Lightning can come in through the hot, neutral or ground lines of your AC. As such, pulling the breaker open will not negate your potential for lightning damage. Unplugging from the walls will. This is not to say that you would be covered 100% though, as you could still suffer problems from the EM field of a very near lightning strike.
As a side note, electricity will flow to wherever it can. Just because you pull a fuse on the hot side of the circuit ( opening the circuit ) doesn't mean that the voltage surge won't flow in through the ground or neutral and try to complete the circuit. In many cases, it is not the high voltage passing through the component that does the damage, it is the sudden collapse of the field as the voltage is removed from the circuit. Sean
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PS... If there is enough voltage / current to arc from a few miles in the sky down to Earth level, what is a few more feet, inches or millimeters across a fuse, breaker or disconnected wire ???
As a side note, electricity will flow to wherever it can. Just because you pull a fuse on the hot side of the circuit ( opening the circuit ) doesn't mean that the voltage surge won't flow in through the ground or neutral and try to complete the circuit. In many cases, it is not the high voltage passing through the component that does the damage, it is the sudden collapse of the field as the voltage is removed from the circuit. Sean
>
PS... If there is enough voltage / current to arc from a few miles in the sky down to Earth level, what is a few more feet, inches or millimeters across a fuse, breaker or disconnected wire ???