Should you unplug your appliances from the socket during a storm?

In the era of advanced technologies and widely used lightning protection installations, i.e. popular lightning rods, many of us may wonder whether there is a real risk of damage to our home electrical appliances during a storm.

Artur Surowiecki, president of Skywarn Polska and lecturer at the University of Warsaw, who devoted most of his life to studying storms, answered these questions during the “Blok Techniczny” podcast.

According to Surowiecki, the issue of leaving devices connected to sockets during a storm is of fundamental importance. There is a risk of damage or even total destruction of electrical and electronic equipment if we leave them connected during a storm.

“If a house with lightning protection is struck by a negative discharge, nothing should happen to the house. It’s worse if we’re dealing with a positive discharge, which is much more powerful. Even disconnecting the fuses may not help here,” he said.

Surowiecki explains that there is a type of lightning discharge that can destroy our equipment during a storm, regardless of whether there is lightning protection in its path or not.

A very strong electromagnetic field is also created around such a [positive] atmospheric discharge and electromagnetic induction may occur inside the home installation – very strong currents will be generated, which may also burn equipment.

How can we recognise the most dangerous discharges that can destroy our equipment?

Positive discharges are much louder and the discharge channel is relatively straight. It generally has no branching, is blindingly bright, and the thunder sounds like an explosion or a cannon fire.

Surowiecki explains that although they are rare, they occur regularly throughout the country. He also recommends unplugging devices from sockets to be safe.

The best solution during intense storms is to unplug everything and remove plugs, especially those devices that are valuable to us.

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