[hotncool]

I've wondered for a while about lightning striking the window A/c units in my home. Every time there is lightning I disconnect these A/C units, as well as my desktop PC (too much data to risk losing). However, I do have a whole house surge protector installed on the electrical service panel by an electrician years ago, but am not sure if this is adequate to protect the window A/C units, the PC & the other appliances in the house, or the house circuitry for that matter. Prior to this installation my home was struck by lightning causing over $10,000 in damage.

I also wonder if the ground in the service panel for the house electrics would protect everything, thinking that an electrical strike from lightning would safely follow the ground to earth.

Also, if a window A/C unit, a PC, etc. is unplugged it is not attached to a ground, so would this make them more vulnerabe to absorbing a lightning strike?

As you can see, my knowledge of electricity is very limited, so I'd rather show my ignorance than get into trouble.

All comments & recommendations are appreciated.

 

[hotncool]

The window AC units are in one window over the other & both near a gutter & gutter downspout. Since aluminum conducts electricity I thoughrt if lightning struck the aluminum gutter system it might jump to the window AC units & damage them either directly via the field or as static.

 

[HVAC_Marc]

why post here? are you assuming you will get a different answer than you would in the electrical forum?

 

[hotncool]

Nope! Not at all.
I simply responded to an email which led me to this forum , but which I didn't pay attention to & thought it was the electrical forum since they were the ones responding to my query.

 

[HVAC_Marc]

ahh, very good... carry on!

we get a LOT of people posting multiple times in the hopes of obtaining different answers or the one they may want to hear.