Lightning Strike Protection
 

During Monday's storm, my home in Gilford was hit bad by lightning. I lost a lot of expensive electrical devices on this strike even though everything was surge protected with high end protectors including cable and phone line. I even had my electrician install a special surge protector in the breaker panel to no avail. This is the third or fourth time I have been hit in a couple years. In previous strikes it usually something simple that gets taken out like my modem or gate transformer and its no big deal. This time it was huge!

Anyway my question is does anyone know of someone in the area who specializes in remediation of an issue like this? Some kind of "Lightning Strikes-R-US" kind of company??

Thanks!

Dan

I got hit about 4 times when I first built my house in West Alton back in 2006. I used American Lightning Protection out of New Durham. The number I have for them is 603-859-3800. The guy's name was Tom Tremblay. They did a great job, but I'm not sure if they are still in business.

Their brochure mentioned that they belonged to a trade association called United Lightning Protection Association http://www.ulpa.org/ Perhaps they could tell you if there are any other installers of lightning protection equipment in NH. I checked their website and there is one guy listed in Piermont NH (wherever that is?) http://www.zerozap.com/index.html

Regional, not local
 

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Not to make light of your situation ..... but whatever happened to the adage "lightning never strikes the same place twice"........... can you forward me your address .... I need to stay Far Far away from you :D

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on a serious note --- wish you luck with the remediation

Just keep in mind, you're trying to hold off up to a billion volts of electricity with a little bit of electronics in a plastic box when it comes to "surge protectors".

You are right to look for a proper lightning remediation company if you have an ongoing problem. It may also be a sign of poor grounding overall in your electrical system, which is usually an easy fix.

Thanks BRK and all,

I actually had my electrician check my electrical system after the last strike he said everything looked good but he did install a surge protector in the breaker panel...funny thing is it never tripped and only one circuit breaker was tripped.

It seems the strikes are getting in through the either the internet cable line or satellite cable line as I had four large screen TVs get fried as well as my wireless router and modem. My security system and DVR also got fried, (not sure yet if the cameras are still good). My brand new custom built computer that is way smarter than me also got cooked. I also have a gate on my property about 100 yds from my house that's completely fried. Even my underground dog fence is cooked and it actually left a black mark on my white garage wall where it was plugged in! Everything was plugged into a surge protector (good ones supposedly, not just a power strip) and I did have the internet cable plugged screwed into a high end surge protector which I believe offer insurance if it fails.... we shall see!!

Dan

Makes me wonder if it came from a different path than your electrical service as you have suggested. I wonder that if it came through your communication feeds how it got to your dog fence and gate though. Curious if you saw any signs of the strike on your property.

No signs of strike on the property that I could see. The strike was large enough to set off my glass break alarm on my security system. I'm hoping to recover whatever my DVR recorded which may tell me where the strike occurred. We were not at home during the storm...

Too bad you have to go through this. Lucky, I guess, that there was no ensuing fire.
I hope you'll let us know more when you get an analysis from whoever does the new protection system.

I'd guess the surge protector warranty might replace that item, but not any of the damage that it didn't protect from.

I have seen the damage from lightning coming down a tall pine tree and in through the underground phone and cable and then into the house electrical system. The lightning strike blew the front of the electrical panel off the wall and through an interior wall in the basement. TV's and other electronics were all destroyed. You could see where all the roots (ie same as your burried dog fence wires) of the pine tree were right up to the foundation and to where the phone/cable lines came in underground. Residents of the property felt the whole home shake/move when the lightning hit. There was also a crack in the foundation. You had good protections in place but coming down a tree and/or up through the ground is hard to protect from. This event was in Atkinson, NH in 1991 or 92. Yours could have been that type of lightening hit.

Just wondering..Do you also have a metal fence around your property.?

Down here in Rhode Island, we have an old WWII Radar/Radio site on the coast (Beavertail), that normally would have had metal chain link security fence around the perimeter of the site. Back in the day there were many secured military sites on the coast.

My observation here is this: The site at Beavertail had a WOOD fence around this highly secure WWII site.

I have read about the reason why the fence was wood but can't remember the details.

