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Rijuhn
06-03-2005, 05:10 PM
I'm not sure if anyone of you have to do this where you live, but in my area when there is lightning and thunder my family and I have to unplug everything! If we fail to unplug anything and lightning hits a telephone or electrical wire we end up losing whatever was plugged in. In the past my family has lost 2 modems, a TV, several phones, a VCR, an answering machine, and some other things I've forgotten about I'm sure.

The reason I bring up this topic is because when I woke up this afternoon, this being my day off, I mapped out my day and where I needed to go, etc. It was another one of these extremely odd days we've had this year. It's the 3rd of June and it's grey and raining heavily and it's chilly. My parents left to their respective places, leaving my brother and myself home alone.

About 15 minutes later my brother and I see a bright flash and hear *BOOOMMMmaloomaloommaloooooom*. We know now that we have to unplug EVERYTHING :eek: So as we run through the house unplugging everything my dad calls and I tell him that I know and I hang up. Then my mom calls, I tell her before I even hear what she has to say "I already know, bye!", then I hear a second *BOOOOOOOMMMALOOOMALOOOOOmmmmmm* even louder.

Now I'm jumping across the rooms unplugging everything. The worst part though was plugging back in the cable modem because that is always a pain to start back up...Took 30 minutes to get it to finally work properly. Finally about 15 minutes later everything has been unplugged and my brother and I wait for the storm to pass. We wait about 10 minutes...nothing...another 10 minutes...nothing. Finally my mom comes home in the van and we tell her about how we unplugged everything and have been waiting.

Finally I get really pissed off because there were only two really close lightning strikes and after that there was nothing. So my brother and I unplugged everything for a family of 6, SIX! Sure the sky was still ominously dark and raining, so I expected a storm to eventually come...but nothing. :mad: Then I get the brilliant idea to make a thread here in GD about it, because I really want to know.

PS: I finally got an iPod! Yay! It was expensive but I'm enjoying it. :D

Eckels
06-03-2005, 05:18 PM
Your house is improperly grounded. Call an electrician to get it fixed.

ShadowTiger
06-03-2005, 06:50 PM
Congratulations on your iPod, Rijuhn. :) Glad you're enjoying it. ^_^ (BTW, if you find any "bugs" in any of the songs, after transferring them from the bugless PC version to the iPod, tell me. o_o; I'm getting some.)


I don't quite find the poll choice for me. All we have to do in our house is shut all the Computers. The TV's don't "matter" as much, because they're not expensive.

vegeta1215
06-03-2005, 07:13 PM
We usually power down our computers and unplug them during a bad lightning storm. I can't risk my computer getting fried - it may be old, but it still works great and I'd like to continue using it for as long as I can.

I hope to buy an APC battery backup in the future though, so I won't have to worry so much.

Drunken Tiger
06-04-2005, 01:40 AM
We have no telephone poles over where i live.. Its all underground.. But then i still have a couple of circuit breakers installed to protect my shit.. Everything else is fair game.. :)

Carcer
06-04-2005, 08:34 AM
I don't unplug anything. Depending on the strength of the storm, I may turn off the TV and computer, but leave something like my phone charging by accident only to find that nothing's happened. About a year ago a storm blew my internet to shreds though, so perhaps I'll actually unplug next time - I'm just too lazy. I prefer to wander about telling people to calm down whilst hinting "it's the end."
Of course, last time there was a storm I was on the river. ^^ In a dinghy.

Archibaldo
06-04-2005, 09:29 AM
I don't unplug anything. Then agian, lightning storms are rare around here.

Rainman
06-04-2005, 06:40 PM
Your house is improperly grounded. Call an electrician to get it fixed.

Exactly what I was thinking. Heh, if I had to unplug for every storm around here it'd be quite annoying.