Has anybody here grounded there chimney liner? Had a bad storm roll tough and i thought to myself maybe sitting in the living room next to my stove which is connected to my stainless steel liner could be bad.
Lightning Strikes
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A perennial discussion. Nobody I remember ever had it hit the cap and light up the stove.
Lightning has blown up a few brick chimney's though. Well, them and a 100 foot Poplar tree 60 feet from my chimney last week.
Lightning has blown up a few brick chimney's though. Well, them and a 100 foot Poplar tree 60 feet from my chimney last week.
kennyp2339
Minister of Fire
I was thinking the same thing last week, for the few storms that we had roll through our area, the lighting has been exceptional, and there have been a few houses struck (meaning the fire dept was called due to smoke and small fires) Since I took out (2) big maples, I feel that I kind of made the house more exposed to lightning.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Also a perennial discussion on sailing forums, since your aluminum mast definitely is the local high point, in a large body of water. The consensus there, based on both theory and case study, is that those boats with grounded masts are far more likely to be struck... but also more likely to survive those strikes. A boat with an ungrounded mast is rarely struck, but it's disaster when it does happen, as the charge has no path to ground, except thru your hull (heating and fire, according to I^2*R).
You can draw your own parallels to houses. Lightening rods were much more important before homes were wired with grounded circuits, as the charge had to be carried by the structure, often causing fire. Now it's usually safely sunk by your ground wires, albeit at the usual expense of home electronics.
You can draw your own parallels to houses. Lightening rods were much more important before homes were wired with grounded circuits, as the charge had to be carried by the structure, often causing fire. Now it's usually safely sunk by your ground wires, albeit at the usual expense of home electronics.
midfielder
Feeling the Heat
Yeah, I once saw an old manual dial phone blown across a room and the wires burned into the wall back in the day, lol. Never heard of a liner strike though. We have 25' of SS liner, standing seam roofing, aluminum siding. Almost zero cell reception (!). At least there's no connection from the Keystone to ground like there was for the Jamestown. Fortunate to be in a hollow I guess, being a freaking lightning magnet with all that metal around us...
Twenty years ago I was pouring my first cup in the morning during a thunderstorm. Big flash and boom and the VCR across the room had blue smoke come out of the top. It had hit a tree next to the house and apparently traveled over the ground to the house. VCR was kaput. I was down in the basement a few years later and took it apart and didn't see anything burned. Put it back together and it worked for years. I figure instant corrosion on a card edge.
A friend back in CT had lightning strike the house and blow the electric panel to smithereens. The cover ended up on the other side of the room. Maybe their ground cable was not up to spec?
I can't conjure up a life sized image of that little ground wire on this house handling the amps from a lightning strike. 
Three weeks ago a neighbor down the street had their chimney get hit by lightning. It came down, out the fireplace, and blew up their living room. They were home and the fire dept is a quarter mile away so it was put out quickly, but they still aren't back in the house yet.
I've been told the purpose of a lightning rod is to slowly dissipate the buildup of charge in the air, preventing lightning in the first place. The reason the wires are so big is to lower resistance as much as reasonably possible. The fact that it will redirect lightning if there is a direct hit is just icing on the cake.
I have a friend that got hit. His chimney is lined with a rigid 8" liner, no clay. The charge traveled down the liner, cracked the basement wall and killed all the lights and appliances in the house! It blew the trim ring around the stove pipe off of the wall! Good thing it was all screwed together.
mellow
Resident Stove Connoisseur
cityboy172
Feeling the Heat
Whats a VCR?
cityboy172
Feeling the Heat
cityboy172
Feeling the Heat
When He said "Let there be light." I walked over and flipped the switch.
So, was Jesus a pretty cool dude?
No idea. I was a fisherman over on the Sea of Galilee then and never hung with him.
Mellery
Member
We still have a VCR and it works well lol We use it occasionally along with the DVD players.
Probably not lots of Florida people here, but it supposedly being lightning capital of the country and spending most of my life there-- lightning travels where ever it wants. We haven't even come close to conquering it and I'm not at all surprised to hear accounts of it hitting and destroying SS liners, blowing up living rooms etc
I could tell many stories but i won't bore ya'll.
Probably not lots of Florida people here, but it supposedly being lightning capital of the country and spending most of my life there-- lightning travels where ever it wants. We haven't even come close to conquering it and I'm not at all surprised to hear accounts of it hitting and destroying SS liners, blowing up living rooms etc
I could tell many stories but i won't bore ya'll.
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