Maybe our house was hit by lightning. Maybe, maybe not.

[HBARleatherneck]

We had a tremendous storm yesterday. It rained hard here from 4pm past 11pm. And I think most of the night it rained also. We had a huge light show, lightning and thunder constantly. one boom at 10:10pm was instantaneous with the lightning. I was standing at the window, but looked away at that second. I think it hit us or right near us. All the power went out on the road.

The power came back eventually during the night. But, when we woke up at 3pm every GFCI in the house was popped. And the worst part is my well controller is non functional. They cost between $1000-1200 plus shipping. I got the electrician coming out right now to look. I have 248 volts going in, but nothing coming out. I disassembled the controller, but there is no reset and nothing looks blown. No bulging capacitors.


So, how many times a week do I hear from city folk who think it would be great to live in the country? Its expensive and is a lot of work to be your own water supplier, road maintenance tech, security professional, builder, electrician, etc.

I hate spending money on stuff like this.

[n8tive97]

That sucks, glad everyone is ok. I remember living in Rural AZ as a kid and watching a lightning bolt hit the transformer outside the house on the electric pole. Left one hell of an impression.

FTR, I would rather be in the country or mountains. I think I am becoming a recluse in my old age.

[Wulf202]

Damn. Was it on surge protection?

[MarkCO]

Unless you have a high deductible, consider an insurance claim and get the pump tested too. Glad you are okay otherwise.

[BushMasterBoy]

Unfortunately a lot of houses are grounded to the foundations rebar. Forget electrical code saying that's OK, it is bad science! Get a real copper coated steel ground rod 8' long. Sink it into the ground near the breaker box. Then clamp a solid wire to the top of the rod and install other end of wire to the ground bus in the breaker box. Have a licensed electrician do it, if you don't understand what I am saying. I got a big hole across the street where a house used to be, lightning destroyed the foundation! If you lived close, I'd let you see the ground I installed.

[buffalobo]

Unfortunately a lot of houses are grounded to the foundations rebar. Forget electrical code saying that's OK, it is bad science! Get a real copper coated steel ground rod 8' long. Sink it into the ground near the breaker box. Then clamp a solid wire to the top of the rod and install other end of wire to the ground bus in the breaker box. Have a licensed electrician do it, if you don't understand what I am saying. I got a big hole across the street where a house used to be, lightning destroyed the foundation! If you lived close, I'd let you see the ground I installed.

This^.

I put in 3-8' ground rods when I built our house. Our electrician recommended it and it was very small extra cost.

Sent from my DROID Pro using Tapatalk 2

[sandman76]

Lightning can play hell with stuff. Fascinating phenomenon. Literally anything can happen. Ground rods, concrete encased electrode either one won't make much difference. Lightning will do what it wants. Some type of reputable lightning mitigation company installing an overall system might help. I don't know for sure. I've been in the electrical business for 36 years. I've seen tons of electronics (GFCI's, smoke detectors, TV's, stereos etc.) wrecked by nearby lightning strikes. A direct hit and who knows what could happen.

[HBARleatherneck]

we inspected the board. the top surface showed nothing wrong. we unscrewed the board and flipped it over. blown all out. I am trying to locate a controller right now. i can get one online for a lower price. But may not have water for a week. Remember I have a wife, 6 young kids at home plus livestock, so thats really not a GOOD option. Thankfully, I thought ahead and did the manual pump last year and we do have water. Just manually drawn water. So, we run outside and fill 5 gallon buckets to fill the toilets. I have lots of water stored as well. I probably wont dip into the storage though. If it was winter I might be tempted, but its just as easy to walk out and fill buckets from the wellhead.

its still raining here. i think the sky broke. it never rains here.

[hghclsswhitetrsh]

Want me to check my supply houses? If so pm me all the important info and I will look for you.

[HBARleatherneck]

Goulds BF20 controller. Maybe the Goulds 3AS20 is the newer version.

[Sparky]

Have you tried Johnstone supply in Denver?

[HBARleatherneck]

i just checked them, it doesnt look like they carry goulds.

if I knew for sure another brand would be ok, I would go that route to. But, I wouldnt know which ones would be interchangeable. My pump is also goulds.

it looks like Colorado water well in Denver will have one for me today at 4pm. My wife is headed to the ghetto. just south of the Pepsi center.

thanks for the help gents.

[Ronin13]

Unless you have a high deductible, consider an insurance claim and get the pump tested too. Glad you are okay otherwise.
NO NO NO!
Do not listen to people who say just file a claim- odds are they don't know insurance that well. If it really is $1-2,000 you're going to basically screw yourself. Insurance is not for every little tiny inconvenience out there. Basement flooded, gonna cost $4,000 to get right? Spend the money. Your $1500 laptop was stolen? Pay out of pocket. Did your $400,000 house burn to the ground? That's where insurance comes into play. Do a cost analysis before getting on the horn with your insurance company/agent. What's the total damage? What's your deductible? What's your claims history like? If no claims, what kind of loss-free discount are you currently getting? Are you willing to pay a higher premium for 5 years? Are you willing to pay a claim surcharge for the next 5 years? Will the cost to get it fixed be as much as your deductible plus surcharge, plus losing the loss free credit, plus the increased premium? If yes and/or more, then go ahead an file the claim, otherwise, my advice, pay out of pocket. Besides, what happens if next year something even worse happens that ends up being $15,000- a lot of companies are cancelling people with more than one claim in a 3-year period. Is it worth it to get cancelled and have to try to find insurance elsewhere that will most likely be a helluva lot more than what you're paying now?

