Lightning

[djkeev]

The grounding cable on my system is a WOVEN system of smaller wires around two larger non woven inner core wires. Note, not simply twisted like an electrical wire but actually woven with air space in the cable.

It appears to be Aluminum and is at least a 1/2" in diameter.
I've seen similar copper cables on older home systems.

Dave

 

[webfish]

Been in the house for 20 years. We are on a hill. 3 lightning strikes in first ten years.Each strike hit different spot. First hit hill and went through the house sideways. Took out every piece of electronics in the house. Tv's, phones, garage door openers, radios, computers, you name it.

2nd one went down satellite TV antenna.left burn mark on the drywall where it came out in the basement. Lost a couple things. Looked into doing whole house protection as I recall it was really expensive.That was quite a while ago. I am sure you can do some DIY cheaper than what I was quoted.

3rd one went down HD antenna and into garage right through the chevy suburban. Screwed up that thing really bad. Ended up with new computer board, etc...sold it as I never trusted it again.

Lost phone wiring in the house on 2 of the 3 pair I had original. So we were down to last one and we would have had a real issue with wiring as using dsl at the time. Ended up with fiber going by the house so have internet and tv via that. No more antennas.

Built a pole shed higher than the house. Never had a strike in since. Shed not hit either as far as I can tell so maybe just lucky.

 

[Jags]

At least 70 percent of all my tall pine trees on the west and south of my yard have lighting strike scars on them. A couple of bigger strikes literally littered an acre of yard with tree splinters. I have only lost one pine from lightning in 25 years, but probably get an average of two strikes a year. Lost a big old barn in 1975 from lighting. I am glad the trees are the tallest thing now.

Dropped an old windmill tower several years back. It was 10 feet from my entrance door and got hit many times. At the time, my father said "makes a heck of a lighting rod" - my response was.."like I want lighting to hit 10 feet from my door twice a year.

 

[begreen]

Lightning is quite strange. We don't get many lightning storms here, but when they happen, they can be spectacular. A few weeks ago we had a strong front go through. There were over 2500 lightning strikes in a matter of a few hour! One hit a maple tree at my neighbor's driveway. If you look at the topography you would never suspect that location for a strike. It's down low on the side of the hill.