Peter,
I live in eastern Iowa and had a house built on a hilltop in 2000. The
location is rural, I had plans for multiple towers (there are now 3 on the
property), and no trees close to the house. While my part of Iowa is a
bit removed in the lightning stats from Florida and other parts of the
country that take more hits on an annual basis, I immediately planned to
have a whole house surge arrestor included as part of the electrical
protection plan. I should add that the rest of the protection plan called
for auxiliary protectors at the feed point of sensitive equipment
(computers, TVs, some appliances) for two reasons: 1) The Square D whole
house protector does include insurance coverage for protected devices, BUT
only if they are also equipped with aux. protectors; 2) The reason for so
doing is simple if you think about it: The whole house unit absorbs
coupled energy from a lightning strike that is carried to it by the
incoming power feeders. OK, so much for the surge there. Now, if the
lightning strike is near the dwelling (like directly overhead or to a
nearby object within the property upon which the dwelling is located,
there will be coupled energy from the strike induced upon the wiring
within the house. If the main protector is clamping the energy surge at
the power panel, what's to clamp the energy at the wall socket end?
Nothing ... unless there is another protector there.
I took a direct lightning strike in June of 2008. (I literally mean that.
My hand was holding the mic that was attached to the radio that was
connected to the dual band antenna at top of the tower that got vaporized.
I was performing emergency communications associated with the flooding of
Iowa. While damage was extensive to hardware on the tower that got hit,
the coax suppressor in the line that was tied to the VHF/UHF radio I was
using at the time worked perfectly, as did my grounding system.) Although
I had planned to have no electrical problems due to lightning hits, I was
never quite certain if that would actually be the case. Well, it was. The
tower that got zapped is 50 feet from the house, and lots of stuff on the
tower got toasted due to coupled energy during the strike. However, NOT
ONE circuit breaker or GFI in the house tripped. The Astron switching
power supply that was feeding the affected radio kept on working, as did
all of the other rigs. One coaxial protector was blown up, but the radio
to which it was connected works perfectly. Since all telephone and 75 ohm
TV lines from my external antennas are also tied to the main house
protector and full perimeter grounding system, no damage occurred to any
TVs, VCRs, or computers. The concept demonstrated here was that of a
uni-potential system, which is what you get when all parts of the system
are tied together with low impedance connections and conductors. Yes, it
is likely that my whole ground system rose (or fell) by thousands of volts
during the strike due to the huge currents, but so long as all parts of
the system went up and down (in potential) together, no problem.
If you are having more damage these days, don't blame the protector. I
would check out the quality of the grounding conductors between your power
outlets in the house and the power panel ground. The, make certain that
you have adequately rated auxiliary protectors at each place where you
have sensitive equipment. Do not forget to protect phone and data lines
that are tied into computers. Many protectors include a means to protect
those connections, as well. As was pointed out in an excellent QST
article on lightning back in 2001 or 2002, the key to not having damage
is to make certain that ALL I/O lines associated with your shack and your
house are protected. If your utilities are buried, you are not safe!!!
The phenomenon known as gradient fields will couple a lot of energy from a
ground lightning strike into conductors that are buried nearby.
73, Dale
WA9ENA
Peter Laws <plaws0@gmail.com>
Sent by: rfi-bounces@contesting.com
01/17/2009 11:21 AM
To
rfi@contesting.com
cc
Subject
[RFI] CFL+surge? (Re: RFI Digest, Vol 73, Issue 22
On Sat, Jan 17, 2009 at 09:52, KC7VDA <KC7VDA@keepandbeararms.com> wrote:
> Hello all;
> A few years ago I converted to CFL lights, like them very much,
HOWEVER!!!!!!
> Every time we have a thunderstorm I have to replace several lights.
> I have only had a few reach there normal end of life.
> My conclusion is that the main problem with CFL's is their lack of
ability to withstand surges.
> I am seriously considering having the power company install a surge
regulator at the meter.
Not being a fan of The Surge -- which took out my DSL modem, one of
the Ethernet switches, the mobo of one of the PCs and the on-board NIC
of the other and, worst of all, the CI-V circuit of my Icom 746! -- I
had our electrical coop put one of those behind the meter.
I don't recall any premature failures before the surge suppressor was
installed - all my premature failures have been since! :-)
--
Peter Laws | N5UWY | plaws plaws net | Travel by Train!
No Trillion-dollar blank check for crooks!
_______________________________________________
RFI mailing list
RFI@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi
_______________________________________________
RFI mailing list
RFI@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi
|