Chimney Lightning Strike

[cmonSTART]

This video is going around a sweep list I am on. A lightning bolt pretty much dismantled a masonry fireplace and chimney. Good thing the guy wasn't more seriously hurt.

(broken link removed to http://tinyurl.com/37klgad)

 

[sksmass]

You don't hardly see lightning rods on new construction anymore, but they are a pretty smart investment in my book. The problem is that NOT putting in lightning rods seems like a great way to save a little money on the construction. It is, until 10, 20, 50, or 100 years later when a lightning bolt fries your wiring, starts a fire, or damages your roof. For that reason I'm glad I have an old house built during a time when lightning rods were relatively common.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Whoa! That was nasty. Amazing that it did not start the house on fire.

 

[begreen]

Wow, that is frightening. The problem with lightning is you don't know where it will strike. In CT we had a neighbor in a low 1 story house. Lightning hit the electric power head coming into the building. Blew out the electrical panel across the kitchen table where they were sitting, then circumnavigated the room in search of a good ground. Amazingly, no one was badly injured. But it sure scared the poop out of them.

 

[Wood Heat Stoves]

10yrs ago a customers home was hit, it blew the cpanel off his avalon, and melted t-stat wire
only damage to a stove from lighning i've ever run across

 

[Todd]

You would think this would be more common especially with all the stainless steel relines. Glad my next door neighbor is a ham radio operator. He has a huge tower that sticks up above everything else in the neighbor hood.

 

[BrotherBart]

Now I am rethinking my bedroom. The wall at the head of the bed in the one the chimney runs up outside.

 

[bren582]

When I installed my insert and liner 2 years back I considered a lightning rode for a moment but as I approached completion of the project, which of course was way more work than I had thought it would be, I just nixed the idea, lazy I guess.. My masonry chimney is on the short side and resulted in some pretty bad back puffing on turbulent windy days so I extended the chimney this past year approx 5 feet as the pictures below shows.. I refer to it as my MX Missile chimney extension. Not very pretty but it solved my back draft problems just fine. Now that video really makes me think a ground lead down the chimney to a copper rod in the ground is in order since the chimney extension represents a pretty good lighting rod itself. I have very high trees all around my house and thought that lightning would strike them versus my chimney. I guess that's a false impression to some extent. I think i will reconsider and research the proper way to do the lightning rod post hast..

 

[n3pro]

Glad my next door neighbor is a ham radio operator. He has a huge tower that sticks up above everything else in the neighbor hood.

Hey now I resent that Ham radio operator and a wood burner - I'm doomed.