Lightning struck my house, again. Do you have any ideas?
Asked by
alamo (
516
)
July 12th, 2010
July 4, 2004 lightning struck my satellite dish and my wife. It took out the TV, satellite, VCR, alarm, phone and DVD player . My wife din’t enjoy the experience either. Last Saturday, lightning hit a tree in the back yard, traveled up a buried line and hit the house and the shop. This time it took out the shop power, the main breaker box, the TV, the desktop, two fans and the power cord for my netbook. Probably some other stuff but we can’t assess all the damage until the new breaker box is installed. Insurance is being good about it.
Has anyone used lightning arrestors in their main? Has it worked? How about lightning rods, either on the house or in the yard? I told the neighbor i was going to install a really tall rod on his house: he laughed:)
I had the TV on a Monster brand surge protector, but haven’t contacted them yet. The computer was on a normal surge protector. Have you ever used a surge protector designed for lightning protection and did it work?
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15 Answers
Response moderated (Off-Topic)
Does your house not have a ground? You might wanna read this.
This is so going to get modded but you might consider erecting a huge statue of Jesus and hope that the lightening strikes it instead.
You need a prominent lightening rod. Perhaps, I could send MY wife to visit with you.
Response moderated (Off-Topic)
Twice. Now that sucks. I hope you play the lottery. I wish I had a good answer for you. I know two people who had their houses hit by lightening, one person who had their car hit while they were in it, and two other people who have been hit themselves. Not all close friends, well three are, and the others I have just met. Lightening freaks me out. From what I understand houses are not grounded, I have no idea if I am right about this, it is was I heard once, like buildings are grounded. But, probably you should look into attracting the lightening away from your house. Are you on a hill? Lots of trees around? Good thing you don’t have to disclose lightening hits when you sell. Have you thought of moving? Are you in a big lightening area?
Response moderated (Off-Topic)
@lilikoi Thanks for the link. It looks like just what I need.
Sounds like your house is built in a naturally lightning prone spot. Contrary to popular belief, lightning often strikes in or near the same place more than once. About all you can do is follow the advice in @lilikoi‘s link and decrease the potential for you to get hit again.
I recommend you consult an electrician or general contractor to make the necessary modifications to your building(s).
I ground my house to the water pipe that is attached to my well. I also have extra ground rods on either side of the house. My hotwater baseboard heat runs are grounded to the same connection as the water pump.
A couple of years ago our telephone line (I assume it was the telephone line) was hit and it just popped the two pellets in the box outside. No other damage.
Ligthning rods are your best bet. A good reliable contractor can hook them up to protect your house. You might want to think about removing the nearby trees, so the rods can do their job. Lightning does hit the same area repeatedly. I’ve been in houses when they get hit and it’s not fun.
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