$15k in damage direct lightning strike

M

MisterMoSparky

Member
Location
WV
Occupation
Residential Service Electrician
I had two customers in one day call me bc lightning directly struck their house.
First customer lost:
- Gas Furnace
- Gas Stove
- Plug in Security Camera (WiFi)
- Electric Blanket
- 3-Lightbulbs (incandescent) in the same bathroom Vanity
- Flat Screen TV connected to Coax

Second customer lost only their gas stove.

I’ve previously installed surge protectors on their meter combo outside with x2 ground rods when replacing their service.

My boss theorized that bc it was connected to the gas lines that the gas itself might not have been bonded to system ground. The same with the TV connected to the coax line.

I can’t explain the rest for customer one bc the type 1 SPD I installed has green light indicator and in their manufacture specs it says if the light is still on then the max voltage rating for the surge was not met so the SPD is still operational.

I never advertise that these SPD will be able to handle a direct lightning strike but my first customer was pretty disappointed having to make an insurance claim for ~$15k and I don’t blame her.

Any thoughts
 

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jim dungar said:
Seriously a direct strike? I wouldn't expect anything to survive.

SPDs are intended to mitigate, not protect against, strikes that are coupled to the power grid.
Click to expand...
One of my coworkers had the same SPD installed with a direct lightning strike that blew a hole in the side of his house. The only thing damaged was a GFCI outlet.

Does the theory of the gas appliances and coax have any weight?
 
I had one not too long ago, put a new 400 amp service in, spd and all, he was building a new detached garage which 200 amps of the 400 was eventually going to. Lightning struck an abandoned utility pole, ran over, hit the corner of the new slab, ran through the slab, popped up and hit the temp extension cord, ran back to the house exploding and disintegrated the gfi and box, went through the panel, disconnect and service lateral blowing the poco pole mount transformer. Took out two mini splits, and refrigerator. TV’s, computers survived!
 
You can never tell with lightning. It is not real predictable. Being a very high frequency phenomenon you just do not know what the impedance will be at any point in the path that it ends up traveling. It will follow the lowest impedance it finds as it moves along.
 
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