Lightning strike. Friday, 13, 2014

[Andybull]

We had a lightning strike hit a tree, 40' from the house and about 20' from our well. My wife actually saw sparks come out of a CGFI outlet right in front of her.
The well pump's control box was blown open. I replaced the control box later that afternoon and was lucky enough to have the pump turn on.

Three weeks later, the pump stopped running. I figured it was time to replace it, when I found that one of the legs of the circuit was grounding out. I rented a cable finder, brought the excavator to the site and found the break.

So far there's about 20 grand worth of damage.

 

[rockwithjason]

Time to check your ground rods and bonding jumpers.

 

[nehog]

I once had the cover off my panel, it was storming. Heard a big bang, and watched a big blue arc go from the bottom of the bus bars to the box!

I did an oh-**** moment, and figured I'd be replacing a lot of stuff. Nothing was killed that I could find! I did make sure that the bottom breaker on both bars went to circuits that didn't have important stuff on them however.

Your wire damage and the other stuff is typical lightning damage. It *****.

 

[FJ 432]

Covered by homeowners insurance. FYI.

 

[Andybull]

Covered by homeowners insurance. FYI.

Yes, I have a $5,000.00 deductible so we'll see. I have 3 grounding rods for the gate and the home is grounded as well. With the strike being so close to the house, I don't think anything would have stopped the damage. BTW, the gate is over 500' away and the control boards got zapped. I took the transformer for the gate operator apart and it was all burned inside.

The phone system, internet satellite components, direct TV receivers and LNB, gone.

 

[wrench409]

Musta got yer calendar, too.

 

[G_P]

Years ago lightning nailed a tree that is less than 10' from my well. Left a huge scar down the side of the tree and fried the pump. Amazingly the lightning never made it into the house. Thats twice that tree has been hit and twice that it killed the pump!

Just be thankful it did not set your house on fire. An old neighbor of mine had his house hit and the lightning burned a hole in a propane line and set the side of his house on fire. He got burned pretty good trying to put it out before the FD got there.

 

[Norcal]

The cable looks like submersible pump cable, it is not made to be buried.

 

[nehog]

Yes, I have a $5,000.00 deductible so we'll see...
The phone system, internet satellite components, direct TV receivers and LNB, gone.

Tell each of the companies involved that this is an insurance job, that your deductible is $5K and that you need their help. They will understand and give you higher estimates, to try and get your claim above the deductible. Then after you do your claim and it's paid, they will give you more attractive estimates to do the real work. If you don't make it past the deductible then make sure you tell the contractors/service that it is coming out of your pocket, so they can keep the bills as reasonable as possible.

Source: Used to help do service work with friends who had companies, and my father sold insurance.

 

[Chevy72pu]

Tell each of the companies involved that this is an insurance job, that your deductible is $5K and that you need their help. They will understand and give you higher estimates, to try and get your claim above the deductible. Then after you do your claim and it's paid, they will give you more attractive estimates to do the real work. If you don't make it past the deductible then make sure you tell the contractors/service that it is coming out of your pocket, so they can keep the bills as reasonable as possible.

Source: Used to help do service work with friends who had companies, and my father sold insurance.

And this is one of the reasons insurance rates keep going up. But on the "bright" side, it keeps the adjusters in business.

 

[thewatusi]

Hurray for insurance fraud. Felonies are cool, right?

 

[nehog]

Who said anything about insurance fraud. A tradesman is allowed to do the repair for less than the insurance pays if they want. Giving a discount to the homeowner is legitimate and reasonable.

 

[plow]

Call me crazy, but I would have run a new wire.

 

[plow]

Without hiring an excavator to dig it up

 

[thewatusi]

Having a tradesman write a high quote for the purpose of getting more of a claim is most certainly insurance fraud.

 

[plow]

I'm sittin here thinkin, And I don't see 20K worth of electrical stuff in my house..........

 

[No Sweat Photos]

Try living in the Lighting Capital of the United States !! Central Florida summer showers here can have 5-10k lighting strikes in afternoon !!

