Lightning Rods

[cowboyjosh]

So im bidding a nw house and the HO wants copper ligjtning rods installed during construction. No big deal, i put them on my Colorado house a few years ago after a few too close for comfort strikes. I know how they work, what they are supposed to do, but does anyone out there have lightning rods on their homes or garages besides myself? Has anyone who have them experienced a strike that they know of, did the rods do their thing? How many homes inyour areas have lightning rods? I reckon lightning and surge protectors are allot like birth control, you dont know when its worked, but you sure as hell know when it didnt.

 

[LEVE]

Yeah, I've had them work. Call them a lightning attracter!

Electricity (The Lightning) is going to seek the least resistive path to ground. That could be a tree, a building, a pole, or even you.

If you put up a grounded lightning rod on a building the easiest electrical path to ground is the rod. It raises the ground path up above the building. The lightning strikes the rod and is safely conducted to ground; that protects the building. I'd keep them away from any other electrical runs/wires in the building.

 

[rockwithjason]

i have installed both residential and commercial/industrial systems. i have seen them work and i have seen them fail. the one thing you have to do is to make sure that your down leads are as straight as possible and that you have a good ground ring with all of the down lead rods bonded together at the ground level. our transmitter tower is on top of a small mountain here and the lightning beats the hell out of the rods on a regular but we have yet to lose any equipment to it. lots of lightning protection fuses, but no equipment

 

[tdkkart]

Build your house across the road from a big ole grove of cottonwoods and you'll never have a lightning strike hit your house.

The grounded lightning rod is there to provide a direct path to ground for the electricity IF the lightning strikes the building. Of course providing that electrical path also multiplies the chances of getting hit in the first place by 1000 times.

 

[SuperSocket]

You can always place up a lightning pole (like a flag pole) that is much higher than the house, that will also help with strikes.


I've seen these rods work and they work great. I've also seen houses with thatch roofs not have them and get hit by lightning.... they burn really fast. I think that if I am in a very active area or high above all other grounded points then I would surely consider lightning rods. Right now I have electric posts and nice tall trees doing that job for me.

 

[cowboyjosh]

Build your house across the road from a big ole grove of cottonwoods and you'll never have a lightning strike hit your house.

The grounded lightning rod is there to provide a direct path to ground for the electricity IF the lightning strikes the building. Of course providing that electrical path also multiplies the chances of getting hit in the first place by 1000 times.

Personally if I built my house across from a grove of Cottonwoods, I reckon, I'd die. Im allergic to such trees.

Like I said I don't know if my rods on my house have taken a hit, but I know ever since I had them installed the alarm keypad and phone extension in the master bedroom have not been knocked out from; whereas before the rods I went thru several keypads, 1 alarm panel, and a new Panasonic PBX (TDA50) from lightning. Meanwhile since I installed rods 2 more neighbors of mine (there have been many of houses around here that have been struck) have literally had holes blown in their roof decking from direct strikes.

 

[SuperSocket]

Personally if I built my house across from a grove of Cottonwoods, I reckon, I'd die. Im allergic to such trees.

Like I said I don't know if my rods on my house have taken a hit, but I know ever since I had them installed the alarm keypad and phone extension in the master bedroom have not been knocked out from; whereas before the rods I went thru several keypads, 1 alarm panel, and a new Panasonic PBX (TDA50) from lightning. Meanwhile since I installed rods 2 more neighbors of mine (there have been many of houses around here that have been struck) have literally had holes blown in their roof decking from direct strikes.

Put something over your rods right before the next storm that would destroy if hit so you can visually see.


Electrical failures could be the result of a surge, it doesn't have to hit your house to lose electrical devices.


Btw, why do you have a TDA50 for home?

 

[Dadstoy]

How about a TV tower? Will the lightning follow the cable into the house or will it follow the steel tower into the ground? Should the tower be grounded?

 

[Professur]

How about a TV tower? Will the lightning follow the cable into the house or will it follow the steel tower into the ground? Should the tower be grounded?

i've installed a few satellite dishes, and without exception i've wired them to a ground rod. Never had a comeback on any.

 

[cowboyjosh]

Btw, why do you have a TDA50 for home?

Same reason I have a Ademco FBP 250 commercial fire and burg panel, because I can.

Actually I have a large house, and a phone in every room, my electrical contracting company that I own also is a Panasonic phone dealer as well as a dealer for Lutron lighting controls, Ademco and DMP alarms, Niles audio, and SpeakerCraft speakers.

I also like a dedicated phone system and voice mail system for stupid reasons, like intercom-ing room to room, and the door phone.

We also have our cell phones piped thru the main phone system, so if my cell phone rings, I can answer it on line 4 on the Panasonics, wife is line 5, etc.

 

[cowboyjosh]

How about a TV tower? Will the lightning follow the cable into the house or will it follow the steel tower into the ground? Should the tower be grounded?

I asked my lighting rod guys about TV mast and DirecTV dishes and they said as long as they are grounded / bonded, they are common and protected.


My homeowner who I am building a house for told me today while going over budget that his current neighbors house (houses are on 5 acres in that neighborhood) burnt down in 2003 from a direct lightning strike in Parker, Colorado; when the house was rebuilt (house is now on the market) the house was built with lightning rods. He told me that he can't help but wonder had the house had lightning rods if a fire would have ensued from the direct strike? No one can give a definitive answer. I always thought with my lightning rods that if I take a direct hit and nothing big happens, they worked, if a fire starts, well they didn't

 

[nehog]

...
Btw, why do you have a TDA50 for home?

I too have a full PABX (digital key system actually) in my house. Paging, room to room calling, and a lot of other features make it quickly indispensable. Pick up a call for SWMBO, put it on hold, hit page and say "call on line..." and that is it. No searching to tell her a friend is on the phone. Instead of music on hold I put the national weather service, so if I put you on hold you get the weather!

Now if I'm in the garage, my wife can call (or page) me, and if I want a cold one, I can pick up the phone and order it.

Only one problem--the delivery charge for a cold one from the house is really high...

 

[justanengineer]

Where I used to live in Northern NY lightning rods are mandatory on any building over a certain size. Not quite sure what the size was exactly, but they were on everything that didnt have wheels including most garages. I personally would also think that if your house burned because of a lightning rod, then someone installed it improperly. I also would much rather have lightning hit a rod on the house, than the house or the tree overhanging the house (had one once that came inside to get away after it got hit).

 

[henrysgarage]

I have two steel roof buildings and was wondering about lightening rods after the storm we had the other night. We also have an antenna with two dishes on it. What is bonding of the down wires? Thanks.

 

[stonewellmark]

Cowboyjosh, my parents house has lightning rods on it. When I was a kid it got hit by lightning in a real bad storm, the rods worked ( no damage to house ) or at least I think they did...it was like a million strobe lights, set to different speeds were going off outside the windows, like in a spiral around the house. Since then I just figured the spiral light show was probably from the ground wire that runs down the house (spiral stranded wire) having crazy amount of electric going down it.

Mark

 

[rockwithjason]

I have two steel roof buildings and was wondering about lightening rods after the storm we had the other night. We also have an antenna with two dishes on it. What is bonding of the down wires? Thanks.

it means that there is a separate preferably solid copper wire that connects to the ground rod for the house, or in our case here in vegas the ufer ground.