Going on 40+ years
Lightning hit my house
- Thread starter Fa24wrx
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Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening
OP,
I’m glad to hear the damage was limited!
Hopefully you now own one or more fire extinguishers….
MasterSolenoid and alarmguy:
Most people, including me, mistakenly believed a whole house surge suppressor on the “main box” is a cure all for surges and strikes.
We have a whole house surge suppressor on the box but I added a “stand alone” higher end suppressor for the TV, cable modem/router, and the stereo system.
Washer and dryer? We never considered it!
So, what good is having a whole house suppressor if you need to have “back up” suppressors on the individual outlets?
I’m glad to hear the damage was limited!
Hopefully you now own one or more fire extinguishers….
MasterSolenoid and alarmguy:
Most people, including me, mistakenly believed a whole house surge suppressor on the “main box” is a cure all for surges and strikes.
We have a whole house surge suppressor on the box but I added a “stand alone” higher end suppressor for the TV, cable modem/router, and the stereo system.
Washer and dryer? We never considered it!
So, what good is having a whole house suppressor if you need to have “back up” suppressors on the individual outlets?
Whole house surge protector .... 1st line of defense
Individual surge protectors .... 2nd defense
Electricity moves 'very' quickly, and strange things can happen.
If you're 'really worried' about surges during a severe thunderstorm, .... unplug power cords to outlets.
I also use surge protectors for:
Washer & dryer
Refrigerator
Central vacuum
Garage door opener
* any thing I don't want to replace, while my neighbors are.
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Mom and Dad lived in an old farmhouse with one of those old-time well windmills nearby. Mom ran a clothesline from the windmill tower to a corner of the house. One day the tower got struck; it turned out that the clothesline was actually a thin wire, coated in plastic. The strike migrated to the house, where it blew out the phone and the porch light. The plastic coating on the clothesline hung off its wire base in drips and drabs.
They were pretty lucky that the strike didn't do more damage (the well-grounded tower showed no ill effects).
Years later, lightning struck a big bur oak in the yard twice within about a year. I found pieces of bark blown 20 or 30 feet. The second strike pretty much killed the tree.
I live in another old farmhouse on a hilltop. I have lightning rods on the house and a surge protector on the breaker box. I've read that one in 200 houses get struck by lightning every year. If I could get those odds with the lottery I'd be playing Powerball religiously.
They were pretty lucky that the strike didn't do more damage (the well-grounded tower showed no ill effects).
Years later, lightning struck a big bur oak in the yard twice within about a year. I found pieces of bark blown 20 or 30 feet. The second strike pretty much killed the tree.
I live in another old farmhouse on a hilltop. I have lightning rods on the house and a surge protector on the breaker box. I've read that one in 200 houses get struck by lightning every year. If I could get those odds with the lottery I'd be playing Powerball religiously.
Yikes. I've never had that experience did it hurt? I have felt a tiny shock from my metal computer desk from a nearby lightning strike. Did not feel the same as a static electricity zap. It is difficult to describe, but nothing like a AC shock either. Was just a mild jolt and clearly not strong enough to harm.
Well, I guess just as you have added a higher end stand alone for your electronics (as I have) the my thinking is why stop there?
My washer is loaded with electronics, my dishwasher and refrigerator is too. My garage door motor and associated wifi controller components are too, Heck pretty much any electronic in our house plugs into a surge device device including my cell phones and higher end laptops and certainly our 3 desk tops and laser printer.
I mean why not? Many of these secondary surge suppressors also have rudimentary power line noise reduction too.
