Help me deter the wrath of Zeus
June 14, 2024 12:57 PM Subscribe
My devices seem unusually prone to bizarre semi-damage from passing thunderstorms. This never seems to be a problem for friends or family in the same area. What's going on and what's the best way to address it?
They say that you're supposed to unplug electronics whenever there's bad weather, but I figured that was in reference to direct hits on the property completely frying every device. My problem is more subtle: when there's a lightning strike in the general area (like within a mile or so), there's sometimes an audible pop, followed by subtle (but not total) damage to isolated devices.
Examples:
- A few years ago, a strike burned out a TV screen and one Ethernet port on an Xfinity gateway router, but nothing else.
- Two years ago, a fridge shorted out and lost all the food inside
- Another router burned out last summer
- Last fall, a storm put a microwave on the fritz so that it started randomly turning itself on in the middle of the night.
- About a week ago, a storm came through while I was out and when I came back, the router suddenly couldn't load any IPv4 websites (?!), though IPv6 ones worked fine!
- Literally hours after a tech replaced that router, another storm fried the replacement -- once it cleared up, the router would boot up but not generate an SSID. Power-cycling killed it completely -- though it would still warm up when plugged in.
- Later I discovered that the storm had caused myriad strange problems on my PC: the LAN Ethernet port no longer worked (?), the monitor's primary HDMI port no longer supported any resolution above 1024x768 (??), and I flat-out could not boot into the BIOS screen no matter what method I tried (???).
It's frustrating because I've gotten into the habit of checking the forecast every day and go to the inconvenience of unplugging my TV, computer, and other devices whenever storms menace, even in the middle of the night. But despite those precautions I manage to get caught by surprise while asleep or when I'm at work, and still suffer multiple devices damaged per year (and always in these weird, partial ways). On the other hand, I've asked around people I know around town and none of them could name a single time this has happened to them despite them never unplugging things when it storms.
I've already had an Xfinity tech look at the line coming in from the outside and he found no signs of improper grounding or scorch marks. Beyond that, I see a few potential solutions:
- Install a surge protector on the cable connection, since it seems like the damage is usually done to devices connected to the coax (the Xfinity tech sounded doubtful on this given the lack of visible damage, plus I hear this can degrade the signal quality coming in)
- Invest in heavy-duty surge protector strips (but are these just useless placebos? Note also that the damaged PC was plugged into a surge protector strip that still claims "Protected" status, though it was also connected to an ethernet cable running to the router)
- Look into installing a lightning rod or whole-building protection (sounds pricey)
- Buy a UPS to at least protect the PC (but are these effective against lightning-related power surges?)
- Have an electrician examine the ~1970-era wiring and make sure there's not any weird jankiness going on (this seems like the most expensive option, and maybe the least likely to find a specific solvable problem)
Have you ever experienced chronic issues with storms damaging electronics, and were you able to put a stop to it? What worked for you, and which approaches should I try first that hopefully won't break the bank?
They say that you're supposed to unplug electronics whenever there's bad weather, but I figured that was in reference to direct hits on the property completely frying every device. My problem is more subtle: when there's a lightning strike in the general area (like within a mile or so), there's sometimes an audible pop, followed by subtle (but not total) damage to isolated devices.
Examples:
- A few years ago, a strike burned out a TV screen and one Ethernet port on an Xfinity gateway router, but nothing else.
- Two years ago, a fridge shorted out and lost all the food inside
- Another router burned out last summer
- Last fall, a storm put a microwave on the fritz so that it started randomly turning itself on in the middle of the night.
- About a week ago, a storm came through while I was out and when I came back, the router suddenly couldn't load any IPv4 websites (?!), though IPv6 ones worked fine!
- Literally hours after a tech replaced that router, another storm fried the replacement -- once it cleared up, the router would boot up but not generate an SSID. Power-cycling killed it completely -- though it would still warm up when plugged in.
- Later I discovered that the storm had caused myriad strange problems on my PC: the LAN Ethernet port no longer worked (?), the monitor's primary HDMI port no longer supported any resolution above 1024x768 (??), and I flat-out could not boot into the BIOS screen no matter what method I tried (???).
