Re: Insurance claim - can insurers consider this one item?

"Alex Heney" <me8@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:73g0a5leh03gibiovg6bh6qvgfqtqq9kt9@xxxxxxxxxx
On Thu, 3 Sep 2009 11:04:04 +0100, "Peter Crosland"
<g6jns@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"Alex Heney" <me8@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:jsot955fufla29j42a859vklmvh2u1ngqj@xxxxxxxxxx
On Wed, 2 Sep 2009 08:50:13 +0100, "Peter Crosland"
<g6jns@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"Alex Heney" <me8@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:mf4r95h76pnb4lknmqq0ga8jm63cfg2jod@xxxxxxxxxx
On Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:17:31 +0100, "Peter Crosland"
<g6jns@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"Mike Ross" <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:i96g955su709f1hfgv9l25c3u5n1v8ifpf@xxxxxxxxxx
On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:54:38 -0700 (PDT),
"dave-no-spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx"
<dave-no-spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

<snips>

I have a rather specialised computer (Sun workstation) which had
fast
disks, 8 GB RAM, very high spec graphics card. These are of course
normal things - virtually any computers will have a hard drive and
graphics card, and all will have memory.

It. along with 4 other computer related items. have all be damaged
by
lightning.

It's clear the replacement cost of the computer...

Why replace the computer? How far have you gone down the
troubleshooting
route?
It may well be that only a fifty quid power supply has been blown.

How did they get fried by lightning anyway? The surge protecter will
frequently
come with some kind of guarantee to replace any items that get blown
up
if
it
fails to protect them as advertised; you may not even need to claim
on
your own
insurance.

You DID have it plugged into a surge protector didn't you? Oooooops
if
you
didn't - the insurance might well be able to refuse your claim, or
reduce
it on
some kind of contributary negligence grounds; you really really
should,
and
could reasonably be expected to, have such expensive equipment
plugged
into a
surge-protected outlet.


Not very likely to be an issue. Surge protectors offer very little, if
any,
protection against a close lightning strike. A close lightening strike
can
induce huge currents in electrical equipment that no surge protector
will
have any influence on.

Well a few weeks ago, I had a close lightning strike, when my wife was
using the computer.

It fried the ADSL modem/router - via the telephone line input which
was not surge protected, but did not damage any of the equipment which
was surge protected.

It also fried our microwave oven, so it is clear the surge hit the
mains as well as the telephone line. (and of course blew all the main
circuit breakers in the house).


And given that it is precisely the type of event surge protectors are
designed to protect against, I am surprised you think they would be
unlikely to have any effect.

How do you know that the modem was damaged by a current entering through
the
phone line?


There was a burning smell from that part of the modem and soot around
the phone line socket both on the modem and on the desk.

There was no sign of physical damage anywhere else on or around the
modem.

There was also no damage to any of the other computer equipment
connected to the same socket strip.


What about all the other electrical equipment in your house that
was not affected?

Most of it was turned off, or was electrical rather than electronic.


In fact any damage is just as likely to have occurred
because of a large current induced by the proximity of the strike rather
than travelling through the wiring. In this case a surge arrestor will
have
no effect at all. They will provide some protection against low level
spikes
in the mains voltage but that is about their limit.

I seem to remember the advertising for the one I have saying it would
protect against spikes of up to 50,000 volts.

Which will be quite useless when the voltages in lightning strikes are
measured in millions of volts.

Only if the equipment or electricity line actually gets directly by
the lightning, which is very unlikely.


I don't think you have grasped the crucial difference between currents
flowing in via wires and those induced in electronic equipment. It is the
current rather than the voltage that does the damage. It is quite possible
for a close lightning strike to induce currents large enough to destroy
semiconductors without there being any direct electrical connection to the
equipment. Surge protectors offer zero immunity to induced currents in
equipment because they do not necessarily flow through the surge protector.

Peter Crosland


.

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