It would be wise to do your homework before installing lightning rods. See Dr. Martin Uman's book, The Art and Science of Lighting Protection, in The Villages Library. Also see back issues for last two years of the Lightning Matters columns in the POA Bulletin that can be found on the POA web site. Lightning rods have been around for 259 years and research continues to further understand lightning by several universities including the University of Florida where they use a rocket-to-wire technolgy to induce lightning to strike structures and equipment under test. If lightning rods are designed, installed, and maintained according to the national standard, NFPA 780, they give potentially destructive lightning a low-residence and safe path to ground. Unless you contract with a UL or LPI "listed" installer you have no way to know if the system was installed correctly unless you have a working knowlege of NFPA 780.
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