How to Protect the Electronic Equipment inside Your Home from Lightning

Don't let lightning destroy your electronics.

Lightning strikes are capable of causing costly damage to almost all home electronics. While direct strikes are uncommon, nearby strikes commonly cause power surges that destroy unprotected electronics. The best protection for your electronic equipment is to unplug all power sources and cables -- including phone and cable lines -- during a storm. This best practice isn't always possible, though, so you can take other measures to protect them from damaging lightening strikes.

Instructions

1. Use surge protectors. Place expensive electronics, such as audio/video equipment or computers, on high-end surge protectors that have several modes of protection. Less expensive electronics, such as clocks and microwaves, can use inexpensive surge protectors.

2. Use a universal power supply for computers. A UPS will keep your computer powered for several minutes even after a power failure so you can properly shut it down. This will prevent possible data corruption due to an abrupt shutoff.

3. Use line protectors on cables that carry data. Power surges can also move through cable lines, phone cords and network cables, and can cause damage to electronics even if the power source of protected. Use line-specific protectors to prevent secondary damage.

Tips & Warnings

• Replace all surge protectors after a known strike. Although some high-end surge protectors can survive a lightning strike, most will not protect your electronics from another surge. Also replace line-specific protectors.

• Special surge protectors are available specifically for audio/video equipment.

• Power strips are not necessarily surge protectors. Surge protectors will list the amount of liability the company will take should the protector fail.