 

[Andybull]

Call me crazy, but I would have run a new wire.

I ran PVC conduit and new wire through the whole run.

 

[Andybull]

Try living in the Lighting Capital of the United States !! Central Florida summer showers here can have 5-10k lighting strikes in afternoon !!

I know all about Central Fl. I owned a 500 acre ranch between Vero and Tampa. Oh, yes I did lose a well pump. Seems lightning love pines, due to their deep tap root.

 

[Andybull]

The cable looks like submersible pump cable, it is not made to be buried.

I don't think this area had a building department back in 1990.

 

[brewchief]

One of my customers had a similar strike. It got the well, all the electronics in the 1 year old furnace, A/C(burned a hole in the lineset), all the major appliances, the complete electrical service was replaced along with every single piece of wire in the house.

They were out of the house for 6 plus months while repairs were being made.

Good luck and don't let the insurance company close out the claim too soon.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Try living in the Lightning Capital of the United States !! Central Florida summer showers here can have 5-10k lighting strikes in afternoon !!

There, fixed it for 'ya.

Charles

 

[Andybull]

Without hiring an excavator to dig it up

I didn't have have to hire an excavator. All I did was go to the shop I have on the property and picked out the tool I needed .

 

[Chevy72pu]

Having a tradesman write a high quote for the purpose of getting more of a claim is most certainly insurance fraud.

This!

 

[nehog]

Having a tradesman write a high quote for the purpose of getting more of a claim is most certainly insurance fraud.

This!

If I was thought to be advocating insurance fraud, I apologize. I was trying to explain that tradesmen usually will give book prices for the insurance company and charge the owner less to help the owner with their deductible hit.

Anyway, if you are offended, sorry. Just low-ball the insurance estimate, and pay book for the repair/replacement, and enjoy it.

(my last comment on this subject.)

 

[Bevis]

Try living in the Lightning Capital of the United States !! Central Florida summer showers here can have 5-10k lighting strikes in afternoon !!

It's anywhere in Florida...Here in SW Floriduh we have about as many. My house got hit thursday evening. Had to have wiring from PoCo pole to mast replaced, and the meter along with the safety power surge gizmo that protects all my electronics. So far everything else has been good.

 

[Andybull]

I finally submitted the damage list to State Farm. Mimd you, I've not submitted a claim in well over 20 years. The lady in charge of my claim calls me, to let me know they received an e-mail from me regarding lightning damage. She goes on to let me know that I need an electrician to say there was lightning damage, a computer expert, TV expert, etc. I went on to ask if she had looked at the complete e-mail which had 9 pages, one of which was from the electrician, another from the alarm company and all of the other attached info. She said nothing was there.

My wife got on the phone and went page by page with the lady, whom all of a sudden realized that she had to read. I get back on the phone with her and she was either not very smart, or a *****. She questioned everything the electrician had written down, she questioned why two well pump installations and that if this was the case, it would be two different claims (of course, everytime there's a different claim, the $5,000.00 deductible kicks in). She couldn't understand why a new service to the pump had to be installed and why wall repairs and paint needed to be done inside the house because of new wiring.

What really ticked me off, was when she said to me that the alarm company said nothing about lightning damage in the body of the proposal. I went on to explain that the title of his e-mail said lightning damage and why would the fellow write the word lightning if the proposal wasn't for the surge damage. She said it wasn't in the body of the proposal and she would have to call.

I think that when this deal gets resolved, I'll be giving all of my insurance business to others.

 

[6768rogues]

About 30 years ago lightning struck a 60 foot white pine tree that was about 20 feet from our house. It tripped a GFCI in the basement, kicked on our stove vent fan and made an old phone answering machine (only used as a phone) light up and beep as if it had a message. Nothing was actually damaged. It took about 20 years but that strike eventually killed the tree.

 

[Bronson]

I once went on a AC No Cooling call, the day after an intense lightning storm.
The compressor had a hole in it the size of a quarter.
The homeowner got all pissed off that I couldn't braze the hole closed and recharge the system!