Generator Enclosure

[bori]

Good afternoon, Last week the parking lot got hit by Lightning,subsequently our 800KW generator control module and the remote annunciator were damaged. The generator has a bonding wire to a ground rod. Unit sits on top of fuel tank with Generator being covered by metal enclosure, they both sit on top of concrete slab with metal stairs on both sides. Question. Do we need to bond evething together and ground to earth?.Thank You

 

[SceneryDriver]

Good afternoon, Last week the parking lot got hit by Lightning,subsequently our 800KW generator control module and the remote annunciator were damaged. The generator has a bonding wire to a ground rod. Unit sits on top of fuel tank with Generator being covered by metal enclosure, they both sit on top of concrete slab with metal stairs on both sides. Question. Do we need to bond everything together and ground to earth?.Thank You

To answer your question, yes. Everything should be bonded and grounded and that will help mitigate the issue. However, for many nearby lighting strikes (and definitely a direct strike) it won't matter. Electricity at those energies goes where it wants to and causes damage. You may want to seek out the advice of a certified lightning mitigation contractor. From what I understand, it's a hard thing to really get right, and many do it wrong.


SceneryDriver

 

[mgookin]

Do you know what got hit and how the energy got back to the control module, etc.?

There are steps you can take to protect that path as well as other critical paths. No guarantees ever in lightning protection, but if you're in Miami you know we build for a "pretty big" hurricane, not the biggest possible.

 

[ceb58]

Unless it is installed as a separately derived system, get rid of the ground rod and bond every thing with the EGC. Some one, I think it was Roger, posted a MH graphic of a rod actually drawing unwanted current to a generator due to a strike in the area.