[sounding]

Originally Posted by CarlR33

Was there any news of that in the Sunny paper?

TVDS doesn't normally print lightning hits - because it deters new TV customers. To find out what the TVDS does not print you'll find at the Weather Club ... theweatherclubvillages DOT com

[jrref]

Originally Posted by sounding

Most lightning house fires were with gas in attic, but not all.

What typically happens when you home is hit by lightning is it blows a hole in your roof, then ricochets around your attic like a bullet seeking ground. As it does this, it's burning and destroying everything in your attic. If it strikes your gas lines or manifold in your attic It will ignite the gas and that fueled fire will accelerate your home burning down. Because of the intense fire from the gas lines, it will appear the fire started there. The strike at Sunset Pointe last year, look at the picture below and notice the garage ceiling totall fell most likely because of the ignited gas lines in the attic right above.

[jrref]

If you want more information on Lightning Protection Systems and Surge Protection, see this link -> Nextdoor

[jrref]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

So if you don't have gas OR a garage, your risk is significantly lower than a house that has both.

Good to know. Glad I live in a double-wide.

If you don't have gas all that means is if you home is struck by lightning it's less likely to burn to the ground from the subsequent gas fire. It gives the fire department more time to get to your home and prevent it from burning down.

Not having gas does not reduce the risk of your home being struck by lightning.

[jrref]

Originally Posted by asianthree

Our last home the previous owner proposal was $5,000. 2 years later lightning struck 4 houses down, traveling to 6 different houses, killed our irrigation box and a water bill of $800 for non stop 48 hour running.

Rods would not have helped since it wasn’t a direct strike.

If you have a very large home your LPS system will cost more but I've not heard about any quotes here in the Villages from A1 or Triangle Lightning Protection over $4,000 for a Premier home for example.

Also, lightning didn't travel to the six houses, what happened was, one house was hit or there was a strike near by which caused an Induced Power Surge that traveled to the six homes. Lightning rods will not protect you from these Induced Power Surges. Only adequate surge protection will prevent that damage. See more information here Nextdoor

[jrref]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

Very interesting that such a relatively small number of homes have been struck so many times. Seems like it might be statistically significant.

- Are homes equipped with LPS more likely to be struck? The common/desired answer is no.

- Are the homes equipped with LPS just terribly unlucky?

- Is the determination of a strike somehow flawed and that 17 is inaccurate?

- Are there more strikes on homes than we are aware of because many cause no damage but our homes are not instrumented to document them?

Lightning is unpredictible. Everything i've been mentioning are from documented cases here in the Villages.

Unlike a home without a lightning protection system being hit where their is usually a large specticular fire, the problem documenting homes being struck by lightning with a lightning protection system is the homeowner actually knowing that it happened and then knowing to reach out to the Study Group. In the 17 documented cases the homeowner was aware becasue they actually saw and or heard the strike. In one case there was some minor damage to the lightning rod that was struck. Most of the time a strike will occur and the homeowner may not be home or even know about it.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

Very interesting that such a relatively small number of homes have been struck so many times. Seems like it might be statistically significant.

- Are homes equipped with LPS more likely to be struck? The common/desired answer is no.

- Are the homes equipped with LPS just terribly unlucky?

- Is the determination of a strike somehow flawed and that 17 is inaccurate?

- Are there more strikes on homes than we are aware of because many cause no damage but our homes are not instrumented to document them?

Originally Posted by jrref

Lightning is unpredictible. Everything i've been mentioning are from documented cases here in the Villages.

Unlike a home without a lightning protection system being hit where their is usually a large specticular fire, the problem documenting homes being struck by lightning with a lightning protection system is the homeowner actually knowing that it happened and then knowing to reach out to the Study Group. In the 17 documented cases the homeowner was aware becasue they actually saw and or heard the strike. In one case there was some minor damage to the lightning rod that was struck. Most of the time a strike will occur and the homeowner may not be home or even know about it.

So if you're ruling out that lightning might strike a home without significant damage and you are standing by the 17 documented strikes then are you saying those with LPS are terribly unlucky or are you saying the LPS results in more likelihood of a home being struck?

It's just statistics..... A relatively high number of strikes on a relatively small number of homes has to have some explanation.

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

So if you're ruling out that lightning might strike a home without significant damage and you are standing by the 17 documented strikes then are you saying those with LPS are terribly unlucky or are you saying the LPS results in more likelihood of a home being struck?

It's just statistics..... A relatively high number of strikes on a relatively small number of homes has to have some explanation.

Just like insurance claims in The Villages. It's obvious you aren't interested or by the status of your home don't want LPS. No one is forcing anyone, this is advice for the proactive people who, year after year, don't have claims on their insurance policies but have policies nonetheless. They want the LPS protection at a one time cost and that's their choice which includes extra selling points for their home. Something for everyone in this world.

