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While we were out of town my brother was coming by to get mail and check on things. On Saturday evening, Jan 18, he called me to tell me he tried to watch TV and couldn't get anything to work; the screen said no signal. (I always leave the TV on when we are away) When we got back yesterday I checked the TV's and discovered all three cable boxes wouldn't power up. Also the TV in our bedroom would not power up. My wife tried to use the disposal, but it wouldn't turn on even after I pressed the reset, the wireless phone base won't power up and the ceiling fan in our bedroom which only has a remote to change settings will not change from high speed, although the light function fro on off and dim does work. Two LED light bulbs that I had recently changed in the utility room and stove hood were not working as well, but new bulbs fixed that. My brother told me there had been a thunderstorm Saturday with a lot of lightning. My worst fear was maybe the central AC was affected, but heat and air seem to be OK. The only clue I have about when it may have happened is a nanny cam we have for when we watch our 3 year old grandson. It's connected to my phone and it says it went offline at 2:11PM Saturday January 18.

I know electricity can do weird things. When I was a teenager my mother's eyes were burned, like a welder w/o a hood, by a bolt of electricity that went from the burner, melting a hole in a very heavy pot going all the way up to the vent hood, which also had a melted spot on it. That's a good two and a half foot distance. No one could ever explain that.

Calls to Comcast were useless They said they fixed the problem, which didn't happen so I am waiting for them to show up tomorrow. I am using my phone as a hot spot for the internet, but I'm missing watching the Trump Impeachment charade, dang it!

Check all breakers? Outlets are sometimes on different breakers than lights. Also, I've lost TVs and other electronics to lightning - now there's weird electricity.

oohrah wrote: ↑Wed Jan 22, 2020 11:30 am Check all breakers? Outlets are sometimes on different breakers than lights. Also, I've lost TVs and other electronics to lightning - now there's weird electricity.

I'm thinking we had a strike, but no way to confirm it. No tripped breakers except the internal breaker in the garbage disposal; TV's, cable boxes, DVD's, etc. are all on individual power strips and the outlet for the phone indicated 119 V with my volt meter. The transformer indicated zero volts on my meter, so I tried using a different working transformer to power the base, but it still didn't work. Gonna have to buy another phone, a new 50" TV and a garbage disposal. We really like the beautiful fan in our bedroom; we'll have to see if we can live with a ceiling fan on high all the time.

AndyC wrote: ↑Wed Jan 22, 2020 11:33 am Electricity to me is witchcraft :)

It's like plumbing for amps and volts!

Had a weird problem in my house a month or so ago - 3 outlets in the Kitchen went out, including the refrigerator outlet. Looked at the breaker box and none were tripped. HOWEVER, when I went through and tried each one there was one that hadn't "tripped", but flopped back and forth rather than clicking on and off.

Long story short - bad breaker, failed. Replaced and back up and running.

So don't just look, check.

Also gave me the chance to go through and label everything correctly after 30 years in this house as the builder did a piss poor job of labeling and the layout is totally weird.

Check all your gfci outlets and see if any of them are tripped

Cheapsk8 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:17 pm Check all your gfci outlets and see if any of them are tripped

Last months gfi in my master bathroom tripped and it affected 2 outlets in living room, 1 in master bedroom and light/ceiling fan in master bedroom. All of this but light and exhaust fan in bathroom still worked

I have seen this kind of thing happen many times. We are always involved because often the lightning strike will take out circuit boards in the heat and/or the outdoor unit of the HVAC system. Most of the time folks will have electrical appliances knocked out as well. Sometimes it will be just one TV out of three or random light fixtures. Anything with a circuit board is particularly vulnerable. It sounds to me like you either had a close by lightning strike or maybe even a direct hit. But it does sound like lightning damage. Your homeowners should cover almost all affected appliances.

RPBrown wrote: ↑Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:28 pm

Cheapsk8 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:17 pm Check all your gfci outlets and see if any of them are tripped

Last months gfi in my master bathroom tripped and it affected 2 outlets in living room, 1 in master bedroom and light/ceiling fan in master bedroom. All of this but light and exhaust fan in bathroom still worked

This happened to me a couple years ago after a storm. The problem turned out to be standing water next to the house and it tripped the GFCI outlets in both bathrooms.
When the ground dried out I reset them and everything was working again.

Mother Nature doesn't follow electrical "rules". We had a lightning strike about 35 years ago and many weird things happened. One ceiling fan had "high" only. One cordless phone would work but could not dial out. One VCR, blown fuse. One TV, horizontal output diode blown. Yard lights would not turn off. Weather station wiped out completely. Air compressor switch welded in "on" position. None of these were on a common circuit.

03Lightningrocks wrote: ↑Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:40 pm I have seen this kind of thing happen many times. We are always involved because often the lightning strike will take out circuit boards in the heat and/or the outdoor unit of the HVAC system. Most of the time folks will have electrical appliances knocked out as well. Sometimes it will be just one TV out of three or random light fixtures. Anything with a circuit board is particularly vulnerable. It sounds to me like you either had a close by lightning strike or maybe even a direct hit. But it does sound like lightning damage. Your homeowners should cover almost all affected appliances.

Mel wrote: ↑Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:46 pm Mother Nature doesn't follow electrical "rules". We had a lightning strike about 35 years ago and many weird things happened. One ceiling fan had "high" only. One cordless phone would work but could not dial out. One VCR, blown fuse. One TV, horizontal output diode blown. Yard lights would not turn off. Weather station wiped out completely. Air compressor switch welded in "on" position. None of these were on a common circuit.

Yep. This is exactly what I was speaking of. There is no pattern to it. Just dumb luck.

Lightening can do weird things to your electrical stuff.

puma guy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 22, 2020 11:51 am We really like the beautiful fan in our bedroom; we'll have to see if we can live with a ceiling fan on high all the time.

Does your fan also have a pull chain for speed setting? If so, does it still work on all 3 speeds? The remote receiver in the fan housing might have blown, these can be replaced by fan remote sets purchased from Home Depot/Lowes. The ceiling fan in our vaulted living room (of course the only fan on a vaulted ceiling) quit responding to the remote. Replaced the receiver, problem resolved.