[Rocksnap]

Originally Posted by Captainpd

Is that part of your decision making process.. I need a discount before protecting my house..

What it would tell is, what insurance companies THINK about LPS.
If they think it protects, lowers their liability, they would endorse LPS.
The flip side, they think it makes no difference, or attracts a strike, they may raise your insurance premium.

[airstreamingypsy]

So many people being negative about something that has proven to be effective. Lightning rods work. You may not want them, you maybe can't afford them, or are happy taking the risk. But, they do work.

I had lightning rods or my horse barn and house in SC. One day my barn rods took a direct hit.... my horses were inside. Lightning rods work.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by jrref

You are doing the right thing. If your roof is going to need to be replaced soon, it's probably best to change the roof then install a LPS.

As far as statistics are concerned, you can argue this point "till the cows come home". The point is, regardless of the statistics, we live in an area where we get the most lightning strikes in the country. This means the probability of your home getting hit by lightning is one of the highest in the country. Given we now see about 5-6 homes destroyed every year here in the Villages, maybe more this year, there is a probability of your home getting hit. The probability is low but it's not that low where you don't need to think about it. Homes are getting hit and some destroyed so as I said before, if your tolerance for risk is high and you like to gamble and take your chances based on statistics, do nothing. No need to comment here anymore. Chances are you may never get hit and you can come back here and tell us about it. If you do get hit and your home burns to the ground, enjoy that life changing experience. Or, take one less cruise and get a system and sleep well and don't worry about it anymore. I got a system as soon as I moved in because I came to the Villages to relax and enjoy myself. If my home got hit by lightning and was destroyed, all that would end and the stress of the ordeal may shorten my lifespan, who knows?

Everyone has their own tolerance for risk and you need to figure out if you want to spend the $2,000-$3,500 depending on the size of your home for some piece of mind or take yet another cruise and have this worry at the back of your mind forever. Everyone's decision will be different.

The funny thing is, contrary to what a few posters assert, I am not arguing against getting an LPS. In fact, I'm considering it myself. What I am arguing against is overstating risk, abusing statistics, and using fear to make a sale. We question that approach when it comes to termite treatment, whole-house water filters, annuities, and roofers and we should be just as skeptical when it comes to LPS systems.

Is $3,500 a small price to pay to mitigate the effect of a potential lightning strike? Yes.
Am I calling tails on a two-headed coin if I don't pay the $3,500? No.
Are my odds even 50-50 of being struck by lightning? No.
Are my odds zero of being struck by lightning? No.
Some tables show about 7,000 homes struck by lightning in Florida each year
Each year the papers report two or three homes destroyed by lightning (last year was higher)

Do I believe 17 LPS-protected homes have been hit by lightning with little or no damage while only two or three unprotected homes have been hit? Even if those 17 homes were hit over a period of 20 years, I would still expect far more unprotected homes to be hit in the same timeframe. Perhaps many more unprotected homes are being hit but the amount of damage is far less than being talked about in this thread.

Do I believe a home can be hit by lightning without causing catastrophic damage keeping the owner out of the home for two years while it is rebuilt? Absolutely yes - I have lived it myself and seen it with others.

Will my house get hit by lightning this year? Odds are very low.
Will my house ever get hit by lightning? Odds are still low but chances are increasing.
Will my house burn to the ground if it is hit by lightning? Not guaranteed, especially if all electric.
Will my house be significantly damaged if it is hit by lightning? Not necessarily but it could.
Does the decision come down to either paying $3,500 or watching my house burn down? No

Is $3,500 a small price to pay to mitigate the effect of a lightning strike that may or may not happen which may or may not cause damage but could potentially result in my house being destroyed? Yes.

[sounding]

Originally Posted by Captainpd

Is that part of your decision making process.. I need a discount before protecting my house..

Protection is a personal choice.

[tralemaster]

If my home and roof are both 8 years old, and my insurance company requires me to replace the roof at 15 years (seven years from now), how would that affect a lightning protection system (LPS) if I have it installed now? When the new roof is installed, will the LPS need to be removed and then reinstalled?

[sounding]

Originally Posted by Villager24

Call me superficial, but I just don’t like the look of cables running all over the roof. Are there some lps that run the cables inside?

Use "copper" vs "aluminum" cabling. Copper ages and blends with time -- aluminum does not. Cables are always installed outside the house because the lightning bolt travels on the "outside" edges of the cable ... thus putting cables on the inside is counter-productive.

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by jrref

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

$4,995 for rods, was the paperwork left by homeowner, as was $19,650 for landscaping and $9,850 for driveway.

No house was hit, according to FD and Seco, lightning hit the ground 39’ from any tree, pole, or structure. Traveling through ground to effected homes. The closest home to the strike lost all appliances TV, as did homes on both sides.

The next 2 homes lost some electronics.

We were the farthest last home and only lost irrigation box. That might be because interior was being painted and all appliances were unplugged.

2 homes had Seco surge installed. As did we, which didn’t stop the irrigation problem. Jacobs had to shut water off at the mail box.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

We don't have a furnace. Our plumbing pipes are underneath the house in the crawlspace. Our hot water heater is in a nook accessed through the exterior of the house, not the interior or in a garage. We have a metal roof, which might or might not reduce risk, depending on whose website you read.

