[Nana2Teddy]

Originally Posted by Altavia

Another option could be to replace gas appliances with electric and remove/cap off the iron gas line into the attic.

We love gas appliances, which is all we’ve ever used prior to moving here. Also, our electric bill is huge enough already between the AC, 3 mini-splits, electric tankless water heater, whole house dehumidifier, and one (of 2) electric golf carts.

[Nana2Teddy]

Originally Posted by jrref

So, if you live south of Rt44 with a gas house, your home will have improved flexible gas tubing but even with this, if you read the manufacturers web site under the warrenty, it states if you live in Florida, Texas and several other states where lightning is a problem, they recommend you consult with a Lightning Protection company. Meaning, while the chances of a gas fire from a Lightning Strike have been reduced with this improved tubing, there is still a chance that it will fail from a lightning event.

The only way to reduce the risk to near zero is to have a lightning protection system installed or replace all your flexible gas piping with solid black pipe. Replacing your flexible pipe with solid black pipe will cost way more than a LPS but without a LPS you still have the risk of lightning striking and causing a fire, just the gas pipe failure will not be a problem.

So why do you recommend only two LPS companies when there are others available to do the job much sooner as stated by that Middleton homeowner who just had their system installed very quickly?

[ResQme]

Originally Posted by Ignatz

Can you re-post the photos here? Curious to see what they look like.

I have "attached" the photos.

[jrref]

Originally Posted by ResQme

Yes, theirs is a two-story home. There are a lot of two-story homes in Middleton. They posted photos of where the lightning hit (there seem to be two spots) My daughter lives across from them. My daughter's neighbors on both sides had lightning rods installed by this company this week. This is extracted from the Middleton FB group:

Hi Neighbors,
I wanted to share something important with you. Earlier this month, our house was struck by lightning during a storm. It was a very scary experience, and unfortunately, it caused major damage—we lost pool equipment, an AC air handler, tankless hot water heater, irrigation controller, a brand new TV, our oven, and even our garage doors.
To prevent something like this from happening again, we’ve decided to have lightning rods installed by WB Lightning Rods, a family-owned company that has been in business for over 50 years with an excellent reputation.
Here’s the good news: they are currently offering a 15% group discount if at least three houses in our neighborhood sign up together. Since we’re still in the middle of lightning season, I wanted to pass this along in case anyone else is considering protecting their home.
If you’re ready to move forward within the next two weeks, I highly recommend reaching out to WB Lightning Rods to take advantage of this offer. Not only will it save money, but it could also save you from the stress and expense of what we went through. I actually have an alternative phone number to call. I guess they have been so busy. They can’t keep up with their voicemails because of an influx of recent calls . You can text them or call them at 321-217-3438

It's good that they got a LPS. Doing some research on WB Lightning Rods they look like a "legit" company from their web site. As part of the Villages Lightning Study Group we would like to go see one of these installations. Can someone reach out to us? Nextdoor

[jrref]

Originally Posted by ResQme

I have "attached" the photos.

Thanks for the pictures. These people were very lucky.

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by ResQme

I have "attached" the photos.

Thank you for taking the time to post. All of your information and responses are very helpful, to residents, not just the pics. Recommending a business that is BBB rated, long standing in many communities, and very helpful with questions.

The damage is what we have witnessed on most homes that usually are only reported with their FB site. We had homes in 5 different villages for the past 15+ years. Pics of homes struck by Lightning, but thankfully Damage that was quickly repaired.

Too bad there was a suppressor, to help with all the appliances.

Again thank you for valuable info.

[jrref]

Originally Posted by Nana2Teddy

So why do you recommend only two LPS companies when there are others available to do the job much sooner as stated by that Middleton homeowner who just had their system installed very quickly?

Good question. When installing a Lightning Protection System here in the state of Florida and it may be the same in other states, there are:

No state or local certification of LPS installers
No state or local licensing
No building permits with follow up inspections

So, without a Lightning Protection Institute and or UL Certification there is no way to know for sure if the systems are being installed properly. That's not to say that any of these companies are installing improperly, just there is no way know. After having a system installed you can pay for and get UL to come out and certify your installation where they give you a certificate for 5 years but very few do this and it's not necessary if the installers are LPI and or UL certified. Many companies have consumer protection awards, etc, like from the Better Business Bureau but none from technical agencies.

All this said, It would be great to have more qualified LPS installation companies working here in the Villages since the two certified ones are always booked for unreasonably long periods of time every year. Also, additional companies may bring prices for these systems down a little. But the problem with a Lightning Protection System is after it's installed the homeowner has no way of knowing if it was actually installed properly and is going to work. So for example, does each air terminal (lightning rod) have two paths to ground? Does each ground rod have less than 25 ohms of resistance to ground? Is the company using all the necessary UL certified cables and connectors? Are the rods placed on the roof correctly to give the proper coverage? NFPA 780 which is the standard for the Installation of Lightning Protection Systems lists all the necessary requirements. I'm not an inspector but these are some of the things that are listed in NFPA 780 to insure that the system will work.

[Duck*Soup]

Originally Posted by jrref

It's good that they got a LPS. Doing some research on WB Lightning Rods they look like a "legit" company from their web site. As part of the Villages Lightning Study Group we would like to go see one of these installations. Can someone reach out to us? Nextdoor

Has the Group conducted inspections of any installations that were in violation of the established standards?

