Another Lightning Strike!
 

Another house this time in the Village of Lynnhaven was struck yesterday, looks like mostly garage damage and the couple was home at the time!
Have to disagree with others this season is the worst in my 12 years here!

It is on my street of Evelynton Loop, probably about 400 feet though from my house at another part of the Loop.

There was an incredibly loud thunder clap at about 4:30 PM Saturday during the Netherlands vs. Brazil match I was watching. I prayed the TV would not get knocked out again.

So sorry for my fellow Evelynton Loopers.

My dog Beau and I just walked by it about 30 minutes ago and there is still a very strong smell of smoke.

This summer has seen the worst storms in this area of the Villages since we moved here in June of 2005. Our house was hit by a lightning strike last month but it just threw out the circuits-- fried them beyond repair-- and knocked out the cable (TV/Internet but not phone). We also probably lost the ice maker in the refrigerator.

So glad to know you're ok! I've posted recently too that we lost a lot of electrical items a few weeks ago. I think we can all be thankful we're all ok and our houses are still standing!

Okay so gang who's the best at installing lightning rods?

Kitty I think people have recommended A1 Lightning out of Ocala, there's a thread on it somewhere. We used someone else years ago don't remember the name though been about 8 years since we had them installed.

Have a rough idea of the cost?

I would think it would depend on the size of the house and bird cage etc. I believe I read people quoting 2K or more, it would be best to get a free estimate which I am sure they could give you.

A neighbor got a quote for around $1350 for a 2000 sf Designer on our street from Advanced Lightening. He said A1 was a little higher.

I know a Begonia on our street was $2700. Don't know which company.

We just had A-1 Lightning Protection do our home and were very happy with there workmanship. Owner Jeff Lewis is very nice to talk to. 3/2 Ranch.

has there been a home hit with the rods installed? i wonder if they really protect your home from a strike?

Go to Lake Sumter Landing. You will see lightning rods on buildings including the gazebo in the square. Obviously, the Developer's design team thought they were a good idea - and to my knowledge have not been hit by lightning.

I have them on my house which is 12 years old. No hits but would it have been hit without them? Who knows? The man I bought the home from was an electrical engineer and totally respected the power of electricity. The lightning rods were not a selling point for me but I do feel safer than without them.

I did not think that the purpose of lightning rods is to keep your house from being hit but to redirect the lightning power away from the house and down into the ground.

Technically if the lightning rods attract the lightning, the house has been hit.

Z

It's all about one's comfort level. IMHO

Are you a risk taker or need to feel totally safe?

I would like to error on the side of caution, and know I did everything in my power to keep me safe and protect my home, (investment) but that's me. :smiley:

A-1 installed lightning protection on our home and they did an excellent job. Understand that this company is no "fly by night" and you get what you pay for. Jeff spent a good hour at our home demonstrating how lightning rods work and the way they had to be installed to work correctly. Could not be happier with the results. Jeff the owner has been in the business for over 30 years.

Just checked on the Villages map to see how far I am actually from the house that partially burned down the other late afternoon. It is about 1/4 of a mile according to the map and its scale and my ruler.

Still pretty close (1320 ft) but not as close as I had thought after walking past it the morning after it happened.

I am praying for my fellow Evelynton Loopers quick emotional recovery from this Act of God.

Kitty,
we got Triangle Lightning - they were very highly rated at the POA meeting a few months ago when two guest speakers were talking on dangers of lightning - they had nothing to gain from this but rated triange lightning and A-1 both top - come over and see ours if you want.

Our neighbor, who owned a large electrical contracting company in Pittsburg, added lightning rods as the very first addition to his home. He used copper wiring and grounded it deep.

In fact we met them while both homes were being built and he told us how the lightning rod system would be installed. It was their third home in The Villages.

Everytime I see this photo of the Hancock building in Chicago, I tell myself that we need to get Lighning rods installed.
http://b.vimeocdn.com/ts/210/169/21016959_640.jpg

From my own personal experience, you would be correct, zcaveman. I grew up in a house with a lightning rod installed. One night my dad and I were at the kitchen sink when all of a sudden we saw a bright flash of light and heard a loud bang immediately followed by an equally loud electrical buzzing sound right outside of the window above the sink. You can imagine the scream that came out of my mouth, while my dad just laughed because he knew exactly what had happened. The lightning rod was installed on the roof right above that window and he explained to me that lightning had hit it and the rod deflected the lightning strike away from the house and into the ground. No harm done to us or the house as a result, but that is how I always understood that it worked. We are not yet full-time in TV and do not have lightning rods on our house down there, but like many others I'm seriously considering it!

To add to my comment above, with all of the underground utility wires these days, not sure how you could protect against lightning hitting those and traveling to your house and causing damage that way though. I know 2 people up north here that have had that happen.

There are a LOT of not GOOD lightning rod installers. You should be sure they are doing it properly. You can be scammed.

We have heard from 10 homeowners with lightning rods who believe that they took a direct hit without any structural damage. In one case the homeowner reported seeing lightning strike a rod on his pool cage and jump to another rod and went to ground as designed. Others cases have been reported by a retired meteorologist and a retired firefighter. They do work and have been around for 262 years silently doing their job. For more information see Dr. Martin Uman's book, The Art & Science of Lighning Protection found in The Villages Library.

Lightning rods like any other man made device can fail as do medical devices, cars, planes, trains, space vehicles, and your everyday appliances and electrical equipment. Consider that these things all work in the upper ninety percent range. Lightning rods studies have shown that lack of maintenance is usually the cause of any failure.. That is why the national standard on lightning recommends periodic inspections by the installer. We take this to mean to have your system checked every 3- 5 years or immediately if you have added on, re-roofed, or suspect that you have been struck. A homeowner needs to evaluate their tolerance for risk vs cost.

