AC or DC?
 

Technically, lightning is DC, just electrons moving in one direction from source to ground. However, because lightning is an extremely short and powerful pulse of DC current, it creates a very strong electromagnetic field that contains a very broad spectrum of 'radio' waves. That's why you can hear lightning on an AM radio. So, that 'radio' energy doesn't just travel cleanly on a wire to ground, it surrounds the wire for some distance, and can impact nearby electronics.

Quotes?
 

Let’s hear some of the quotes. I have no idea what an average Designer house here would cost, to get a lightning protection system.

Danny with A-1 installed ours in December 2023 for $2500. The home is a 2100 square-foot designer.

I agree. Danny — A1 Lightning. Has done hundreds of TV homes; also
does commercial buildings in the area. He did mine according to the CODE. Get it down right with a pro; minimal impact to the roof. No leaks when done right. The rods are ugly, no way around it, but the dragonflies like to rest on the points.

Neither
 

Alternating and Direct currents are man made. Frequency from AC is key to its manufacture where you have copper moving through a magnetic field without any contact between the two. Direct current is called that because you have brushes that touch a broken commutator before current is dispensed for use. Both can have benefits, but DC is considered safer.

Lightning is not manufactured by either method. It can go cloud to cloud or cloud to ground. It’s static electricity caused by electron build up and discharge once conditions are correct.

I would believe lightning does not fall under either condition of AC or DC. Voltage can be up to 1 billion volts and carry up to 7 gigajoules of current potential.

I wouldn’t get a metal roof for many reasons:
No cell service inside the house, very loud in a storm, and they do leak over time. They are more expensive than a regular shingle roof.
If you want the best, we had the slate tile roof and these are indestructible. Each tile is 1” think or thicker, each tile is over 11lbs, the roof is built with a double roof so these slate tiles are a few inches above the regular roof so if for some reason a tile gets cracked or if you develop a leak, the underlying roof will prevent any leaks. We had this on 1 of our houses and we loved the looks and quality. The only drawback is the expense and your roof has to be able to support the weight.

Basically, I'm skeptical and cheap. If a risk cannot be quantified with real data, I won't buy the product. I feel the same way about whole house surge protectors, identity monitoring, extended warranties, etc. If thousands of houses have a lightning protection system, why can't they tell me how many times these houses have been hit by lightning, but escaped damage?

Your many other posts about financial matters seem to indicate that you are risk adverse.

LPS lower catastrophic risk—-on average—-but the effect size is unknown because data are sparse given that lightning strikes are random. You seem to be willing to accept lightning strike risk, perhaps because the cost of a LPS is too high for you. That’s ok because it is a personal decision—-but not the decision of everyone. YMMV.

And, no, you are wrong that homeowner’s insurance will make you whole if your house suffers a catastrophic lightning strike. You did imply that in your earlier post in this thread. That’s just silly. Insurance will not make one whole for a catastrophic loss. But if you have REAL DATA (as you call it in your post above) to show otherwise, please share that data with us.

In addition, when a house without a Lightning Protection System (LPS) gets struck by lightning, it's generally known if the residents are home or a fire occurs or from the damage. When a house with a LPS gets struck, it's usually a non-event. In almost all cases there will be no fire and maybe some minor damage. The Villages Lightning Study Group has 16 documented cases of residents with a LPS getting struck by lightning, all without any fire or damage to the home. In one case the owner witnessed the event. Additionally, large buildings and structures get hit all the time by lightning so we know these lighting protection systems do work. As far as surge protection, the same rules apply. Without surge protection you know you got hit because you have usually significant damage to appliances and electrical equipment. With surge protection you will never know you were hit because the surge protection system will block and or manage the surge. With the lightning strike at Sunset Pointe that happened last week, Len's home is about 900 ft from the house that burnt down and while other neighbors without surge protection had damage, Len's home which has the layered surge protection we recommend had none. No tripped breakers, no damage at all. Nothing is absolute. You just need the facts to make an informed decision which is specific to each individual's needs and situation.

