Brucie is bitching big time!!!

[Bruce Urie]

Jeez, fellas, I never get a break....so, we had a nice electrical rainstorm on Monday....just lightning and rain, real beautiful out here when it does that....then all of a sudden "CRACK!" Electrical sizzling sounds, huge bang, shook the house! Scared the crap out of my wife and I...still can't find our cat who zoomed out of the room at warp speed.
Burnt electrical smell coming down the hallway...oh,nice.....got a ladder, went up to the attic to check for a possible fire, a bitch with this bad back and nerve damaged left leg.....nothing...ok up there. Then I noticed smoke coming out of our house intercom system...took the faceplate off.....transformer hot, and burnt....now no intercom/music for the house and garage. Bitch!

The lightning ruined our big alarm system...burnt it to hell....had the alarm company come out and he's putting a whole new system in today.........son of a b!!! Don't even ask what that's going to cost.

Also fried my Direct TV box, the HDMI cable, and the high definition converter box.....Direct TV came out and gave me a new box, but I have to get a new converter....hmm.

It also fried the dimmer switch to our foyer chandelier.....so I had to order a new one....just put it in today...works fine now.

Then I found out that the attic ventilator fan in my garage is running constantly.....so I shut off the power, tested the wall switch for it....it's burned out....replaced switch, fan still runs....all of the time....so it's now the thermostat, to which I'm going out later today to buy......BITCH! It's been so hot out that I've been avoiding working in the garage, but will have to anyway, as the thermostat is located about one foot away from the fan.

It also fried the Battery Tender Jr. I have out in the garage....had to send it away for replacement.

We called our power company to have a surge protector put on our meter that they sell....now they don't do it any more......sucks. Should have bought it way back then.....another bad decision on my part. As usual.

Lighting sure is pretty, and I've always liked watching it, but this time it came back and bit me in the ass!

Any of you guys had any problems with lightning strikes near your home?

Is there any way I can protect our house from lightning strikes or big surges? Would welcome ideas.

Whine, whine. Seems that's the only thing to do.....I think I'll go out now and sit in my Grand National....that always makes me feel better. Plus having my understanding wife by my side.

Bruce '87 Grand National

 

[Powertechn2]

Just wait till the wifey tries the washer/dryer...

Sounds like a pole or line got jumped by the strike. Happened to me. Sucks. My house has been hit 2 times when the previous owners had it, and once for me. I looked into a whole house surge protector, but was told it wouldn't have helped. Tried to go to the power company, but it was after the transformer between my house and the neighbors. Have HUGE maples here. Some 5ft in diameter. I knew the previous owners, so I know the history.

Lightning hit a 100+ft tree, split it, went down to the lines between his house and mine. Fried everything in his house, which wasn't much as it is primarily a business, no occupancy. Fried most major electronics in my house. 50" tv, computer, playstation (used for netflix, etc), surround/stereo receiver, all the cable boxes, router, cable modem, led night lights, old school neon drive thru sign transformer... Found out a few days later after the dryer ran for 9 hours that it fried the dryer timer... Found out another month later that the stove got fubar'd. Tried to bake a pizza and it took 2 hours, then all of a sudden it was burn't af.

I had surge protectors in the living room and office. They didn't do dick. Called the company, they agreed that it was under their coverage, but they wanted me to go through a bunch of rigamorow to get it covered. Wanted me to go through my insurance company and file a claim, then they would reimburse me after they proved they were faulty. They did send me 2 new surge protectors at no charge, but that was it without going through all the b.s.

Managed to repair the 50", after replacing it. Thought it was a lost cause. Now have a 50" in the bedroom . PS was only a $120 repair. The computer had a warranty that would have covered it after calling, but didn't want to possibly have my financial info out there possibly after they replaced the burn't motherboard and HD. So I just replaced it. Most of the info is always there on the hd if you try hard enough... Replaced the dryer board, stove/oven board... The receiver issue didn't pop up for a while It now only has one working input. Still need to replace it.

Pretty much fried anything that has sensitive electronics. In the end I think I spent about $1500 to fix everything, wasn't worth the claim.


Really sucks when it happened though.

Funny thing, I found out a few months later that it fried an ihome in the barn. Kept having the alarm go off, and it was never set. When I was in there I would shut it off, and think it was weird. I never fixed the old drive thru sign, still needs a transformer. If I weren't handy, it would have been more expensive, but I have a theory of I can fix anything. Has worked so far other that trying to fix my car lol.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

This what a REAL lightning strike looks like!
My bud's shop got hit. Shop is next to a much bigger house, light pole and trees. It hit the top of the roof, at 1 end of the bldg.
Lost a 50yr collection of tools, 2 hi $ cars, the bldg, lots of power tools, lift, lathe, etc.
He also lost his tv's, alarm system, computers, Comcast comm, etc. Fortunately, he got the bike and the REALLY hi $ rod out, and the house suffered no fire damage.
He and wife had decided to stay home due to the storm. Wise choice, otherwise a good chance it would have burned everything down.
No ins on 1 of the cars, a 62 Stude, we were building...Was about to go to the upholstery shop.
A WORD OF ADVICE: Check your coverage, add "in process" coverage to any project.!!!
BTW, that was a 60 Chev Impala vert, 500"/409/4L80E, yadda, yadda.

