question about lightning strike and house

[MORTARDUDE]

Yesterday we had a lightning strike very close to the house. I was gone but my son said he felt tingly for quite awhile. When I got home and opened the garage door I smelled ozone. We lost three phones ( one upstairs and 2 downstairs ) that had caller id on them. Two survived. We also lost a television and a digital cable box ( in the master bedroom ), as well as a combination VCR / DVD player in the great room. In the kitchen a wall socket is out. It also looks like our downstairs A/C unit was knocked out. I looked outside and see nothing on the house or grounds that looks like something hit. I haven't had anything happen like this since 1976 when we lost a TV. Any ideas on preventing this in the future ? We didn't lose any computers ( we have 5 ) in part because I always use multiple power strips ( good quality ) to hook up to each one. Is it possible to manually install lightning rods ? Do they work ? Any help appreciated !!

Larry

[melody1181]

My aunt and uncle live on a very solitary farm and they have two rods I believe. One for the house and the big wood barn. They have saved there house many times. I do not know if they will save anything for sure but they have never lost anything that I know of. He put them in himself.

[Seascamp]

Lightning is the same a household static discharge but on a much larger scale. Sounds like you got a side strike or change in earth ground voltage level, but not the main charge. Lightning is lazy stuff and will always seek the path of least resistance to ground and that is why a lightning rod works but at the same time is an open invitation that says ?hit me?. The principal idea is that the rod is a much better conductor than a house, tree, auto or person and that is where the plus/minus charge will equalize and do the zapping. Most usually a metal ground mat or conductor straps are put a couple of ft. down in the earth, the earth is treated with a saline solution for high conductivity and the rod is then connected to the mat or straps. A very thick walled metal pipe needs to be used as the rod because if there is a strike, there is going to be a bunch of current and if there is insufficient circular mil conductor area in the pipe, it will overheat and probably get a fire going if connected to a wood structure. A lightning rod is no guarantee that appliances such as a phone or cable connected TV or computer won?t get zapped. What happens is that there is an instant rise in earth ground voltage potential and this will probably be much greater than the earth ground potential at the other end of the appliance line. When that happens, it?s a zap and one DOA appliance if protective measures aren?t taken. This difference in voltage potential is called ?common mode voltage? and is a survive design parameter for industrial grade equipment but not for home appliances. It?s a good idea to have lightning arrestors in the phone, cable and appliance power lines and quality power strips have these already built in and these protect against high common mode voltage values, to a point eh.

Scamp

[MORTARDUDE]

Thanks Scamp and Melody !!

The final toll was :

My son felt "tingly"

bedroom :

phone
TV
digital cable box

great room :

VCR
DVD / VCR combo ( both plugged directly into the wall )

kitchen :

wall socket
phone

upstairs :

phone

outside :

an outside light setup started smoking and crapped out.

The A/C unit is OK. A friend of mine came over and reset the board inside the unit in the attic.

As I said, we have 5 computers and all have at least 2 power strips connected to them, and they all are ok except my old one next to the phone upstairs. The monitor had weird colors for awhile but is ok now.

Luckily when we bought the big screen TV in the great room we got a super-duper surge protector ( which we were told would handle lightni ng )with it and it sure worked. I am thinking it might have cost $ 100 or so.

My homeowners insurance has a 1% deductible so no help there..

Could have been a lot worse.

Larry

[Keith_Hixson]

Close to our church six or seven years ago. The lightening hit a telephone pole about 50 ft from the church and a large apartment complex across the alley from the church. The church lost all its telephones and so did Apartment house. Lots of new televisons for the residents of the apartment house. Cause real havoc for the apartment residents and our church's telephone system.

I don't have any good answers. We got hit also.

Keith