johnrutz wrote:

Lightnin seems to hit whereever so I dont think anything you did
or dint do would have mattered, your just lucky it didnt blow
all the electronics in your house too ( i got hit and the surge
came in phone lines and elec lines and fried every apliance I had )

My pond is on a GFSC (sic?) protected circuit. The only other thing on
that circuit are the other outdoor outlets.

Most people don't seem to be aware these days that surges can come
through phone lines and cable lines. I've known a few people who have
had their computers fried via a lightening strike carried into the
computer by the modem via a plugged in phone line. A lot of surge
suppressors these days have connectors for coax and / or telephone lines.

In our house phones, all cable connections, and electronics are on good
surge suppressors. A UPC protects the office computer equipment and the
laptop has a portable surge protector that stays permanently plugged
into the charger. My general rule of thumb is that if a surge
suppressor offers an equipment damage guarantee, it's decent. Problem
with real cheap ones is that they may not react quickly enough to stop
damage.

Guess I'm showing the conputer/electronics geek in me again. Mea culpa.

Susan
shsimko at duke dot edu