Originally Posted by Topspinmo

So got electric furnace?

Asked and answered.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by jrref

In your particular case, you are basically right in your assumptions but I would still consult with a lightning protection professional like A1 to see what's proper for your metal home. Typically, they put aluminum rods in a much less complex arrangement and a lot cheaper, so if lightning strikes it hits the rods and the charge is sent safely to ground instead of a random part of your metal structure. In your case without the rods, any part of your metal home could be the end point of a strike, and potentially damage the metal structure of your home since it's not designed to withstand that kind of event. Even though your home is grounded, there is no guarantee that every part of your metal home is making good electrical contact to send the charge safely to ground. If you look closely, most homes and businesses with metal roofs have aluminum rods that are grounded. A LPS system in your case may be cheaper than you think.

Most homes and businesses are not manufactured homes set on cinderblocks and anchored to cement posts several feet deep into the ground, with metal roofs and metal frames.

[MicRoDrafting]

Originally Posted by jrref

Lightning is unpredictable and most won't spend the money which is less than the cost of one cruise, to get a lightning protection system..

GRATEFUL for Ceramic Tile Roofing
as our home was Struck by Lightning and merely Shattered a handful of Tile at the Corner of the Peak Gable …

… UNFORTUNATELY
we did NOT have a Whole House Ground Fault Device inside the Circuit Panel, and lost all our TV’s, HiFi System, and other Electronic Devices …

APPEARS that
the Current of the Lightening Jumped to a Flood Light mounted on the Wall at the Peak and Traced the Wire across the entire house in the Attic Space Back to the Circuit Panel

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by airstreamingypsy

So many people being negative about something that has proven to be effective. Lightning rods work. You may not want them, you maybe can't afford them, or are happy taking the risk. But, they do work.

I had lightning rods or my horse barn and house in SC. One day my barn rods took a direct hit.... my horses were inside. Lightning rods work.

Wearing hazmat suits works to keep toxins from the air away from your skin. It's not likely you'll ever have to worry about that, but it's still a possibility. Do you own a hazmat suit? No? Why not?

If I lived in a barn here in Central Florida, the lightning capital of the country, then you betcha I'd have a lightning rod installed. But the fact that they "work" just doesn't really matter, when you live in a metal-framed metal-roofed manufactured home on cinderblocks that's properly grounded and anchored. The odds that the lightning rod will prevent damage, is almost equal to the odds that the damage will be minimized just fine without it.

[pwalsh]

Air traffic control towers are equipped with LPS to protect sensitive electronics for critical air safety operations. They also benefit from instrumentation to count the number lightning strikes received by the LPS. A Federal Aviation Administration study showed that the Tampa control tower recorded 25,000 lightning strikes with no damage. The Orlando control tower experienced 20,000 lightning strikes with loss of one telephone line.

The above demonstrates that LPS do work if they are designed, installed, and maintained according to the national standard on lightning, National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)-780, Standard for the Installation of Lightning Protection Systems. This standard was first issued by the NFPA in 1904 and has been updated thirty times since by a panel of lightning experts.

CAUTION: this is a buyer beware marketplace because there is no state or local certification for LPS installers and no building permits with follow up inspections. The industry does police itself when LPS firms become “listed” by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) AND their installers pass four closed book proctored exams to qualify as “Master Installers” by the lightning Protection Institute (LPI). Also beware that firms found in the Yellow Pages or on Internet may not meet the above UL and LPI criteria.

In summary, LPS provide a reliable and time-tested method to protect homes from the destructive forces of lightning, ensuring safety and peace of mind for homeowners living here in the Lightning Capital of the United States.

I spent 40 tears in the Air Traffic field, just moved into Shady Brook .. to me its worth the piece of mind.

[BostonRich]

I live in Calumet Grove. We really haven't had much lighting lately. What is the address of the home?

[thelegges]

I have read all the previous posts. So far I have acquired the knowledge that:

Every summer we get thread started about need of lighting protection. With pictures of house hit by lightning. This year it’s a little later than normal.
Should this be a TOTV sponsorship, advertising for a product that clearly two posters are pushing a product. That may or may not be closely tied to businesses that supply this product. Either by referral or just posting to boost business. One post admits that “No quote has been over $4,000 in TV”. Are the quote on a public website, or internal knowledge

Cost is equivalent to taking a cruise. If one doesn’t cruise, because it’s not a budget item does that means it’s only affordable to those that cruise.

If one doesn’t cruise, do you just replace cost with buying less dining, groceries, fuel!

I get informed posts, but this thread seems to be a little more than….

“Sadly this home was damaged by Lightning last night” keep them in your thoughts.

I get post is a need to buy this product or this picture could be your house.

[sounding]

Originally Posted by BostonRich

I live in Calumet Grove. We really haven't had much lighting lately. What is the address of the home?

17067 Locustwood. Also, "we" is relative. So far this year southern Villages is getting many more storms and lightning and house fires. More at the Weather Club.