Lightning strike by house

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pal251

Getting comfortable
Mar 15, 2014
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Here is what happens when lightning strikes right next to your house


Blew out all my switches in different rooms, multiple surge protectors, fridge , router, access point . Everything on Ethernet did not have a surge protector on the line itself. Guess I'm in the market for more networking stuff.

Before and after photos attached
 

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Wow. I'm assuming from the picture that the lightning hit the trees and then went into the ground. I wonder how effective surge protection would have been with a strike that close? We had a hail storm a few weeks ago that did about $1k damage. Naturally the insurance deductible is $1k.
 
Roofer said the roof was damaged by the lightning and other roofer said no damage , who knows. Not my area of expertise.

Talking to the tech next door that installs telephone lines and does repair he said it probably wouldn't have mattered since it was so close. The surge protector on my central air/heat was black on the male and female side from being scorched and the splitter on that was scorched along with the power cable going to the unit. No damage though thank God . I got a couple cameras that haven't came back on afterwords. The ptz won't come back on but it may not have enough amperage and inhavnt had time to mess with it
 
pal251 said:
Talking to the tech next door that installs telephone lines and does repair he said it probably wouldn't have mattered since it was so close. that haven't came back on afterwords.
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I work telco. He is right. Lightning is so powerful and unpredictable when it hits.



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Natey2 said:
Some surge suppressors offer a couple of thousand dollars warranty for devices damaged by surge. Anyone here file and successfully collect on such a claim?

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If you do file a claim don’t mention lightning to them. The warranty most likely won’t cover anything above the joule rating of the suppressor.


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I'm going to check with cyber power I doubt it though since it's three years old. Didn't have one on the fridge but I did buy the extended warranty, wife always said it was useless lol. Also the microwave had an extended warranty for another win.
 
Can you easily trace the ethernet cables? Folks have posted pics where those had melted mid-span and the camera was ok with a new cable.
 
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Good properly installed surge protectors can and do help mitigate the damage.
A whole house surge protector at the panel is needed as well.
Do you have video of the strike?
 
I have an old federal Pacific panel that my wife has put off replacing. I've asked for last year to replace, so when we do I'll get the whole house surge protector. Surprised only one breaker tripped.

No video of the strike. Cameras were running just fine and then went dark. I haven't traced the wiring yet.
 
Surge protectors do nothing for a strike that close. Only diverting the energy to ground helps avoid damaged equipment inside the house. Any line going from outside the house to inside the house should be properly earthed, including ethernet. I am trying to that with mine before running along my house. Bought some Ditek MRJPOE devices that I will put in a box and then bond to the current ground rod. This is tricky stuff to do right.
 
Natey2 said:
What's the chance of lightning striking my house?
I just have some low-end surge protectors on some devices, and the standard circuit breakers and GFCI that come with houses built not too long ago.
If my 2 sub-par security cams got zapped, it would be about the right time for me to upgrade them. One of them even has a partially exposed antenna.
No rooftop or ham radio antennas here.
Do they get hit more often?

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Bigger chance of lightning strike then winning the lotto.

If the land your house is built on has a lot of granite rock or high composition of metals in the soil then you will most likely get some lightning hits


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Neighbor said about four years ago lightning hit on the property about a hundred or so feet to the west side of the house and blew up a tree.. wonder why lightning likes the property so much. We have a rock wall running the length of the property in the back, wonder if that is it.
 
Natey2 said:
What's the chance of lightning striking my house?
I just have some low-end surge protectors on some devices, and the standard circuit breakers and GFCI that come with houses built not too long ago.
If my 2 sub-par security cams got zapped, it would be about the right time for me to upgrade them. One of them even has a partially exposed antenna.
No rooftop or ham radio antennas here.
Do they get hit more often?

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The odds of becoming a lightning victim in the U.S. in any one year is 1 in 700,000. Should be aware of that.
 
The strike looks almost like a pentagram. Wonder if anything got summoned?

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Natey2 said:
If your property is a frequent target, maybe put a lightning conductor rod in a high place and properly ground it? Doesn't lightning usually pick the highest point to ground its charge?

I tried searching for lightning conductor but most of my searches came up with Apple's "lightning" stuff

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I was just thinking the other day how worthless google search is getting unless you want to buy something, it's getting harder to find real info using it! My parents house got a lighting hit thru the cable tv coax and it managed to take out all kinds of stuff in the house.
 
rmalbers said:
I was just thinking the other day how worthless google search is getting unless you want to buy something, it's getting harder to find real info using it! My parents house got a lighting hit thru the cable tv coax and it managed to take out all kinds of stuff in the house.
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Yeah. Since I’ve been learning about this for my own outdoor runs I’ve noticed that the cable people don’t properly ground their lines. They don’t even attempt to ground it. Any line going from the outside to inside should be properly grounded.
 
foggystone said:
The odds of becoming a lightning victim in the U.S. in any one year is 1 in 700,000. Should be aware of that.
Click to expand...

That almost HAS to be referring to a strike on your person....my house and some items in it have been hit and damaged 3 different times in the last 5 years, 5 times total since built in 2006.

FWIW, the older and wiser locals here highly suggest removing pine and poplar trees that are anywhere near your house (closer than 200 feet) due their moisture content being so much higher than other trees and their apparent tendency to get struck more than other trees.

About 10 years ago lightning struck a +30 year old very tall (about 60 feet) pine about 75 feet from my dad's house up the road from me. It split the tree bark from top to bottom, plowed a foot-wide, crooked furrow in the ground from the tree for about 50 feet and followed a PVC water line headed to the house for about 30 feet, stopped about 10 feet from a 250 gallon propane tank. The tree turned brown within a few months and had to be cut down before it fell toward the house or propane tank.

Lightning does some strange things...and pretty much does whatever it wants to do.
 
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