Massive Power Surge in Swords yesterday

shoegirl

Anybody know anything about the massive power surge which affected numerous homes in the St Columbas area yesterday around 1:30pm?
My parents live in this area and around this time they noticed a smell of smoke, popping noises and the washing machine "lifted off the ground".

Basically almost every electrical device in the house was blown out, and the force of the surge was so powerful it blew a crack in the plastic cover of a power socket downstairs. The only things that survived the surge was the cooker and the fridge. Everything else was blown - they are looking at thousands worth of damage. Thankfully nobody was hurt as far as they know.

Apparently neighbours were also affected - again damage to domestic appliances and electrical equipment.
Since they have no phones now (their telephone charges for both landline and mobile were all blown out) they've been unable to contact the ESB.

Was anybody else impacted? Anybody have any idea on how ESB will treat this incident? They certainly should be entitled to compensation for the level of damage done seeing as it was not specific to their own home.

The Hill Billy

shoegirl wrote: »

Since they have no phones now (their telephone charges for both landline and mobile were all blown out) they've been unable to contact the ESB.

TBH - If all of my electrical equipment had "blown" & was unusable because of a suspected power surge I'd have hot-footed my way to the nearest call box & got an ESB Emergency team around pronto. The ESB has a 24 hour emergency line (1850 372 999) for situations just like these.

shoegirl

The latest is that ESB are denying all liability for this because it happened within the homes impacted! Incredible!

Wishbone Ash

All the street lights on the R132, R127 and R128 were off last night at around 7.30pm - any connection?

Gillo

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

All the street lights on the R132, R127 and R128 were off last night at around 7.30pm - any connection?

Tempted to make a pun, but it's no laughing matter.


Chances are, somewhere in there terms and conditions when you sign up to ESB they have a clause that somehow indemnifie's them, maybe they put it that you have to provide adequate protection.

Don't most surge protectors come with a manufacturer's guarantee (not retailer, you have to go back to the manufacturer), I know Belkin definetly do, at least it may cover your PC.

SeaSide

gillo wrote: »

Tempted to make a pun, but it's no laughing matter.


Chances are, somewhere in there terms and conditions when you sign up to ESB they have a clause that somehow indemnifie's them, maybe they put it that you have to provide adequate protection.

Don't most surge protectors come with a manufacturer's guarantee (not retailer, you have to go back to the manufacturer), I know Belkin definetly do, at least it may cover your PC.

I always thought that the €1000 chip was there to protect the 5c fuse.

You think you had it tough - i had to listen to the first half of the rugby in the car not a single electron to be had in Lusk for four hours

Wishbone Ash

gillo wrote: »

Tempted to make a pun, but it's no laughing matter

I was thinking that as I typed it!

The Hill Billy

SeaSide wrote: »

not a single electron to be had in Lusk for four hours

Are you positive?

shoegirl

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

All the street lights on the R132, R127 and R128 were off last night at around 7.30pm - any connection?

Quite possibly. Apparently the problem emanated from the "Hollow" in Swords. All the local street lamps have been blown out. Apparently the reason nobodies circuit protection did anything for them was that the increase was in the voltage (!!) - they reckon it went more than double the usual 220-240v up to around 500v - hence why a lot of high voltage devices simply burnt out or melted before burning out.

The ESB have visited local homes and basically told people to go buy replacement devices for everything destroyed and keep the receipts. There are at least 50 households impacted with several thousands worth of damage per home. They initially tried to deny all knowledge of a problem, but the locals are most retired ex-public sector workers with zero tolerance, and they all threatened to talk to the media straight away, which immediately sent ESB into a tizzy. The lucky thing is that nobody was actually hurt: the danger to a human would surely be quite high if they were physically attached to such a high voltage, surely?

As far as I know all the street lighting in the immediate vicinity were blown out by the force of the surge, I would guess this could well have had knock-on effects elsewhere.

As I said before, luckily nobody was hurt.