Surge protector.

[druggas1954]

Saturday night we had a doozy of an electrical storm that caused us to lose power for 3 hours. The next morning, we discovered that we lost a tv, a computer, and a garage door opener. What kind of surge protector would be good for us? We've located to Arkansas from California and we're none too bright when it comes to electrical storms. I'm posting this from my backup computer with WinXP on it.

[jdc2000]

What is your budget for surge protectors?

For things like computers, surge protector power strips will work. Look for the highest Joule rating.

https://www.newegg.com/belkin-be1122...82E16812107196

https://www.newegg.com/cyberpower-cs...82E16812220100

For systems that you might want to be able to use during a power failure, a UPS might something to consider, or a backup generator for things like your refrigerator/freezer or any other critical systems (well pump, for example).

For garage door openers, the electronics and the motor may be powered by the same plug. You would need a surge suppressor that can handle the current draw for something like that, or for things like appliances with fancy electronics modules. You have a few options for these:

1. Unplug things that you do not want to potentially get zapped. Inexpensive, but you have to be present when the storm hits.

2. Invest in a whole-house surge suppression system. These can be pricey however.

3. If you have lots of $$$$$, a backup generator system that you can manually activate might be useful, unless of course your house actually gets hit with lightning (or a by a near miss). You also need to be present for this option.

Note that spikes can get into electronic equipment through cable TV cables, phone lines, or copper network cables also.

[druggas1954]

We're not rich, but we figure it cost us over $1,500 dollars for replacement cost. Just wondering if any surge protector can protect us 100 percent. I called our electric company, but they weren't any help at all in suggestions. And all the locals were even less of a help when fighting Mother Nature.

[Midknyte]

Unfortunately, no surge protector is 100%.
The higher the joule rating, the more energy it can "absorb" before failing.

The cheapest and most effective thing would be to physically unplug any devices you want to protect.
As jdc2000 mentioned, this includes coax and ethernet cables too. A lightning strike can just as easily travel through a coax or ethernet cable.