On Jun 4, 1:02*pm, harry wrote:
On Jun 4, 3:43*pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:





We had a near lightening strike that sent a surge though the power lines.
Not sure where the hit was, but I did have some damage.

My wife called me at work after a thunderstorm and said she saw a big red
ball in the driveway and then some of the lights went out. *The doorbell
rang and would not stop ringing. *I told her to take a wire off the chimes
and they stopped, but a breaker was tripped and would not reset. *The bell
button has a diode in it and that may have taken the hit.

When I got home, I took the two wires off of the breaker and it still did
not reset so I replaced the breaker. *One of the circuits was OK, the other
had a short and tripped the breaker. *Since it was not getting dark and it
was still raining, the hunt would wait a day. *Next day, I went out to the
(detached) garage and found an X-10 module I use to control an outdoor light
was blown apart and burnt. *The plastic cover was gone, the insides were
soot covered. * I'm wondering if the jolt came in that way or out, it was
the furthest away from the electric panel.

I'm going to replace the receptacle it was plugged into also. *I've not
pulled that out yet, but I'm not taking any chances. *Once replaced. I'll
hook the wire back to the breaker.

Losses we *HD TV, Surround sound receiver, X-10 module, computer router,
doorbell.

The good news is: *I now have a 47" TV with far better picture than my 5
year old 32" and a better sound system.
More stuff is on surge protectors too.

It's quite likely your actual house was struck, especially if it is
isolated and has any high points. * You're wife could have been killed
so count yourselves lucky.
You need to get external lighning protection rods if you house IS high
and is away from other high points. *These are quite expensive and
need regular checks. You could do these yourself if your technical.
The "spike" or transient protection device that will protect agains
the strike you experienced has not been made and never will be. * You
can get deviced that will protect against strikes on the electric
distribution system that are miles awy but that's all. *All these
devices do is store the enegy of the transient in a capacitor or coil
& then discharge it to ground. *So they will cope with switching
transients and similar but that's all.

Nonsense. There are good whole house surge protectors available that
will handle a 50Kamp surge. That might not equate to a direct strike
of lightning at the protector, but it's also not limited to strikes
"miles away". Even in the case of a direct strike that hits an
overhead utility line coming into the house it's very unlikely that
the full lightning current is going to make it to the panel. Instead
it will arc and a lot of the main current will likely find a path to
ground on it's way into the house. Arcing to the grounded conduit is
one example. What;s left can be dealt with by a good sized whole
house surge protector that is properly installed,

Also, surge protectors DO NOT store energy and then discharge it.
They are typicall made from MOVs that turn on above a few hundred
volts and shunt the current to ground.


Next time there's a big storm, the only protection for your electrical
appliances is to turn the electricity isolator off *where it enters
the house.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

There;s a wealth of information that says that isn't the only
alternative. Does the phone and cable company turn off their systems
during storms?