“When thunder rolls, go indoors!” Good advice, but it doesn’t go far enough.
Here are a few other precautionary measures well-worth heeding for your own safety:
- Don’t take a bath or shower, or wash dishes. Electrical currents can travel through the plumbing pipes and put you at risk of electrocution.
- Avoid standing on concrete. The metal rebar or wire mesh that is often placed in concrete is a strong conductor of electricity.
- Don’t use a landline phone. Lightning can travel through a phone line, so use your cell phone but not when it’s plugged into a wall charger.
- Get indoors. Never stand out in the open during a thunderstorm. And yet if you are stuck outdoors, crouch down low with as little of your body touching the ground as possible.
- Don’t stand under a tree. Trees attract lightening as it makes its way to the ground. And yet, since people conduct electricity better than trees, lightning can jump from tree to person.
- Keep away from windows. Windows contain metal parts that attract lightning.
- Unplug all computers. During a thunderstorm, anything that’s plugged in is at risk of damage from an electrical surge. To reduce that risk, unplug computers and other electronic gear you value. And remember that even a surge protector may not stand up to the force of a nearby lightening strike.
- Don’t use small appliances. This is not the time to curl your hair, blend a smoothie, or whip up cake batter. Any appliance plugged into an outlet during a storm can carry a lightening strike, harming you if you’re handling it.
- Avoid doing laundry. Not only are your washer and dryer metal, they are plugged into the wall. Should lightening strike nearby, you don’t want to be anywhere near them.
Here at Nero Air Conditioning & Heating, your comfort and safety are vitally important to us. Every day we do our part through safe wiring of your heating and cooling systems plus other means at our disposal. Contact us today for any HVAC service need you might have.
