Lightning protection

[Russ Pagels]

Has any one installed lightning protection on their home. we seem to be getting more and more sever thunder storm every year. we are having one now.one house that I know of was hit and burned to the ground a few years back .the price is not that high. Just wanted to check with the experts..Thanks Russ

[Pete Fallon]

Russ Pagels,
My last home had 2 lightning rods on the roof connected via copper #6 solid strand wire to a ground rods next to the foundation. I had a lot of tall pine trees on the property. It seemed like every month in the rainy season (June through October) a tree would get hit. I only lived there for 3 years, never had a problem with the house or the barn but the trees got wacked a lot. I think I had 6 trees with visible lightning damage, bark blown off all the way to the ground, a few even had double hits.
I have been on a 1973 43 Egg Harbor(last of the wood hulled) that was hit 3 times in under an hour. Blew out all electronics on the first hit, the second hit melted a rigger tip off and the third time the steering wheel actually turned blue and the strike exited down the fly bridge rail and ladder. The fillings in my teeth hurt for 3 months, thankfully it was before I had the artificial knee replacements, I probably wouldn't be here now if I had the amount of metal in my knee back then as I do now. That was a delivery from Diana Beach to Marblehead that was to be a 2 week trip that took 7 weeks to finish between lightning damage repairs and a swallowed injector in a 6-71 JT conversion that had just been overhauled by Sun Diesel. Trip from hell. That boat had a great bonding system thankfully. If I ever had a new or remodeled house I would have a lightning system installed along with a back up generator.
Pete Fallon

[SteveM]

Russ,
I ordered lighting rods and copper on-line when we built the house in the Bahamas. The builder ribbed me that I was the first on the island to have this protection.
A few weeks later HIS house was hit by lighting…go figure.
5 Years and no hits and we stick out on the point above all other structures.
It's interesting technology when you read about it. I think Ben Franklin or even earlier scientists came up with the logic.
Steve

[Terry Frank]

Russ,
Welcome to to Pine Knoll Shores. Houses buried in trees with turtle, beach issues and flood insurance problems. I will bet that with all this BS your taxes are way lower than back on Long Island. We need to have dinner one night.

Terry

[CaptPatrick]

Russ,

Like an awful lot of my stuff, I rolled my own lightning protection.

First, I added a lightning arrestor to the main power box feeding my place, (commercial quality steel building). That helps protect me from lightning surges that might travel down the power line.

My computer cave, along with cctv surveillance & DVR is located inside a 2nd story room in the corner where the Directv dish is located. The antenna above the door is a series of security cameras and my wireless link to my ISP. All of this was wide open to a lightning strike...

I built a free standing lightning rod that's close to 40' long from sections of 1", 3/4", and 1/2" black iron pipe, topped with a 6' section of copper clad steel ground rod. Patterned after a triple spreader outrigger with an erected height of ~45'.

Knowing that sooner or later I might need to take the mast down for whatever reason, I constructed a hinged base plate so that the mast could be easily raised or lowered from the second level deck.

I built up a free standing concrete block pedestal, mounted the base and connected the mast with 00 stranded copper wire to a copper clad ground rod driven 5' into the ground. I also tied in ground rods to 2 locations of the metal building and the main power box out on the pole.

[Pete Fallon]

Capt Pat,
That is the best west Texas outrigger I ever saw. Mickey Rupp would be proud of that contraption. Great piece of engineering. Well it looks like the Vizcaya my 1961 31' Bertram has been sold. I haven't got the deposit yet but I have a strong verbal commitment. I hate to see her go but I had a great time with that boat for 36 years of stewardship. Price was lower than I wanted but I have to get my knee replaced and I haven't been able to work since last September, it's hard surveying a boat on crutches. Away she's going to the Virgin Islands. The bad thing about it is that she was almost done to my liking, the only thing left to do was paint the decks around the cockpit and forward deck and touch up the sides of the express wings, I already bought the paint. There is always another one out there and my health is coming first then another boat some time in the future. So I an going to be moving to the Boston area at the end of July, have my knee replaced in August and by the time I am ready to get back to work it will be January of 2015.
Pete Fallon

[Russ Pagels]

thanks one and all for the come backs, Pete I hope the operation goes smoothly ,Steve good info, Capt.Pat nice setup, but don't think the town would let me have that rig. Terry PKS is heaven try living on long Island. Terry sent you a PM...thanks Russ