It's frustrating because I've gotten into the habit of checking the forecast every day and go to the inconvenience of unplugging my TV, computer, and other devices whenever storms menace, even in the middle of the night. But despite those precautions I manage to get caught by surprise while asleep or when I'm at work, and still suffer multiple devices damaged per year (and always in these weird, partial ways). On the other hand, I've asked around people I know around town and none of them could name a single time this has happened to them despite them never unplugging things when it storms.
I've already had an Xfinity tech look at the line coming in from the outside and he found no signs of improper grounding or scorch marks. Beyond that, I see a few potential solutions:
- Install a surge protector on the cable connection, since it seems like the damage is usually done to devices connected to the coax (the Xfinity tech sounded doubtful on this given the lack of visible damage, plus I hear this can degrade the signal quality coming in)
- Invest in heavy-duty surge protector strips (but are these just useless placebos? Note also that the damaged PC was plugged into a surge protector strip that still claims "Protected" status, though it was also connected to an ethernet cable running to the router)
- Look into installing a lightning rod or whole-building protection (sounds pricey)
- Buy a UPS to at least protect the PC (but are these effective against lightning-related power surges?)
- Have an electrician examine the ~1970-era wiring and make sure there's not any weird jankiness going on (this seems like the most expensive option, and maybe the least likely to find a specific solvable problem)
Have you ever experienced chronic issues with storms damaging electronics, and were you able to put a stop to it? What worked for you, and which approaches should I try first that hopefully won't break the bank?
I lost 2 laptop keyboards last summer to humidity. Much less difficult, but annoying. You house sounds like it may have some form of grounding that is appealing to stray electricity. I'd have an electrician take a look. Resolving this may be spendy, but lightning makes house fires, so worth it.
posted by theora55 at 1:15 PM on June 14
posted by theora55 at 1:15 PM on June 14
You need an electrician. This is abnormal and not buy a surge sector solvable.
posted by AlexiaSky at 2:44 PM on June 14 [16 favorites]
posted by AlexiaSky at 2:44 PM on June 14 [16 favorites]
Nothing electrician and get your earth and board checked. If you do have earth/neutral problems it can get worse than what you've seen.
If it were me I'd be making sure I got an experienced electrician, this stuff can get deeply strange, particularly if it's an intermittent problem.
posted by deadwax at 3:29 PM on June 14 [1 favorite]
If it were me I'd be making sure I got an experienced electrician, this stuff can get deeply strange, particularly if it's an intermittent problem.
posted by deadwax at 3:29 PM on June 14 [1 favorite]
It sounds like either your home wiring, the wiring from pole to home, your lighting rod if you have one, or a combo of these are not correctly set up. A licensed electrician can look at your setup and advise you about how to fix it.
In my case a prior electrical event had melted one of the connections on the pole, which resulted in a floating (non-zero volt) ground which led to all sorts of intermittent failures in delicate electronics.
posted by zippy at 4:51 PM on June 15 [1 favorite]
In my case a prior electrical event had melted one of the connections on the pole, which resulted in a floating (non-zero volt) ground which led to all sorts of intermittent failures in delicate electronics.
posted by zippy at 4:51 PM on June 15 [1 favorite]
Another vote to get an Electrician. We had this problem in our first home. We ended up having to replace the entire circuit panel, moisture had done a number on it. Once it was replaced and rewired, we stopped losing appliances.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 5:29 AM on June 16
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 5:29 AM on June 16
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The house I grew up in was built in the 1960s and it turned out that the "neutral" of the 3-wire AC had been incorrectly connected to ground (or something like that... I was in my early teens in the '80s when we found out and I didn't entirely understand the details). This had been gradually reverse-electroplating a hole in our incoming water supply pipe (to which the "ground" was connected), and we found out when a plumber started working on the leaking pipe and suddenly half the house had no power and the other house was at 220V (instead of the usual 110). Our microwave oven died, and the lightbulb in the fridge was too bright to look at before we shut off the main breaker.
posted by heatherlogan at 1:14 PM on June 14 [21 favorites]