My home has been struck by lightning 5 times this year, what can I do?

[Snake-Eyes]

Put a 1-iron on your roof. Even God can't hit a 1-iron.

 

[Snake-Eyes]

Get the ex-wife to stand outside with a golf club in the air? It may not help with your electricity issues, but will fix a lot of others. LOL

 

[JacksonLongwood]

We just got struck by lightning AGAIN for the 5th time this year. Each time it does our internet system gets smashed and a technician has to come out. Is there anything we can do to prevent or reduce the impact of lightning? Everything is on surge protectors, but our provider says that lightning tends to hit the broadband cable and there's no protection for that.

That was happening to my commercial building. I discovered the aluminum ground cable, in the meter box, was heavily corroded. Gulf Power came and repaired their incoming cable. That seemed to take care of the problem.

 

[Telum Pisces]

All of my important electronics are on UPS.

Sent from my SM-A426U using Tapatalk

 

[USAF Sarge]

Back in Sept 1981, when I was in my Freshman year in HS, we were stationed at Homestead AFB at the time.

My dad was on the phone, at his desk in the hangar when the line went dead. They tried calling him on the radio with no luck. They sent a runner and found him several feet away from his desk, and the phone receiver was fried and melted.

He was out cold with an irregular heartbeat. They figured that a lightening strike had traveled through the phone lines and he was at the end of the line (No pun intended). They had to shock him back into a normal cardiac rhythm. Whether EMS or the base hospital did this I don't recall.

From that day forward until he passed in 2011, he would not talk on the phone during lightening. Didn't matter if the phone was corded, cordless or a cell phone. He'd just say gotta go there's lightening, hang-up, and would then sit in the middle of the office or house away from electronics until it passed. He actually hung up on his Commander in California because of lightening in the area.

He would say it only takes getting zotted one time to change your ways. He obviously had a healthy respect for it and fear of it from that day forward.

 

[tros6t]

The pole that feeds our house also feeds my neighbors house! His house is a little closer to the pole! In the past 19 years, they have had direct hits two times! For one hit, our telephone wiring was fried! During the other hit, I switched on a lamp and it gave me a light shock but did not destroy anything so we apparently only got some residue! They lost several appliances, tv’s etc! One was without surge protection and one with!

 

[Gitsum]

We just got struck by lightning AGAIN for the 5th time this year. Each time it does our internet system gets smashed and a technician has to come out. Is there anything we can do to prevent or reduce the impact of lightning? Everything is on surge protectors, but our provider says that lightning tends to hit the broadband cable and there's no protection for that.

You CAN purchase a surge protector for the whole house. Also check your exterior ground rod that grounds the incoming power service. Should be a copper wire leading to a ground rod, usually where your power meter is. Make sure ground wire exists and that is connected to the ground rod.

 

[Fordtudor37]

After reading the post from "Duckyou" and seeing if you have done those things first, the next would be to ask -- Are you near a water source or large open area that would allow an electrical discharge to "jump" to the ground to complete the arc easily, but your house being a taller structure takes the "hit" first. -- Are there higher then normal mineral deposits in the ground which your house is built on which attracts the electrical energy to discharge to your house ? -- How easy would it be for you to install a large pole similar to an old power line pole similar to we see on the side of the road and then attach a lightning rod with heavy gauge wire to draw the electrical discharge in its direction, instead of towards your home.

 

[Fordtudor37]

After reading further and your comment about telephone lines being "fried", my first thing would be for you to go out and check not only the "grounding" for your house as well as thier's across the street as well. --- Sounds like one of you do not have a correctly working "grounding system" and therefore your house takes the blunt of the electrical discharge, since your "ground" has a better "connection" to complete the discharge process.

 

[miket4661]

We just got struck by lightning AGAIN for the 5th time this year. Each time it does our internet system gets smashed and a technician has to come out. Is there anything we can do to prevent or reduce the impact of lightning? Everything is on surge protectors, but our provider says that lightning tends to hit the broadband cable and there's no protection for that.

This may not help you getting struck but, FPL used to have an insurance plan that protected anything that got zapped in your home. It wasn't expensive and it might be worth checking out.

 

[fla_gun]

That sucks , I hope someone has a fix for you.

My house had the same problem for years. We lost quite a few high dollar items. I even had a whole house protector installed and no change. Electrician must not have checked the ground.
In 2016 I checked the ground rod provided by the electric company. First the ground clamp fell apart when I uncovered it. Second the ground rod had deteriorated so bad that I pulled up all 2 feet that was left.