Might there be any connection with your lightning strikes..??: look: :look: NB

The best I have heard about is the protection the electric company provides right at the meter head. They pull the meter, put their device, and it (tries) to ground it there, before the house. Every fraction of inch of a wire has voltage differential, i.e. get it before it gets into the house. A breaker box has loss in the grounds. There are physical laws involved and one has to be realistic, no guarantees, only try to minimize damage.

Surge protection is good. When we install surge protection, I always tell the property owners a surge protector to a direct lightning hit is like holding up a stop sign in front of a speeding freight train. It's not going to stop it. The best defense along with surge protectors is to do what you can to prevent strikes from happening in the first place. Find a qualified installer of lightning rods and see what they recommend.

Wear Ear Protection...
 

Based on a lightning strike to a nearby house, my guess is that your Gilford house was built in a spot of high exposure and high elevation. There's probably not much that can be done to prevent another strike in the future; however, sailboats have some lightning countermeasures that might be worth exploring. :look:

That nearby house was built at a high elevation and surrounded by open fields. Copper flashing, popular at the time it was built, seemed to have attracted the lightning: one lightning bolt took out much of it! :eek:

Our own house is surrounded closely with big trees. One birch took a "strike out of the blue", and re-directed the charge into the lake. At the time, I was seated typing on my laptop outdoors—about 25 feet away! :eek2:

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Nothing you can do
 

I did not read all of the posts so please do not shoot me if I am repeating something already said.
My house has been hit several times with damages well over $100,000. Surge protection wether at the meter or anyone else only protects you from surge that enters from the power lines but it cannot protect you from a lightning strike coming in the back door, irrigation lines for example. Nor could they protect you from backfeeding from your electrical outlets, lights, outdoor cameras or speakers etc.

I still have surge protection throughout my house but have never lost one to a surge or lightning strike.

BTW lightning rods unless made from massive amount of copper, away from house, drilled hundreds of feet down and maybe 100 feet above the ground will help. That solution probably would work...

How about a flag pole? I don't have this problem but maybe a 30' flag pole will take the hit and save the house. Just a thought, and you can be patriotic while protecting your home. My next door neighbor in Mass has a flag pole in his yard and that was struck by lighting a few years ago.






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Doubt it.Sounds like his house and immediate surroundings didn't show any signs of a strike.I'll bet it came under or along the ground.

Sorry to hear about all the damage


Ok, a time varying electromagnetic field can induce current in a nearby conductor. That is how AC motors and transformers work. Even far away EM sources can induce small current hence we have broadcast radio, TV and cell phones. A current is induced in the receiving antenna, amplified and the information is recovered. Wireless communication as they say.

A lightning strike is a time varying EM field of huge proportions, very intense and capable on inducing a very large flow of current in any nearby conductors. A strike far away may send a surge down the power lines and cable lines and surge protectors may protect your electronics. What about a nearby strike?

A strike near your house can induce very large current in any conductive material. House wiring for electric or cable are good antennas and an underground dog fence is a perfect antenna as well as wiring to a driveway gate. This kind of surge does not come in via power lines but is induced or generated right within the local conductive wiring. Little or nothing can be done to stop it.

http://www.sto-p.com/pfp/pfp-iemf.htm

Alan

Your pretty much spot on APS, high exposure, just off the lake, higher elevation...

it was determined the majority of the strike came through Metrocast internet cable. Even though the cable was grounded and screwed into a surge protector it blew right past it and did tons of damage trying to find more ground. From what I am hearing, there is not much I could of done when a strike this large hits.

It also came through an underground dog fence, blew apart the surge protector that it was plugged into.

Luckily I have a full replacement value homeowners policy and they have been great to work with thus far. No increase in policy for filing claim which is really nice!

Dan

Good to know. If you dont' mind sharing, which insurance provider do you have?

Hi Dan
there should not be an increase in premium for filing the claim, the only thing you could expect to see is upon renewal, if you had one, a loss free credit, usually about 8-10% off the premium (not all parts of the premium are subject to the credit) might be removed. But a small price to pay to offset the damage

Thanks for the info! Yes its a small price for the free credit loss as right now I am at 20 grand worth of damage!

Dan