ECN Forum
Posted By: dilydalyer another lighting strike - 07/30/07 10:12 PM
Went to lighting strike the other day.14-2 HR blowed in two inside wall about five feet above a 4-gang.Security wires "goin down same holes"blown apart in attic.Two-foot arc mark on wall above security panel cross the house in master closet.All she knew was no phones were working and the alrm wouldn't shut up last night.I ask her,"How many tv's did ya lose".She said,"huh"?Final count,if I must.Two gfi's,rainbird,garagedoor opener,all phones,one TV,possiby a high speed modum?,
Posted By: HotLine1 Re: another lighting strike - 07/31/07 12:26 AM
Dilly:
Where ya at??
Posted By: LK Re: another lighting strike - 07/31/07 12:33 AM
Ya they are a mess, we had a customer call, they had an EC that came right after the strike, he replaced 2 GFCI's, and left, a month later the owned called us, and said their kitchen light was dimming every once and a while, and they were worried, we started meggering, and found 4 circuits in question. after scoping the walls, we found NM cable that looked like a spent firecracker, common problem, we often find in near strikes.


Posted By: BigB Re: another lighting strike - 07/31/07 03:15 AM
I saw one in Flagstaff, Arizona where there was a giant mirror in the upstairs master bath, with a recep cut into the middle of it and two lights just above it. There were burn trails plainly visible across the mirror from light to recep to light, like it melted the mirror plating on the backside of the mirror. All the GFI's were fried and the ground rods were surrounded by glass from the melted sand. Craziest thing I ever saw.
Posted By: Theelectrikid Re: another lighting strike - 07/31/07 05:37 AM
Quote
ground rods were surrounded by glass from the melted sand.


[Linked Image]

(Sorry but the older one works better here.)

Ian A.
Posted By: dilydalyer Re: another lighting strike - 07/31/07 05:49 AM
Yeah Jon I'm in Pensacola,Fl.No strikes down here hey?:}I'd like to see some of that glass in the sand:}
Posted By: Trumpy Re: another lighting strike - 07/31/07 07:30 AM
OK,
I've been singing this tune since I started here at ECN.
If you want good protection from lightning strikes down the line (as in on the HV wire that feeds your house), install a Surge Diverter Unit in your panel.
Now this may not sit too well with panels in the US that don't use DIN Rail mount gear, because the Surge Diverter needs to go into the Mains before the Disconnect, with a link from the Main breaker, from there it should connect to the Grounding bar, with as shorter and as heavier link as possible.
These units use plug-in modules, that will blow on a decent over-voltage, they need to be replaced to ensure continued protection.
Good protection, it will even lessen the number of incandescent light bulbs you churn through with voltage spikes.
I will say though, it will not save you from a direct strike on your house, nothing will.
Posted By: Zog Re: another lighting strike - 07/31/07 11:47 AM
"ground rods were surrounded by glass from the melted sand"

Thats called a fulurite, I have a collection of a few of them.
Posted By: gfretwell Re: another lighting strike - 07/31/07 05:11 PM
I agree on the surge protection.
I had lightning hit the air terminal above my weather station the other day. The only thing I lost was the serial port on the laptop that the weather station connects to.
I am still not sure what is wrong with it, I can run the diagnostics but it won't connect.
I did have to reboot a couple other PCs that were on, my cable box has a new 60hz bar running through the picture and my CMOS light controller needed a brain transplant (power on reset) but everything else was OK.
I am going to replace my panel protector although the light says it is still good.

All things considered I think the money I spent on the lightning rod system was well spent, (mostly copper cost) and good surge protection is mandatory.
Posted By: brianl703 Re: another lighting strike - 07/31/07 05:33 PM
I've never lost anything to lightning here..

Other than the cable TV service. Seems they lose an amplifier or power supply at least once a year. One time I was watching TV..lightning flash outside..then snow. That's when I found that the best way to get them to figure out there's a problem is to call the cable modem support people and ask them to run a node report to see if your neighbors are offline too. If so then it's a major outage. The cable TV support people can't do that, apparently, and so they wait for enough people to complain before calling it a major outage. Not gonna happen at 11pm at night.

I have an Intermatic EG240RC connected to my load center. Maybe that helps a bit.
Posted By: Theelectrikid Re: another lighting strike - 07/31/07 06:47 PM
Quote
I've never lost anything to lightning here..

Other than the cable TV service. Seems they lose an amplifier or power supply at least once a year.

Whenever an amp or power supply (or anything else for that matter) blows in the area my father works, they throw it away. He brings them home and I scrap them (they're aluminum.) Here's the cover plate from the first one I did this year, marking the arrival of spring...

...and thunderstorms.

https://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c266/Macsignals/100_5369.jpg

A capacitor had blown. I've scrapped about 5 more that suffered the same damage.

Ian A.
© ECN Electrical Forums