Thanks for bringing up the point about getting it rechecked periodically. I need to do that. I agree nothing is full proof but for me any extra little bit of peace of mind I can get I will pay for. I will do as much as I can to protect my home.

OK, all this talk about lightning knocking out power and equipment in the homes has really got me thinking I need to do something about it now. Even though I am not living in my house yet, it can still effect circuit breakers and other equipment. I do have tenants but that certainly won't prevent lightning knocking everything out. Anyway, in a round about way, what I am asking is: I have seen on this thread recommendations for A1 Lightning to cover the whole house with a Lightning Rod or something like that, I believe, however, I just read under contractors someone mentioned calling SECO and having them install a Whole house surge protection for $5.95 per month.

What is the difference and is one better than the other? I heard A1 can run about $2000, so if the SECO option is just as good I think I'd rather go that route? Thanks for your help.

Lynnhaven house must have just got a hit with lightening ,do not know where 6 :13 now! Oh scary time!, CRACK .

Our lights went off for a second. It is raining and blowing like Billy be damned and thunder is shaking the house..

Lots of noise here too. We must have had a surge as some of us had tripped clocks on appliances and my a/c shut off. No tripped breakers. I have a surge suppressor on panel. Am waiting on SECO for the whole house surge protector at the meter. Said wait is 2-4 weeks - it's been 2. Hope they hurry!

First time I have ever grabbed important stuff and am prepared in case my house gets hit or I need to take cover. Bad storm...let me repeat...BAD storm!

The SECO protection is for your electric at the breaker box. The Lightning rods are there to divert a strike, that could go through the roof and in our case rupture our gas lines, into the ground. We have the SECO protection and are seriously considering the lightning rods to get the maximum protection. It still can happen but having peace of mind makes the situation a lot more bearable.

Two different things. Just had A-1 do our home.

I have both the lightning rods and the SECO surge protection. Both were on my house when I bought it. I feel pretty safe in storms like we had today.

Important information about lightning rods published by SECO. It's long, nevertheless important, that you read the entire article.

Lightning & Surge Protection:

Is there any other lightning protection used in Florida for houses other than an indoor surge protection system, like lightning rods or ground rods?
Lightning rods, more correctly called air terminals (or Franklin rods after the inventor), are used in Florida. There are several companies located in Lake and Marion counties in the telephone directory listed under "Lightning Protection Equipment." Most electrical contractors should also be able to make a recommendation. SECO does not recommend any specific provider or vendor. Correct installation is the key and it is expensive. Lightning rods are by design a device that attracts lightning. When installed correctly to code, they divert the stroke to ground. The problem is that many people do not want to spend the money necessary to make secure connections from the rod to a sufficient size down lead cable to a proper ground with proper connection, or to pay to have them routinely inspected. Therefore what happens is the rod attracts lightning, and it sees the internal house systems as a better "route to ground" and ends up dissipating throughout the home causing major damage.

Securing a good, low resistance ground rod connection in Florida is hard to do and requires professional assistance to achieve using precision ground measuring equipment. Typically at SECO we will often drive 70 foot, or multiple rods, in a grid configuration and in a few places 90 feet of rod with connections cad-welded to the rod in order to achieve a ground below 30 ohms. Therefore the single 6-8 foot rod purchased at a hardware/electronic type store is virtually useless with undersized and poorly clamped wire tied to it and it can cause more problems than without. Most communications towers (cellular, broadcast stations and virtually all government complexes) at major locations utilize a device called a dissipation array which deters lightning from wanting to strike a structure in the first place. This technology also requires a good ground grid around the complex and proper low resistance grounding. Normally this would not be seen utilized on a residential home. If you look at a broadcast tower and see a circular device on top with many little wire brush like spikes coming out of it, that is a dissipation array. For more information and practical solutions, contact Customer Service to schedule a visit to discuss things that you, as a homeowner, can do to enhance your in-home protection system, such as our surge protection program, common point grounding and insuring that outlets are properly wired with a ground attached to the proper terminal in electrical sockets.

Another thing to keep in mind when trying to compare Florida weather to that of the northern states is that we live in the highest lightning strike region of the nation, the actual center of which is located near Lakeland, Florida. Only one place in the world, a section of Africa, is higher. Therefore, you will find the lightning strike activity in our area more vicious and more frequent than experienced anywhere else in the U.S. This means that what might work in other areas may not be sufficient or work here at all.

We opted for a surge protector and not lightning rods.

Go to Lake Sumter Landing and notice that the pavilion and the buildings have lightning rods. I am sure that the Developer and his team of experts knew what they were doing. Of course, make sure they are properly installed and I doubt that anyone, anywhere, has the ground rods 70 feet deep for a residential home.

We had our tree hit tonight. . Got ac back and lights but garage door fried, cable & internet boxes fried and one tv . Hole in ground - rocks from flower bed flew - we r in Bonnybrook. I am on my phone eating my data plan

I agree with the above. Also, whtn you go to Disney World, look around at all the buildings there. They all have lightning rods. I don't know, but I bet that the SECO main office has them too. We are in the estimate gathering phase and I think we will probably go with A-1.

Sorry to hear that. Millie was probably very scared too. Beau certainly was by his evening's storm. I had to shut down the computer for about 90 minutes just in case we got hit again like last month.

Situations where I do not like to see 6:13. Anything having to do with electrical storms and Lynnhaven.

Not sure if this matters and may be a silly question, but due to the fact that all the electrical lines are now underground (I'm used to them being on poles above ground in the North) since Lightning Rods are used to divert the lightning from your house to the ground...does that make sense since the electrical cables are now in the ground? It sounds like we are diverting the lightning directly to the cables?