House struck by lightning

[Bill]

We had a severe slow moving boomer go over Chattanooga, and when we got home last night, the following items were inop:

HVAC, phones and phone lines, cable, garage door opener, computer, one TV.

Looked at the circuit breakers, and the ones with GFI's were tripped. We have a floodlight on a photocell at the corner of the house where the service comes in, and both bulbs were blown, with the glass out in the grass. The plastic lens to the cell was melted. This is where it must have come in, maybe from the lines.

We have a big beefy ground post that must have taken most of it, as no scorching was evident outside or in the attic.

Our neighbors, home at the time, said it was the worst lightning they've seen in the 25 years they've lived there. More than an hour of severe local cloud to ground.

Time to do the house insurance boogie.

Bright side, no one was hurt, and we didn't come home to a smoking hole in the ground.

Time to get the AC working again before we sweat to death.

 

[Frank Browne]

Wow! Bad news Bill. I'm glad nobody was hurt and I hope you get everything fixed OK.

 

[EdFred]

Consider yourself lucky - my house got hit by lightning, and I lost the top floor due to fire, and the entire bottom floor was gutted from all the water damage. Was out of my house for 9 months as it got rebuilt.

 

[fgcason]

Good deal, your house survived and no one got hit.

Letting an external ground post that doesn't go through the house first handle the hit is the best solution. My dad had his own tv repair business and I couldn't even start to count the number of burn marks inside attics I've seen. Most were superficial scorchings, some covered a surprising amount of surface area in completely inaccessable areas. A small fire will start, scorch the attic insulation or wood and go out and no one the wiser...except for the ones that burn down to the foundation. Whatever building-code idiot decided unprotected wires could be run through attics and just laid anywhere should be burned at the stake.

When a big storm starts, contrary to popular behavior, if you're home at the time, yank the plugs out of the walls and wait it out. Devices set to mode-standby-ready-on-demand-instant-on-while-shamming (off visibly but still powered up) or the ones that are actually on are often damaged more than ones that have real off switches that physically break the circuit. Antenna, cable and phone lines are often overlooked until after the hit occurs. I've seen computers that were unplugged from the wall burt to a crisp inside starting at the phone connection. Don't think for an instant that your keyboard and mouse are immune just because it's on the 5VDC side of the circuit.

Here's a fun one for you: Over 30ish years my dad did an informal survey. In the city (lots of other obstacles near by), antenna's that were grounded via the typical wire on the pole to stake in the ground got blown to smithereens way more often than antenna's that were not grounded (post on the house, wire to the tv) I recall one house on a local hill that over 10 years never got hit once but all the houses around it had their antenna's blown off the roof and tv's melted regularly, one house got burned to the ground, fire dept knew some people by name. My dad finally went over and got permission to inspect the one house that was actually higher than most of the others to see what was done differently and sure enough, no ground wire on the pole. That neighborhood paid for lots of vacations...


We use to get big whopping lighting storms here in COS. Great light shows. One apartment I was in had a huge tree explode from a hit. I even got hit once on my motorcycle from leaders coming off a house that got hit. The bottom of the mirror still has the black mark on it to this day. Being up on the CD when a TRW pops up out of clear sky is just way too exciting. I watched a tree go woosh doing that once and felt the heat from it.

 

[grattonja]

It was pretty wild here yesterday also. Saw the start of a cloud rotation that did not develop. Yikes! Glad I wasn't in a plane.

We had lots of close lightning strikes, but none on the house.

Sorry to hear about your electrical woes. Glad the place didn't catch fire or something. Sounds like it could have been a whole lot worse.

Jim G

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

But your computer's OK, that's all that matters!
Insurance??

 

[Len Lanetti]

We had a pretty bad (for this area) thunderstorm yesterday. Had one lightening strike near the house, the house shook. As far as I can tell all I lost was one phone. Weird.

I have a surge protector attached to the circut break box. If it absorbed anything it wasn't enough to fry the surge protector. That is what happened at my former home when some dumb bell knocked over a telephone pole. Lots of TVs and microwaves got fried that time.

Len

 

[gismo]

Here's a fun one for you: Over 30ish years my dad did an informal survey. In the city (lots of other obstacles near by), antenna's that were grounded via the typical wire on the pole to stake in the ground got blown to smithereens way more often than antenna's that were not grounded (post on the house, wire to the tv) I recall one house on a local hill that over 10 years never got hit once but all the houses around it had their antenna's blown off the roof and tv's melted regularly, one house got burned to the ground, fire dept knew some people by name. My dad finally went over and got permission to inspect the one house that was actually higher than most of the others to see what was done differently and sure enough, no ground wire on the pole. That neighborhood paid for lots of vacations...

I know someone who had a free standing 60 ft antenna tower right outside their house that got struck. Inside the house near the tower was the computer and a small TV. Both were seriously fried, we suspect by the EMP from the tower strike. The tower was well grounded, and I believe the bolt might have strayed into the house if it weren't.

I have an 80 ft tower on my property but it's a good 300 ft from the house (to get the advantage of the higher elevation there). It's been hit at least twice, but the only thing I lost as a result was the anemometer on top. I've also got a Discone (scanner) antenna on top of the house, but there's lots of trees taller than it so it never gets hit. It's not grounded (never got around to it) and from what you've posted I guess I'm better off that way. I do disconnect it from the radio when I'm not using it but the end of the coax lays near the other wires from my desktop computer in the same room. I wonder if I should worry about that.

We did have a direct hit on one of the tall cottonwoods in my neighbor's yard that blew bark over 300 ft away.

 

[Bill]

Good deal, your house survived and no one got hit.

Exactly, could have been worse, but it is what it is. I'll deal.