 

[charlief1]

A lightning rod is your best friend guys. Remember when you had to have an antenna to watch TV? Put a simple pole up and run a wire down to the ground so you will survive if this happens. If the pole is higher than surrounding trees ect, then it will get hit and the strike will go into the ground rather than your house. If your electrical is buried then you may still be SOOL but the house won't be damaged. Do it for out buildings as well.

 

[westom]

We called our power company to have a surge protector put on our meter that they sell....now they don't do it any more......sucks. Should have bought it way back then.....another bad decision on my part. As usual.

No reason to offer it. Best protection costs about $1 per protected appliance. Is even sold in Lowes and Home Depot. Your damage indicates no properly earthed 'whole house' solution was installed.

Remember, no protector does protection - not one. A 'whole house' protector is effective because it makes a low impedance (ie less than 10 foot) connection to what harmlessly absorbs hundreds of thousands of joules (including direct lightning strikes): single point earth ground.

Only earth ground protects appliances. That connection must be as short as possible, hardwire has no sharp bends, not inside metallic conduit., etc.

Protector must be sized to remain functional even after direct lightning strikes. A typical lightning strike is 20,000 amps. So a minimal 'whole house' protector can connect 50,000 amps to earth.

That 50,000 amps defines protector life expectancy over many surges. Connection to and quality of earth ground defines protection during each surge. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground. For about $1 per protected appliance.

A lightning rod is only as effective as its earth ground - to protect a structure. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground - to protect all appliances.

 

[Bruce Urie]

Just wait till the wifey tries the washer/dryer...

Sounds like a pole or line got jumped by the strike. Happened to me. Sucks. My house has been hit 2 times when the previous owners had it, and once for me. I looked into a whole house surge protector, but was told it wouldn't have helped. Tried to go to the power company, but it was after the transformer between my house and the neighbors. Have HUGE maples here. Some 5ft in diameter. I knew the previous owners, so I know the history.

Lightning hit a 100+ft tree, split it, went down to the lines between his house and mine. Fried everything in his house, which wasn't much as it is primarily a business, no occupancy. Fried most major electronics in my house. 50" tv, computer, playstation (used for netflix, etc), surround/stereo receiver, all the cable boxes, router, cable modem, led night lights, old school neon drive thru sign transformer... Found out a few days later after the dryer ran for 9 hours that it fried the dryer timer... Found out another month later that the stove got fubar'd. Tried to bake a pizza and it took 2 hours, then all of a sudden it was burn't af.

I had surge protectors in the living room and office. They didn't do dick. Called the company, they agreed that it was under their coverage, but they wanted me to go through a bunch of rigamorow to get it covered. Wanted me to go through my insurance company and file a claim, then they would reimburse me after they proved they were faulty. They did send me 2 new surge protectors at no charge, but that was it without going through all the b.s.

Managed to repair the 50", after replacing it. Thought it was a lost cause. Now have a 50" in the bedroom . PS was only a $120 repair. The computer had a warranty that would have covered it after calling, but didn't want to possibly have my financial info out there possibly after they replaced the burn't motherboard and HD. So I just replaced it. Most of the info is always there on the hd if you try hard enough... Replaced the dryer board, stove/oven board... The receiver issue didn't pop up for a while It now only has one working input. Still need to replace it.

Pretty much fried anything that has sensitive electronics. In the end I think I spent about $1500 to fix everything, wasn't worth the claim.


Really sucks when it happened though.

Funny thing, I found out a few months later that it fried an ihome in the barn. Kept having the alarm go off, and it was never set. When I was in there I would shut it off, and think it was weird. I never fixed the old drive thru sign, still needs a transformer. If I weren't handy, it would have been more expensive, but I have a theory of I can fix anything. Has worked so far other that trying to fix my car lol.

And I thought I had it bad! Jeez! You really got fried! Suddenly, I'm not feeling to "whiny." Thanks so much for sharing this story.....man, what a headache you had....I feel for you.

Bruce '87 Grand National

 

[Bruce Urie]

A lightning rod is your best friend guys. Remember when you had to have an antenna to watch TV? Put a simple pole up and run a wire down to the ground so you will survive if this happens. If the pole is higher than surrounding trees ect, then it will get hit and the strike will go into the ground rather than your house. If your electrical is buried then you may still be SOOL but the house won't be damaged. Do it for out buildings as well.

