Another lightning strike another Well Control Box

[WoodChuckDad]

Still could be an issue with the pump.....

True , and I hope not. But the only way to know is to deal with the pump controller problem first. If the pump is bad, then that is a whole different level of suck

 

[Alan W.]

Grew up watching the fireballs, from lightning, run the high power lines in our backyard. They let homes be built way too close back in the 60s.
One of those fireballs jumped to our transformer and followed the line to our house. Neighbors thought we were all dead. It exploded the house where it hit. Lost a lot of TVs in that house over the years. Dad and the neighbor cut down the locust trees. No strikes or surges since.
Had a 3 1/2 foot diameter poplar hit and exploded. Split the trunk in half. My lab still aint over it.
Had a spec home that the plumbing and electric had just been completed take a hit. All the wiring was fried and the copper water lines were shot. Any nails that were close to a water line arced and burnt holes in them.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

At 7:29 I got a message that The box was delivered to the front door or steps. I drove to the front of the property and the box was sitting in the driveway at the gate. Not perfect, but I’ll take it. (I still gave “Jose” a thumbs up review for being on time.) I came back and installed the box. While I was doing so, my daughter asked if I needed help. Her mother washed her hair in the sink with water we brought from the tote that we have down at the barn and she wanted to be able to take a real shower again. Got it installed and we are back in business. Had to jump thru some hoops with my water heater. I keep the water set at 138 and for some reason it had changed to 177 degrees. I only found that because the pressure was low for hot water. I reset the temperature and cleaned the spin filter (hot water has it’s own filter. ) It has been an interesting 24 hours. Every time something like this happens I am confident that I know less about electricity than I thought I did.

 

[ponytug]

@WoodChuckDad congratulations on diagnosing the issue and getting it fixed. But, wow 177F seems like a dangerous default for the water heater to jump to.

Isn't rapid shipping wonderful?

All the best,

Peter

 

[jyoutz]

I have surge protectors on my TV and Computer, but I'm not familiar with a whole house surge protector. Does it go before or after the breaker box? Can it handle a direct hit from lightning? The house that I mentioned earlier had the breakers that didn't stop the lightning from going through them. I'm guessing there was too much electricity for them to trip, or something like that. Maybe it just jumped across the breakers? I really don't know how that works or what lightning does when it's inside a house.

My power company installed a whole house surge protector on my house and they charge me $5/month extra on my bill. They installed it on my meter box beneath the meter. They replace it every 3-4 years.

 

[steve tym]

Nice DIY, guys on this forum are inventive / creative.
My service guys are on call 24/7. One of the wives used to ***** at my service guy for having to go to work on Sunday. One Sunday he shut her water off before going on a service call. She never bitched again.

 

[techman]

We live at a geographically high spot. Years ago I lost several pump motors when lightning struck a tree in the area. At some point talking to a plumber, he said I needed to ground the well casing. At first it seemed to be illogical since the well casing should be a big ground rod. But when a tree is struck the current radiates through the soil and the deep metal casing is a low resistance path, but bear in mind that the grid is a much better ground. If the case is not bonded the high voltage can arc over in the pump motor which has a better ground path to the grid through the utility box. I ran a #4 wire connected to the well casing and in the house connected to the ground connection in the box. That connection in the box also connects to the house ground rod. Since that addition I have never had a motor issue in over 20 years.

 

[bmaverick]

After last fiasco with lightening and electricity issues I had the power company come check the lines and had electrician come out here and check my grounds and my panels. He recommended a lightening bar across the roof I dont think it actually struck the house, but I dont know how this keeps happening.

Your electrician is correct. You need a grounding bar to direct any and all lightening strikes away from the home and the well itself.

You need a flag pole away from the home or a tall tree with a lightening spiked rods. This will draw the lightening away from the home and the well area on the ground.

At the base of these devices, you need one or multiple leads to direct this high energy AWAY quickly.
Solid heavy gauge wire is required. $$$. At the ground level, you will need 9-foot thick rebar in the ground, sticking 3 to 6-inches out of the ground. Each rebar 12 feet away from each other AND at equal or closely equal wire lengths away. Energy will split evenly if the wire length is the same.

On the wire going down, it MUST be held with stand-offs from the building or tree or flag pole or telephone pole (used).

Last time I prices out a 2,000FT sized home for protection, the cost was $900 for all the parts.

2 weeks ago, my neighbors pole barn built in 1975 got lightening hit from a 2:45am storm. He lost 3 tractors, 2 Polaris UTVs, and a classic Ford Mustang GT. The blue Honda Civic got melted tires to the gravel driveway and the plastic trim burned away. When each of the propane tanks exploded, it was worse than being at an airshow as the sonic booms came thru. The reason why the firefighters couldn't get in there fast enough.

 

[EddieWalker]

Is this what you are suggesting?

Amazon.com

 

[caver]

My great aunt had an old lightning rod system on her old farmhouse. It had the globe on each rod and twisted wrought iron all the way down to the ground. Come to think of it she had the old standing seam metal roof too.