[ale] there's Risk and there's Stupid

[Robert Reese~]

> Question:
>
> We now live in a condo development and all the utilities are
> buried, specifically, phone, power, and cable. The nearest
> overhead, exposed utility line is more than 100 meters away. Does
> this fact in any meaningful way lessen my risk of having a large
> surge take out unprotected electronics (tvs, tuners, etc.) and
> protected ones for that matter?

Yes, quite.  Both power plants and lightning seek ground.  The cables in the 
ground, while capable of accepting and even attracting lightning strikes, are 
encased in a pseudo-Faraday cage.  That doesn't mean you are completely 
protected, but it does mean the risk is much smaller.  (Ironically, the 
insulation protecting the cables from the earth also inhibits the protection 
that the earth would help provide by keeping it away from grounding and 
directing energy up the line in both directions.)


> I know that really LARGE surges can
> blow right past a good UPC/ surge protector.

Surge protectors, even those supposedly designed to "prevent lightning", cannot 
do so from a direct strike.  Lightning travels frequently miles through the 
atmosphere; a small "spark-gap" present in many consumer surge protectors won't 
stop that surge.  Better ones do have capacitors and other forms of capacitance 
to help relieve larger surges, but again nothing to completely stop lightning at 
close strike ranges.

I recommend a battery backup which will do a far better job at protecting your 
equipment than any consumer-grade surge protection system of which I am aware.  
You get the added benefit of power-loss protection for things such as your DVR, 
your DVD, 

Note that these only address power, and sometimes phone line.  As far as cable 
goes, do yourself a favor and sink a 10' copper ground rod in all the way next 
to your cable box and attach your cable's ground connection to that rod.  They 
aren't expensive and can be purchased at your local big box hardware store along 
with the heaviest gauge solid wire you can find; you won't need much, perhaps a 
couple of feet.  As a bonus, you can also attach your telephone ground there as 
well as add additional grounding to your plumbing (if it is metal-based, that 
is).

Cheers,
Robert~