Lightning strike

[onedash]

Yesterday morning a tulip poplar in my back yard got struck by lightning. It was a loud explosion. The white oak next to it seems to have been hit but it looks as though only a little bark was damaged. But the electronics in my house I noticed last night were also victims. the surge protector was beeping and I smelled smoke and just assumed it was the surge protector. unplugged everything and went to work. When I got home I realized that 2 TV's and 2 computers were fried, the modem/router (smoke smell) was toast and the cable box, a dvd player and maybe more but I need to plug in to a working PC to verify. Like printer external hard drive. Got an electrician coming to check out the panels. two breakers popped and a couple GFCI's popped. Thought my water softener and washer were bad at first. I gotta get a tree person to come cut down the poplar. Its too big for me to try and within range of the house.
Anyone use those lightning arresters in their panels? I have heard that they are mostly junk. I kinda suspect the lightning entered the house via the ground rod/cable. since the tree that was hit was about 20 yards from the house. probably 30-40 yards from where the panel is located. had about 3" of rain by the time the lightning struck. Wonder if it could have hit the hose and came in the plumbing? My hose was near that tree. I think it may have been right next to it. Does that sound more bizarre than coming in through the ground cable? I checked my tools that were plugged in and they are all fine.

[Stytooner]

We had a big one in 2009 that hit a pine tree in the neighbors back yard and traveled about 30 feet to our pump house and blew it up. Then traveled 40 feet to our main panel, blew the breaker to pieces and kept on going backward to our transformer and caused it to fault out. It had to be reset. It didn't get all of our stuff, but did get a computer and a tv. I had the main computer on an APC backup device at the time. Backup did not work right after that. It did take our Microwave and dryer too. I would not have expected that.
Our Homeowner's insurance covered the loss. Minus deductible. Still not too bad for what it was. It did fry our MIL's AC next door. It was not running at the time in fact none of the stuff we lost was actually running at the time. They are on the same transformer. Lightning has a mind of it's own.

[LCHIEN]

We had a big one in 2009 that hit a pine tree in the neighbors back yard and traveled about 30 feet to our pump house and blew it up. Then traveled 40 feet to our main panel, blew the breaker to pieces and kept on going backward to our transformer and caused it to fault out. It had to be reset. It didn't get all of our stuff, but did get a computer and a tv. I had the main computer on an APC backup device at the time. Backup did not work right after that. It did take our Microwave and dryer too. I would not have expected that.
Our Homeowner's insurance covered the loss. Minus deductible. Still not too bad for what it was. It did fry our MIL's AC next door. It was not running at the time in fact none of the stuff we lost was actually running at the time. They are on the same transformer. Lightning has a mind of it's own.

This tree got struck by lightning at the office. The window about 25 feet away was broken by flying bark. No electrical damage was done tho, to my knowledge.


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[atgcpaul]

That sucks. Hope you get back up soon.

Hopefully I never have to find out, but I installed a whole house surge. I still use surge protection at my entertainment center and computer workstation.

http://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/discussions/home-improvements-maintenance/61419-whole-house-surge-protector

[capncarl]

Lightning fascinates me.
A work friend had lightning strike the chimney on her house. It broke the chimney off the house and it fell through their attached patio and metal patio roof! The lightning melted the roofing nails on the back half of the house so on top of the massive roof leak caused by the missing chimney the rest off the roof leaked. Nearly everything in their 2 story house was destroyed by water damage. Every electrical device in the house was also fried. I've never seen a roof destroyed like this by lightning

[gerti]

We had multiple hits (transformer, door bell) in June. Took out 2/3rds of all electronics, including furnace and AC, and a lot of prototype home-automation stuff.

Anyway I learned that a whole house surge protector does not really protect against lightning, just surges. Hidden in the fine print. :-(

[atgcpaul]

We had multiple hits (transformer, door bell) in June. Took out 2/3rds of all electronics, including furnace and AC, and a lot of prototype home-automation stuff.

Anyway I learned that a whole house surge protector does not really protect against lightning, just surges. Hidden in the fine print. :-(

Does a lightning strike affect your home wiring and outlets, too?

[Stytooner]

Does a lightning strike affect your home wiring and outlets, too?

Not always, but certainly can. It blew a 20 amp double pole breaker apart inside the box. Think grenade with shrapnel. Another good reason to insure the cover is always closed and latched. The undergound wiring to the pump house was burned to a crisp. I did pull the receptacle covers off and did a mostly visual inspection in effected areas.Any charing or loose connections should be apparent. Check switches too. If they flash when you switch them, they should be replaced. As fort the wiring itself, you may want to get licensed guys in to test all of that if you have a massive strike.
A minor flaw could burn the place down later on. If the receptacles and switches as well as wiring all looks okay that you can see, chances are that they are okay in the run too. I think problems show up at connections first. I am no expert though, so it would certainly be worth having it inspected after a lightening event.

[cwsmith]

When I was in late adolescence or in my very early teens (don't remember exactly) we were visiting my Grandparents in Wellsboro, PA. They had a 70 acrea farm there (now my cousin's). Early that morning lighting struck the local radio/TV tower which was located on thier property at the top of the hill. As I understood it, soon afterwards, recent maintenance on the tower had accidentally left the grounding undone.

Well that very early morning strike traveled down the power line from the tower to the pole transformer just across the driveway at the back of the farm house. What I remember is that I was in the bedroom at the front of the house, wakened by a loud crack and a flash of light down the hall way to the room. My Dad and Mom slept in the far bedroom right at the back of the house. My Dad, a WWII Vet, was shaken right out of bed, and for a minute it brought the war back.... he crashed out of the bedroom drabbing my mother out of bed with him, yelling that we all had to get to the cellar. It took my grandmother a few minutes to get him back to present.

