Greetings Folks we are back.

[WhatMoney]

I always have an electricity diverter on my lines, so that if my home does get hit by lighting by at least one million jigawatts, the diverter will send it directly into the flux capacitor. Most likely my computers will fry, but at least I can go back in time and unplug them.

Great answer! Back To The Future movies one of my favorites.

[justplaintired]

The surge protector we have now has a battery back up. We bought it at circuit city. We were told this would keep our computer from surging if we didn't get it turned off or unplugged when a storm hit. This works good for us since we can't always be home when there's a pop storm. Cost us a little more, but it's great, now when the electric goes cause of a storm, the computer stays on. We used to use just the surge protector and that's what got one of our computers zapped.

We were told at Circuit City that surge protectors lose something and I can't remember what when you have many surges. So now we use double back up, surge protector along with battery back up.

[AngelinaCatHub]

About surge arresters, SPM’s, UPS’. A surge suppressor takes a small surge to ground. If you have poor earth ground (that third round plug) or bypass it, they don’t work at all. There are two kinds. One is a diode type and dead shorts, but is good for one time only. The other is a wafer that is a resistor to ground but they get weak in time.

The Power Modules you purchase cheaply are not as good as you think. They are called Standby Power Modules. They work like this: They pass your house current through directly with some power surge devices listed above. As soon as the power drops for more than two cycles, it senses the loss, throws a relay and turns a battery inverter on, until power is restored or the battery goes bad.

The best UPS, Is an Uninterruptable Power Supply. Here is how it works. It uses a battery to power an inverter at all times. The house power powers a battery charger. If you loose power, the inverter does not care as it is never directly hooked up to real house power. This is the safest but most expensive way.

Saying that, NO SURGE arrester made by man can help you if your house is directly struck. Put this way, a spark from Earth to Cloud (truly the way it works) that goes up several miles, and equals enough displaces air to about 30 inches in which when the spark leaves collapses the air and causes “Thunder” will certainly not be terminated by a $50 surge arrester. “You can’t fool Mother Nature”. ‘Hub

[AngelinaCatHub]

OK, I’m gonna lighten some people up in the fact that there are many other people stupider than you may think you are.

So: We got an old car abandoned in our list of assets. So four years ago, I purchased brake shoes and then got sick. So now that I’m “normal” (LOLOLOLOL) I gonna fix dis ting up. Brakes went on fine four hours work only took me four days. All wheel cylinders shoes and master. Now four year old gas in tank. Can’t use that so I’ll siphon it out into a container. I might advise this car is not running and in a garage. So, I’m sucking on this here hose, and to no avail. Also, as brilliant as I am, I figure it would not be good to inhale raw gasoline into lungs. Well I hate hard work so I believe in the right tools. So I go get Mrs. Vacuum cleaner to start the siphoning bit on the garden hose to the gas can. BOY DID THAT WORK for in an instant the damned vacuum cleaner and all the garage floor filled with raw gas. Anyone know how many sparks a vacuum cleaner motor makes? I said to Mrs. RUN LIKE HELL and grabbed the plug from the wall while we awaited the expected explosion. Well. It didn’t as I am here one more day to be as brilliant as ever. After evaporation I set a spark less motor fan up to vent the still not burned Chev. “God must not be done with me yet”. ‘Hub

[Bandit]

It is pretty amazing how we survive things. Some people are such whimps they would not know what to do when troubles come. Glad that you came through all that thunder & fire bombs without getting permanent smoke coming out your ears

Dont feel too bad. I was in the emergency room AGAIN this morning. Was doing some weeding & gardening (did not see the underground hive) & got a bee sting the day before. This bee would not let go & injected a huge amount of venom into my hand. I figured I have had about 50 stings before & bee stings were no big deal...
Went to bed with a small swelling & woke up with with medium pain & my entire hand & arm swollen clear up to my elbow. I never knew such a small creature could put someone into ER.

Life is full of suprizes.
Glad you are back safely.

[justplaintired]

Wow are you ever lucky! Lucky in that your seriously still here. After I read you got out the sweeper I thought Oh No! Now here's how my mind works, instead of being glad I'm ok in the sort of thing, I think "Oh crap, now I need a new sweeper how am I going to afford that?"

Seriously though, glad you're ok and thanks for the post on the surge protector, sounds like we aren't really as protected as I thought. How much does a good surge protector run? We paid about $75 for this one and thought it would be good.

[BKParalegal]

Doesn't everyone run their computers and stereo equipment on UPS's? How else can I play my Procul Harem LP's with the purest sound possible?

[AngelinaCatHub]

It is pretty amazing how we survive things. Some people are such whimps they would not know what to do when troubles come. Glad that you came through all that thunder & fire bombs without getting permanent smoke coming out your ears

Dont feel too bad. I was in the emergency room AGAIN this morning. Was doing some weeding & gardening (did not see the underground hive) & got a bee sting the day before. This bee would not let go & injected a huge amount of venom into my hand. I figured I have had about 50 stings before & bee stings were no big deal...
Went to bed with a small swelling & woke up with with medium pain & my entire hand & arm swollen clear up to my elbow. I never knew such a small creature could put someone into ER.

Life is full of suprizes.
Glad you are back safely.

[PoorGrammyinBK7]

Cat and Hub

"The Adventures of Cat and Hub"

You guys have so many great stories - your stories could be a movie, or a TV series!

Hey - I am a writer - maybe we should collaborate (after we both get out of our respective financial messes with BK and all, of course!)

[WoodSprite]

Went over to the house and smelled burned computer.

Oh, man, I have smelled that sickening smell! Not at home, though, thank heaven. I saved one of the burned out surge protectors and hung it up on the wall next to our server farm. It still smelled five years later.

I'm so glad you guys are unhurt.

[AngelinaCatHub]

"The Adventures of Cat and Hub"

You guys have so many great stories - your stories could be a movie, or a TV series!

Hey - I am a writer - maybe we should collaborate (after we both get out of our respective financial messes with BK and all, of course!)

[Bandit]

I think every time we get stung our immune system gets broken down making us more susceptible. I got several different opinions yesterday on why we react different from different stings. One nurse said that bee stings can also be good & are used to treat things like arthritis. I think this was something more like a yellow jacket. It was even more brutal than army/african bee stings. Like you, I also work well side by side with bees but this time they thought I was destroying their home.


But seriously you are very fortunate as well because my Grandma has been struck by lightening twice inside her home. Once in the bathtub & once on the telephone that ruined her watch & destroying just about everything that was plugged in but she survived both strikes...and being the pyro that I am, I cannot tell you how many times my small explosions & fires have had the hairs on my arms & head singed! but like the bees & lightning, there has to be some respect for nature to remind us.