Did the lightning strike cause my woes?

[samduhman]

I've been in my house for about 3 years. Since I've moved in I've bought a 42" RPTV, Kenwood 5.1 surround sound theather, above stove microwave, dishwasher. All are practically new but all out of warranty now.

About 3 to 4 weeks ago I had a lightning strike. If it didnt hit the house it was within a few feet of it. Since then the following has occured.

dishwasher - acting flakey and not cleaning correctly till it finally quit completely
microwave - made a loud arching noise about 2 weeks ago and went out completly last night
TV- started out with wavy distortion on the top 6 inches. Has progressed to the whole screen now and now extemely wavy.
Surround sound - some of the features have quit working. One rear speaker no longer works at all.
Hot water heater - does not seem to heat enough water. Believe an element is bad but havent checked it yet.

So do you think the lightning has caused this or am I having extremely bad luck. Considering its all has happened since the strike and everything but the water heater is fairly new Im finding it hard to believe its bad luck.

 

[dug777]

seems convincingly plausible

 

[moshquerade]

you need an Exorcist :evil:

 

[lozina]

yeah sounds like the lightning is the culrpit.

do you have any computers that were affected?

 

[Legendary]

Not that surge protectors are the end all for lightning strikes, but are your TV and speakers hooked up to a surge protector? Just out of curiosity.
However, I think a lightning strike would be enough to cause the TV and speaker problems at the very least, and the microwave. I can't speak about the other devices.

 

[samduhman]

Originally posted by: lozina
yeah sounds like the lightning is the culrpit.

do you have any computers that were affected?

Had a hard drive die but didn't chalk that up as being cuased by lightning.

 

[bigrash]

Originally posted by: moshquerade
you need an Exorcist :evil:

na, it sounds like aliens to me.

 

[jemcam]

Lightning produces EMP and it doesn't take a direct strike even to your electrical system to cause problems. Usually an EMP blast will affect all electronics in your house, and it will be immediate, not just going bad over a period of time.

FYI, this is usually covered by your homeowner's insurance, but since they went bad over a period of time and it wasn't all immediate, your chances at recovery are slim.

Edit: EMP = Electromagnetic Pulse Wikipedia