[jrref]

Originally Posted by Duck*Soup

Has the Group conducted inspections of any installations that were in violation of the established standards?

As stated, we are not certified to conduct inspections of a lightning protection systems. There are UL and LPI certified inspectors that do this work one of which lives here in the Villages and advises our group. But, we have seen installations installed by some "unknown" companies that clearly violate some of the NFPA 780 installation standards which is why we make people aware of LPI and or UL certified installers.

[thelegges]

Originally Posted by jrref

It's good that they got a LPS. Doing some research on WB Lightning Rods they look like a "legit" company from their web site. As part of the Villages Lightning Study Group we would like to go see one of these installations. Can someone reach out to us? Nextdoor

Originally Posted by jrref

Good question. When installing a Lightning Protection System here in the state of Florida and it may be the same in other states, there are:

No state or local certification of LPS installers
No state or local licensing
No building permits with follow up inspections

So, without a Lightning Protection Institute and or UL Certification there is no way to know for sure if the systems are being installed properly. That's not to say that any of these companies are installing improperly, just there is no way know. After having a system installed you can pay for and get UL to come out and certify your installation where they give you a certificate for 5 years but very few do this and it's not necessary if the installers are LPI and or UL certified. Many companies have consumer protection awards, etc, like from the Better Business Bureau but none from technical agencies.

All this said, It would be great to have more qualified LPS installation companies working here in the Villages since the two certified ones are always booked for unreasonably long periods of time every year. Also, additional companies may bring prices for these systems down a little. But the problem with a Lightning Protection System is after it's installed the homeowner has no way of knowing if it was actually installed properly and is going to work. So for example, does each air terminal (lightning rod) have two paths to ground? Does each ground rod have less than 25 ohms of resistance to ground? Is the company using all the necessary UL certified cables and connectors? Are the rods placed on the roof correctly to give the proper coverage? NFPA 780 which is the standard for the Installation of Lightning Protection Systems lists all the necessary requirements. I'm not an inspector but these are some of the things that are listed in NFPA 780 to insure that the system will work.

Originally Posted by Duck*Soup

Has the Group conducted inspections of any installations that were in violation of the established standards?

Duck Soup brings up an excellent point.

Honest question if one isn’t an inspector, as posted.

Why would you request to look at a system installed by a company that your club hasn’t recognized? Does The Lightning Club routinely go to every install, or just to random checks to ensure quality is up to the clubs standards. After all not all businesses can be perfect every time, sometimes there can be a misstep

[jrref]

Originally Posted by thelegges

Duck Soup brings up an excellent point.

Honest question if one isn’t an inspector, as posted.

Why would you request to look at a system installed by a company that your club hasn’t recognized? Does The Lightning Club routinely go to every install, or just to random checks to ensure quality is up to the clubs standards. After all not all businesses can be perfect every time, sometimes there can be a misstep

We would like to look at the lightning damage in more detail.

[thelegges]

Originally Posted by jrref

It's good that they got a LPS. Doing some research on WB Lightning Rods they look like a "legit" company from their web site. As part of the Villages Lightning Study Group we would like to go see one of these installations. Can someone reach out to us? Nextdoor

Originally Posted by jrref

We would like to look at the lightning damage in more detail.

But you posted “they look like a Legit” company. The VLSG would like to Go See One Of These Installations.

The lightning damage was on a home that didn’t have an install. So why does the group want to inspect an installation with no one certified as an Inspector?

Wouldn’t it be beneficial to use a certified inspector if the group has questions about certain companies?

After all the cost of inspection would be appropriate with any company after a $2-4,000 price tag

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by thelegges

But you posted “they look like a Legit” company. The VLSG would like to Go See One Of These Installations.

The lightning damage was on a home that didn’t have an install. So why does the group want to inspect an installation with no one certified as an Inspector?

Wouldn’t it be beneficial to use a certified inspector if the group has questions about certain companies?

After all the cost of inspection would be appropriate with any company after a $2-4,000 price tag

It probably would be beneficial to use a certified inspector and does one suggest the group has a bake sale to pay for that extra cost?

[jrref]

Originally Posted by thelegges

But you posted “they look like a Legit” company. The VLSG would like to Go See One Of These Installations.

The lightning damage was on a home that didn’t have an install. So why does the group want to inspect an installation with no one certified as an Inspector?

Wouldn’t it be beneficial to use a certified inspector if the group has questions about certain companies?

After all the cost of inspection would be appropriate with any company after a $2-4,000 price tag

You are misinterpreting my comments.

What we do is take a look at the damage to the home and surrounding homes if it applys. Since this was a house in Middleton, many are multi story. It would be interesting to see what the LPS company did to mitagate the problem on that type of structure and what else they did such as installing surge protection, etc..

If the homeowner has a concern then they can have an independent inspector come out for an additionaly cost.

[kbrkr]

I'm curious to know how many more homes have been hit by lightening in the southern part of the Villages as opposed to the North. The North has taller Oak trees which can attract more lightening before it hits a home. The southern homes do not have as many mature trees.

Do you think this makes a difference?