I also want to answer the question concerning a device that measures the amount of lightning strikes at a home were a lightning protection system is installed. Yes, there are devices that do this function and one of our members has one on his home. It mounts to the grounding cable coming from the lightning protection system. The problem is these devices are very expensive and mainly used at commercial properties. As of this date, the home with the counting device installed has not been hit.

In Post #24 those homeowners decided to "take a chance" and unfortunately the odds were against them. I agree if you live in NY or anywhere else pretty much in the US, the chances of getting hit by lightning is very low to the point that you don't need to think about it unless you have a special situation. But, if you live here in Central Florida, where we have the most lightning strikes in the country, that is another situation and a reason to get all the facts and decide on whats best for you and your family.

I hope this addresses your questions.

There were homes built with CSST flexible gas piping years ago mainly North of 466A and in other areas of the country. They thought this was a good cost effective way vs using black pipe to provide gas throughout the home. It was used in Japan and other areas in the world that have earth quakes and need flexible piping. It was discovered that a significant number of homes here and in other areas in the country using this piping had gas related fires. Investigators found the electromagnetic charge in the air from direct or even a close lightning strike would cause holes in this piping and thus a fire. There was a class action suit brought where the residents won. The result was vouchers were provided to install a lightning protection system or ground and bond the CSST piping to prevent the problem from occuring. This is now long expired since this occurred many years ago. If you drive around Sunset Pointe and other areas north of 466A that have this CSST installed you will see many homes with a lightning protection system to prevent this from happening. The homes between 466A and Rt.44 are mostly all electric and the homes south of Rt.44 that do have gas have an improved version of this flexible gas pipe where as of this date there have not been any issues related to lightning but the manufactures of this new and more reliable flexible piping mention to consider a lightning protection system if you are in a lightning prone area.

I don't have the data, but if it were available, it may convince me to invest in an LPS system. I don't know how to assess the risk because I don't know what the chance of being hit by lightning really is. But, I have a small house that represents a small percentage of my net worth, so if it were destroyed by lightning, I would just collect the insurance and buy another house. I guess my situation is different from other people. Yes, it is a personal decision.

That payout can take two years.

The insurance companies who I am sure do the math, don't offer discounts for LPS installations so your gut feel that the risk benefit may not be there could be correct.

ALL 5 of the Homes
 

All 5 of the destroyed houses have one thing in common // they did not have Lighting rods!!!

Over the last 15 years of Lighting strike house fires NONE of been on houses with lighting rods.

That may be true, but only a very small percentage of the Villages houses have a lightning protection system. One poster said it is only one percent. On my daily walk around the neighborhood, only one house has lightning rods, but none of the houses have been damaged by lightning in 8 years. Any statistician will tell you that the data is not large enough to prove anything because there are so few houses that have lightning rods. You need a much larger sample.

One other point. How do you know that no houses destroyed by lightning did not have lightning rods? Where was that information reported?

The Villages Lightning Study Group tracks and documents all reported lightning strikes that hit homes or near homes in the Villages. Reports can come from the fire department if a lightning related fire occured, from social media where we go out and investigate or by any other means. Do we know about every single strike? No because many of the small ones that cause little or no damage are often not reported. But for the 25 homes destroyed by lightning here in the Villages so far since we have been tracking lightning events, none had a lightning protection system. We also have 16 documented cases where homeowners who have a lightning protection system and believed they were hit, had no fire or damage. One homeowner witnessed their stike.

Remember, Florida and especially central Florida has the most lightning strikes in the country, not the world, because of the weather coming from the east and west coasts. Pretty much anywhere else in the country, many are correct, the chances of getting hit by lightning is very remote unless you have a special situation. That said, although the chances of getting hit by lightning here in the Villages is still very low, statistically, your chances are much higher than the rest of the country because we have more lightning. This year so far we have had more homes destroyed than in previous years, five(5) vs the usual One(1) or Two(2), here in the Villages and its only seven months into the year. So considering a Lightning Protection System here in the Villages is something everyone should do whether you decide to get a system or not.

