Lightning protection

[Craig]

Anything else amiss? If not, I doubt lightning was the culprit. Good luck with the repair.

Everything else was fine. All the good stuff was unplugged. I have no way to know for sure if lightning was to blame. Definitely not a direct or near strike but there were some brown outs from distant lightning strikes that day.

By the way there were 3 people struck by lightning yesterday in the Tampa Bay area in three separate incidents. I think they all survived.

 

[sleepysurf]

Hmmm... just dawned on me that since I now have a dedicated 20 amp circuit for my audio setup, I can just flip the breaker to "disconnect" everything. Am I coorect in assuming that will offer me adequate lightning protection, or could a surge still "jump" thru a flipped breaker?

 

[wipper snapper]

The circuit breaker only interrupts the line voltage; the neutral and ground conductors are not switched by the c/b. Best bet is to still unplug.

Adrian

 

[risabet]

Hmmm... just dawned on me that since I now have a dedicated 20 amp circuit for my audio setup, I can just flip the breaker to "disconnect" everything. Am I coorect in assuming that will offer me adequate lightning protection, or could a surge still "jump" thru a flipped breaker?

A nearby strike, not to mention a direct hit, will simply jump the open breaker, frying whatever is connected to the system. By definition lightning exceeds the breakdown voltage for air and the gap in a CB is too small to be effective. Unplugging is the safest course.

 

[sleepysurf]

Darn, I knew that sounded "too" easy! Thanks for the expert feedback, as usual!

 

[JonFo]

The circuit breaker only interrupts the line voltage; the neutral and ground conductors are not switched by the c/b. Best bet is to still unplug.

Adrian

Yep, in my system I use these as first line of defense for the whole house (on each 200amp panel):
http://powergy.com/Industrial.aspx

Then I use heavy duty relays in my automated power controller to disconnect both legs of the power.

But as noted elsewhere, we are still at risk due to phone, Satellite, and network connections. I use surge protection on all the above, but I'm still nervous. We had four house fires in one day this month due to lightning, one of which burned the house to the foundation.