Lightning hit

[ncboat]

Late Monday night while my wife and I were watching TV we were startled by a tremendous crack and a flash in the back yard. My wife swears she saw light flash across the hallway. Subsequent investigation revealed two flipped breakers one of which buzzes when reset ( left off) and what smelled like burned hair in a couple of areas. I investigated the attic and all parts of the house and found everything OK. With daylight we found the collateral damage. To date Direct TV has replaced all their boxes and a section of cable, cable modem fried and Time Warner working on physical cable.
Cordless phones fried, stereo amplifier fried, electronic timer for water heater fried. The good news is other than amplifier the rest were covered on either a maintenance plan or extended warranty. Inspection of the shop revealed a gfci that won't reset which brings me to my reason to post. Sitting in a prominent spot was my brand new plasma cutter. It suddenly dawned on me how many of our tools are now heavily electronic.
The plasma cutter wasn't plugged in so it is fine. But it caused me to start switching off any breakers other than necessary HVAC, lighting etc. when not in the shop to protect against damage. I am wondering if I am just late to this practice or what the collective thoughts are in regards to lightning and our shops.

 

[turbowoodworker]

Since my last strike where I found a plug in all the way across the room and fried, I started unplugging all of my tools when I leave the shop. I don't think that just flipping the breaker would prevent damage as I bet a charge would cross the gap (my uneducated guess).
I'm not religious about it but I try to remember, especially the big tools. Safer with the kids around anyway.

 

[gungatim]

LGR!

 

[sberry]

When it skips around like that would be going back and checking grounding. We had a problem with the dumb azz phone installer, got it fixed and it went away. Got a neighbor took a hit, good luck as they still didn't really fix it.

 

[Richard Cranium]

I had a friend that lightning hit a big pine tree right next to his house, then went into the house and bounced around inside two of the rooms in the house before finding a spot to ground.

 

[Brandon314159]

BTW whole home surge suppressors exist and if you are in a lightning prone area could be the difference between saved electronics and not, for a non-direct strike nearby. These are hard-wired units.

 

[ncboat]

Good information. Should I be taking outlets apart to insure good grounds. House was built when aluminum wiring was used. I already know prior diy did not use the proper aluminum compliant receptacles and I have been replacing them as I paint the rooms.

 

[ddawg16]

ncboat....what kind of EGC setup do you have? More than one ground rod? Ufer?

 

[nehog]

... But it caused me to start switching off any breakers other than necessary HVAC, lighting etc. when not in the shop to protect against damage. ...

Flipping off the breakers is poor insurance. If at all possible unplug devices. Lightning can flash over a breaker that is 'off'.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Late Monday night while my wife and I were watching TV we were startled by a tremendous crack and a flash in the back yard. My wife swears she saw light flash across the hallway. Subsequent investigation revealed two flipped breakers one of which buzzes when reset ( left off) and what smelled like burned hair in a couple of areas. I investigated the attic and all parts of the house and found everything OK. With daylight we found the collateral damage. To date Direct TV has replaced all their boxes and a section of cable, cable modem fried and Time Warner working on physical cable.
Cordless phones fried, stereo amplifier fried, electronic timer for water heater fried. The good news is other than amplifier the rest were covered on either a maintenance plan or extended warranty. Inspection of the shop revealed a gfci that won't reset which brings me to my reason to post. Sitting in a prominent spot was my brand new plasma cutter. It suddenly dawned on me how many of our tools are now heavily electronic.
The plasma cutter wasn't plugged in so it is fine. But it caused me to start switching off any breakers other than necessary HVAC, lighting etc. when not in the shop to protect against damage. I am wondering if I am just late to this practice or what the collective thoughts are in regards to lightning and our shops.

If I took a direct lightning strike like that this is what i would be doing:

1) check the GES(grounding electrode system) on all buildings on the property. Make sure they are up to snuff
2) check utility bonding to GES (all utilities present including: electric(obviously), phone, cable, satellite, water line, gas line, and ??? anything Im forgetting??. i would even go as far as checking for ground wire and rod at nearest utility pole that has your drop)
3) install a lightning/surge arrestor on the main service panel as well as the first subpanel on any detached structures
4) install point of use surge suppressors and if you have the money, AVRs(automatic voltage regulators) on all sensitive equipment.

It sounds to me like the satellite and cable TV wiring is what took the hit.

Hopefully the techs that did the replacement work knew what they were doing and did the proper bonding to the house GES....

If you are unsure what to look for on the GES, post pics of what u have at the panels...

Also, post some pics of the cable system drop where it connects to the GES in the DEMARC box, as well as the satellite dish bonding...

Good information. Should I be taking outlets apart to insure good grounds. House was built when aluminum wiring was used. I already know prior diy did not use the proper aluminum compliant receptacles and I have been replacing them as I paint the rooms.

Grounding on the outlets has little to do with lightning strikes. The grounding electrodes/GES is for grounding lightning.

The grounding on outlets IS needed for surge suppressors which shunt surges to ground....just the reason for 'ground ok' status lights on surge suppressors...

