On Sunday, September 7, 2014 7:31:15 AM UTC-4, NorMinn wrote:
Wowser! Lightning strike two nights ago shook our house and sent our

puppy (briefly) into hiding. Our son lives about 1/2 mi. away as the

crow flies; the hit turned off some of his breakers. His

across-the-street neighbor got interior damage (pin-hole leaks) in his

baseboard heating system.


If lightning trips some breakers, seems to me that it also damages

wiring. No appliances damaged at son's place. After his heart

restarted, he turned off main breaker, looked around, turned back on and

all seems to be okay. Suggestions? Have electrician in to check it out?


*I suggest that you do have an electrician come out to have a look at the grounding electrode system. This consists of a water pipe ground, ground rods, bonding of all interior metal pipes, a bond to the main neutral in the electrical panel, and bonding of the telephone and cable TV terminals.

Having a good ground is a simple way to protect your house from lightning. Some enhancements to a good ground for extra lightning protection would be a surge protector at the main panel and lightning rods on the roof.

The neighbor probably got the pinhole leaks because those pipes were not properly bonded to the grounding electrode system. The difference in potential caused the arc to burn through the pipes. This has been a problem with flexible jacketed gas piping. It doesn't take much of an arc to burn a hole and cause a gas leak.

John Grabowski
http://www.MrElectrician.TV