[Stdole]

I am a retired Fire Fighter of 30 yrs. I can tell you two things.. 1. If you
ask 100 firefighters you will get 100 opinions .... in the form of yes or no for LIGHTNING RODS. 2. Remember they are firemen; not lightning experts.

Research the expert sites and form an opinion from those sources and interviews.

[Lightning]

Originally Posted by Stdole

I am a retired Fire Fighter of 30 yrs. I can tell you two things.. 1. If you
ask 100 firefighters you will get 100 opinions .... in the form of yes or no for LIGHTNING RODS. 2. Remember they are firemen; not lightning experts.

Research the expert sites and form an opinion from those sources and interviews.

Well said! If you want to research lightning protection systems see Dr. Martin Uman's book, The Art and Science of Lightning Protection that can be found in The Villages library. Lightning protection systems have sielently been doing their job for 262 years.

[justjim]

I remain skeptical of the cost benefit of lightning rods. But-----everybody has a right to their opinion. I believe that a firefighter will have more real experience seeing the results of having and not having lightning rods here in Florida.

A person selling them will of, of course, give you the "needs" sales pitch.

[Lightning]

Originally Posted by justjim

I remain skeptical of the cost benefit of lightning rods. But-----everybody has a right to their opinion. I believe that a firefighter will have more real experience seeing the results of having and not having lightning rods here in Florida.

A person selling them will of, of course, give you the "needs" sales pitch.

I have the highest regard for fire fighters and what they do to save lives and property. But when it comes to lightning protection I highly recommend Dr. Uman's book (referenced in yesterday's post) and read the first paragraph of the Preface. Do not overlook the fact that when lightning rods safely shut a potentially destructive lightning strike to ground no fire fighters are necessary. Nor does it make the front page of The Daily Sun. These systems are a victim of their own success.

[TNLAKEPANDA]

I am not sure a lightening rod would help much form a direct hit. Maybe? Have to weigh the cost which I believe is quite high against the risk. Kind of like sinkhole danger. Hope you can post some costs after you get the work done.

[tommy steam]

Originally Posted by Bosoxfan

What is the ballpark cost of one of these systems ?

I saw an ad in the Sun for a system and I'm thinking it was around 1200.

[Mikeod]

Originally Posted by TNLAKEPANDA

I am not sure a lightening rod would help much form a direct hit. Maybe? Have to weigh the cost which I believe is quite high against the risk. Kind of like sinkhole danger. Hope you can post some costs after you get the work done.

I think a direct hit is what the lightning rods will divert to ground. It's the indirect ones the rods will not help.

[Cedwards38]

Originally Posted by Bosoxfan

What is the ballpark cost of one of these systems ?

A-1 is coming to my house to give me an estimate. He ballparked it at $1500 to $2000. It depends on the house and what all they have to do.

[zcaveman]

Originally Posted by Lightning

I have the highest regard for fire fighters and what they do to save lives and property. But when it comes to lightning protection I highly recommend Dr. Uman's book (referenced in yesterday's post) and read the first paragraph of the Preface. Do not overlook the fact that when lightning rods safely shut a potentially destructive lightning strike to ground no fire fighters are necessary. Nor does it make the front page of The Daily Sun. These systems are a victim of their own success.

It is too bad that these lightning rod systems do not have an indicator or something to tell the people that have them that they worked. At least a blinking light. Then they could report it to someone that keeps track of successful redirects to lightning strikes.

Z

[raynan]

A neighbor said they paid $2700 for whole house protection with rods. Don't know what company they used and didn't ask because I'm not interested in getting them.

[Lightning]

Originally Posted by TNLAKEPANDA

I am not sure a lightening rod would help much form a direct hit. Maybe? Have to weigh the cost which I believe is quite high against the risk. Kind of like sinkhole danger. Hope you can post some costs after you get the work done.

Lightning rods are for direct strikes. See the research conducted by the University of Florida.
Should you consider installing lightning rods? Only you can answer that question. Do you have a high or low tolerance for risk? For example, if you have a high tolerance for risk you do nothing, the odds are with you (nine homes destroyed in last 10 years), the money stays in your pocket and if the worst does happen you have transferred the monetary risk via insurance.

But what if you have a low tolerance for risk? Then you may wish to trade your hard earned money for peace of mind by installing lightning rods that could cost in the range of $1,000 to over $3,000 that is dependant on the roof /lanai/pool cage area to be protected. This is to avoid the loss of your home, possessions, irreplaceable family photographs and memorabilia collections, and living in temporary quarters six to 12 months while your home is rebuilt. But not to be overlooked is putting your Villagers lifestyle on hold and going through the emotional stress of the entire ordeal.

[Skip2MySue]

