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dodge man
Super Star Member
My first thought was the damage wasn’t to bad then you said the coffee maker got it, the horror. All joking aside it sounds like you are getting things fixed, glad there was no fire.
House hit by lightning
- Thread starter rbstern
- Start date
Alan W.
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Yes glad no one was hurt. You never know how a strike will react.
I have seen the results of quite a few strikes and all were different. Some very violent with explosive damage and others more subtle with a lot of unseen damage.
I have seen the results of quite a few strikes and all were different. Some very violent with explosive damage and others more subtle with a lot of unseen damage.
oosik
Super Star Member
Good that no one was hurt. Like you indicated - insurance can replace the remainder. My house has never been hit. Had a strike atop one of my Ponderosa pines. Started a fire right at the top. Burned/smoldered for two days.
Saw a power pole with transformer get hit. Violent explosion with resulting fire. Went out on its own - before the fire dept got there.
Saw a power pole with transformer get hit. Violent explosion with resulting fire. Went out on its own - before the fire dept got there.
kenmbz
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Lightning took out one of my poplars. We had to take it down, too much damage and started to rot.
Glad you made it out ok, why you have insurance. Amazing amount of damage, but being unhurt is so important.
Seems like your insurance is working with you, and getting brand new shiny wires.
Maybe add some lightning rods away from house to help redirect?
Glad you made it out ok, why you have insurance. Amazing amount of damage, but being unhurt is so important.
Seems like your insurance is working with you, and getting brand new shiny wires.
Maybe add some lightning rods away from house to help redirect?
cjoffutt
Silver Member
We had lightning hit our house a couple years ago. Strike originated at a large Ash tree 20' from the house, down it, and into the LP gas line. Followed the gas line to the house entrance, blew the Hardi siding to pieces there.
Ended up taking out the fridge, tv, microwave, and some other misc items. Lucky it didn't go back to the LP tank and make a giant mess out of everything.
Ended up taking out the fridge, tv, microwave, and some other misc items. Lucky it didn't go back to the LP tank and make a giant mess out of everything.
check
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We had a lightning strike on a power pole near our cottage. Took out a bunch of equipment of one neighbor, and damaged more than one generator. All we had was a tripped main breaker, and the whole house surge protector seemed to take the hit. I guess it worked well! But it did die and needed replacing.
I generally enjoy a good thunder and lightening storm, but not while I’m in it. One summer I was renting a place and every storm seemed to be right overhead. I spent one storm camped out in the middle of the house, staying away from the windows.
The next morning I was running water to do dishes and had my hands in the dishwater when all of a sudden I heard a sound like an arc welder going off. I wasn’t long pulling my hands out of the water... the submersible pump had a surge protector which must have done it’s job, but tripped the next morning when the pump kicked on.
I’ve lost 3 phones and a phone line surge protector to lightening in the last few years. I haven’t been able to find a replacement for the latter. Oddly enough it hasn’t hit my router, which is plugged into the same phone line. I saw the first phone get hit; waking me out of a dead sleep when the lightening hit.
The next morning I was running water to do dishes and had my hands in the dishwater when all of a sudden I heard a sound like an arc welder going off. I wasn’t long pulling my hands out of the water... the submersible pump had a surge protector which must have done it’s job, but tripped the next morning when the pump kicked on.
I’ve lost 3 phones and a phone line surge protector to lightening in the last few years. I haven’t been able to find a replacement for the latter. Oddly enough it hasn’t hit my router, which is plugged into the same phone line. I saw the first phone get hit; waking me out of a dead sleep when the lightening hit.
ponytug
Super Member
The issue with direct or near hits is the magnitude of the energy. A typical lightning bolt runs between 5,000A to 200,000A and voltages vary from 40,000V to 120,000V. With a five microsecond burst (short bolt), that's 11kWh (running ten microwaves for an hour) and most lightning has multiple exchanges. No wonder trees explode from the steam and plasma produced. Look at all of the damage to @rbstern's house.
Just to pick on the voltage end of things, that is three to ten thousand times higher than your wall voltage, which makes it easy for the lightning to induce currents and voltages in any wire or metal, anywhere close to the bolt, and that makes it so easy to fry modern, low voltage, electronics.
Surge protectors are for distant, not nearby hits. Lightning rods help, but only help, things out, and they require really good grounding systems.
We recently lost the ground on our power pole transformer from a lightning hit miles away (4? 6? Miles away). That's six gauge copper, and not from a direct hit, and the surge took out grounds over miles of other poles even farther away from the lightning strike. (How do I know? The power company had to replace transformers along another three miles of road.)
All the best,
Peter
Just to pick on the voltage end of things, that is three to ten thousand times higher than your wall voltage, which makes it easy for the lightning to induce currents and voltages in any wire or metal, anywhere close to the bolt, and that makes it so easy to fry modern, low voltage, electronics.
Surge protectors are for distant, not nearby hits. Lightning rods help, but only help, things out, and they require really good grounding systems.
We recently lost the ground on our power pole transformer from a lightning hit miles away (4? 6? Miles away). That's six gauge copper, and not from a direct hit, and the surge took out grounds over miles of other poles even farther away from the lightning strike. (How do I know? The power company had to replace transformers along another three miles of road.)
All the best,
Peter
CobyRupert
Super Member
^This.
Is the corner of the garage where it hit also the corner where your overhead electrical service attaches?
Sounds like the bolt got into your electrical system and used it’s ground to get to earth. Like trying to send 10,000 gpm down a garden hose. Pressure is going to build and spill out to everting connected.
I’d check your service ground to make sure that didn’t get fried.
If you’d had lighting rods and a lot more ground rods, it would of helped. But would it have saved everything? Probably not, hard to say, but probably would of reduced damage. A bolt whose electro-magnetic field takes out the ECU of a car in the garage is pretty powerful.
Is the corner of the garage where it hit also the corner where your overhead electrical service attaches?
Sounds like the bolt got into your electrical system and used it’s ground to get to earth. Like trying to send 10,000 gpm down a garden hose. Pressure is going to build and spill out to everting connected.
I’d check your service ground to make sure that didn’t get fried.
If you’d had lighting rods and a lot more ground rods, it would of helped. But would it have saved everything? Probably not, hard to say, but probably would of reduced damage. A bolt whose electro-magnetic field takes out the ECU of a car in the garage is pretty powerful.
ruffdog
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Many times a lightning strike will do some strange stuff. If it can jump 5000 feet to touch your house, our little gadgets mostly don't have a chance. I have my antenna tower grounded with a rod and a 40' lookout tower with a re-rod ladder top to bottom. I can only hope that lightning will take the path that I choose.