In addition, if your home has gas, if you have the older yellow CSST flexible gas piping that is another factor you need to include in your decision making process since we know it can fail during a lightning event. If you are in the newer areas south of Rt.44 with the newer improved flexible gas piping, the manufacturers of this piping states that you should consider a lightning protection system if you live in a lightning prone state. We have not looked into this but this is what the manufacturer of the pipe says is not mandatory, but recommended. Here is the link to one of the manufacturers Gastite.

Cut and Paste the following link in your browser to view manufacturers information:

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.gastite.com/downloads/pdfs/gastite_di_guide.pdf


IMPORTANT LIGHTENING SAFETY WARNING

ALL OWNERS should consult a lightning safety consultant to determine whether installation of a lightning protection system would be required to achieve sufficient protection for all building components from lightning.

Factors to consider include whether the area is prone to lightning. Areas with high lightning risk include but are not limited to: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, ...

This is a basic logical fallacy. Since the majority of homes do not have lighting rods the percentage of those hit without lighting rods would be significantly higher. If 99% of cars were red then the percentage of car accidents that involve red cars would also be higher.

I don’t like idea of lightning strike running along inside of my roof to grounding point which has to exit somewhere. My roof doesn’t have lot space in attic. IMO too easy for lightning to jump off the cable under the roof. But, that’s me.

Keep in mind there is significant non-residental LPS application here including: buildings in the squares, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, fire stations, pump houses, water towers, power lines and other critical infrastructures have LPS with no reported damage

Cell towers for example can and do operate with impunity while being struck again and again with lightning.

The LPS is there to keep the house from burning down by giving any lightning strikes a very good low resistance path to ground.

You could think of it as a conductive umbrella over the structure.

Otherwise it moves through the structure potentially damaging/igniting any material in it's path. Things can get really bad if CSST gas line is in it's path.

It also can help reduce the likelihood of strikes from happening by the lightning rods in the air bleeding off some of charge as it builds up.

To add, people don't realize when lightning strikes your home, it punches a hole in the roof, starts a fire, then ricochets around your attic like a bullet looking for earth ground which is why there is often significant other damage in addition to the fire. It can burn electrical wires in your walls, destroy plumbing, HVAC, etc.. And if you get in the way, it will kill you aswell. We have a documented story of a woman outside the Villages, washing dishes who was killed in her kitchen. Lightning is not something to fool around with.

The principle of indemnity is a fundamental principle of insurance contracts that aims to restore an insured party to the same financial position they were in before a loss or damage:
Explanation
The principle states that the insurance company will compensate the policyholder for the amount of the loss, up to the amount agreed upon in the contract. The goal is to reimburse the policyholder, not to allow the insurer to make a profit.

There Is one house on my street that has a lightning protection system. Also, the fire station on Moyer Loop has one. These buildings have vertical metal rods on the roof, which are easy to see on the peaks. Since this thread started, I have been driving around The Villages, looking at hundreds of houses, and I have yet to see any house with metal rods on the roof. Am I missing something?

Drive up north to Sunset Pointe, St. Charles and the older areas around there and you will see the exact opposite. The problem is people tend not to do anything about lightning and surge protection until someone near them gets hit or has an event. The homeowners in some of the older sections in the Villages have already lived through many lightning events which is why you see so many installed systems. In the Villages News in the past couple of days reported the pool equipment at the Franklyn Rec center was hit by lightning. Lightning started a fire on the fairway at the Lowlands Executive Golf Course, near the Water Lily Recreation Center, and lightning also sparked a blaze at about 5:30 p.m. Friday at a home on Cabella Circle in the Village of Hacienda North. This is in additon to all the strikes we have been talking about in the past week. You shold take a ride over to Linden where that house burnt to the ground from lightning last year and you will see all the homes around that strike now have systems. I guess it's just human nature not to take precautions until something makes you.