Also on any given line interference and surges can be created internally in the house itself. When appliances turn on and off. Noise reduction in the lines isnt a bad thing either. The Wifi network and everything connected to them and direct to the router I have had in my two homes have always been rock solid. Barely to never needed resets and always get just over the speed I pay for. Is this the reason? I dont know but (oh no, dont want to get off subject until the end of this post)
I have a heavy duty Intermatic surge on the heat pump. The surge that is in the breaker panel takes the place of two breakers, it's an all in one unit so only capable of a 25ka surge. I installed this for simplicity sake on my Homeline Square D panel. I believe it also suggested secondary units at the source as well. Is it necessary? I doubt it, after all most homes do fine with nothing but for me, it's a hobby and honestly? I am convinced part (I stress part) of the reason my electronics in the last 18 years just do not fail, even major appliances. NEVER once.
Ok, onto noise reduction ANY APPLIANCE that I have connected to my wifi router and on my wifi network gets AT LEAST one snap on ferrite noise filter. There is a reason higher end electronics and cables have them. Even my Sony X900 series TV from the factory. So I put them on ALL electronics to filter one type of line noise that may or may not be present but so cheap, why not>?
I have many maybe dozens on everything right down to my WiFI controlled garage door. Anything related in anyway to the internet.
Or electronics that may be sensitive to line noise.
These are extras, I have many more *LOL*
Ferrite Line Noise Filters
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They work best when cascaded. One at each panel and individual plugs at each device because larger ones let through more voltage than smaller ones. When it comes to lighting you just hope that you have one like this instance where the internet and a stove was knocked out. I had a coworker have his whole house burn to the ground.
Lightning is so weird. We had a storm come through and I was just sitting on my rear on the couch staring at my phone and then BOOM, lightning hit the tree in the side yard. I about jumped out of my skin it was so loud. None of the circuits or appliances in my house or the neighbor's house were affected. I went outside after the storm was over and took a chain saw to the limb on the ground and took pictures of the huge burn mark up and down the tree.
Three years later that tree is fine, other than being a little lopsided since missing that branch, and the burn marks are still there.
The two big trees on either side of that tree, which had no burn marks and no indication anywhere of anything, and the three honeysuckle bushes that were a few feet away from the struck tree, all wilted in a few days and were deader than dead a couple weeks later.
Three years later that tree is fine, other than being a little lopsided since missing that branch, and the burn marks are still there.
The two big trees on either side of that tree, which had no burn marks and no indication anywhere of anything, and the three honeysuckle bushes that were a few feet away from the struck tree, all wilted in a few days and were deader than dead a couple weeks later.
There's a big bur oak at the old place that also spreads wide. An old-timer who lived there once told me he saw lightning hit it ~80 years ago.
working one stormy night in maintenance I was standing down in the boiler room waiting for the gens to start because of heavy lighting & windy, was near one of our large boilers just near a 170 ft brick smoke stack ,lighting of course hit stack loud bang ,the ground wires were smoking and you could smell ozone ,thank god I was not leaning on the metal railing that surrounds the boilers, this made at this point for a long night resetting shunts etc.,,also it blew out a 100hp cooling tower fan motor, and other items in the hospital and power plant were malfunctioning ,elevators,freq.fan drives, pumps & sensitive bio-med electronics & fire alarm system ,,,etc. one gen also was not starting (we have three 2400 hp V-12 caterpillar generators). called many specialists in that night.
I just saw this, You wrote this really well, much better and more clear than my rambling above. Love that phrase "any thing I don't want to replace, while my neighbors are"
I honestly believed I was one of the very few that also did the appliances you mention.
I have a type 2 whole home SPD and while it's probably unnecessary in my area, it's cheap insurance. I might add another type 2 at the heat pump disconnect when I'm bored enough as that's definitely unnecessary. Otherwise I also use the usual type 3 SPDs for most electronics, and will add one for a heat pump washer/dryer combo. I have no idea how much protection this offers against a direct lightning strike, but it's better than nothing? Everything's got sensitive components nowadays and even if they have integrated surge protection, it's easier to replace a separate device than service something.
Anyone use a UPS for anything? I have one on my server so that it can shut down gracefully without data loss.
Anyone use a UPS for anything? I have one on my server so that it can shut down gracefully without data loss.
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