Is it possible that a thunderstorm can "fry" your television??

billsfan · May 14, 2009

There was a very bad storm in my area last night. When I arrived home, my tv is no longer working. It is not a cable issue because I have made phone calls (and other tvs in my place are working fine).......Is it possible that this storm could have "fried" my television?? When I turn it on, it makes a series of about 5 clicking sounds, and then little beams of light flash all over the screen....Thanks!

SportSavant · May 14, 2009

If it caused an electricity surge, possible.

It is for this reason that Higher end electronics should be plugged into a surge protector power bar.

kidman232 · May 14, 2009

yes it is, when i was younger my house got hit lightning and it took out a tv, phone, and some other smaller electrical items. basically the sudden surge of electricity overloads said item and burns it out. Thats why its always smart to load valuable electronics into a surge protector multi tap. i have seperate ones for my cpu items, my laptop, and then one for the plasma/ps3, etc.

not saying your tv was fried for sure, but its highly likely

TheKinz · May 14, 2009

Bills- my sister lives in Tampa and the bad storm over the weekend took out their computer 2 ceiling fans and a Ipod clock..The answer is yes it can

patswin · May 14, 2009

yeah i've heard of the same thing happening, there can actually be a surge through the cable lines also if you are wired in that can damage your tv also, that's why all good surge protectors have a coax cable connection available on them so you can prevent this from happening also. Good protectors start at $40 and up, the $5 ones that you see in stores are basically strip outlets that don't offer much if any protection

WVU · May 14, 2009

Hey Billsey, just get fishhead to buy you a new one or threaten to talk him to death because you have no TV

TheKinz · May 14, 2009

and want to hear weird. I was having issues with my HD DVR from Direct and it was plugged into a very expensive surge protector and the upper level tech said surge protectors do not give enough direct power to keep them running properly. She had me plug it into wall and...no problems

celticGreen+ · May 14, 2009

What type of television (dlp, crt direct or projection, lcd/plasma)? Its possible it got fried, but still unlikely. In the grand scheme of things. does it have a power light? Have you tried other inputs/sources?

Betallsports · May 14, 2009

It's possible, but most likely you should be alright.

wolfie_cr · May 14, 2009

well here in Costa Rica a lighting hit about 4 blocks away from my house, it fried two cable modems and one router and in an office nearby it TOO fried two cable modems

ever since I have been using surge protectors that have a coax plug so that I screw the cable from the street into the surge protector and then from the surge protector it goes into the cable modem

billsfan · May 14, 2009

celticGreen said:
What type of television (dlp, crt direct or projection, lcd/plasma)? Its possible it got fried, but still unlikely. In the grand scheme of things. does it have a power light? Have you tried other inputs/sources?

I have a guy coming to look at it tomorrow, so we shall see...hopefully he can be of some assistance :103631605