Bad weather: unplug or power off at circuit breaker?

G E · « **on:** 2 Mar 2012, 09:01 pm »

Severe weather season is here with the potential for lightning strikes. I usually unplug my gear if I am home when a big storm is forming. Would cutting power at the circuit breaker be sufficient? Neutral and ground however are not switched off. Any thoughts?

Some of my plugs/receptacles are not easy to access so looking for a more convenient wY to safeguard the equipment stack.

ge

Devil Doc · « **Reply #1 on:** 2 Mar 2012, 09:14 pm »

I have the same question. My dedicated circuit is only 8ft from the box. It would be much simpler to throw the breaker than unplug everything.
Wayner seems to have some expertise in this area, perhaps he'll chime in.

Doc

Wayner · « **Reply #2 on:** 2 Mar 2012, 09:18 pm »

No. I have usually been in Wisconsin when bad weather hits, so unless I've thought about unplugging everything, I was at risk. Turning your breaker off will not stop a lighting strike in the least.

A couple of million volts will find its way to your stuff, and there is probably nothing you can do about a direct strike. I'd be more worried about the house burning down.

However, we can take some precautions with surge protectors like Tripp-Lite's Isobar series. It is an MOV device, and a mild strike may only take out the MOV.

The only real safe way is to unplug.

Wayner

Wayner · « **Reply #3 on:** 2 Mar 2012, 09:23 pm »

And another thing.....If you have a nearby antenna, if grounded, may act as a lighting rod. I know the National Electric Code suggests that the antenna be grounded, but I've lived in an old farm house with lighting rods that always got hit by lighting. My theory is why invite the bad dogs over to your house.....

G E · « **Reply #4 on:** 2 Mar 2012, 09:29 pm »

Wayner, thanks for your thoughts. Unplug it is.

I guess I need to build an extension box with 4-6 outlets that can plug into an accessible outlet. This will serve my low power consumption preamps, cd player turntable etc. Power amps and tv plug into other outlets on same circuit and are easy to unplug.

Devil Doc · « **Reply #5 on:** 2 Mar 2012, 09:32 pm »

I just bought a 8 outlet tripp-lite and just found out I can't use it. Supposedly you need to plug it into and outlet that has a minimum of 30ft of wire to the panel. WTF?

Doc

Wayner · « **Reply #6 on:** 2 Mar 2012, 09:37 pm »

Which one did you get, Doc? I have this one:

W

Devil Doc · « **Reply #7 on:** 2 Mar 2012, 09:40 pm »

It looks the same as yours except it has 8 outlets.

Doc

Haoleb · « **Reply #8 on:** 2 Mar 2012, 09:41 pm »

another thing to keep in mind is just unplugging the power cables is not enough to protect against lightning strike. You must also unplug any cable tv connections, phone..etc Basically anything connected to your gear that goes to the outside world.

jakelieb · « **Reply #9 on:** 2 Mar 2012, 09:45 pm »

Wayner, you are so right!!

Lived in the country when I was young and lightning hit a tree about 1/2 mile away from the house and 100 or so feet from the electric wires and it blew out the radio and lots of light bulbs.

I recommend to always unplug the good stuff when there is strong storms. When I lived in Oklahoma we learned to keep tuned to the local weather and radar. Was a life saver (and I'm talking about stereo equipment) more than once!! A surge from lightning may not seem to harm the equipment, but could damage parts that fail later.

Prayers for all the folks in harms way.

Jake

Wayner · « **Reply #10 on:** 2 Mar 2012, 09:51 pm »

Absolutely! Any path to the equipment is curtains. Good point and glad you brought that up as well.

But where does a guy stop? Anything plugged in, and especially on (even in standby) could suffer ills. Walk around your house and inventory everything that is on all the time. That would be TVs, the fridge, freezer, furnace, AC, microwave, stove, garage door opener, any wall warts, water softener, electric cold water heater, electric clothes dryer, washing machine, coffee maker, electric toothbrush, AC radios, light bulbs, ....................................... ..............................

Wayner · « **Reply #11 on:** 2 Mar 2012, 09:55 pm »

I forgot about the sump pump. So you've unplugged everything and got hit, and nothing really got damaged, except your sump pump failed, and everything got flooded..............

decal · « **Reply #12 on:** 2 Mar 2012, 09:57 pm »

Unplug,unplug,unplug,unplug,unplug,unplug,unplug,unplug,unplug.

thunderbrick · « **Reply #13 on:** 2 Mar 2012, 10:49 pm »

Quote from: Wayner on 2 Mar 2012, 09:23 pm

And another thing.....If you have a nearby antenna, if grounded, may act as a lighting rod. I know the National Electric Code suggests that the antenna be grounded, but I've lived in an old farm house with lighting rods that always got hit by lighting. My theory is why invite the bad dogs over to your house.....

I always thought the lightning rods were SUPPOSED to attract the lighting and carry the charge to the earth, instead of having the charge torch the house. Am I wrong on that issue?

Wayner · « **Reply #14 on:** 3 Mar 2012, 12:37 am »

Well Thunderbrick, the supposed part is the problem. And yes they do attract lighting strikes!!!!!

charmerci · « **Reply #15 on:** 3 Mar 2012, 06:36 am »

Well, I would imagine another additional protection would be to have two lightning rods on either side of the house separated from the house. (Is that a

or a

?)

rcag_ils · « **Reply #16 on:** 3 Mar 2012, 03:53 pm »

Quote

And another thing.....If you have a nearby antenna, if grounded, may act as a lighting rod. I know the National Electric Code suggests that the antenna be grounded

We grounded all our antenna to protect the antenna and the equipment with copper rod, #6, I think. To prevent lightning to hit the building as well. Copper rod has to be one smooth run to ground with no bend if possible, especially 90 degree bend due lightning will arc across the bend.

thunderbrick · « **Reply #17 on:** 3 Mar 2012, 04:04 pm »

Quote from: Wayner on 3 Mar 2012, 12:37 am

Well Thunderbrick, the supposed part is the problem. And yes they do attract lighting strikes!!!!!

Was never sure about which came first, the lightning or the lightning ground rod.

I've lived for 22 years on a hilltop in central Missouri and have a grounded antenna tower at one end of the house. We get tons of storms, and I know bolts have struck within 100 yards. So far, so good!

modular747 · « **Reply #18 on:** 3 Mar 2012, 06:03 pm »

Nothing can reliably protect against a direct strike - > 500 million volts, >100,000 amps - unplugging is the best bet. Whole house surge protection supplied by your power utility helps a little.

For more typical surges, the commonly seen MOV surge protectors are self destructive and unreliable. Much, much better, is something like this:

http://www.zerosurge.com/residential/

Wayner · « **Reply #19 on:** 3 Mar 2012, 06:18 pm »

MOVs are suppose to take the hit, that is what they were made for. Tripp-Lite suppressors are a very economical way to protect equipment from surges.

Need history? My old company, HTI, used hundreds, if not thousands of these very units to protect sensitive equipment in machines that cost millions of dollars. No losses from use that I know of.

Wayner