Got'er did, now I sit waiting

[RBHarter]

I keep asking yall to send me all that rain for just a month or so every spring but noooo you just hoard it all up .
"It was just a little storm ,just 5.9 inches" , "if the rain ALL hits a gauge that's just a little over all year at home" , now about getting my terminus lake filled back up .........

 

[RBHarter]

That was supposed to be desert humor.

 

[Rick]

One of the worst rain storms I have ever seen was in the dessert. Last July, had cars washed right off the freeway (I-40)

 

[RBHarter]

No doubt about that . We get a down pour on a basin or drainage flat and it all runs into the washes and gullies because it's so dry that it can't soak it up and bam flash flooding 5-10 miles away under sunny skies . Where it does pool up generally just brings us a fresh layer alkali dust to blow around and muck up our sinuses . All of that however doesn't mean I can't want for the 75 ft of Lake lost over the last 20 yrs back . It's only 25 or maybe 30 million acre ft.

 

[Cherokee]

Several years ago I had a Generic 22KW whole house backup installed ($7500), using my existing propane supply tank (gas heat). It has been used for real a few times for no more than half a day in the winter. After 15 seconds, you can't tell the difference, except you have to reset all the clocks and restart the computer. Great benefit and peace of mind. Runs for 5 minutes every Sunday at Noon to "exercise" the unit. [Did not read all 6 pages so maybe I missed something]

 

[Rick]

I didn't reset the clocks until the power came back on, figured I would need to do it again then anyways. I have mine set to exercise for 10 minutes at 1 in the afternoon every other Wednesday.

 

[smokeywolf]

"I love it when a plan comes together." Sorry you lost the LED lamps. They're coming down in price, but still hurt if you have to buy a half dozen of them. With all of your lamps being LEDs, I wonder if there is such a thing as a whole house surge protector and if so, is the cost worth the number of lamps it's likely to save over it's life-cycle.

 

[Rick]

There is such a thing Smokey and I have it installed. The power company installs them on the meter. The only thing I can think of is the lightning strike was so close the surge protector was overwhelmed.

Update on the blown LED's. I only lost one, the can light over the kitchen sink was on and it blew. The two LED's on the front porch were fine, it was the motion sensor light fixture that bit the dust.

Then yesterday I discovered the next thing that didn't survive. The thermostat was completely blank, tried new batteries but no joy with that. A new thermostat is doing everything it's supposed to which brings me to the next thing that evidently took the hit. The A/C comes on but doesn't get cool. The heating A/C company is coming this morning and I will find out if it has anything to do with the power surge.

My desk top computer is plugged into another surge protector but it wasn't turned on. My laptop is not plugged into a surge protector and it was turned on but is fine.

This whole thing has turned into quite a PITA.

.

 

[Brad]

The AC issue could be huge. That can get pricey pretty fast.

So far my flashlight hasn't taken a lightning strike and still functions.

 

[Rick]

Yeah dumb flashlight, yesterday I told mine to cool off the house and it laughed at me.

 

[Brad]

So did your AC.

 

[Rick]

Actually I feel kinda lucky. As close as the lightning strike was, the power pole 15 feet from the house, at least the house didn't burn down.

I was going to install lightning rods on the house a few years ago but the power company suggested I not do that. They said that they actually attract lightning increasing your chances of a lightning hit. Guess I should have asked them the same thing about their pole & transformer right next to the house.

.

 

[Brad]

Bet the flash and boom got your attention. That kind of energy release close to a house is never a good thing.
You might be better served putting lightning rods on the neighbors house?

 

[Rick]

I was outside behind the house checking water run-off coming down the hill when the lightning hit, almost knocked me down.

 

[Ian]

One of my customers was bringing a bulldozer in before a storm and the cage got hit by lightning. He didn't get burned, but it basically deafened him and left him with several frequencies of tinnitis.

 

[blackthorn]

My Dad farmed with horses in Manitoba. In the mid 1930's he was in the field and saw a thunder storm building in the West. He unhooked the team, jumped on one and headed for the buildings. Lightning struck the metal Hames on the horse harness of the horse next to him. It killed that horse and knocked the other (along with Dad) onto the ground but neither he nor the horse he was on was injured. Had he chosen to jump onto the other horse he would likely have been killed too.

 

[Rick]

Costs still rising. The A/C guy came this morning, the motherboard in the A/C unit was fried, just the motherboard alone is $300, don't know yet what the total bill will come to.

Called my home owners insurance agent, $1000 deductible but he said to be sure to keep all the receipts for the next 6 months or more for anything electrical, he said with a lightning strike that close all the damage isn't immediate, stuff such as the well pump, fridge, laundry etc can be damaged and not fail for 6 months or more.

.

 

[Brad]

We still get alerts from U of Iowa. The visual voice mail said a final cloud was sided in Johnson County.
And she thought she was done with final clouds.

 

[Ian]

Somebody using an Ipad?

 

[Brad]

No. When we get voice mail we get an email with the message as text. The text said final cloud. It was sided in Johnson County.
Visual voice mail makes the iPad look smart!