Now for numbers. IEEE makes all recommendations in standards. From the IEEE Green Book (IEEE Standard 142) entitled 'Static and Lightning Protection Grounding':
> Lightning cannot be prevented; it can only be intercepted or diverted to a path
> which will, if well designed and constructed, not result in damage. Even this means is not
> positive, providing only 99.5-99.9% protection. ...
> Still, a 99.5% protection level will reduce the incidence of direct strokes from one stroke per
> 30 years ... to one stroke per 6000 years ...

A properly earthed 'whole house' protector only does 99.5% of the protection at about $1 per protected appliance. Then spend 20 or 100 times more money for a plug-in protector to add maybe 0.2% protection. Why do I keep providing all the numbers? And so many others in denial post no numbers?

One 'whole house' protector is 99.5%. Then spend masssively for plug-in protectors that do maybe 0.2% only because one 'feels' a million people are not scammed. Nonsense. Your one 'whole house' protector (properly earthed) even protects plug-in protectors - see scary pictures.

How does an informed homeowner make a protection system better? Upgrade the single point earth ground. Spend no money on plug-in protectors. It was that simple even 100 years ago. Because a protector for any harmful surge is only as effective as its earth ground.

Well personally, I use power strips (aka surge protectors because that's the kind the store has) so that I can plug 3 or 4 things into 1 plug and I don't have to run all 3 or 4 cords clear to the wall to plug them in. We do have a whole house protector but a couple of years ago lightning took out our phone jack.

Again, the protector is only as effective as its earth ground. A surge, typically incoming on AC mains, was hunting for earth. May have found earth via the telephone jack. That jack could have been the outgoing path to earth. But a surge should never have been anywhere inside in the first place.

Find a defect in that earth ground system. For example, your telephone line already has a 'whole house' protector installed for free. Does the telco installed protector make the always required short (ie 'less than 10 foot') connection to single point earth ground? If not, then you still do not have effective protection.

Every word in the phrase is significant. Single point earth ground. If a telco 'whole house' protector does not connect short to that same ground, then you do not have the only thing that does all protection - single point earth ground.

The only thing that does protection is earth ground. You have a defect somewhere because a surge was permitted inside the house. Find and fix that defect.

Best power strip is one for $3 that has the always required circuit breaker. An no protector parts inside to maybe create a house fire. That circuit breaker is essential to human safety.

The jack was on an outside wall. The phone co came out and did all this work on it but I'll have to call and see if they fixed the vulnerability.

Ok. That would probably be a 'whole house' protector installed for free on every house. They would not be replacing the jack. They would be replacing a protector. Apparently (hopefully) a surge was not inside your house. Therefore you had protection.

1. safest measure is to unplug any appliance you can't afford to replace immediately when you aren't using it.

2. a quality UPS will keep your computer equipment/sewing machine running safely for a few minutes in the event of a power outage.

3. surge protecters work in a lot of mundance cases, but they are not 100% reliable or effective in the event of something major like a direct hit of lightening to your power or phone line.

4. it's as important - if not more important - to unplug your telephones and computer modems during an electric storm.

plain english. common sense.

what a concept.