Good luck HBAR- sorry this happened.

[Sparky]

Sending out a few emails to see if I can find you one sooner.

[Aloha_Shooter]

Doesn't necessarily mean it was lightning. I had a GFCI popped a couple weeks ago after one of our stronger rain storms and it took 3 days before I could get it to reset.

[theGinsue]

! If you lived close, I'd let you see the ground I installed.

At some point this summer I'd love to come see this myself. Many years back my folks 12' satellite dish (yeah, remember those?) got hit. The current flowed the 100 yards from the dish into the house and blew out all of my dads A/V stuff. There were pieces of the recepticle cover plate embedded in the wall across the room (~18ft) from where the current entered the room. The more I can learn about mitigation efforts, the more prepared I'll be when I'm ready to build my next home.


Thankfully, I thought ahead and did the manual pump last year and we do have water. Just manually drawn water. So, we run outside and fill 5 gallon buckets to fill the toilets. I have lots of water stored as well. I probably wont dip into the storage though. If it was winter I might be tempted, but its just as easy to walk out and fill buckets from the wellhead.

its still raining here. i think the sky broke. it never rains here.

My best friend is on a well up outside of Florissant. I've been encouraging him to install a back-up manual pump & some sort of storage tank since he moved in as a SHTF option. He hasn't listened yet. I even like the idea of building a small well house and using solar as the primary pump power source to reduce his "on-the-grid" presence. The solar could even be used to power a small heater for the cold winter days to avoid freezing. Again, deaf ears.

[Wulf202]

Based on what hbar is saying his house is new enough to have a standard ground rod installed at construction and the strike was close but not direct hit

There's a dirty jobs episode where they install a lightning system in a house.

[HBARleatherneck]

i am going to install a lightning rod system. the rods are cheap. its the ground wire thats expensive. you can go copper or aluminum. And I am going to put in a whole house surge protector. They are $79 http://www.lightningrodsupply.com/index_files/page0005.htm

why couldnt it been the tv or computer that got fried??? o they are all on surge protectors.

my house has two copper ground rods. i guess they arent the cure all.

my wife is at the place and paying for it as we speak. she cares more about the water situation than I do, so she is happy to get the controller today.

all this spending comes the same week that I allready spent $2000 on fencing materials. And I have to still buy another $1900 worth to get the place completely fenced

[crashdown]

So my house/ panel is grounded to my well casing which I assume goes down pretty far.
Is that a good option?

[HBARleatherneck]

your steel well casing goes to bedrock. i dont know if its good or not.

[Sparky]

So my house/ panel is grounded to my well casing which I assume goes down pretty far.
Is that a good option?

If lightning is what you are worried about some supplemental grounding never hurt along with surge protection. Really though whole house lightning protection systems are best.

Maybe I should branch off my company and start doing this.

[Stone83]

I agree Sandman... My neighbor had his transformer get a direct hit (his house is 850ft from mine)
It blew out all my outlets facing his house (Normal & GFCI) but the lights/AC/fridge/freezer...just fine.

Electricity is crazy scary

[Irving]

+1 to what Ronin said. I was on my phone earlier and couldn't comment, plus he knows more about that stuff than I do. I do know that Homeowner's insurance is not like Auto where you can rack up claims to your hearts content. Sometimes after even one claim they will just non-renew you.

[HBARleatherneck]

I got the system back up and running. I rewired and installed the new controller. It converts single phase to 3 phase and also regulates pressure, overload, etc.

I had no intention of filing a claim.

My house has about 10 GFCIs and they were all popped and then the controller being burned up. Either we got hit or it hit very, very close.

[westom]

My house has about 10 GFCIs and they were all popped and then the controller being burned up. Either we got hit or it hit very, very close. To have your damage means a surge current was permitted inside. Once inside, then that current will hunt for earth ground, destructively, via appliances. Protectors adjacent to appliances give that current even more potentially destructive paths to earth via appliances (as you have apparently seen).

A 'whole house' protector is a different device that, unfortunately, shares a same name. Like all other protectors, it does not do protection. Instead, it connects that surge current to what does protection - single point earth ground. Protectors are simple science. The art of protection (what does protection) is the earth ground. That earthing electrode and how it gets connected should have most of your attention. A protector is only as effective as its earth ground.

