U

Visitor

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3 Messages

Friday, June 9th, 2023 5:52 PM

Closed

lightning damage/ surge protection

I was out of town last weekend; lightning struck a tree about 100 yards from my house while I was gone. When I returned on Sunday the comcast box was toast (no service), my AV receiver connected to the box via HDMI was non-functional (in protection mode) and won't turn on, and the TV was toast (connected to AV receiver via HDMI). No damage to my cable modem. All were plugged into a surge protected outlet strip (which is still functional) and I have a whole house surge protector (which is still functional). I replaced the comcast box at the local Xfinity store. Did the surge come over the comcast coax? Is there anything I can do to protect from this happening in the future? Is comcast responsible for failing to protect the coax input?

Official Employee

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443 Messages

2 years ago

@

user_9a8d1c  Thank you for reaching out to us, I'm sorry to hear that and I hope the rest of your home and property were unaffected.   Please send us a Modmail so we can look into this. To send a "Direct Message" to Xfinity Support:
Click "Sign In" if necessary
Click the "Direct Messaging" icon or https://comca.st/3EqVMu7
Click the "New message" (pencil and paper) icon
The "To:" line prompts you to "Type the name of a person". Instead, type "Xfinity Support" there
 - As you are typing a drop-down list appears. Select "Xfinity Support" from that list
 - An "Xfinity Support" graphic replaces the "To:" line
Type your message in the text area near the bottom of the window. Please include your full name and service address. 
Press Enter to send it
See https://comca.st/3KQF8q9 for an example.  Please provide your full name and service address in the Direct Message. 

 

Visitor

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3 Messages

@XfinityShan​  There is no entry for " Xfinity Support" There is an entry for Xfinity_Support, but the message does not send.

Expert

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31.4K Messages

@user_9a8d1c​ 

Have you tried it again?

I am not a Comcast Employee.
I am a Customer Expert volunteering my time to help other customers here in the Forums.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.

Was your question answered? Please mark an Accepted Answer!tick

Visitor

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1 Message

2 years ago

Did you ever get resolution to this?  I too had the same thing happen.  First time 4 months ago I lost my projector, receiver, cable box, Nintendo switch dock.  Second time this week fried my HDMI output again on my AV receiver (this was replaced so it is a new unit) and cable box.  Tried to call customer service but they are useless and can't get me to an actual tech.  The coax line through the hdmi cable is my suspicion too but not sure how to go about figuring that out.  I checked the box outside and the line is grounded there.  Hubby is pretty handy so if they can just tell me what to look for/check before sending out a tech that would be helpful so I don't have to pay or waste a techs time.       

Administrator

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4.2K Messages

Hey, @allmein! Thanks for reaching out to us on the forums. I apologize to hear of the issues are you having with this as well. The reason we would need to have a tech come out would be to inspect the line itself to see what kind of damage there may be and replace it as needed. This would be to ensure you're not plugging in the line to a different device that could cause damage if it is the case. This would most likely be the box out on the street we would need to look into as the box on the side of the house would probably be just a splitter with coax going into the house being grounded. 

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.
Was your question answered? Please, mark a reply as the Accepted Answer.tick

3 Messages

2 years ago

We just had the same thing happen to us for the second time now! We had our set top box and gateway modem get fried along with a receiver, Playstation, computer docking station, and a security system NVR. I'm positive the surge didn't come through the electrical because we use surge protectors and power conditioners, and because we have other electronics plugged into the same surge protectors as the equipment that was damaged, and only those connected directly to the comcast/xfinity equipment were damaged.  I suspect our system was not properly grounded during install. Not thrilled about losing several thousand dollars worth of electronics, especially since we invested in higher quality and more expensive surge protectors to prevent this from happening.

Visitor

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3 Messages

Comcast sent out a tech who checked the coax download and said, not unexpectedly, that wasn't the problem. I have since added a new coax  surge protector (TII 212 Broadband Cable TV and Satellite Lightning Surge Protector 75 Ohm 5-1500MHz, Modem), a new  outlet protector for the box, TV and receiver(Tripp Lite ISOBAR8ULTRA Isobar 8 Outlet Surge Protector Power Strip, 12ft Cord, Right-Angle Plug, Metal Lifetime Limited Warranty & Dollar 50,000..) and an HDMI surge protector  between the comcast box and the receiver(Tripp Lite Surge Protector in-Line for Digital Signage 4K @ 30Hz HDMI 1.4 (B110-SP-HDMI)), in addition to the whole house protector (EATON CHSPT2ULTRA Ultimate Surge Protection 3rd Edition). Expensive, but cheaper than a new TV. We will see if it helps. Lightning doesn't  strike twice, right?

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