The house almost burned...

[Mister Ed]

It could also have been normal equipment failure at the substation.


Full Quiver, I have a question;

The surge protectors like these, did they cause more harm than good in this case? Instead of absorbing the surge, they caught on fire and still allowed the higher voltage to pass on through. This is no protection at all. It was a recipe for disaster if no one had been home. Without them the appliance would have been damaged but might also have caused a short circuit that would have tripped the breaker. What about it? Or is there more danger of a fire without this type of surge protector?

I use the less expensive type and am thinking of changing to the more expensive as you suggested.

[turbotim]

I would think it was probably caused by a transformer failure at the substation. Maybe normal equipment failure.


Full Quiver, I have a question;

The surge protectors like these, did they cause more harm than good in this case? Instead of absorbing the surge, they caught on fire and still allowed the higher voltage to pass on through. This is no protection at all. It was a recipe for disaster if no one had been home. Without them the appliance would have been damaged but might also have caused a short circuit that would have tripped the breaker. What about it? Or is there more danger of a fire without this type of surge protector?

I use the less expensive type and am thinking of chanrgging to the more expensive as you suggested.

The TV and DVD player in our bedroom was NOT on a surge protector and they are lost/gone/do not work at all. All my computer/monitor/printer/router stuff is just fine b/c of the protector. I did unplug it from the wall while it was smoking.

The one TV in the living room stopped working when Bro. Paul and I plugged it into the wall to check it b/c we thought it was weather related and had passed. It worked and we left the living room to check the computer. While in the office, I heard and noise. I went to check it out and the TV was sending up a smoke signal and popping. So I unplugged it.

The surge protectors did their job. I could have lost my satelite, DVD player, surround sound, and the other stuff plugged into it. It did catch on fire but that was because of a continual surge. If was due to weather it would have just simply shut down. It couldn't handle the continual surge coming from the outside.

Thank the LORD for His hands of protection. My parents have now gotten surge protectors for all their tv's and stuff. I bought more expense surge protectors this time.

[MacUser]

Zowie.. Glad to read all are ok. Praise God.

[Mister Ed]

turbotim;

Thanks for the run down on the over-all protection from the surge protectors. I was just wondering if they were only good for a momentarily spike rather than a continual surge because of the one that caught fire.

[rjc]

The very first thing I want to say is a prayer of thanks for God's protection for you all.

Please contact your power company and do get them to install a surge arrestor outside your house just and then get one at your panel box jus as Full Quiver suggested. Our power company offered this to me along with an insurance policy (about $8/month) which I have taken advantage of. We have very severe electrical stoms here and in my neighborhood alone we have had several lightening strikes in the area (mostly the river) in the past 3 years. A number of my neighbors have lost expensive electronic equipment. I also purchased the best surge protectors to put on my computer and video/music systems. I feel it is money well spent because of the peace of mind I have.

[Full Quiver]

Good to hear that the protectors did work but remember most of them cost $10 or less and are nothing but mere plug strips. 180 volts is too high for most residential equipment but it is beans compared to what could have came into your home. Transformers out on the utility poles are a series of electrical windings that reduce or transform voltage from the primary to the secondary which is what you use. They are proportional to one another. For instance if the transformer is tapped at 120 volts on the secondary and the primary is say 600 volts, just for instance, then you see the voltage difference and the proportion involved. Had 1000 volts suddenly appeared on the primary side then the secondary would have jumped to 200 volts (example only since I don't know what your primary is supposed to be). If your primary was 480 volts then the secondary would have been 250 volts. With lightning or most other crazy surges you could have or could experience very high primary spikes such as thousands of volts. With that said then very few surge protectors will work unless you paid a couple hundred bucks for them and then still you never know.

A good thing to do is to knot all cords; not tightly but just make a loop in them. The theory behind this is that IF you take a direct strike then the voltage will jump out of the wiring/cord instead of traveling through it. Electricity is lazy and will take the path of least resistance. A knot or loop tied in a cord could offer just enough resistance to save a piece of equipment. Can't say that I have ever seen it work but it cannot hurt. Having done lots of insurance work in the electrical field I can say I have seen lightning do some bad things. One job that comes to mind is where lightning struck a flew atop a chimney ran down the shaft under the house, jumped to the gas line, and then blew a hole in the living room floor about 15 foot in circumference. Not a pretty sight. It blew the little twisting lamp switches clean off the guys lamps and shot them across the room like bullets.