Cable enters the house without a protector. Best protection for that incoming conductor is a wire as short as possible (ie 'less than 10 feet') to that single point earth ground. Other wires (AC electric, telephone) cannot be earthed directly. So we compromise. A protector makes the next best connection to earth. So, every incoming wire must first connect to earth BEFORE entering the building. A utility demonstrates the concept:
http://www.duke-energy.com/indiana-business/products/power-quality/tech-tip-08.asp

Protection means no current 'invited' to go hunting for earth via appliances. Every wire inside every incoming cable must have a low impedance (ie 'less than 10 foot') connection to earth BEFORE entering. A connection via a hardwire. Or a connection via a 'whole house' protector. In every case, protection is not defined by a protector. In every case, protection is defined by earth ground.

In your case, a surge current obviously was inside and hunting for earth, destructively, via appliances. Once permitted inside, then nothing will avert that hunt.

BTW, above is only secondary protection. Also inspect your primary surge protection layer. A picture demonstrates what to inspect:
http://www.tvtower.com/fpl.html

[Ronin13]

+1 to what Ronin said. I was on my phone earlier and couldn't comment, plus he knows more about that stuff than I do. I do know that Homeowner's insurance is not like Auto where you can rack up claims to your hearts content. Sometimes after even one claim they will just non-renew you.
Unfortunately, I have actually seen this. Some companies, thanks to a few bad years (Katrina, Joplin, Sandy, and now Moore), are really tightening their belts.

I got the system back up and running. I rewired and installed the new controller. It converts single phase to 3 phase and also regulates pressure, overload, etc.

I had no intention of filing a claim.

My house has about 10 GFCIs and they were all popped and then the controller being burned up. Either we got hit or it hit very, very close.
I knew you were a smart man! [Beer] Glad everything is fixed. Kind of scary though with lightning considering we know more about the human brain than we do about lightning, and the brain ain't exactly a 2-stroke engine. We had a friend's house get struck two years ago, and I kid you not, their TV, computer monitor and 3 light fixtures exploded. Almost caught the house on fire. That's why you gotta have a fire extinguisher in your home.

[westom]

Kind of scary though with lightning considering we know more about the human brain than we do about lightning, ... How to protect from direct lightning strikes was well understood over 100 years ago. The OPs problem is only fixed WHEN reasons for damage are eliminated. By using concepts understood over 100 years ago. And by forgetting about other protectors that do not even claim lightning protection.

Protectors, that most recommend, are typically so undersized as to disconnect from a surge as fast as possible. To leave a surge connected to appliances. Because protection inside appliances (even GFCIs) is often superior, then the naive assume their defective protector did that protection. Meanwhile concepts that expose that myth were even understood over 100 years ago.

Because the 'other' device is so ineffective, then many then believe nothing can protect from direct lightning strikes. We have long known how to make direct lightning strikes irrelevant. But many (probably a majority) are instead educated by advertising myths. That promote another protector ineffective for a destructive type of surge. Then many assume "nothing can protect from lightning" - despite what Franklin demonstrated in 1752.

[HBARleatherneck]

So, what is your point to joining our Colorado forum? your only two posts are about this topic. You talk alot but say nothing. Let me guess, you are a business?


How to protect from direct lightning strikes was well understood over 100 years ago. The OPs problem is only fixed WHEN reasons for damage are eliminated. By using concepts understood over 100 years ago. And by forgetting about other protectors that do not even claim lightning protection.

Protectors, that most recommend, are typically so undersized as to disconnect from a surge as fast as possible. To leave a surge connected to appliances. Because protection inside appliances (even GFCIs) is often superior, then the naive assume their defective protector did that protection. Meanwhile concepts that expose that myth were even understood over 100 years ago.

Because the 'other' device is so ineffective, then many then believe nothing can protect from direct lightning strikes. We have long known how to make direct lightning strikes irrelevant. But many (probably a majority) are instead educated by advertising myths. That promote another protector ineffective for a destructive type of surge. Then many assume "nothing can protect from lightning" - despite what Franklin demonstrated in 1752.

[Sawin]

So, what is your point to joining our Colorado forum? your only two posts are about this topic. You talk alot but say nothing. Let me guess, you are a business?

You took the words right out of my mouth. 2 rambling posts seemingly meant to confuse? Well he succeeded. I'm foncused.

[westom]

So, what is your point
Your damage was because you did not know a simple solution - that costs about $1 per protected appliance. So why are you resentful rather than inquisitive? Why would you not want a deterrent to future damage? To have damage means a surge current was permitted inside – due to a human mistake. Since you don’t want to learn, then don’t read this and don’t reply.

So what is your point? To be indignant only because you did not know this? Or be indignant because you want to be angry? Posted was the solution for others who choose to avoid your unnecessary damage. They know how to prevent that human created mistake and resulting damage.

[HBARleatherneck]

so you are a spammer.

[Dingo]

But, but fellas... he understands things that have been known for 100 years!

[Dingo]

And has a command of English sentence structure roughly on par with a Chinese instruction manual...

[Dingo]

P.S. Yes, I attacked his syntax with a sentence fragment. Oh, the piercing irony which Mr. Engrish is capable of perpetrating...

The trazodone is kicking in.... I need to go to bed.

Death to spammers...