I've seen computers that were unplugged from the wall burt to a crisp inside starting at the phone connection. Don't think for an instant that your keyboard and mouse are immune just because it's on the 5VDC side of the circuit.

I'll start with the obvious, and work from there. The computer doesn't power on, so I'll start with a new power supply, and then see how it goes. Likely it will need a new modem as well.

 

[Bill]

Both were seriously fried, we suspect by the EMP from the tower strike.

I'm thinking it may be the EMP field here that induced voltage and damaged low voltage circuits. The only breakers tripped were the two with GFI's on them, so there were not large currents circulating the house, but obviously enough current induced on the bathroom circuits to trip the GFI. The other dead stuff, garage door opener (both small low voltage lines from the wall panel and radio receiver), HVAC controller, computer, etc., are all devices with fine line low voltage circuits. I think some good voltage was induced on all these, frying the low voltage circuitry.

 

[T Bone]

Well, that doesn't sound like much fun! I hope everything gets back to normal for you soon with minimal inconvenience/expense.

 

[Henning]

Time to do the house insurance boogie.

Bright side, no one was hurt, and we didn't come home to a smoking hole in the ground.

Time to get the AC working again before we sweat to death.

Glad everyone is ok. Have you found where the lightning struck the house? Do this BEFORE you talk to anyone from the insurance Co. FIND a place on your house the lightning struck. If it hit the power companies pole and blew you out, you could possibly be SOL except for the contents of your fridge and freeze. You may have to go to the utility if that is the case. I never worked a storm in TN so I don't know their idiosyncracies, but I believe they have ISO HO policies there. Good luck.

Little insurance trivia, Under a Homeowners policy, if a storm blows over a tree, the ins will pay to remove it, however if and only if lightning strikes it, they will also pay for the value of the tree or replace. Go figure, huh?

 

[fgcason]

Both were seriously fried, we suspect by the EMP from the tower strike.

I had a stereo amp that I suspect got blown out like that once. There was a big lightning strike very close by. Everything was unplugged but the right channel was dead afterward. The only thing I could think of was the strike was real close and the right speaker was next to the window with the speaker wire plugged in to that side of the amp. Maybe, maybe not. But it worked before and not afterward. $30 and an hour of work later it was all happy again.

It's not grounded (never got around to it) and from what you've posted I guess I'm better off that way.

Disclaimer: No guarantees or warranties implied. If you blow yourself or your toys up, it's your fault, not mine. That was a very informal unscientific study over time but it did show a trend that convinced my dad remove our ground wire in the city. Our theory may be complete witchcraft, but in 40 years, zero hits so far though it might get blown up tomorrow...
That being said, IMO it's about making yourself a target when there are other fairly equal or better targets in the immediate vicinity. Let them take the hit if possible. You're not immune in the least but all else being equal, the well grounded pole is a better strike leader target than a higher resistance pole. Shortest lowest resistance path to ground kind of thing. Of course if you do get hit, you're taking way way more current/voltage into your stuff than the grounded pole ever would.

I do disconnect it from the radio when I'm not using it but the end of the coax lays near the other wires from my desktop computer in the same room. I wonder if I should worry about that.

I worry about stuff like that. 1/16" of insulation isn't even a passing thought to 1000 amps at whopping-too-many KV.
FWIW: The cabin I'm designing will have easy disconnect plugs on the walls. Power/phone/antenna/external source wires and plugs will be in separate metal conduit and will be separated by at least 1ft and ample room to move the wires that go into the plugs. The antenna, if there's any use for one (read signal availability), will be away from the cabin. I'm planning to ground the pole (make it the primary target, not the cabin roof) and another ground on the antenna/wx station wires next to the cabin. That along with my paranoid procedure should, in theory, allow it to be hit without getting the cabin or my toys involved.

We did have a direct hit on one of the tall cottonwoods in my neighbor's yard that blew bark over 300 ft away.

KABOOM! Seen that happen before. Ever seen a power line (pole to house) transformer take a direct hit? Deafening boom, huge sustained lightning ball, fire, and little pieces of metal all over the place.

 

[Ken Ibold]

Ever seen a power line (pole to house) transformer take a direct hit? Deafening boom, huge sustained lightning ball, fire, and little pieces of metal all over the place.

Saw that from about 50 feet away when I was riding my motorcycle once. At night, no less. I was seeing purple spots for a looooong time.

 

[fgcason]

I'll start with the obvious, and work from there. The computer doesn't power on, so I'll start with a new power supply, and then see how it goes. Likely it will need a new modem as well.

Good plan. It might be that cheap. I've seen computers that were ready for the junk bin that had nothing more than the power supply internal/case fuse popped or the supply itself fried. 10 minutes of effort and all was happy. Then again, I've heard (unverified) of people getting killed while typing on the keyboard or talking on a phone when a strike comes in.

Be careful out there. It's a dangerous planet and it'll kill you given the chance.

 

[Bill]

Good plan. It might be that cheap.

The A/C has been happily resolved. I purchased a new unit three years ago, one with full 10yr parts/labor warranty. I asked the fellow about that as he worked, "Oh yeah, no matter what caused the problem, we'll fix it and it won't cost you a thing."

The electronic wall thermostat got fried, and that sent half voltage to the compressor contactors, which chattered and smoked themselves. New thermostat and contactors, and a cool night of sleep! I feel 100% better today. Cable is now back up as well, still working on the other issues.

 

[Bill]

Saw that from about 50 feet away when I was riding my motorcycle once. At night, no less. I was seeing purple spots for a looooong time.

That is the only thing that scares me on a bike anymore, getting caught out in an electrical storm. I find somewhere to sit it out.

 

[gismo]

That is the only thing that scares me on a bike anymore, getting caught out in an electrical storm. I find somewhere to sit it out.

Riding into large hail wouldn't be much fun, that's for sure.