The damage was pretty dramatic, though not terribly damaging to the house. It blew the transformer off the pole and totally fried the old electric fence transformer that was located in the utility room; knocked a good portion of the electric fence right off fence posts in the yard. In the house, it burned some, but not all of the wiring. For example, they had an extension cord running to a lamp under one corner of living room carpet... that seared the carpet cutting that corner off.

My Grand Dad was down in the basement, getting a canned jar of fruit for his breakfast (he was always up an hour or so before everyone else). The strike blew out the lights and in one case it actually blew the bulb glass right out of the socked. He found it at the bottom of the stairs, unbroken. (it was like a glass cutter was used to remove it... the filament portion was still screwed into the fixture.)

They had no TV, but the electric range in the kitchen was damaged. Oddly, the old shortwave in the dining room was completely unharmed (Grand Dad was from Germany and in the early evening would listened to "his" program from the "old country". (I imagine Radio Deutsche Wella). However, he later told us that several TV's in Wellsboro were reported damaged, some three miles away.

The event was pretty fascinating to me, shocking to father of course and for years most of the talke was centered on him... running down the hallway in his underware, dragging my mother behind him. The old farmhouse weathered it pretty well.

CWS

[capncarl]

I don't know what changed things but long time ago lots of houses had lightning rods on their roofs. I only see these systems on some military buildings now.
What happened to change their need?

[Stytooner]

Lightening rods try to direct or attract close lightening to them and straight into ground rather than entering the structure through a different path and destroying things along the way. Lightening rods and systems are still used. They can get pretty costly, but are considered extra insurance. No guarantee that they will actually attract any or all close strikes.

[onedash]

I did have one casualty in the garage. A dewalt charger. The other charger that was plugged in was fine as was a little Bose Bluetooth speaker. 2 TV's, 3 Computers, 2 Bluray players, 3 surge protectors all done. I have a raised bed next to the poplar and it blew up. There is a few metal trellises that were in holes drilled through the top and the 2/10 exploded. The other end blew out and I saw that there was a metal birdhouse hook at the bottom of the dirt that I guess was buried and seemed to have focused the electricity to blow that end loose too. The White oak looks a little worse now that everything dried out. Hopefully it's ok. It seems to have stopped where the owl house was screwed into the tree that was blown off. Glad the ducks didn't get zapped in the back yard since there are T-Posts holding the wire fence up surrounding their coop. We replaced the cable box and modem but it still doesn't work. They are sending a tech tomorrow. Hope they can fix it in one visit and hopefully it isn't the wires in the wall. So whole house surge protector sounds like it's no help for lightning. That's kinda what I expected. Insurance only covers up to $500 per tree and I don't think that is going to be enough. Will find out this afternoon.

[onedash]

I had two tree guys out. The second one was more thorough and cheaper. He found two other trees that were struck, one is in my neighbors yard. So he will put the Tulip Poplars on the ground for $500 each. I have to cut em up and do the clean up. He said the red maple in my front yard is the most dangerous tree on my property. It has two trunks. The smaller of the two is leaning toward my house and he said it has no support. I always wondered about that one and figured it would be the worst one to get taken out by a storm because there is no way it isn't coming down on the house. The white oak in front he said probably only has a few years left. I knew something was wrong with it because it looked like it was oozing this spring and has had mushroom looking stuff growing off the side which indicates rot. Guess I will deal with that one later. Might get that red maple taken care of when I get the other 2 done. The red maple will be more than the other two combined because it is so close to the house and has to be taken down in pieces.
But the cable and internet is back up. YAY. Designated Survivor is an awesome new show!!!

[Slik Geek]

Anyway I learned that a whole house surge protector does not really protect against lightning, just surges. Hidden in the fine print. :-(

Likely the reason that disclaimer is in the fine print is because a direct, high energy lighting hit would be impossible to absorb by a reasonably sized (and priced) surge protector. In reality, most lightning damage that people experience is not caused by a direct hit to one's house, but by a hit to a neighbor's house or some portion of the electrical distribution system (overhead wiring, transformer, etc.) Or even a hit in proximity can affect things by induction (induced current through the air) or by conduction (large currents flowing through the ground raise the local potential high enough to cause damage) As noted by capncarl, a direct hit can melt or vaporize things - well beyond simply damage the electronics.

A whole house surge suppressor backed up by surge suppressing power strips at your most precious electronics should improve your chances of avoiding lightning damage. I've never lost any electronics due to lightning with whole house surge suppressor installed, but I have without one installed. (On the other hand, such events happen so rarely that this could be coincidental - I don't have sufficient experience to be certain).

Your standard household duplex outlets will flash over at about 6 kV (not sure at what voltage the light switches arc). Once an outlet or switch arcs, a residual carbon track is left behind which compromises the insulation integrity - so Skytooner's advice is good to heed.

The problem with lighting rods, and likely the reason their popularity has faded, is that lighting indeed "has a mind of its own", as noted by Skytooner. I've seen photos of lighting avoiding tall, grounded metallic structures and hitting something seemingly less conductive much lower.

In cwsmith's example, it is probable that "the old shortwave in the dining room was completely unharmed" because it used tubes, not "solid state" transistors and integrated circuits. Takes more energy to destroy tubes.

[woodturner]

I don't know what changed things but long time ago lots of houses had lightning rods on their roofs. I only see these systems on some military buildings now.
What happened to change their need?

Better understanding of lightning and electricity lead to the understanding that in most cases lightning rods increase the likelihood of a lightning strike. In other words, they are more likely to cause damage than prevent it.

The other issue was that most lightening rods did not have an adequate ground path and were largely ineffective. While lightning rods are almost never used anymore, when they are the system is designed to handle the surge.