> Losing the system due to power shenanigans is a risk I accept. There is another (very rare) failure an ups protects against, and that's imbalance in the electricity. You can get a spike (up or down, both can be destructive) if there is construction in your area and something happens with the electricity, or lightning hits a pylon close enough to your house. First job I worked at had multiple servers die like that,…
Isn't this what a surge protector is for?
Nothing is really going to protect you from a direct lightning strike. Lightning strikes are on the order of millions of volts and thousands of amps. It will arc between circuits that are close enough and it will raise the ground voltage by thousands of volts too. You basically need a lighting rod buried deep into the earth to prevent it hitting your house directly and then you’re still probably going to deal with fried electronics (but your house will survive). Surge protectors are for faulty power supplies and much milder transient events on the grid and maybe a lightning strike a mile or so away.