What does the one house on your street have if not vertical metal rods?

I have noticed three houses on my walk in the morning that have the rods. There may be more (I lose interest and might have missed some) but not many more. I would believe 2%-3% of the homes in my area have these. With all the focus on this recently I could believe the percentage is higher in the newer sections. EDIT: I will defer to the comment by jrref above about more protection in older sections as that statement is based on better information than I have.

Not all the non-residential buildings (rec centers, fire stations, commercial buildings) have the metal rods. However, if a metal roof can be grounded to function as a large LPS system then it is possible that some of the non-residential buildings are protected in that way.

I had metal roof for 10 years. Never had leak, only racketball size hail would put small dent in it. They are little louder during heavy thunder storms. If you had metal roof and it leaked it was installed/sealed wrong just like get leaks from shingled roof. Which by The way had several leaking from free roof installations in my area, guess get what pay for. I would never get tile roof just cause the weight or tile. But that’s me. I can from state where actually had severe storms regularly not once in decade like down here in central Florida.

About 20% have lighting rods in my area. Really have look close to see them. But, that’s me I don’t really look up at roofs cause it’s just roof.

If I get LPS it will be on out side of my roof.

not trying to sound smart, look closer. I have been engaged in the same excercise, they are sometimes subtle but i do see them

For anyone looking to see an LPS system in the wild, drive down Hillsborough between the Manatee Rec center and Hillsborough Postal Station. Look on the north side of Hillsborough and you should see at least three houses with the little rods on the peaks of the roof.

(and you will see a LOT of houses without rods)

Does a pool cage act as a lightening rod? Ours is grounded by a very small conductor, maybe 8 gage bare copper and the ground rod its hooked too is not very deep, I think it was 3 or 4 feet long.

Not my field of expertise but I would say no, it would not.

1. It was not designed or installed for that purpose. As you note, it is grounded by a very small conductor.

2. Even if it provided any protection capability at all, it would only protect the very small portion of the corner of the roof where it was installed leaving the large remainder of the roof, including the peaks, unprotected.

Did either one of them say what has to be done when the roof is replaced?

Copper wire is ground for pool lights, that was explained by T&D.

I answered my own question. I called A1 and scheduled an estimate ($2000 to $2200 for a 3/2 villa). When the roof needs to be replaced, the roofer is not licensed to reinstall the system. A1 will do it for $700.


He's had over 200 calls this week. He's booked into March but is fitting smaller homes in if you don't mind weekend work. Right now we're scheduled for early December.

My pool lights are grounded to a ground rod next to the pool equipment, the pool equipment is too.

The rebar in the pool and the cage are bonded to a different ground rod next to the cage. They're about 25 feet apart and I don't think the 2 are connected (they could be and I just didn't see it happen).

No, the bird cage should be protected also, typically an air terminal and ground rod at the outside corners.

I would reach out to Triangle. Their prices may be slightly higher but you will get a better install date. My neighbor just got end of August. Both companies do basically the same excellent job so you can go with either company.

For what it's worth, I know the lady whose court yard villa was struck by lightning during that storm a month or so ago.

She's 97 years old, saw the flash, heard the boom and went back to watching TV.

Fortunately, she's a spry 97 and has great neighbors who have the door code to her home.

They came in and informed her that her home was on fire. They got her right out of there.
The power never went off!

I'm a Home Inspector and was asked to inspect the home 3 doors down that is for sale so she could stay in the same neighborhood.

On my way out, I grabbed a 360 camera view of the lightning and subsequent fire damage. You can spin the view any direction you'd like as you watch.

You can view it here:

https://youtu.be/ttEo3DZnhok?si=PsFU9Pjp4Z4pWO7S

Thankful for good neighbors but devestating for the homeowner I'm sure.

Any hints where it struck/started?

Both A1 and Triangle will install the system to UL specifications which is why the install will be the same.