If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Lightning Strike - Off Topic
Hello Guys/gals -
Occasionally I see a post in here that's way off topic so I hope the group doesn't mind this one, but we're in the middle of something I'm not sure's possible even as I sit here waiting for the Com Ed crew. Wanted to see if anyone here had any experience or thoughts. Yesterday morning at 6:30 a.m. I was standing downstairs in the kitchen not far from our sliding glass door during a particularly violent thunderstorm. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of lightning and what I can only describe as an explosion that rocked the home and threw what looked like welders sparks all over our back deck. It literally shook the house and that's exactly what I thought happened. Here's the extreemly wierd aftermath. Every tv cable box in the house was frozen. If it wasn't on we couldn't turn it on. The two that were were frozen on the televisons (pictures were frozen sound was going on). The storm came so fast we didnt know it was in the area. Eventually we unplugged all of them and all came back to normal except the one in our bedroom which is dead. Then the speakers on my computer were found to be dead. Not the computer nor anything else plugged into the same power surge protecter, just the speakers. Then . . . our garage door opener is fried or seems to be dead but all other items in garage (llike freezer) are fine. Our door bell is fried, but lights to front porch are ok. Our furnace will not turn on, but washer, dryer and all else are fine. Judy has a dictation machine on her desk that my daughter was going to use to transcribe some of my work. The damn thing turned on by itself, ejected a tape and would not turn off. We had to unplug it. It's plugged into the same surge protector Judy's computer is on. Nothing else was damaged there either ! ! ! I walked around outside and cannot see any evidence that the lightning hit the house or even the ground. I thought if it did it would at least leave a burn mark. Very puzzled right now and maybe looking at some pretty stiff bills (hoping insurance will cover). Anyone ever heard of such a thing.? Have any thoughts? Thanks for reading. p.s. my bass boat is ok and was charging as soon as we through the one and only circuit breaker that was blown. (there maybe that covers the ot postg) God Bless America Josh The Bad Bear |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Josh,
Lightning doesn't have to hit your building to wipe everything out. Last year they put a cell tower a few hundred yards from our business. Since then we have had tens of thousands of dollars worth of lightning damage from nearby strikes but no direct hits or even near direct hits. By the way, surge protectors will not stop this kind of damage since it is just too much energy. Proper grounding of electrical devices can help. Glad nobody was hurt and your boat survived. Shane |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Shane,
thanks. . . thought i was going nuts. ! -- God Bless America Josh The Bad Bear |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
I heard that Senkos have a weird way of conducting electricity. Please have
all senkos sent to me for safe storage "Joshuall" wrote in message ... Shane, thanks. . . thought i was going nuts. ! -- God Bless America Josh The Bad Bear |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
I have always been fascinated w/ lightning strikes...Josh, check out this
link http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...%3D%26sa %3DG and go to the page its from. You were lucky dude. Suthern "Joshuall" wrote in message ... Hello Guys/gals - Occasionally I see a post in here that's way off topic so I hope the group doesn't mind this one, but we're in the middle of something I'm not sure's possible even as I sit here waiting for the Com Ed crew. Wanted to see if anyone here had any experience or thoughts. Yesterday morning at 6:30 a.m. I was standing downstairs in the kitchen not far from our sliding glass door during a particularly violent thunderstorm. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of lightning and what I can only describe as an explosion that rocked the home and threw what looked like welders sparks all over our back deck. It literally shook the house and that's exactly what I thought happened. Here's the extreemly wierd aftermath. Every tv cable box in the house was frozen. If it wasn't on we couldn't turn it on. The two that were were frozen on the televisons (pictures were frozen sound was going on). The storm came so fast we didnt know it was in the area. Eventually we unplugged all of them and all came back to normal except the one in our bedroom which is dead. Then the speakers on my computer were found to be dead. Not the computer nor anything else plugged into the same power surge protecter, just the speakers. Then . . . our garage door opener is fried or seems to be dead but all other items in garage (llike freezer) are fine. Our door bell is fried, but lights to front porch are ok. Our furnace will not turn on, but washer, dryer and all else are fine. Judy has a dictation machine on her desk that my daughter was going to use to transcribe some of my work. The damn thing turned on by itself, ejected a tape and would not turn off. We had to unplug it. It's plugged into the same surge protector Judy's computer is on. Nothing else was damaged there either ! ! ! I walked around outside and cannot see any evidence that the lightning hit the house or even the ground. I thought if it did it would at least leave a burn mark. Very puzzled right now and maybe looking at some pretty stiff bills (hoping insurance will cover). Anyone ever heard of such a thing.? Have any thoughts? Thanks for reading. p.s. my bass boat is ok and was charging as soon as we through the one and only circuit breaker that was blown. (there maybe that covers the ot postg) God Bless America Josh The Bad Bear |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
There is an obscure grounding system called "the triangle". First saw it a
couple of weeks ago in Georgia. They use three ground rods spaced in a triangle. The gound lead from the building is welded to the first, and then welded to the others to form what looks like a lasso. It has proven to be so effective that all Georgia commercial & residential buildings are required to use them now.Might want to check it out! -- David Norton "alwaysfishking" wrote in message ... I heard that Senkos have a weird way of conducting electricity. Please have all senkos sent to me for safe storage "Joshuall" wrote in message ... Shane, thanks. . . thought i was going nuts. ! -- God Bless America Josh The Bad Bear |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
I thought you had all of the Senko's that were manufactured.
