Lightning Strike

[stomachmonkey]

About 5 am, sound asleep.

I have blackout curtains and shades on my windows and I swear I saw the entire room lit up even with my eyes closed.

There is something about where my house is located as this is the 3rd strike in the same spot in 8 years.

Two of my neighbors lost a bunch of AV equipment plus the guy next door lost his AC units.

I got lucky, so far it seems I only lost some networking equipment in my offices up front, two routers and a switch. It also tripped my in ground sprinklers. Didn't notice at 5 AM because it was pouring but at 8 when I went out every zone was open and water was running everywhere.

My wife hounds me because I hoard equipment, she changed her tune when I pulled an older but still serviceable router out of a drawer and managed to get back most of the home networking.

It'll do until new gear shows up this week.

All in all just happy it was not a direct hit on one of the houses.

[DanielDudley]

When I lived in Norther Arizona, I lost about 4 TVs that way.

Glad no one was hurt.

[scottmandue]

Not that we get a lot of lighting where I live but is there anyway to protect from this?

I'm guessing that lightning is so powerful that no amount of surge protection would help?

Now earthquakes? Ask me anything you want to know about earthquakes!

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

Not that we get a lot of lighting where I live but is there anyway to protect from this?

I'm guessing that lightning is so powerful that no amount of surge protection would help?

Now earthquakes? Ask me anything you want to know about earthquakes!

Lightning rods at about $4k to cover my house or about $1500 for a whole house surge suppressor.

When I sat up in bed there was something on the floor flashing like crazy, was a cat toy that lights up when they whack it really hard.

Apparently there was enough energy in the air to charge and activate it.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

Not that we get a lot of lighting where I live but is there anyway to protect from this?

I'm guessing that lightning is so powerful that no amount of surge protection would help?

There is a lot of energy moving through the air before and during a lightning strike. The lightening itself is the locus of energy that is dense enough to cause massive amounts of heat. Lighting rods are there to protect against fire-causing heat. But there is a lot of lower intensity energy flowing around it can induce currents in any conductor. You have to shield conductors to prevent local power surges.

Our lab had a source of "conditioned power" that was supplied by batteries and shielded from EMP and atmospheric energy. I doubt that it was cheap but it kept extremely sensitive equipment like strain gauge amplifiers working in the worst storms.

[oldE]

In '80, we were living in a small house with a willow tree in the back yard.
One night around midnight I was awakened by a flash and boom. It scared the heck out of me and I am sure I was in the air above the bed, swearing a blue streak and the flash was still lighting up the room.
The boom sounded like someone had run a truck into the house.
In the morning, I went out to see what had been hit. It was the willow tree, about 20 feet from our bedroom.

Best
Les

[Por_sha911]

I'd be thinking about a whole house surge protector or a warranty policy that covers damage from surges.

[stomachmonkey]

Well so far I've got all my devices back except for one.

Of course the one that really counts.

My main workhorse seems to have fried both ethernet ports.

Can't get it online.

Not happy, if ethernet is fried it makes everything else suspect.

This thing is going to cost easy $5k to replace.

The box itself is not the full amount, it's all the peripherals I have invested in it, like my 16TB RAID, that won't work with the current gen MacPro's

[Jolly Amaranto]

Looks like you are getting pounded again. Lay low.

[M.D. Holloway]

Scott, the big tree across the street from me was struck few weeks ago. Thing is dead now. Glad it didn't hit my house.

[porsche930dude]

I have a friend whos land gets hit all the time. One time he was under the car in the driveway changing his oil and decided to quit when the clouds were rolling in. Luckily he did because it hit so hard it uprooted the roots in the driveway just feet from where he was laying.

[Geary]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

... There is something about where my house is located as this is the 3rd strike in the same spot in 8 years ...