So I started this post with good intentions because you just never know what's gonna happen. And then Friday night the storm moved in and decided to rock me out of my chair with a large boom and the sky lit up. Figuring it was about time to shut everything down and head for bed I didn't give it further thought. Then Sat. morning arrived and lots of clocks were blinking and I noticed the coffee pot didn't come on. Now that's major early in the morning but I found that was just gonna be the beginning of a fun day. I then began the chore of checking various outlets and then out to the panel box to reset a bunch of breakers. Hoping that would be the extent of the damage I continued on with the inventory and found the garage door opener not working, the irrigation controller blank, no cable, no internet, no landline phones and the search continued. My first call was to SECO who had a repair truck out the house in 1 hour. I did have surge protection on the meter and that was blown out. They'll be back during the week to replace the surge protector and a settlement on our losses will be forthcoming. How much will be covered is an unknown as of now. But what a great company they are. Next on the list was to call an electrician to check out the damage and advise repairs. He came out and assured me the house wasn't going to topple over and that most of the power was available. He would be back on Monday to replace 3 GFI outlets in the kitchen and 1 circuit breaker to the tune of $285. Then it was off to contact the other contractor's to repair A) Garage door opener $380 which was completed on Monday, B) replace irrigation controller $175 on Tuesday, C) repair ethernet connection on computer and clean up cookies and download new virus protection on Thurs $120. The problems with the phones and computer couldn't be resolved until the Cable Company arrived. The real fun was trying to get our beloved cable provider Comcast to come out to restore the 3 services that I pay them for. I called the first thing Sat. morning to arrange for a repair person ASAP. I was told someone would be there on Thursday. I explained to them that that was 6 days from now and that was unacceptable. They told me they'd see what they could do. I called again Monday and they had now moved me up to a Wednesday repair appointment. I explained to them that I had no cable, phone or internet and I felt that they should certainly be able to provide me with repair service sooner. They told me they'd move it thru upper management to secure a better date. I then called Tuesday because of course they hadn't called me back again. They confirmed I was scheduled for the Thursday appointment. To say that I wanted to jump thru the phone would be an understatement but I realized that all the different people I had been talking to where only small spokes in the massive cog. Finally I got to a supervisor who then moved my repair appointment up to Wednesday with a time period of 8 AM until 7 PM. So the wait on Wed. began and of course you're all expecting another horror story regarding this appointment. Nope, not to be. Repairman showed up around 2 PM and 2 1/2 hours later I had cable. My phone system was shorted out so that went in the garbage and the computer needed outside help. To say Comcast was the least helpful of any people or companies I dealt with would be putting it very politely. So now back to the original message of this post......Based on I didn't suffer any damage to 2 large screen TV's, refrigerator or the AC system.........Lightning Rods or not
Skip 2

[bike42]

Originally Posted by zcaveman

It is too bad that these lightning rod systems do not have an indicator or something to tell the people that have them that they worked. At least a blinking light. Then they could report it to someone that keeps track of successful redirects to lightning strikes.

Z

I was told that if our lightning rods take a direct hit, the soil around the grounding wire will show some disruption. I don't know if this is true.

[pooh]

Originally Posted by Skip2MySue

So I started this post with good intentions because you just never know what's gonna happen. And then Friday night the storm moved in and decided to rock me out of my chair with a large boom and the sky lit up. Figuring it was about time to shut everything down and head for bed I didn't give it further thought. Then Sat. morning arrived and lots of clocks were blinking and I noticed the coffee pot didn't come on. Now that's major early in the morning but I found that was just gonna be the beginning of a fun day. I then began the chore of checking various outlets and then out to the panel box to reset a bunch of breakers. Hoping that would be the extent of the damage I continued on with the inventory and found the garage door opener not working, the irrigation controller blank, no cable, no internet, no landline phones and the search continued. My first call was to SECO who had a repair truck out the house in 1 hour. I did have surge protection on the meter and that was blown out. They'll be back during the week to replace the surge protector and a settlement on our losses will be forthcoming. How much will be covered is an unknown as of now. But what a great company they are. Next on the list was to call an electrician to check out the damage and advise repairs. He came out and assured me the house wasn't going to topple over and that most of the power was available. He would be back on Monday to replace 3 GFI outlets in the kitchen and 1 circuit breaker to the tune of $285. Then it was off to contact the other contractor's to repair A) Garage door opener $380 which was completed on Monday, B) replace irrigation controller $175 on Tuesday, C) repair ethernet connection on computer and clean up cookies and download new virus protection on Thurs $120. The problems with the phones and computer couldn't be resolved until the Cable Company arrived. The real fun was trying to get our beloved cable provider Comcast to come out to restore the 3 services that I pay them for. I called the first thing Sat. morning to arrange for a repair person ASAP. I was told someone would be there on Thursday. I explained to them that that was 6 days from now and that was unacceptable. They told me they'd see what they could do. I called again Monday and they had now moved me up to a Wednesday repair appointment. I explained to them that I had no cable, phone or internet and I felt that they should certainly be able to provide me with repair service sooner. They told me they'd move it thru upper management to secure a better date. I then called Tuesday because of course they hadn't called me back again. They confirmed I was scheduled for the Thursday appointment. To say that I wanted to jump thru the phone would be an understatement but I realized that all the different people I had been talking to where only small spokes in the massive cog. Finally I got to a supervisor who then moved my repair appointment up to Wednesday with a time period of 8 AM until 7 PM. So the wait on Wed. began and of course you're all expecting another horror story regarding this appointment. Nope, not to be. Repairman showed up around 2 PM and 2 1/2 hours later I had cable. My phone system was shorted out so that went in the garbage and the computer needed outside help. To say Comcast was the least helpful of any people or companies I dealt with would be putting it very politely. So now back to the original message of this post......Based on I didn't suffer any damage to 2 large screen TV's, refrigerator or the AC system.........Lightning Rods or not
Skip 2

Goodness! Glad you and yours are okay! Things can be repaired, people not always so easily repaired...

[tommy steam]

I had a neighbor where I used to live have a strike on her front lawn. It hit the buried underground elect cable that was feeding her home. I saw her front yard smoking as I looked out the window when I heard it hit. Every appliance in her home was ruined and anything plugged into the outlets was also gone. So what I am thinking ,it can also cause damage if it hits the ground. On the news last night it stated that lighting does not always hit the highest point in an area.