Lightening protection systems
 

Will be making calls on Monday - are any approvals required prior to installing a lightening protection system?

I called Community Standards yesterday about this. They said no approval necessary for lightning rod protection systems on your roof..

Here is their information for contact if you want to enquirer yourself:


984 Old Mill Run
The Villages, FL 32162

Community Standards
Phone: 352-751-3912
Fax: 352-751-6707


Business Hours:
8am to 5pm, EST
Monday – Friday
Excluding Holidays

2 houses hit in the last 2 weeks. I'm sure the installers are getting a little busier.

Thanks!

What is the age of your roof? The reason I ask is the lightning protection system will need to be removed and reinstalled after the new roof is installed, and I would check to see if this would interfere with any warranty for the new roof.

Good point, new home in this case.

Is it true, due to the soil here the lightning rods aren't effective. Could a non-biased expert chime in?

Lightning

Google is your friend.

I am a former electric utility engineer, we had to do lots of lightening protection for substations and occasionally large metal poles. In general at locations with substandard ground resistance there were special means used to get good ground connection so we had good lightning protection. Special protection could include extra deep ground rods, chemicals added to 'ground wells' to decrease the resistance to earth, and finally very extensive ground mats that consisted of 4-0 copper wires in a grid layout. Florida soils tend to have a lots of sand which is an insulator, so it seems reasonable that you may need extra depth ground rods or many more ground rods. I am NOT an expert in these systems, just presenting some experience from my work in the electric industry.

Our house as 3 ground rods for the lighting rods. Our installer measured the ground resistance after the installation. I forgot what the reading as but is was within the specification requirements.

Glad to hear that, just out of curiosity, do they do periodic tests, say every 5 years?

Interesting point...

In Southeast, Ground Rods May Not Protect Homes Against Lightning - News - University of Florida

Interesting point...

In Southeast, Ground Rods May Not Protect Homes Against Lightning - News - University of Florida

Yes, about every 5 years they check the wires, roof and resistance.