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!