quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:
 
Has anyone tried a lightning rod system for their house? 

We had a series of about five lightning rods in various spots, all grounded straight to earth. The strike that burned all our shit came in through a hit to a transformer down the block.

Had it come in the incoming power line.
It spun my meter which meant I had to pay for 10 times the electricity I actually used.

It got my tv, stereo, air cond. garage door opener, most light bulbs, oven coils, dryer coils.
Things we did not find for a week. But insurance was very good, State Farm.

We've been hit three times since my family has been here. The 1977 hit came from the motorized tv antenna on top of the hill, down 300+ feet of power cable, and blew fuses physically out of the fuse box. I was home for that one - impressive to see lightning coming out of a wall outlet. The second hit came in (ISTR) through the monster-sized satellite tv dish (I had left home and was out of state for that one). The third came in through the phone lines - that one hit when nobody was home. All three hits cooked tvs, electronics, and even a simple house fans. We're blessed that none caused a fire. We're also blessed that we've had no hits since I moved back with the wife and kids 20+ years ago.

The pessimist in me says that we're just that much closer to the next scheduled program.

10 years old, sitting in the garage watching a storm, lighting zips by me through the open door not even 5 feet away and strikes my water heater, killing it. Scariest shit ever. I flat out refuse to be outside during a storm any longer.

13 years old, lighting strikes the tree behind my house, exploding bark and parts of it, and setting it on fire. Fire dept responses ten minutes later to put out the flames and the tree is an inferno by then.

Three years ago, killed a router and the dishwasher.

When I worked at a power plant, the meteorological tower would always get hit when there was a thunderstorm. It wasn't the tallest object, it wasn't the only one made of metal, but it always got hit, even after a lightning protection array was put in place, and all the attached equipment would fry. We would all go to the windows overlooking it and watch.

When I saw the title, I thought “Damn, you too?”

I was about 14, rain was coming up and I thought I’d be the good son and get the clothes off the line before the rain got them. As I was gathering, I saw a lightening strike...around a 1/2 mile away. Saw the bolt zip all the way across the ground and into my foot.

Thankfully, all that travel took enough out of it that I could not feel my leg for around 20 minutes, much better than a stopped heart or medium rare human.

I told Mom I was never bringing her clothes in ever again.

quote:

Originally posted by newtoSig765:

quote:

Originally posted by ScreamingCockatoo:
Oh my deductible. Over $4000.
I'll be eating this one.

Check again. Ours was considered an Act of God, so the deductible didn't apply, we got 100% covered.

God smote a router? I'm lucky. Up here in the PNW. we'll get T-storms in the mountains, but here next to the sound, lightning is rare.

quote:

Originally posted by newtoSig765:

quote:

Originally posted by ScreamingCockatoo:
Oh my deductible. Over $4000.
I'll be eating this one.

Check again. Ours was considered an Act of God, so the deductible didn't apply, we got 100% covered.

$4200 to be exact. 1% deductible.
Had my older brother check.



We got the wiring fixed last night.
A friend dropped by yesterday, pulled all the damage apart and I helped him pull wire and replace the outlets.
Oh and breakers. So the living room has power once again.

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:
Has anyone tried a lightning rod system for their house?

One of my best friends lives in a tall, 2-story house atop a high spot in his neighbourhood, so he had them installed. He hasn't mentioned that he's been hit, yet.

i lost a puter to lightening once.

but only the puter ! not all the other electrical b.s. in that room

quote:

Originally posted by gt2022:
Proper grounding of the house service panel is the only precaution. However, being in electronics for 45 years, we've always said anything that can jump across 2 miles of open sky isn't gonna be stopped by a $8.00 power strip :-)

Yep. Ground house properly and especially make sure your telcom equipment is bonded to your grounding electrode conductor. A lot of problems occur when lightening his telcom equip and tries to find ground through whatever path in your home it wants, destroying everything in its path. Best to have a safer path for it to travel, even if it's not 100% guaranteed to prevent damage to equipment.

Look up 'side flash', it's some scary ass shit. I'm pretty sure it's what SC is talking about when he said he saw 'fingers'.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
One of my best friends lives in a tall, 2-story house atop a high spot in his neighbourhood, so he had them installed. He hasn't mentioned that he's been hit, yet.

Summer of 1967, living in Texarkana, I had a summer job at the Lone Star Army Ammunition plant. They had a mil spec ($$$) lightning rod set up on top of each building (and I bet the mil paid too much by tenfold for it, too). To the best of my memory, over time, they had a couple of explosions, but none due to lightning. Right next door, on US 82 west of Texarkana, was the Red River Army Depot, where they stored and exploded old ammo. They had a similar lightning rod set up.
 

I'm gonna try to replace the mainboard on the TVs.
The RCA video in works but the HDMI is fried.

I can get boards from $15-$30.

Okay, I have surge protectors here and there. I have trouble understanding how a bolt of lightning that has traveled thousands of feet through the air is now stymied by a jump of maybe an inch.

quote:

Originally posted by SigJacket:
When I saw the title, I thought “Damn, you too?”

I was about 14, rain was coming up and I thought I’d be the good son and get the clothes off the line before the rain got them. As I was gathering, I saw a lightening strike...around a 1/2 mile away. Saw the bolt zip all the way across the ground and into my foot.

Thankfully, all that travel took enough out of it that I could not feel my leg for around 20 minutes, much better than a stopped heart or medium rare human.

I told Mom I was never bringing her clothes in ever again.

Yeah, I met a guy from Atlanta who had been hit by lightening - they were outside on their porch with storms around but not overhead their house. His wife described it as a deafening sound and light (she was standing about 6 feet away, while he was just out from under the porch).

He fell to the ground, alive but unconscious. I didn't get all the gory details but he was really jacked up, it hit his shoulder / neck area and down through his body. He spent months in recovery and had to learn how to walk again, as all his internal wiring was really screwed up. It was about 5 years post incident and he seemed normal but it was a full year until he was mobile enough to do everything for himself.

I now have internets at home.
The modem/wireless router was $26 shipped.

Here's one of the TVs main boards. I can fix this for $25.

That is the port switch chip.

Phew! I thought YOU got hit as well! I got zapped a bit a couple weeks ago, but it was just the ground surge so it didn't do much more than tingle and make a crackling noise.

Sounds like a pretty close hit if it actually blew up equipment. I've worked on camera equipment at a golf course and we get stuff killed by lighting with some frequency. Usually it doesn't burn, just gets hit enough to kill the surge protection and zap some electronics. You need a pretty close hit to start lighting stuff on fire!

- Bret

Nothing will protect you from a strike or near strike.

My dad's neighbor got hit, and it still fried his kitchen appliances, which were on that side of the house.

Too much power.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
Nothing will protect you from a strike or near strike.

Too much power.

40 years in the utility business bears out what he said . I've seen some really massive lightning arrestors that were blown to pieces . Trying to protect devices that operate on millivolts can be a real challenge .