cygnusx1 Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 I was sittin on my couch reading Classic Motorsports magazine, the baby just fell asleep, wife went upstairs to change for the night. It was not raining, and there was only distant rumbles of thunder but nothing too close. All of a sudden WHAM! Shock and Awe! All the lights flashed, I damn near fell off the couch. My cat, my wife came screaming down the stairs, the baby starts screaming bloody murder, all the smoke dectectors are wailing, one of the baby's battery powered musical toys just starts playing music out of the blue! Talk about adrenaline rush! My wife said she thinks the roof was hit so I go around looking out the windows but see nothing. Lightning is coming down more frequently. She gets the baby under control and I walk into the kitchen to a nasty burning smell. I scope around and notice nothing strange. Not even the clocks are flashing. Weird. The clock in the babys room on the opposite end of the house is the only one that's flashing. I scope around more for the nasty smell in the kitchen. Check the phones...no tone. Holy shyt, the answering machine is smoking, I ♥♥♥♥ you not, "God left a message", Oh crap it's Friday the 13th. I run up to my PC to check for internet. The PC is on but no screen comes up. I reboot and "invalid setup" message pops up forcing me into the BIOS. Holy crap again, the BIOS got WIPED OUT!!! I reload the BIOS and it boots up but no internet. I go to the basement. I find a tripped breaker, a tripped GFCI, and a smoked router. Time to check the well pump. Whew, the pump works! So I jump the line for my office over to the cable modem and get internet. Still no phones though. A project for tomorrow. What a nice way to end Friday the 13th. I need a tall, stiff, drink right about now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsun40146 Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 Sorry to hear that but this might make you feel better. Our log home's chimey got hit last spring, blew the thing to bits till about 4 feet down from where the top used to be. Then this summer our favorite mustang was struck and killed by lighting, figures it would kill her and not the mean mini pony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlderThanMe Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 WOW! Maybe the lightning hit your phone line? Glad y'all are fine! OTM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COZY Z COLE Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 Damn...... and I used to worry about earthquakes. Glad everyone is all right. LARRY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v8dats Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 wow sounds like the begining of a horror story! sorry to say it but...GOD LEFT A MESSAGE! is funny as hell!! hope all is well tho! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIM73240Z Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 WOW. during the summers here in the deseert, we get some cool light shows. sit on the back porch with a bear and the dog and watch. a couple of summers ago, i was at a friends house doing just that when a bright light and instanious boom hit. after that all we heard was wood splintering and broken glass and bent metal:cry:. went out front and a bolt hit his tree in the front yard and blew it apart. a large branch drove threw the front windshield and others broke all of the window in the passenger side of his durango. another branch landed on the roof and made a nice dent from front to back. got to count your blessings when mom comes around the hood that close. glad everything is mostly ok. jimbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperPickle Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 Glad you're ok! Wait a sec....that's storm coming this way!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mario_82_ZXT Posted July 14, 2007 Share Posted July 14, 2007 Glad you're OK! We've lost 3 modems, 2 routers, and 2 phones to lightning up in Flagstaff... Mario Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted July 15, 2007 Share Posted July 15, 2007 Lighting strikes are more common than people think. You might consider getting a whole house surge protector. It installs right in the breaker panel. You still will need surge protectors on the plugs of all sensitive electronics. This includes things like modern washers and dryers. A Sears tech warned me the computer boards in my units are $350 EACH. Lighting even took out the controllers on my ceiling fans. Talk about a PITA. Modems and phone lines are a different animal. They need the input lines protected. althougth most are cheap enough that it is not a big deal if you need to replace them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted July 15, 2007 Author Share Posted July 15, 2007 Damage List so far: One Network Card One Router One Answering machine Garage door safety sensors Coffee machine....(I fixed it already reset internal breaker) Cable VOIP Modem..no more VOIP but the internet works. BIOS on my PC wiped...I reloaded it and it works fine. So far that's it. Not too bad considering the amount of electronics we have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ww Posted July 15, 2007 Share Posted July 15, 2007 Yeah, if my house ever takes a hit, I'll have to sell it to make enough money to replace all the expensive electronics that will go down in flames... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(goldfish) Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 Lighting strikes are more common than people think. You might consider getting a whole house surge protector. It installs right in the breaker panel. You still will need surge protectors on the plugs of all sensitive electronics. This includes things like modern washers and dryers. A Sears tech warned me the computer boards in my units are $350 EACH. Lighting even took out the controllers on my ceiling fans. Talk about a PITA. Modems and phone lines are a different animal. They need the input lines protected. althougth most are cheap enough that it is not a big deal if you need to replace them. Don't be fooled into thinking that if the modem gets hit that the damage stops there. My friend had a customer get hit, the dsl modem, switch and three nics died. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.