Stupid question, but here goes…

M

Mgarf33

Member
Location
Virginia Beach, Va
So, if you were to get a call from a residential customer needing a panel replacement due to a lightning strike which caused the house to catch fire, would you replace the breakers with the new panel, or just the new panel and bus bar?
I ask because my brother called me after having this work performed. Just want to see the consensus on this.
 
Usually, what I get is the fire caused by the service being hit so it's a no brainer. But if another part of the house was hit, I would want to look to see if there was damage to the electrical system and how extensive it was.

Since you say he's needing a panel replacement due to a lightning strike, he gets a whole new panel and new breakers and probably a new service too.

All branch wiring should be meggered too.

-Hal
 
I can’t think of a good reason to replace a panel that was hit by lightning and set a house on fire and not replace the OCPDs. 😳

If it was a newer panel with AFCI/GFCI breakers, then that’s an even further complication, as it is very unlikely that they will continue to function properly.

The SPDs should be replaced as well, branch circuits and feeders should be meggered as was mentioned, and a thorough visual inspection of outlets and receptacles should be done. Very possible many of those will have damage.
 
Seven-Delta-FortyOne said:
I can’t think of a good reason to replace a panel that was hit by lightning and set a house on fire and not replace the OCPDs. 😳

If it was a newer panel with AFCI/GFCI breakers, then that’s an even further complication, as it is very unlikely that they will continue to function properly.

The SPDs should be replaced as well, branch circuits and feeders should be meggered as was mentioned, and a thorough visual inspection of outlets and receptacles should be done. Very possible many of those will have damage.
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Some years ago I was doing alot of fire repair work for a local restorstion contractor.

Went to a job that had a lighting strike ( metal clothesline showed arcing against the aluminum siding) and was asked to inspect the electrical.

No physical signs anywhere on the main level or exterior other than the clothesline.

Went into the crawl and found several spots where arcing had occurred with metal j boxes.

Nothing ever tripped a breaker but there was noticeable damage to some of the NM cable.

Funny how it sometimes finds certain spots to attack.

GEC was attached to a short section of 1/2” Cu pipe that transitioned to plastic where it entered the ground.
No driven rod present.
 
About 32 years ago, (That day was the last race Kyle Petty ever won) I had a Sunday call about no power. We had a bad lightning storm the night before. I got there and started looking around, re-fused the bank and made the bank hot after opening main, checking voltage. I had no voltage at the top of the main.
Got to digging around and the service coming from the platform bank was gone!
Melted/blown out-pieces of aluminum and PVC is all I could find. There wasn’t a piece longer than two inches of PVC or 350AL wire(parallel) dug back 18’ to where it went under the sawmill still looking for wire.
Ended up bringing in a crew and going overhead with the service.

My point is, a direct lightning strike may very well mean a re-wire also.
 
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