Ground faults, etc.
 

:confused:

Big cracks from earthquakes????

Based on my 1 year experience is this the new name for Once a Year lawn service:D
Skip 2

Sorry for misleading with ground faults, etc.

I was actually trying to delete the post, but I failed.

What I was trying to ask is:

Since we are not at our CYV, our neighbor called to let us know that during Sunday's (July 10th) electrical storm a number of homes lost access to their garage door, etc. We had a friend that lives in The Villages go check on ours and sure enough it didn't work, so he reset the ground faults and then the irrigation system box began to smoke, so he unplugged it. Did this happen to anyone else and if so what did you do to fix this issue.? I called the warranty office today and she said it sounds as though lightening struck our home and it would be an electrial problem and wouldn't be covered under warranty, so she said she would have R&A Ind. Electrician call us (still waiting for a call from them). I suppose I will need to call our home insurance co. to see if this is covered under our insurance. Does anyone out ther have any advice to share with regards to this matter?

I sympathize. What a worry to be here and hear something is wrong there and vice versa.

Thanks Gracie for feeling my pain.

It will work out though, as they say "this too shall pass".

Our friend is helping with this issue, he is probably at our house as I'm typing this, along with the R & A Ind. personnel.

Our insurance company said they would cover, however since we have $500.00 deductable to meet first and anything over that we could put a claim in for, but she also stated that if we put in a claim it would raise our premiums, crazy but true!!

I suppose if the irrigation system is "shot" then we will obviously need to have K & B Lawn come out to repair, not sure how much $$$ it will cost us.

But it is what it is!!

PS: I notice you are from OH, I'm originally from KY the Louisville (Jefferson County area), I believe there is also a lady named Freda that's from Louisville as well. The Villages really brings many people from so many different parts of the country/world in one big happy place.

Carolyn

FUNNY ..:gc:

Skip from Indiana,
Just trying to keep the group chuckling.....unfortunately at my expense:cryin2:
Skip from New Jersey

keep chuckling...
 

... so is that why this thread is under computer questions? hahaha just wondering :posting:

OK Admin moved it so this does not make sense....I know I was not seeing things!!!

ground faults
 

It seems to me that, as impossible as that appears, the damaged home was not grounded. You will probably have to buy a lightning rod to prevent future problems.

On our one year we had a an outside inspection done the first thing he suggested was a whole house surge on the house..I called seco and had it added didn't even need to be at the house

surge protectors
 

As soon as we moved in last year, we had the whole house surge protector installed by our handy person and he had us buy these "cubes" for the sprinklers system, micro, and garage door openers. He said they were very sensitive to surges. You can buy them at Lowes or Home Dep. They plug into the outlet and then you plug the appliance into the cube. Several people in our neighborhood lost tvs during our last little thunder boomer light show. It is cheap insurance but won't help with direct hits.

I have a friend in the Villages who installed a whole house supressor from SECO and in this last storm he lost two garage door openers, one TV, one microwave and his stereo system. But, the whole house surge protector was still on and had not tripped during the storm. Go figure that!

Lightening rods
 

So lightning rods seem to be a must. That's too much to lose at one time.
Real soory for that.
Insurance might work but if you put in a claim rates do go up for I think 3 to 5 years...

Any protector that 'tripped' was grossly undersized. A scam. Protection means you do not even know a surge existed. Protector must earth direct lightning strikes and remain functional.

No protector does protection. Not one. Nada. Too many always want to think of solutions in terms of a magic box. No box does surge protection. Either a 'whole house' protector connects as short as possible (ie 'less than 10 feet') to single point earth ground. Or it is just as useless as a cube protector.

Protection means no surge energy inside a house. Damage means that energy was inside hunting destructively for earth via appliances. Energy inside means a defective or compromised earth ground. Either it did not exist. Wires were more than single digit feet from the protector. Or some wire entered the building without first connecting to the only thing that does protection - single point earth ground.

Watering systems are easy to damage. A direct lighting strike one half mile down the street might enter a house. Hunting for earth ground. What is a best path to earth? Incoming on AC mains. Outgoing via the irrigation controller and buried connections. Damage because that energy was all but invited inside.

Protection is always and only defined by where even direct lightning strikes connect to earth. Either harmlessly outside via an earth ground that both meets and exceeds code. Or energy is hunting destructively inside.

If any wire inside any cable does not connect to earth (ie if the 'whole house' protector is not properly earthed), then damage can result. Damage means the investigation starts by inspecting the only item that does protection - single point earth ground.