That's the "New Lightning" at work, which a couple of my old friends know ALL about. Take a count of how many strikes in the same spot in the following video. Lightning hitting his truck is FAR from the real story ..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEpvppljNFM

[fred cook]

I was out walking my dog one day and had a lightning strike so close I could hear and feel the "sizzle" and the crack came right on top of the sizzle! My dog decided that he needed to be at home and inside asap!

[westom]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

Not that we get a lot of lighting where I live but is there anyway to protect from this?

Protection is always defined by a simple question. Where do hundreds of thousands of joules harmlessly dissipate?

Many foolishly by plug-in 'magic' that only claims to absorb hundreds or a thousand joules. What happens when it tries to absorb hundreds of thousands of joules? Although rare, even a fire may result. Even those near zero protector need protection only provided by the proven solution.

We all learned this in elementary school science. Lightning seeks earth ground. If incoming on any utility wire, then it hunts for earth destructively via appliances. It is incoming to everything. Damage are appliances that also make a best outgoing path to earth. Nothing inside will 'block' or 'absorb' that destructive current.

If a surge is provided a low impedance (ie less than 10 foot) connection to earth BEFORE entering, then hundreds of thousands of joules dissipate harmlessly outside. Then no hunt occurs destructively inside.

TV cable is required to already have that hardwire connection to earth.

Telephone wires cannot connect directly to earth. So a telco installs, for free, a 'whole house' protector with low impedance (ie less than 10 foot) connection to single point earth ground. That protector is only doing what a hardwire does better.

Of course who provides, is responsible for, and maintains that single point earth ground? Homeowner. How many even learned that it exists?

AC electric is not required to have proven protection. A 'whole house' protector only exists if a homeowner decides to have protection. This is located in the breaker box or behind a meter. It also must make a low impedance (ie wire has no sharp bends, not in metallic conduit) connection to single point ground.

Lightning is typically 20,000 amps. So a minimal 'whole house' protector is 50,000 amps. Because any protector that is damaged also did no effective protection. A properly sized 'whole house' protector should not fail even after decades.

This proven solution costs about $1 per protected appliance. It is the only solution found in facilities that cannot have damage. If any appliance needs protection, then all need that protection - including dishwasher, bathroom GFCI, furnace, refrigerator, and the most critical appliance during any surge - smoke detectors.

Each layer of protection is only defined by its earth ground. Above is only the secondary protection layer. One should also inspect their 'primary' protection layer. Pictures (not text) after the expression "open vertical grounds" are relevant. Never forget the only items that does protection - that harmlessly absorbs hundreds of thousands of joules.

A protector is only as effective as its earth ground. How a surge connects to earth (and every provided number) should have all your attention.

[Deschodt]

Tampa was pretty good lightning wise, too.. We once lost all the alarm sensors on the side exposed to the strike - and it wasn't THAT close - a few houses over maybe...

[David]

I finally got around to installing a whole house surge protector today. It took about 30 minutes, cost $106 for the surge protector and $9 for a two pole 50 amp GE breaker.

I didn’t think far enough ahead on how I’d install but a quick online search before I started showed they sell a $30 cover plate so I cut an ugly hole in the Sheetrock under the breaker box knowing in a couple days I’ll have a nice cover.

Obviously if you’re not very familiar with the inner workings of a breaker box and the safety involved, call an electrician to install.

[David]

[strupgolf]

Do you have lightening rods on the roof of your house? Would they help?

[Crowbob]

Way back in prehistoric times me and dad were sitting on the glider on the veranda watching the rain with Peppy the lab curled up at our feet when the lightning struck with the loudest bang we’d ever heard before or since. Wham!

So I looked at dad and somehow Peppy had levitated without moving a muscle right onto dad’s lap peeing like a faucet and shaking like a leaf.

[Tobra]

Lightning hit a cottonwood tree in my uncle's backyard when I was cleaning fish on the back porch. Loudest thing ever, ringing ears and blue dots was all I could see. My sister came out and picked me up, as I was on my ass. Took a few minutes before I could see or hear her, and she was yelling in my face.

Glad nobody got killed