I will check into this, Charlie...I thank you for the information!

Bruce '87 Grand National

 

[Bruce Urie]

No reason to offer it. Best protection costs about $1 per protected appliance. Is even sold in Lowes and Home Depot. Your damage indicates no properly earthed 'whole house' solution was installed.

Remember, no protector does protection - not one. A 'whole house' protector is effective because it makes a low impedance (ie less than 10 foot) connection to what harmlessly absorbs hundreds of thousands of joules (including direct lightning strikes): single point earth ground.

Only earth ground protects appliances. That connection must be as short as possible, hardwire has no sharp bends, not inside metallic conduit., etc.

Protector must be sized to remain functional even after direct lightning strikes. A typical lightning strike is 20,000 amps. So a minimal 'whole house' protector can connect 50,000 amps to earth.

That 50,000 amps defines protector life expectancy over many surges. Connection to and quality of earth ground defines protection during each surge. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground. For about $1 per protected appliance.

A lightning rod is only as effective as its earth ground - to protect a structure. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground - to protect all appliances.

VERY informative...I'm going to look into this. Thanks for your explanation....you've educated me here.

Bruce '87 Grand National

 

[Bruce Urie]

This what a REAL lightning strike looks like!
My bud's shop got hit. Shop is next to a much bigger house, light pole and trees. It hit the top of the roof, at 1 end of the bldg.
Lost a 50yr collection of tools, 2 hi $ cars, the bldg, lots of power tools, lift, lathe, etc.
He also lost his tv's, alarm system, computers, Comcast comm, etc. Fortunately, he got the bike and the REALLY hi $ rod out, and the house suffered no fire damage.
He and wife had decided to stay home due to the storm. Wise choice, otherwise a good chance it would have burned everything down.
No ins on 1 of the cars, a 62 Stude, we were building...Was about to go to the upholstery shop.
A WORD OF ADVICE: Check your coverage, add "in process" coverage to any project.!!!
BTW, that was a 60 Chev Impala vert, 500"/409/4L80E, yadda, yadda.View attachment 286254 View attachment 286255 View attachment 286256

My GOD, Chuck!!! I'm virtually speechless! Without words! Awful! Horrible! And I thought I had reason to whine.......man, what a horrible loss there.....very sorry to hear about this...sure hope you're buddy has recovered his losses, though losing a '409 is never easy. I will check into the coverage with our insurance company later today.....thank you kindly for the information.

Man, I feel bad for your friend, Chuck...that really sucks.....I'd be a basket case if that happened to me. Looking at your pictures actually made me "hurt".

Bruce '87 Grand National

 

[Bruce Urie]

Well, thanks to all the excellent information supplied by you guys, I've checked into the whole house protector.....Amazon sells one with replaceable modules....highly rated....costs about $250, plus I'll have to have pay an electrician to come put it in....looks like it'll be a good addition.

As per Charlie's suggestion, I will then look into lightning rods.......the fly fishing rod I have is not long enough to hook up on the roof. (And I would miss fishing on the weekends.)

All this will be expensive, but it makes sense....it cost money to save money (destructive lightning strikes and surges on sensitive electronic devices in the home and garage) Seems to be a common sense approach.

You guys sure have helped me out here.....can't thank you enough. Such a great knowledgeable group of fellas.....what a great forum here. Better than going to college!

After I get my latest guitar I just got paid for, I'll start on the whole house protector, then move on to a lightning rod. Funny, I can't get money to come in fast enough.

I sure appreciate all of your help. Thanks a million.

Bruce '87 Grand National

 

[westom]

Well, thanks to all the excellent information supplied by you guys, I've checked into the whole house protector.....Amazon sells one with replaceable modules....highly rated....costs about $250, plus I'll have to have pay an electrician to come put it in....looks like it'll be a good addition.

I do not know what rated such an expensive device. Lowes and Home Depot sell them for well less than $100.

Second, replaceable modules assume it will fail; is grossly undersized. A 'whole house' protector must be at least 50,000 amps to not fail for many decades. If that is insufficient, then a 100,000 protector is required.

Third, amperage defines protection over 'many' surges. Earth ground defines protection during 'each' surge. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground. How to make that protector better? Upgrade THE most critical item in every protection system - earth ground.

I have no idea what criteria another might use to 'highly rate' one. If highly rated, then a relevant number for that 'rating' is provided. "Highly rated" without relevant numbers is subjective; therefore useless. Protector is 'simple science' defined by specific numbers. Earthing is an 'art' - a most critical item in every protection system that should have most of your attention.