I can't answer your question except to say that, despite many
neighborhood power outages, I never suffered any failures of electrical
equipment in my house in Boca Raton, FL over the 10 years I lived there.
I did have a UPS on the computer but nothing on the TV or appliances.
That despite the fact that South Florida has about 4 times the amount
of lightning as the national average.
But the development did have underground utilities so perhaps that is at
least partially protective. Given that a lighting bolt can easily jump
a 10 mile air gap I'm not sure how much protection a little diode will
be. :-)
During the time I lived there I used to work as a volunteer at the
Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. One of the rangers was hit by
lighting one day. The sky was clear blue except for a gathering
thunderstorm about 5 or more miles away. He had been driving the dirt
perimeter road and had to stop his truck to get out and open a large
steel gate. He had stopped the truck perhaps 20 feet from the gate and
was about half way between the truck and the gate when a lightning bolt
struck the antenna of the truck, fried the radio, jumped to the damp
sand under the roadbed on its way to the nice ground formed by the steel
fence and gate. Burrowing through the moist sand caused a steam
explosion and dug a channel thorough the sand about a foot deep and a
few feet wide. The sand explosion picked him up bodily and threw him
backwards over the truck. At the same time it caused his Glock pistol
to fire in its holster. The round missed his leg but the holster was
torn and the butt of the pistol bruised his side. When he landed in the
sand at the back of the truck his eyes were full of sand and he was
unable to see for a while.
There's a lot more to the story. He did survive and took about 3 months
to recover but I think you get the idea. No surge protector would have
helped him. :-)
Chuck Norcutt
On 6/14/2012 2:03 PM, Charles Geilfuss wrote:
> Nice composition Jim and kudos to you for spotting it. Although after
> losing power last night due to lightening storm (first time in ten years at
> this location), I've grown to appreciate the underground grid.
> That brings up a question that someone on the List must be able to
> answer: are whole-house surge protectors of any value?
>
> Charlie
>
> On Wed, Jun 13, 2012 at 5:40 PM, Jim Nichols<jhnichols@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
>
>> Most of us don't get a chance to view the artistic work above our heads,
>> created by electricians that take as much pride in their work as we do in
>> our images. Here is an example.
>>
>> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Lineman+Art+221.jpg.html
>>
>> A Telyt grab shot.
>>
>> Comments and critiques welcomed.
>>
>> Jim Nichols
>> Tullahoma, TN USA
>> --
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