[jrref]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

So if you're ruling out that lightning might strike a home without significant damage and you are standing by the 17 documented strikes then are you saying those with LPS are terribly unlucky or are you saying the LPS results in more likelihood of a home being struck?

It's just statistics..... A relatively high number of strikes on a relatively small number of homes has to have some explanation.

I'm saying here in the Villages we have 17 documented cases and yes lightning can strike the same location more than once. Lightning is just unpredictible. It depends on the storm, how intense it is, it's location to your home and other potentional points, the terraine, etc.. If you do the research you will find the actual statistics that demonstrate having a LPS significantly lowers the risk of you home having significant damage and or burning down to the ground from a strike but it doesn't guarantee your home will not be hit. All the LPS system will do is if your home is hit, is provide a safe path to ground vs damage and fire to your home.

No, having a LPS does not increase the chance of a home being struck.
Just the opposite. What people don’t understand is during a severe storm the storm clouds build up a charge and everything on the ground will build up a charge as well. If your house has enough charge and the cloud above has has enough of the opposite charge, lightning is going to complete the circuit and you will have a lightning strike. If you have lightning rods on your home and your house has the most charge in relation to the clouds above, the rods will be the point where the lightning is discharged and passed safely to ground. If you don’t have rods, the charge will knock a hole in your roof and ricochet in the attic like a bullet looking for ground starting fires all over the place. This is why homes get hit by lightgning even though the house next-door or across the street all lightning rods. It makes no difference.

[sounding]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

So if you're ruling out that lightning might strike a home without significant damage and you are standing by the 17 documented strikes then are you saying those with LPS are terribly unlucky or are you saying the LPS results in more likelihood of a home being struck?

It's just statistics..... A relatively high number of strikes on a relatively small number of homes has to have some explanation.

1. There is 100% correlation with lightning hits causing fires - with homes with no LPS.

2. There is 100% correlation with lightning hits and no fires - with homes with LPS.

3. LPS does not attract lighting because there are numerous examples of surrounding trees untouched by lightning while the nearby shorter home was hit ... and examples of surrounding homes with LPS but the the home in-between with no LPS was hit.

4. Every building (except the radio station) at the Villages' Lake Sumter Town has LPS, because who ever designed that town was LPS educated.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by jrref

I'm saying here in the Villages we have 17 documented cases and yes lightning can strike the same location more than once. Lightning is just unpredictible. It depends on the storm, how intense it is, it's location to your home and other potentional points, the terraine, etc.. If you do the research you will find the actual statistics that demonstrate having a LPS significantly lowers the risk of you home having significant damage and or burning down to the ground from a strike but it doesn't guarantee your home will not be hit. All the LPS system will do is if your home is hit, is provide a safe path to ground vs damage and fire to your home.

No, having a LPS does not increase the chance of a home being struck.
Just the opposite. What people don’t understand is during a severe storm the storm clouds build up a charge and everything on the ground will build up a charge as well. If your house has enough charge and the cloud above has has enough of the opposite charge, lightning is going to complete the circuit and you will have a lightning strike. If you have lightning rods on your home and your house has the most charge in relation to the clouds above, the rods will be the point where the lightning is discharged and passed safely to ground. If you don’t have rods, the charge will knock a hole in your roof and ricochet in the attic like a bullet looking for ground starting fires all over the place. This is why homes get hit by lightgning even though the house next-door or across the street all lightning rods. It makes no difference.

Nice explanation, glad you had a chance to repeat it again, but I was looking for an explanation for the statistics. Maybe you are saying LPS owners are unlucky and need all the protection they can get.

[sounding]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

Nice explanation, glad you had a chance to repeat it again, but I was looking for an explanation for the statistics. Maybe you are saying LPS owners are unlucky and need all the protection they can get.

Luck increases with increasing protection.

[HappyTraveler]

Originally Posted by jrref

If you don't have gas all that means is if you home is struck by lightning it's less likely to burn to the ground from the subsequent gas fire. It gives the fire department more time to get to your home and prevent it from burning down.

Not having gas does not reduce the risk of your home being struck by lightning.

The bolded is very much the point. As you articulated in a prior comment, the biggest damage from strikes comes from gas lines being ignited.

If an owner has no gas lines, one rationally assumes that the damage is likely to be much more minimal. Will the Lightening Study Group discuss those kinds of particulars at the meeting on 8/19?

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by sounding

Luck increases with increasing protection.

Those few houses have a greater number of strikes, I don’t need that kind of luck.

[Velvet]

I think the problem might be that residential LPS is expensive and the probability of being hit is low, so each person tries to figure out if it is worth it to them.