Got hit by lightning a few nights ago. The worst damage was to a modem transformer right next to the Supervent chimney. It absolutely exploded. Was this just a coincidence, or should I be thinking about grounding the chimney?
lightning
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It cant hurt in fact some chimney and liner systems call for them to be grounded. I have no idea about supervent though
Two schools of thought on that one...
Grounded or "bird on a wire". One designed to shunt electricity to ground, the other is to avoid making a complete electrical circuit. The same reason that a bird on a power line doesn't get fried. Take your pick, but I have personally never heard of an ungrounded wood stove stack getting struck by lightning. Mind you, I am not in the industry and don't take daily house calls.
Grounded or "bird on a wire". One designed to shunt electricity to ground, the other is to avoid making a complete electrical circuit. The same reason that a bird on a power line doesn't get fried. Take your pick, but I have personally never heard of an ungrounded wood stove stack getting struck by lightning. Mind you, I am not in the industry and don't take daily house calls.
There are no sure cures for a direct lightning strike, there are things that may reduce the impact but talk to any radio or television engineer who has to deal with tall antennas and they will assure you that no matter is done they still can get nailed. I you have an Hams in your area, talk to them, they most likely will tell you that they disconnect the antenna leads and run them to ground if lightning is forecast
If you only had one big "pop" it sounds like there was nearby strike and it came in through the outside wiring. Cable TV installers are somewhat infamous at being paid by the job and poorly grounding the incoming line so I would take a close look on the incoming line to make sure that its shield is tied to the house ground. In many cases, the incoming line isn't grounded at all or is grounded to a separate ground rod with different ground potential then the main ground. In this case a surge makes it to the electronics and then heads to the house ground through the chassis. The chassis is not set up for a surge so usually something pops. There are high quality surge arrestors for incoming power but many of the surge arrestors for cable are far lower quality of they are present at all.
If you only had one big "pop" it sounds like there was nearby strike and it came in through the outside wiring. Cable TV installers are somewhat infamous at being paid by the job and poorly grounding the incoming line so I would take a close look on the incoming line to make sure that its shield is tied to the house ground. In many cases, the incoming line isn't grounded at all or is grounded to a separate ground rod with different ground potential then the main ground. In this case a surge makes it to the electronics and then heads to the house ground through the chassis. The chassis is not set up for a surge so usually something pops. There are high quality surge arrestors for incoming power but many of the surge arrestors for cable are far lower quality of they are present at all.
Many times there is not much damage but we have also seen ones where it blew the top of the chimney apart.
This topic comes up every once and a while. Here are some past threads on the topic:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/grounding-chimney-liner-lightning-protection.38418/
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/lightning-hazzard.86540/
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/metal-chimneys-and-lightning.47630/
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/lighting-risk-of-chimney-caps-liners.6722/
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/grounding-chimney-liner-lightning-protection.38418/
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/lightning-hazzard.86540/
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/metal-chimneys-and-lightning.47630/
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/lighting-risk-of-chimney-caps-liners.6722/
Rearscreen
Minister of Fire
First make sure that your electrical system is tightly grounded, 2 ground rods 6 feet apart along with your cold water pipe. What happens, like mentioned, is that a strike can happen somewhere else and can travel through power lines etc and when it goes into your meter panel and the ground is poor, it will travel inside your house looking for a path of least resistance to ground.
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