Lightning Season is here again
 

This time of year is when we start to see a lot of lightning strikes here in the Villages. Yesterday there was a bad one near Lake Miona. In this case the homeowners were not home. The sad part about this event is it could have been avoided or mitigated by installing a lightning protection system.

If this event motivates you to get a lightning protection system call A1 Lightning Protection since right now, they and Triangle are the only licensed and LPI certified installers working in the Villages. Remember, last year we had over 6 homes destroyed by lightning and A1 and Triangle were booked for over a year.

Also, the article doesn't talk about the many homes around this strike who had their electrical systems "taken-out" from the induced surge caused by the strike so now is the time to make sure you have your surge protection system in order. For this you can reach out to your favorite electrician or Lenhart or Pikes Electric. Also, don't forget to proctect the cable comming into your home since a large percentage of induced surges come into your home from the cable line. Lenhart has a solution for this as well. If you have fiber and no cable then you don't have to worry about this part of the surge protection.

I'm sure many of you have seen the Villages Lightning Study Group presentation on Lightning and Surge Protection and if not, look out for the next presentaion if you want more information.

Go to Villages News.com and search for lightning to see the article.

That supressor only costs about $100. Is your regular price even more than $525?

cost and quality of job can go together, especially when labor and trucks and parts, etc are involved. Don't base everything on an Amazon single piece part. I have had several installers turn down installing amazon chinese products due to the responsibility of failure falling back on them as a professional.

I have a 60 year old house to bring up to code in garage, bathrooms, basement, and add ceiling lighting to 6 rooms, in order to sell. (you don't need to retire'splain that i can sell the house as is)

* 1 guy and a truck asked $3,000 with a gmail account with no company id, could barely spell, minimum detail, just activity. Chatted me up on golf
* another guy and a truck asked $3,000 with a gmail account with a company id, could spell, a little bit better quote, through not detailed. chatted me up on previous shared work experiences
* 1 guy with a shop, multiple permanent employees, company truck, insurance, with all code required parts listed, plus quoted additional cable/electrical paths outside the house. . email quote twice as detailed, never chatted me up on non work, added some ideas for me to be aware of for the goals of the entire project. asked $9,000. had his own email address, not gmail.

I am going with the $9,000 guy based upon 1) his detail on how he would solve certain constraints, 2) his contributions unsolicited about details of which I was unaware for the project, 3) his discussion about his cost structure as compared with the 1 guy and a truck. . 4) professionalism.

its not always about the lowest cost, especially with a sizable project which has code/ future inspection / resale price dependent upon the quality of the job. And basing a project cost upon a single piece amazon price is knowing the cost of something, but not the value of anything.

good luck with the rock bottom cost strategy

In addition, particularly for new homebuyers, it is crucial to consider the potential risk of metal CSST gas lines being installed in the attic.

Manufacturers of the gas lines recommend the installation of lightening mitigation systems to mitigate the lightening strike risks associated with attic CSST gas lines in Florida.

Risk Of Lightning-Based Fires With CSST Gas Lines

LOL, do you know for a fact that home did not have lightning protection. Kind of hard to tell? What if the lightning hits the grass next to your home and catches it on fire that way?

Not that hard to tell at all. An LPS system would have a rod at each peak of the roof. There are at least three peaks visible in the included pictures with no rods present. Sure, one or more might have been disturbed by the fire but all three?

If lightning hits the grass next to my house and causes my house to burn I will go out and buy a lottery ticket. The odds that lightning would bypass my house and my neighbor's, ignite the grass, cause the green, wet shrubs to burn, and finally catch the soffit are incredibly low. There are probably better odds that a piece of a satellite that was super-heated by reentry into the atmosphere just happened to hit the house during a thunderstorm.

Adding It's been reported around 5-6 homes hit a year here. None with lightening protection.

Several have been hit at the iron gas line where it enters the attic at a garage corner.

So effectively, metal gas lines become your lightening "protection."

So so glad we have a metal roof.

I hope your metal roof is properly grounded.

The odds of your home getting hit by lightning are very low but if it does happen, it will be a life changing event. For the $3,000ish cost for a lightning protection system for most homes here in the Villages, it's a small price to pay for prevention and piece of mind. Just skip a cruise!

The odds of your home getting an induced surge from a nearby lightning strike are actually very high here in the Villages so spending money on whole house surge protection is well worth the cost. Most induced surge events are never reported but it happens a lot to varying degrees. I'll guarantee you that many homes around that strike in Winiford got their electrical systems impacted and some devices destroyed by the induced surge from that strike.

I believe home insurance covers damage with deductible.

Skip a cruise!? How dare you! :p