During a proper thunderstorm, it cracks and flashes violently. A lightning strike can easily trigger surges and damage electronic devices. But how do you protect yourself against it?
A severe thunderstorm can be expensive. In recent years, insurance companies have registered enormous damage due to lightning strikes. The reason: Those affected often have to repair or replace expensive heating or blinds controls. If lightning strikes in the area, secondary currents can get through the power lines into the house and thus also into the electronics. And surge protection doesn’t always help.
Surge protection can help, but it has its limits
Actually, household appliances have to be able to withstand certain overvoltages of up to 1000 volts for a short time. This does not mean that they continue to run undamaged, but that they can be switched on again after the failure. However, if an older device has already experienced some of these overvoltages, the probability of a short circuit increases. In addition, if lightning strikes the ground, the voltage involved can reach up to one million volts.
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Protect devices from overvoltage damage
So how do you protect yourself against this? Modern homes offer coarse, medium, and fine protection. The rough protection is located where the cable enters the house from the street. Here the tension is already reduced. The medium protection is in the distribution box, the fine one on the socket.
However, the experts warn that the coarse and medium protection is not for laypeople. Sockets and plug strips with overvoltage protection ensure fine protection, as do telephone connections and network sockets.
Before doing so, you should make sure that the electrical installations are state-of-the-art. The sockets in the house must be grounded for this. There are also special adapter plugs for the Ethernet connection of a modem or antenna connections.
Adapter plugs directly into the wall
However, an adapter socket can only work if it has good contact with the protective conductor of the outdoor installation. Users should therefore not use a multiple socket or an extension cable, the protection belongs directly in the wall socket. Experts therefore advise paying attention to brand names and a test mark when buying.
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The best protection is still to unplug. Incidentally, this not only applies to the mains plug, but also to antenna and network cables. Although lightning rods from a specialist help against a direct lightning strike in your own house, they do not guarantee that a household appliance will not be damaged or destroyed in the event of a strike. The energy of the lightning can still be distributed via the cables.