[oletimer]

Most likely this was due to a problem at transformer. From what was said most likely for some reason they lost the neutral, in which case the voltage goes crazy. Most of the times just less then 240 volts, gen in the area of 170 to 206?. It different from case to case. Friday night I went out on service call where the people had lost one half of their power to their house. One of the hot lines at the transformer had got hot and melted open. Again no storms, but a heaven current draw.

rjc gave good advice not only for you but all of us.

God Bless

[Sherry]

WTG Tim!! Do you wear tights and a cape too??


So glad to hear that all is well!

[jessicacook]

WTG Tim!! Do you wear tights and a cape too??

No...but he needs a t-shirt with a "T" on it! haha

[TW]

WTG Tim!! Do you wear tights and a cape too??

No...but he needs a t-shirt with a "T" on it! haha

[Jennifer Smith]

TW, I think his hero name is TurboTim! Great shirt, though..!

[Jeremy Gault]

One thing nobody seems to have mentioned: Grounding. Do you have a (working) ground system? My understanding has always been that a "good" surge protector will bleed the extra (overage) voltage out to ground. Thus, in your case, it would have sent ~60 volts out to ground. Of course, this is with a "good" surge protector, that term being relative. Your mileage may vary (I know, NOT what you want to hear with electrical stuff.)

In our house, there is no ground (!!) so surge protectors here are little more than a way to hook up multiple things to one outlet. You have to be careful what you hook up, and in what order. For example, I have a 2-meter mobile ham radio here in the house that I often use. I have an outside antenna (about 25-foot mast with a 17-foot antenna on top.) Works great. However, if I have the radio hooked into the 12-volt power supply FIRST (even powered off), and THEN go to connect the antenna, I have to be careful. Grabbing the coax connector AND the outside of the radio results in a nasty bite. Best to connect the antenna first, THEN the power.

That type of thing didn't happen at my parents house. I'm pretty sure, because the antenna mast is in the ground (and thus grounded), all the stuff on this particular surge protector is "finding" ground through that antenna connection. And I just happen to complete that connection, hence the shock. Nothing life threatening, but you'll turn loose pretty quick.

In any case, you should NOT be seeing 180 volts out of a standard outlet in your house. Last time I put my meter on ours, it was running around 121-122. It'll vary over time with different conditions (power load, etc.) As long as it's in the 110-125 range, I'm fairly cool with it.

Glad to hear everything worked out OK. I would definitely check into the whole-house surge protection deal. They offer that here (but wouldn't install it for me until I get a ground outside -- I just need to install it once the weather warms up.) That'll definitely help me out, as inside surge protectors are useless for that purpose without the ground inside.

[Full Quiver]

If you really don't have a ground rod driven at or near your electrical meter you should do so and it is relatively easy and inexpensive. 2 prong outlets don't have a grounding conductor but do have a grounded conductor. In 3 wire systems where a grounded and grounding conductor are present the 2 wires are terminated at the same potential/point in the electrical panel so in effect they are the same wire.

[Jeremy Gault]

If you really don't have a ground rod driven at or near your electrical meter you should do so and it is relatively easy and inexpensive. 2 prong outlets don't have a grounding conductor but do have a grounded conductor. In 3 wire systems where a grounded and grounding conductor are present the 2 wires are terminated at the same potential/point in the electrical panel so in effect they are the same wire.

There's something out in front of the house that I think is a ground rod, but it isn't connected to anything. (Why put one out there?)

I have one that I need to put in. I'm a ham radio guy, so I should probably have already had all that knocked out. Even bought one at a hamfest a while back. Just a matter of putting it in and wiring it up. Then getting someone to make sure everything internally is wired like it ought to be.

What blows my mind is that light switches in this place have exactly ONE cable coming into the box -- with a white wire and a black wire. Whereas most other places I have been, the switch connects to your two blacks (hots) and the neutrals are hooked together via twist nut...

An older wiring scheme, maybe?

[Martha]

Hey Jeremy!

Were you by chance at the Hamfest in Huntsville a few months ago? If you were there do you remember the ladies in the red coats giving out information about Huntsville who were seated at the table where all the announcements were made? If so, I was one of those ladies. I thoroughly enjoyed working there and met so many truly wonderful people.