Re: Checking House Ground/Lightning protection

James "Cubby" Culbertson wrote:

Hiya,
My sister recently had a bolt of lightning hit very near to her house. She lost a number of electronic appliances as a result. My initial thought is that she may not have a good ground for her house. I'm wondering if there is a way to test it or is it mostly just a visual thing? As well, are whole house surge protectors good for this type of application? I suspect not but thought I'd ask. I'm in a high lightning area (2nd highest number in this state, FL is no. 1) and really don't have any trees nearby so I'm beginning to think maybe a separate ground system just for lightning protection might make sense. Obviously I'd locate the ground rod as far away from the house ground but I'm wondering if this makes sense?
Cheers,
cc



The best information I have seen on surge protection is at
http://www.mikeholt.com/files/PDF/LightningGuide_FINALpublishedversion_May051.pdf
- the title is "How to protect your house and its contents from lightning: IEEE guide for surge protection of equipment connected to AC power and communication circuits"
- it was published by the IEEE in 2005 (the IEEE is the dominant organization of electrical and electronic engineers in the US)

A second reference is
http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/practiceguides/surgesfnl.pdf
- this is the "NIST recommended practice guide: Surges Happen!: how to protect the appliances in your home"
- it is published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the US government agency formerly called the National Bureau of Standards in 2001

Both guides were intended for wide distribution to the general public to explain surges and how to protect against them. The IEEE guide was targeted at people who have some (not much) technical background. Read one (or both) to understand surges and protection.

Includes service panel protector, plug-in protector, system ground, single point ground.

Note that when using a plug-in surge suppressor and a device, like a computer, has connections other than power, like a phone line, they have to be connected through the surge suppressor also. This type of suppressor is called a surge reference equalizer (SRE) by the IEEE (also described by the NIST). The idea is that all wires connected to the device (power, phone, CATV, LAN, ...) are clamped to the common ground at the SRE. The voltage on all wires passing through the SRE to the protected device are held to a voltage safe to the device.


bud--
.

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