 

[LostBoy(IRL)]

My place was hit about two years back, always try to remember to unplug everything when I leave. I am only up there over the weekend. It killed tv's, few other items, a light switch was blown off the wall. And a portion of dry lining plaster. And most annoying the main electricity meter. Blew that right up.
The lightning came in through both power and phone lines, and in addition through an electric fence line plug into the garage. I was very lucky not to lose the house!
Fairly certain a flipped switch our breaker wouldn't stop it. So it's all kept unplugged these days.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

A properly installed grounding electrode system wouldve stopped it.

I bet the phone service isnt properly grounded...

 

[ncboat]

Thanks guys, I will start with the grounding. I did have high end surge protectors on the electronics.I did lose the amp but TV etc on same suppressor were fine. The interesting thing to me is other than the amp the electronics I lost all used transformers. I want to upgrade the main meter box so will get an electrician to do an assessment of the grounding as well. I intend to start a new shop build in the next 6 months and have been reading the threads on Imbedding the user as part of the slab/foundation. The depth of knowledge here is amazing.

 

[ard]

Lot of users get the Jimmy Hoffa treatment....

Ufer perhaps?

 

[ncboat]

Chuckle. Yep ufer....but then again....

 

[D45]

We had a BAD storm last summer.............bad

Never lost power, however the neighbors pine tree was struck by lightning and fried their buried invisible dog fence

Same time the tree was hit, my LED landscape lights all fried, all cordless phones were cooked, and three televisions were also burned up.......along with the cable boxes

Again, never lost power?

 

[DC73]

Lightning can be a beast and there really is no protection against a direct lightning strike of sufficient magnitude.

However, Wylie's recommendation in Post #10 is spot on and is about the best you can do for protection against lightning.

I would add that it wouldn't hurt to contact the power company and ask that they check their grounds in the vicinity. You can sometimes spot a bad ground on the power company system by getting a visual on a poorly connected ground wire at the base of a pole, near a pad-mounted transformer or a meter pedestal. For proper dissipation of lightning, it's very important that power company grounds be solid. You don't want lightning striking the power company lines and then finding the path of least resistance to be your house and equipment.

DC

 

[johnnyradiant]

Good information. Should I be taking outlets apart to insure good grounds. House was built when aluminum wiring was used. I already know prior diy did not use the proper aluminum compliant receptacles and I have been replacing them as I paint the rooms.

If you have room in the box you could use copper/alum wire nuts and attach a copper pigtail to the existing wiring and then the copper to your receptacles/fixtures. That works with our local inspectors, or did atleast a couple years ago when I noticed it at a client's and called in an electrician to make sure his unit was up to snuff.

 

[ncboat]

Great idea on getting the power company involved. The cable company had to come out and repair the taps for all the houses at the pole across the street. I am especially interested in the ground at the sub panel in the shed. I admit I am not sure what to look for other than some forms of grounding wire. We never lost power just large crack sound and flash. The house is wired in a manner I am sure was code in the early seventies but not what I consider "proper in my mind. Meter box has a 90 amp breaker that feeds a subpanel in the garage. That same meter panel contains the 220 breakers for the hvac, water heater and shed, separate from the one that feeds the subpanel .I don't like the idea of not having one master that shuts off everything. My intent is to have an electrician replace the meter box with with an updated one that gives me a true master.I want to be able to have a 90 amp breaker in the box to feed the new shop and the ability to hook a generator in. This is after all hurricane territory.

 

[exranger06]

Your homeowners insurance might cover the fried amplifier and any other items damaged from the lightning.

 

[gungatim]

Your homeowners insurance might cover the fried amplifier and any other items damaged from the lightning.

true, mine would, but the cost of the deductible made it cheaper to just fix the stuff myself and not worry about premiums going up. I replaced the oven board for $350, furnace transformer for $17, fuses I had for the TV's, and just got a new pair of alarm clocks and a new fluorescent light. my deductible was $500, so I didn't bother with them...

our power company also offers insurance you can pay with your bill that covers anything that gets destroyed from power spikes, outages, lightning, etc. but I never checked on what it costs. supposedly a good deal from what I have heard from others who have it, one day I really need to get around to checking it out...

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Great idea on getting the power company involved. The cable company had to come out and repair the taps for all the houses at the pole across the street. I am especially interested in the ground at the sub panel in the shed. I admit I am not sure what to look for other than some forms of grounding wire. We never lost power just large crack sound and flash. The house is wired in a manner I am sure was code in the early seventies but not what I consider "proper in my mind. Meter box has a 90 amp breaker that feeds a subpanel in the garage. That same meter panel contains the 220 breakers for the hvac, water heater and shed, separate from the one that feeds the subpanel .I don't like the idea of not having one master that shuts off everything. My intent is to have an electrician replace the meter box with with an updated one that gives me a true master.I want to be able to have a 90 amp breaker in the box to feed the new shop and the ability to hook a generator in. This is after all hurricane territory.

Post some pics and we can check it out....

I would definitely check for ground rod and wire at pole since it sounds like something got nailed at the pole as well....

 

[homemade1487]

I'd say your safe no matter what you do. Lightning never strikes in the same place more then once. ;-)


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