Holy Smokes!!!

[stickboy1375]

Wow, I just got back from a house that had a indirect lightning strike, the basement caught on fire, what a mess, basically what I could see was the lightning came in thru a Invisible Dog fence wiring, which was plugged into a receptecle into a garage, (this is where it got a little strange) Then it traveled thru the ground in the garage branch circuit back to the panel in the basement.

They had a 3 wire dryer receptacle and dryer installed in the basement about 15' from the panel, the dryer was ducted with the old plastic spiral duct, well the lightning decided to go thru that as well, catching all 15' of the duct work on fire... I wish I had my camera with me, it made quite the mess, some plumbing, electrical, and alarm wiring were burnt to a crisp...

Does anyone think a 4 wire dryer receptacle may have helped prevent this? I know if they had rigid duct work it probably would not have caught fire...

 

[George Stolz]

In the words of your character from that venerable, classic, lauded film for the ages, Pushing Tin: "It's a 747 coming at you; you can wiggle your ears and clap your tinkerbell if you'd like!"

How many tattoos do you have...?

My answer would be no, but I am not an expert.

The way I see it, it came a mile to do some damage, it probably couldn't tell much of a difference between the neutral and an EGC in that circumstance, IMO.

 

[mdshunk]

Here's a lightning strike I was on Thursday:

 

[brian john]

Lightning can and does what it wants to when it wants too, you can minimze damage some, but in the typical residence with a direct hit, it is only a guess what will sustain damage.

I have seen some strange damage from direct hits, from complete burn downs to all the siding ripped off on side of the house only other damage a fried bathroom light fixture and cracked mirror.

 

[cadpoint]

15'

15'

Shoot that 15' should have been 6' to Direct outside, "present Code" of IBC, unless it has it has(I want to call) it a Plemun Booster.
Beside that one of those yearly honey do chores, is to Vacuum the Duct and dryer, not that there ain't enough to do ...

 

[ptonsparky]

We had a civil defense siren that took a direct hit a couple years ago blowing the surge protection and circuit breakers 30' into the neighboring yards. The bare #6 secured with 2" staples about every 2' down the pole was blown loose. It hit the 1" EMT conduit running parrallel to it with enough force to dent the conduit and the fittings. The radio controller on the opposit side of the pole was unscathed.

 

[robbietan]

a TVSS may minimize the damage, as it will be the one to absorb it.

 

[brian john]

a TVSS may minimize the damage, as it will be the one to absorb it.

Not down playing TVSS's but.

1. Depending where the house is hit.
2. Magnitude, duration and number of hits.
3. Type of TVSS.
4. Number and location of TVSS's.
5. Installation practices, most are installed in a haphazard fashion IMO. The installers do not follow installation instructions from the manufactures.

 

[George Stolz]

5. Installation practices, most are installed in a haphazard fashion IMO. The installers do not follow installation instructions from the manufactures.

What variations from manufacturers instructions do you find?

 

[ed downey]

George,

I have seen on numerous occasions where the TVSS is installed 10 feet to 40 feet from the service entrance. The conductors from the service to this point are way too long.
-Ed

 

[brian john]

Conductors with tight bends, long lengths, not bundled tightly, improperly bus tapped.

http://ecmweb.com/powerquality/electric_enhancing_surge_protection/

 

[kbsparky]

Lightning does some strange things.

We were called out to a place with a farmstead pole with the meter box and service disconnect. From that pole, 2 overhead lines went in opposite directions: One to a chicken house, the other to the dwelling house.

Lightning hit that pole during a nasty storm, and proceeded to come into the dwelling house on one of the circuit conductors (NOT the neutral). It came into the breaker box, and literally blew it out of the wall, setting the utility room on fire in the process.

The chicken house was unscathed, with the power remaining on the whole time.

By the time we got there to assess the damage, they had run a couple of extension cords from the chicken house to the dwellling to keep the fridge and freezer going, as well as a couple of lamps.

Talk about selective damage from lightning!