"alwaysfishking" wrote in message ... I heard that Senkos have a weird way of conducting electricity. Please have all senkos sent to me for safe storage "Joshuall" wrote in message ... Shane, thanks. . . thought i was going nuts. ! -- God Bless America Josh The Bad Bear |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Sorry for the mess you are going through. Back when I did field work fixing computers I saw everything from the kind of stuff you mentioned to electrical outlets blown off the walls. One of the main forms of damage around here is lightning hits that come through the phone lines. The other thing to watch out for is any odd noises or behaviors from appliences in the house. Many times things don't die right away but were damaged enough that they go out in the next couple of months. The more things you can tell the insurance comapny about up front, the easier it will be to go back to them later and say it was all related. Good Luck. |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
First, most lightning strikes never leave an indication.
Lightning is a high power but rarely a typically high energy event. Well over 90% of trees struck during a US Forestry study showed any indication of that direct lightning strike. Second, to be damaged, the appliance must have both an incoming and outgoing electrical path. It is electricity. Some forget this. For example, they think lightning comes in on phone line, damages a modem, then stops. Electricity does not work that way. To have damage, first lightning passes through everything in a path. Only later is something, still in that path, damaged. To appreciate why some things are damaged and others are not, one must first learn the complete electrical path. It is an electrical path from cloud to earth, then through earth to charges maybe located miles distant. An appliance is damaged when it becomes path of an electrical circuit from cloud to distant earthborne charges. Third, a figure from the NIST demonstrates how lightning can damage electronics: http://www.epri-peac.com/tutorials/sol01tut.html In this case, the problem is created by utility wires entering from the different directions. Same problem can be created when utility wires are not earthed to a common earth ground. IOW take those incoming AC electric and phone lines in that figure. Separate the phone line ground from AC electric ground. Now lightning strikes a nearby tree (or cell phone tower) on right side. Electricity travels right to left in that figure. It rises up on phone line ground, passes destructively through the fax machine, then drops back to earth on AC electric ground. This is but another reason why buildings must have a single point ground. Fourth, sometimes the lightning strike you saw was also forking to strike other nearby wires. These wires even out in the street are like antenna connections directly into every (non-radio) appliance. This is but another possible incoming path. What would be the outgoing path to earth ground? Lightning damages appliances because that appliance is in a good electrical path to earth. We never stop that electricity. We earth it before that destructive transient can find a path inside the building. A concept that Ben Franklin demonstrates in 1752. Give lightning a better path to earth and it will not take a destructive path through a church steeple (or your cable box). Nothing facetious in your damage. Some things were damaged because lightning found a complete electrical path through that appliance. Fields from the nearby strike did not cause those problems. Unfortunately, you now know what appliances were connected to improperly earthed incoming utility wires. How are they earthed? Earthing is how future damage can be eliminated. Effective protection costs far less that plug-in surge protectors. Joshuall wrote: Shane, thanks. . . thought i was going nuts. ! -- God Bless America Josh The Bad Bear |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
"Jerry Barton (NervisRek)" wrote in message ... I thought you had all of the Senko's that were manufactured. You can never have enough, I just got another color wacko called summer craw, very nice color. I'll see how they do in the morning |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Strike Indicators - Brian Chan article | Padishar Creel | Fly Fishing | 5 | May 20th, 2004 03:54 AM |
Strike Indicator Blind Test | Mark Tinsky | Fly Fishing | 2 | April 29th, 2004 07:54 AM |
Strike Putty? | Doug Kanter | Fly Fishing | 27 | April 21st, 2004 08:41 PM |
Strike King #3X Lures? | Steve @ OutdoorFrontiers | Bass Fishing | 15 | February 18th, 2004 06:06 PM |
Off Topic - 4 - Wheelers | RGarri7470 | Bass Fishing | 4 | December 20th, 2003 12:54 AM |