got hit by lightning :(

[electron]

Thanks guys. I have insurance (eventho with my luck of course, the insurance company screwed up the bill, so the mortgage company couldn't pay it in time, but my wife confirmed earlier yesterday that my coverage is supposedly ok), so there is no need to send me any money. Thanks again tho!


Glad to hear you made it out ok upstatemike, it really was nasty.

 

[mustangcoupe]

Dan I thought you absorbed this storm... It passed you and is almost above me here in NH... (Im at work and all my gear is plugged in!!!!) ahhhh map is still showing alot of red!

 

[upstatemike]

Glad to hear you made it out ok upstatemike, it really was nasty.

After my experience last year I don't take any chances. Most of my worst damage then was due to surges following serial lines between machines. I pay a lot more attention to low voltage side surge protection these days with serial line and phone line surge protectors in addition to AC stuff.

My next step will be to buy a whole house generator and manually switch to generator power during bad storms to isolate myself from powerline surges.

I am also happy I have the lightning rods even if some would dispute their value.

 

[Steve]

Thanks guys. I have insurance (eventho with my luck of course, the insurance company screwed up the bill, so the mortgage company couldn't pay it in time, but my wife confirmed earlier yesterday that my coverage is supposedly ok), so there is no need to send me any money. Thanks again tho!


Glad to hear you made it out ok upstatemike, it really was nasty.

First, I have one question - did your US2-40's survive? You know where I'm going with that.

Second, even with insurance, you still have deductables. You never take a penny for anything and we know it costs you to run all of this stuff for us - even if you enjoy it as a hobby. So we're not going to let you off the hook this time.

I have your home mailing address, so I suggest you give us a Paypal address unless you want me to post or PM your home address so we can send checks. <evil grin>. Remember - What goes around, comes around, you have given plenty, now it is your turn to receive. This is not debateable or subject to discussion. If you still insist on being humble and you run after me and delete posts after your address is public, I will simply give a paypal address to go into a special bank account from which I will send you a check weekly.

 

[Steve]

My next step will be to buy a whole house generator and manually switch to generator power during bad storms to isolate myself from powerline surges.

It ain't gonna be cheap to put in a genny big enough to power your crib. Unless you are just planning like a 20kw just for the main stuff...

 

[upstatemike]

It ain't gonna be cheap to put in a genny big enough to power your crib. Unless you are just planning like a 20kw just for the main stuff...

Still thinking through that part. Probably just need to power the kitchen, one TV room, the well pump, maybe 2 of the furnaces, and the beer refrigerator.

 

[mustangcoupe]

and the beer refrigerator.

You can't not power that.... what if it's a long storm

 

[Mike]

Those standby generators are still very cool. I keep going back and forth on that or a regular portable one (although they get large at the higher ratings) and gas storage could get problematic. You can save a bit of money using a portable one though.

As Digger pointed out, our power authority has been predicting a hurricane and outages for as much as a week. Hopefully it does not happen until I finish 'preparations'.

Electron : I'm sorry to hear about the strike. Hopefully there is a bright side and you get lots of upgrades out of this.

 

[upstatemike]

Those standby generators are still very cool. I keep going back and forth on that or a regular portable one (although they get large at the higher ratings) and gas storage could get problematic. You can save a bit of money using a portable one though.

The large ones use natural gas so you don't have to store gasoline. I have two portables now and store 60 Gal. of gasoline. They are a pain to set up during a storm though so I would rather have a whole house unit that kicks on by itself.

 

[electron]

Chat service is back up, at least for people who use an IRC client. Web based interface should be up soon as well.

 

[BLH]

When I was doing Twoway Radio Base Stations. Lightning would do strange things.
Excessive voltages can be induced into things like phone lines; network cables and other signal carring wiring. So surges can even sneak into equipment on pther wiring besides AC Power.

 

[electron]

Rupp,

Did the insurance company cut you a check before buying the new hardware, or did they reimburse receipts after you purchased the replacements? I have several machines which have an onboard nic, which are dead (HTPC and chat server), and I can't really add another PCI nic because of the lack of slots or configuration, nor do I want to have motherboards with critical parts disabled.

The insurance guy mentioned that PC's might be looked at by a repair guy, and I definitely dont want some low level tech guy screwing up my system even more, or look at my private data, so I am not sure what to do, and I definitely don't want to settle for lower quality replacement hardware.

 

[mustangcoupe]

My parents had a computer and other stuff ruined in a "flood" and the insurance co had them give them a detailed list of what was ruined and - depreation they cut a check immediatly with out replacements in place....

I guess it would depend on your co and and policy I guess.

 

[Steve]

Ok. Dan is being stubborn and will not give us a method to send him a donation and he made me promise not to give any of his personal information out. So here's what you can do if you want to make a contribution to Electron's Lightning Recovery fund (ELF). It will require some trust.

You can send an email to [email protected] and you will get an autoreply with an email address you can send a paypal payment to. It is my personal and verified account. I would like to get the money to Dan as soon as possible, so I am planning to send him a check in the amount of all donations received on Monday July 17.

If you have any questions or concerns, just PM me or send an email to the ELF address and you will get contact information.

Dan does so much for us and even with insurance will be left with deductibles. Please only send an email or contribute if that's what you truly feel is what you want. This is not a solicitation/requirement/obligation or anything. But if you feel like me and want to send a little something, I'm sure Dan would appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[electron]

Steve (and everyone else),

I really appreciate what you are doing here, but 99% of the damage has nothing to do with CT, so I really can't accept this. Everyone has gone out of their way already to help me out big time in the past and just recently. My insurance company is really great so far, and I defiintely don't want to accept any money whatsoever until the insurance company has taken care of me. Thanks again to my fellow Cocooners for all the generousity!