Jesus christ thank goodness lightning does strike the same place twice

[Mike Me Mate]

Just got my nice and handy copy of the 2011 on site guide. The whole section on spd protection was a bit over welming. I swear it's more important than an rcd, by the way they go on about it.
I don't even think I've ever seen a lighting storm in this country.
Is this a new selling point for electrical installations?

 

[Short Circuit]

Mike, although i agree that i havent seen that many, there are something like 58000 a year! I sat through that Dave Cable giving a talk on SPD at Elex, and he went on about it, well on and on - but it was quite an eye opener! If you read the telegraph ( or ever believe what the papers say), have a look at this When you think about it there have abeen numerous things in the news where villages and towns have had appliances blowing up because of it! Not too keen on the idea myself as i think it should be the choice of the user if they want it or not, rather than saying the have to have it. Dont get me wrong, i agree we should be installing earth tape down buildings, but surely the surge is to be protect appliances more than anything and we have enough trouble pricing jobs to get them, without adding the cost of Surge Protection on. There were a few people displaying various types of SPD at Elex, and all seemed that it was the way forward - mind they are selling the stuff!

 

[Deleted member 19807]

i have had a house struck, not good, i had 2 young kids in the bath and it hit about 10ft above our heads.

It went for the T&E run along between 2 loft lights.

It melted most of my wiring and took out video's and computers along my block of houses.

the hole in the roof was about 1m dia.

 

[Short Circuit]

Bloody Hell - you had a lucky escape there. I would guess that other than putting lightning protection (tape) across every building, theres not a lot you can do to prevent it. My take on the SPD was that it goes prior to the CU in most cases therefore in your instance it wouldn't have saved very much. Bet it was frightening when it happened!

 

[Knobhead]

My local had a direct hit. It struck the Sky receiver on the chimney travelled down the cable splitting the tiles as it went. I near choked on my beer as the sky boxes, televisions, sound system in the bar all exploded. It even knocked out the beer pumps, I drank real ale so I was OK.

 

[Deleted member 19807]

It was interesting to say the least, the kids were both under 3 and we lived in a town house and the bathroom was on the second floor, so i had to scoop them both up, wrap in a towel and get them out as all i knew was there had been a big bang above my head,

the cpc in the t&e that was hit had changed from round to a figure 8 shape, never seen anything like it, it was stripped from the insulation and just hanging from the roof. I did keep a sample of it for a long time but its been lost now.

 

[Silly Sausage]

Good tales of destruction there boys.
I almost got struck once, working in a mental hospital at the time, I was in the bog about to flush and there's an almighty bang outside and as I'm reaching for the handle there was about a 6 inch long spark between it and my hand. Came as quite a shock.

 

[Deleted member 19807]

Came as quite a shock.

I bet it did

 

[SW1970]

Not quite the same but I was on a flight over the channel when lighting struck the plane. Apparently it's very rare. There was a very loud crack, everything went dark, screams, the whole scary movie works and then about half a minute later the lights came on and the pilot said over the pa everything was going to be ok. It was completely silent after that - not a sound from any passenger!

 

[midgetman]

I don't even think I've ever seen a lighting storm in this country.

I was parked up in front of this house and it gave me a big jump! Muhuhuhuhuuuuuu


BBC News - Tropical storm Katia causes damage in Cornwall

 

[Knobhead]

I was in a 200’ high plant with a storm direct overhead. It was bloody frightening! Thinking of it afterwards I was in what is basically a Faraday cage, so safe (in theory). That doesn’t stop you crapping yourself during the storm! The only damage was a fried lighting cable and my underpants!

 

[steve447]

Good tales of destruction there boys.
I almost got struck once, working in a mental hospital at the time, I was in the bog about to flush and there's an almighty bang outside and as I'm reaching for the handle there was about a 6 inch long spark between it and my hand. Came as quite a shock.

Lucky you were in the toilet