Rogue bolt of lightning fucks me hard!!!

[Arseen]

I had worked a night shift so I was still a sleep at 5PM.

I wake up to few loud simultaneous pops followed by humongous lightning strike sound mere seconds later, followed nutty smell of blue smoke.

Without any warning one single bolt of lightning fries both my computers, 1 TV, internet modem, 2 light bulbs, one room fuse (10A) and one of the secondary main fuses (25A).

HDDs of the computers might be OK... but not sure.

It was huge bolt (my co-workers who had seen it 8km away told me), it hit close, was only strike in the storm and it came thru both electric and phone lines!

Needless to say I'm now out of scanning and such for few weeks as I don't have time to assemble new computer.

Glad I hadn't bought and assembled the new PC yet.

[Arseen]

And the internet lines and Mobile net is down at home, I'm now at work.

[CMDLineKing]

And the internet lines and Mobile net is down at home, I'm now at work.

Wow man.. You need a surge suppressor.  And one that passes your phone line through it for good measure.  I have a Surge suppressor and line conditioning UPS just because it will stop this sort of madness.

If you DID have a surge suppressor, you might want to look and see if you are covered for any damage that was caused...  A good one will come with a warranty if items connected to it are damaged in an electrical event.

[tiktektak]

Do you not have a Thor's Hammer on your roof? Thought all Finns had that.

[TDIRunner]

I don't know about your country, but over here our home owner's insurance usually covers stuff like that. 

[Arseen]

Do you not have a Thor's Hammer on your roof? Thought all Finns had that.

If you mean lightning rod, yes we have but that does not help if lightning comes thru electric and phone lines.

If you mean real Thor's Hammer, Norwegians own that.

[Arseen]

I don't know about your country, but over here our home owner's insurance usually covers stuff like that. 

Depends on the insurance.
We'll check it.
 
And as the surge came thru electric and phone lines. it might be that phone and electric companies have to pay as their fail safes failed, but as the lightning bolt was extra strong it might be that the unforseeable force of nature claim frees them.

We'll see.

[TDIRunner]

I don't know about your country, but over here our home owner's insurance usually covers stuff like that. 

Depends on the insurance.
We'll check it.
 
And as the surge came thru electric and phone lines. it might be that phone and electric companies have to pay as their fail safes failed, but as the lightning bolt was extra strong it might be that the unforseeable force of nature claim frees them.

We'll see.

I can pretty much guarantee that the last part will apply to the electric company.

[monjici]

Damn, you're really not lucky. There are two things I really dislike: computer issue and car issues. I'm so dependent on these ...

I'm not sure if a UPS would have protected your PC for such a force of nature, but I would suggest something like a 1300W UPS from APC if you don't already have one. 

[Arseen]

I don't know about your country, but over here our home owner's insurance usually covers stuff like that. 

Depends on the insurance.
We'll check it.
 
And as the surge came thru electric and phone lines. it might be that phone and electric companies have to pay as their fail safes failed, but as the lightning bolt was extra strong it might be that the unforseeable force of nature claim frees them.

We'll see.

I can pretty much guarantee that the last part will apply to the electric company.

Probably.

Normal thunder strikes are absorbed by the power grid and both the the power lines and phone lines have fuses (which so far have always tripped and prevented this happening), but this bolt was so strong that it managed to jump past the fuses.

[Arseen]

Damn, you're really not lucky. There are two things I really dislike: computer issue and car issues. I'm so dependent on these ...

As am I, without computer I can survive some time as I can pay the bills at work, but without car I can't do my work.

I'm not sure if a UPS would have protected your PC for such a force of nature, but I would suggest something like a 1300W UPS from APC if you don't already have one. 

Maybe it would have helped but this was extremely strong strike and/or it hit just the wrong spot as it jumped past the fuses of power grid and phone grid.

[JakeHC]

Sorry to hear Arseen that would suck heaps.

But I had to laugh. I thought a bot had got in and started spreading really obscure porn from the title.

[larryinc64]

Rogue bolt of lightning, Very, very frightening Arseen!

Still, this sucks, I hope everything turns out fine.

[TDIRunner]

I think the most important thing is that no one got hurt, and no video game systems were damaged.   

[Retro Deckades]

That totally sucks, Arseen. I do have to admit, though, that the title of your post is really quite funny and had me laughing out loud!