storm-related power surges, but I’m not willing to be a guinea pig at this point. And I don’t want to have to commit seppuku for letting something get damaged again.

3

Hmmm…FWIW, I tempted fate last night while lightning crashed, but got off due to equal parts paranoia and fatigue.

I’d welcome a more expert opinion, but this seems to vary a bit by power grid. Examples: 1. Central Site for our work network is housed in a small town nearby; somebody spits on the sidewalk and the power crashes. The servers really, really don’t like that. 2. My home and central work locaton share the same grid. Call me paranoid, but through the flurry of mergers, takeovers and acquisitions, the outages have increased dramatically over the past few years. These range from quick “blips” (technical term) to a few days without electricity.

Okay, some of these incidents have been nuisance more than catastrophe. But my downtown facility had a nearby lighting hit that fried 6 of our LAN computers–and yes, we had top of the line surge protectors.

So I’d rather be safe than sorry. Even if it’s just a brief hiccup, it does the equipment no good.

Veb

4

MSK, you are playing with fire. Yes, the probability is low, but if you get hit, no surge protector will help. Kiss your box bye bye.

It just happened to one of my neighbours down the street. She never shut the computer down during lightning storms. Been getting away with it for years.

Oh, well, she’s been looking for an excuse to buy a new one. now she has one.

Why take a chance?

5

My parents had their computer blown out by a lightning strike. It also happened to a computer at a place where I worked. My brother-in-law had a VCR put out of commission by a power surge – not a computer, but it would have fried that if he had one at the time.

The chances are small, but do you really want to run that risk.

A further problem is that lightning storms often put out power. If you work during one, you may lose your work when the lights go out.

6

Wally, I have recently been taking safegaurds, as I said in my OP. It’s not that I disbelieve, it’s that I hate the hassle of having to get offline, shut down, etc. Saving a $1000+ computer is worth the hassle, I admit.

7

I’ve had computers that ran 24/7 at home at various times over the past 20 years, on good surge suppressors…

… and yes, I’ve had surge suppressors blown and equipment fried. Even had a UPS go kablooey - but that may have been due to damaged wiring (it was sure damaged afterwards!)

… but never (so far as I know) during a thunderstorm. Twice, someone wiped out a telephone pole near my house (it could have been a power surge during line repair or power restoration) and the others were generally unexplained.

I’ll leave the analysis up to you guys.

8

Hhhhhhmmmmmm. Many times, while living overseas, I have thankeded my trusty UPS [of the moment] as it whirled and
clicked thru incredible power surges and brownouts. I’ve gone thru at least three maybe even more since the early
90s. The night I decided to unplug EVERYTHING was the night that Thor visited the office and burnt out telephones, faxes, computers, coffee machines etcetcetc.
Of course, I don’t do that back here in the US.
Now you have me thinking that I should be more careful even living in the land of plenty, stable electricity. All lines [telephone
and electric] are underground in my community. Am I and my computer safe from a second coming of Thor?

9

What is that saying, something like it, just because you’re paranoid, * doesn’t mean * they aren’t really after you?

Lightning struck our house killing the external modem/fax machine we had just hooked up the day before, and YES the computer itself was unplugged, the lightning came through the telephone line itself from the pole outside.

So, count me with everyone else, though I call it as ** Fillet ** said, being prudent. It MAY only be a * possibility * until that 'possibility (person) is you. Stats go out the window then. So, when the threat of a storm rears its giant head, guess what else gets unplugged at my home now.

I’m glad that nothing has happened to you though. :slight_smile:

10

A bolt of lightning once hit the phone lines outside my house, fried my modem, traveled from there through an A/B switchbox I’d set up so as to be able to use that modem with one of two computers, and fried the motherboards of both computers.

I’d turned the computers off because of the thunderstorm, but didn’t realize that the phone lines were another source of risk. Now I know. :slight_smile:

11

MagicalSilverKey, you must be in a newer area. Im in a pretty old area & the power lines here are on poles! Are yours underground? Plus, the stupid power goes off several times a year even on nice sunny days. Sigh.

12

I damn near learnt the hard way just after I bought my first computer. My wife was using it one night while I was outside having a smoke and watching the lightning. It never occurred to me at that time what could happen.

I noticed a particularly spectacular, noisy (and close) flash of lighting/thunder. Actually I heard the motor on my fridge rattle unusually as the line spike hit it. Then I heard my wife cry out that the computer had died instantly.

Naturally, being newbies, we panicked, thinking our $3000 machine was now f***ed. Simultaneously, I released that the rattle I heard was the line spike that blitzed the computer. Luckily for us it booted up again after about an hour, when the storm had moved on. There were no residual effects, and the machine worked perfectly there on.