I went to Lowes and bought two 8 foot ground rods, two outdoor clamps, a 2 in one clamp for the breaker panel and a 50 foot roll of #4 bare copper wire.

I installed the ground rods 16 feet apart and ran the #4 from the neutral/ground buss to the first ground rod. Without breaking the #4 at the first ground rod I went through the clamp and terminated to the second ground rod clamp.

I tied the cable TV ground to the first ground rod as well as an existing #6 from the outdoor copper water pipe. All connections got a coat of T&B Kopr-Shield.

I installed the ground rods slightly below ground level and covered with a 6” conduit cap. That way I can pull the cap up to easily check the connections.

I routed the AC evaporator drip next to one ground rod. I water the other occasionally.

I also installed 240V surge protectors to all the 240V appliances at the connections. ($60 each)

We have not had a lightning problem since.

I worked on communications equipment in the Florida panhandle for several years. The soil there required coupling two ground rods back to back and driving all 16 feet into the sandy ground. Sometimes that was not enough.

Best of luck!

 

[rviray]

When I lived in central Florida, the newer houses had Lightning Diverters installed. Basically, they're copper rods installed on the roof with cables running from the roof to the ground. My house never got struck, but the theory is correct. If lightning came near the house the rod would attract the electricity and that electricity would be diverted to the cable and exit out into the ground.

 

[Danwin22]

Telephone poles have ground wires connected to the strand cable that supports the transmission cables.

If your telephone, cable tv or electric line is getting hit there may be a problem at the pole.

I'd call the most likely service providers first and explain your problem to let them investigate before contacting the Public Service Commission or the local TV station that loves to report on consumer problems.

 

[SGT58]

Years ago while living in a neighborhood with underground utilities my dial up internet went out. Yeah that long ago. When I was trying to get online I heard a sound down the street that sounded like a large truck idling. I walked outside and 10 houses down the street the fire dept. was responding to a fire on the underground gas line. Lightning had struck the gas line 3 feet underground and took out the buried phone line at the same time, frying my modem thru the phone line. My surge protector was only on the power, not the phone. Impressed the hell out of me hitting something buried 3 feet underground. The gas line was ruptured and lit off. They were waiting for the residual gas to burn off so it could be repaired. Underground utilities buy you some protection but are not absolute. It can run down the line from the pole that feeds the underground service as well. Good luck finding solution.

 

[JKsapper79]

We just got struck by lightning AGAIN for the 5th time this year. Each time it does our internet system gets smashed and a technician has to come out. Is there anything we can do to prevent or reduce the impact of lightning? Everything is on surge protectors, but our provider says that lightning tends to hit the broadband cable and there's no protection for that.

Get right with the Lord buddy I think He is trying to get your attention!!

 

[DAS HUGH!]

Yeah you'd think a huge flagpole going deep into the ground would act as a grounding rod and divert and protect what's near it. When it exploded its concrete footer and killed all electronics in basically a 100 foot radius amazed me. Luckily it happened and night and no one was at work at the time. Or there would have been like 5 dead at least. It's a busy office

 

[Idoono]

As had been said, check your grounds, get a whole house surge protector, and use UPS systems on all important electronics. I currently use 5 UPS's as I type this. The modems (2) and router have their own UPS. My computer has its own UPS as well as my wife's has hers. The main TV is on a UPS while the bedroom TV also has it's own. When I built the house we installed grounds around the house and cad welded everything together.

And good luck!

 

[Blackbeard 3]

Check your grounds. Also, if your electric meter is on one side of the house and your cable/internet is on the otherside with a separate ground, you need to tie them together by running a ground wire to either the ground rod for the electric or back to the source i.e. the pole or padmount transformer.

 

[Danwin22]

In my 45 years in the telephone companies I saw several examples of lightning damage.

In one case lightning hit a tree, blew out several feet of a stone wall, jumped to a 12' ladder laying on the ground jumped to the telephone protector box, went inside and smoked all of the equipment in the key telephone system cabinet and then followed the wire to a Code-A -Phone answering machine and melted about a 3" hole in the steel base.

 

[Danielp40]

Get right with the Lord buddy I think He is trying to get your attention!!

This is what I’m saying lol. In the same vein, there’s several irreverent mentions of God in this thread, and I’m over here thinking, isn’t this post about lightning? Do you really want to tempt God? Especially while talking about lightning? Some of you guys aren’t real bright, or maybe if you keep blaspheming, you could be real soon…