BE LIGHTNING and ELECTRICITY SAFE ON YOUR COUNTRY PLACE

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You know not to have a plugged-in radio, shaver, or hair dryer anywhere near the tub or sink; if an appliance falls into the water, it can electrocute you whether it is turned on or not. In newer construction, all outlets near water faucets are fitted with a building-code-mandated ground-fault protector: a wall outlet having a pair of small, colored buttons to reset a circuit breaker that kicks off if ever a smidgen of current leaves the confines of the household circuit. For automatic protection in an older home, invest $35 in a ground-fault protector for each outlet in your bath and kitchen. To be effective, the fixtures must be well grounded, so have an electrician install yours unless you honestly know what you are doing.

Telephone Lines

If you still have hardy, old-style, bell-ringer telephones, you may have heard a tinkle after lightning struck the high-lines — despite the TelCo lightning arrestor installed between the main lines and your home phones (in our service area, the arrestor is enclosed inside a square gray plastic housing connected to an independent ground).

However, answering machines, feature phones, faxes, and computer modems contain delicate solid-state electronics that can be ruined by a surge that isn't strong enough to trigger the TelCo arrestor. In a newer home-phone installation, you can disconnect your phones from the high-lines by pulling the clear-plastic modular clipplug from your "network interface" — a small plastic box located in your cellar or utility closet near the phone line entry.

For automatic protection in a system of any vintage, you can install a phone-voltage spike suppressor at the service entry or at each phone jack. (When modern electronics was young, we experimenters wired a pair of auto-type fuse holders into the red and green wires of the phone line. Loaded with low-amp fuses, they blew before spikes could damage our "phone freak" equipment.) Today, most electronics stores or catalogs sell under-$15 telephone-line spike suppressors that can be installed at the entry or between phone jack and terminal equipment.

Homeowner-installed suppressors require a 3-prong electrical socket to connect to ground (if your older house lacks modern 3-wire outlets, see "Connecting Spike Protectors and Modern Appliances to Older House Wiring"). The better designs contain an array of electronics to intercept transients as rapidly and completely as possible. You'd think that in combination these devices would sidetrack all electrical spikes, but they are not 100% effective. Lightning is incredibly powerful and can arc across a whole battery of arrestors if you offer an irresistible route to the ground (say, talking on the phone while luxuriating in the bathtub). Don't phone out during electrical storms, and let the answering machine take the risk with incoming calls.

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