"DKSanders" wrote in message
...
Hi All,
I have been asked to fit a lightning conductor to a friends house extension
(a 'tower' like extra floor in the middle of the existing house!). How
should this be done, any special considerations etc, where do you get the
conductor from, do you have to use copper 'tape' like you see coming down
from church spires, does it connect to a normal earth rod?

Any help or advice gratefully appreciated, thanks.

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The general consensus seems to be that this is not a wise thing to attempt. I
concur.

Does your friend live atop a barren hill? Do they really need, or simply want,
one of these things? Are they aware of the downside of having one?

A conductor will attract the very strikes they seek to avoid. Which can be quite
dramatic, scary in fact.

I lived in South Africa for quite some time and I must say the electrical storms
around Johannesburg are spectacular, and quite dangerous to boot. Those of us
that lived in houses of bricks and mortar with tiled roofs had little to fear,
not so for those that chose the picturesque thatch style. Storms, and fireworks,
were a worry. While little could be done to combat fireworks much was done to
combat lightning.

This meant having a dirty great metal pole or two sticking up way higher than
the rooftops. Rather like giant tapered flagpoles. These flagpoles were situated
a metre or two from the outer walls. And they were sufficiently high that the
building being protected fell within a 60 degree cone as drawn from the point of
the rod.

They did work, mostly. But they draw lightning like you can't believe. With one
of those things you get to see, hear and smell all the effects, real loud and
real quick. The thatch dwellers had little choice as the gasses given off by wet
thatch render them at risk. Your friends perhaps do have a choice.

With a lightning conductor you can be reasonably sure that you will get struck.
Again and again. So I think a risk assessment might be in order because the
fright you get when you do get struck is not pleasant.