As for me, I bought the best surge guard I could find the very next day, and I asked an electrician friend for some advice.

The simple answer is that you should unplug the computer and modem in the event of an electrical storm, because a surge guard WILL NOT stop a line spike from a close proximity strike. For added personal safety, you should not be using a phone at this time either. Plenty of people have received major shocks in this manner.

13

All of our power lines are overhead on poles here, as well.

The telephone lines, however, are subterranean. At least, in my neighborhood they are.

I unplug all power/modem lines, anyway. I’m not taking the chance.

14

A thunderstorm came up suddenly where I live. Lightning struck so hard that it not only blew out my computer but 5 other people’s computers serveral states away that I was chatting with on mirc. It skipped through the house out the garage and blew out all four tires on my truck then continuing on back into the house it streaked through the kitchen toasting and entire loaf of bread before finally answering all my calls that I had waiting on my answering machine.

The Family and myself are ok although the dog now has a permanent.

15

BTW, experiments performed in the early 90’s showed that undergroud lines not only didn’t provide the degree of protection against lightning strikes that was previously believed, but in at least some curcumstances seemed to attract lightning strikes

This came from a study by a group in Fl, which would fire model rockets (trailing fine wire, like a TOW rocket) into a thunder head to attract ligtning towards a ‘test bed’ area with overhead and underground wires. The paper I saw made some weak attempt at guesses, but little firm discussion as to why.

16

I’ve never particularly worried about damage to the computer itself; I should be, but unplugging and replugging before and after every storm would be nearly a full-time job in Atlanta in the warmer months.

Which is probably why I’m now on my fifth modem in the last 4 years. The lightning doesn’t ever seem to affect the power to the PC (even after the surge from one nearby hit fried a circuit board in the garage door opener, which was within 30 feet of the Mac in question), but it plays hell with the phone lines around us. Only once has it actually happened while I was online (a storm blew up in a matter of minutes while I was working from home and the lightning hit while I was still online – heard the loud “CRACK” as the modem went by the boards). But on three other occasions I’ve come back to the computer after a storm to find the modem toasted. I’m at a loss to explain how the modems got fried when they weren’t in use (powered on and connected to the phone line, yes, but not off-hook), but either that’s the case (and each time correlates with a significant thunderstorm) or I’ve just had lousy luck with nearly new modems suddenly failing.

You might conclude from this that I’m somewhat less trainable than the average lab rat (and no doubt my wife would agree). But after the first few times, I sort of figured “What are the chances of it happening again?” – and I had the luxury of having spare modems lying around the office that I could use, so it wasn’t costing me hard dollars. The proper approach, of course, was that if it happened once it was quite likely to happen again. Then I got the iMac, which uses USB modems and which thus couldn’t use any of the spares I had. The internal got fried, which meant shelling out real bucks to replace it. Then the replacement went, and my wife rather firmly insisted that I adopt the practice of unplugging the modem during thunderstorms, which I try to do now.

17

The problem is that your modems were still connected to the phone line, meaning there was a direct wire connection from the phone lines outside your house to the modems’ motherboard. Lightning hitting the phone lines had a free ride right into your electronics.

In terms of your power lines, OTOH, when you power off your PC (or your modem) you’ve broken the direct-wire connection between the power lines and your PC’s motherboard - creating an open gap that the power surge has to arc before reaching anything important. Doesn’t mean it can’t do it, just means that the surge has to be that much greater before it can do any damage.

That’s why it’s a good idea both to turn off your equipment amd disconnect it from the phone lines when there’s a thunderstorm about.

18

If you have network cables (like I do) be aware that nearby lightning strikes produce electromagnetic pulses; EMPs get picked up by antennas (like network cables) and converted into electric pulses, which can fry your equipment — even if the lightning hit something innocent like a tree.

So I unplug my long Ethernet cables when thunder and lightning start — in addition to basic precautions like unplugging everything.

19

I saw a woman who works for UL on tv, she said to unplug any appliance you aren’t using. Just in case. All day, any time, not just for lightning. I thought it was a bit extreme, though.

I use power strips for everything I can, but even those things have a mind of their own & can take out any appliances attached to them should they decide to.

20

I’m definitely turning everything off. My monitor was $900 by itself (viewsonic P815 21" max res. 1900x1400). I do computer stuff for a living and do computer stuff as a hobby. I absolutely could not replace it for some time to come. Does insurance cover that sort of thing?

Anywho, I’ve had things wrecked by lightning. The house I own in Alabama was hit while I lived there and it blew the socket face plate across the room. All the lines there are underground too. While I’ve been thinking about it, that may have been the same strike that melted my modem. I sent it back to USR and they fixed it for free.