House, Lightning Protection?

[RigPig]

AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND STANDARDS have a publication on the installation of lightning conductors.

It's years since I read through the booklet, and of course it will have been updated, but it made interesting reading.

They're available for sale.

Try this: it includes a preview.

http://infostore.saiglobal.com/store/Details.aspx?ProductID=361626

It's been a while since I read it too, and from memory you do need the ability to be able to interpret what it is telling you. Australia (from memory) has "zones" where the likely hood of lightning strikes are determined and the rules apply to which ever "zone" you are in. Believe me when I say this, lightning protection, in reality, is so complicated (there are so many variables) that I have seen VERY qualified electrical engineers give up once they have started delving into it. On oil rigs, because they are constantly moving, iti's all but impossible to come up with a "one fits all" scenario.

[Mudcrab]

AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND STANDARDS have a publication on the installation of lightning conductors.

It's years since I read through the booklet, and of course it will have been updated, but it made interesting reading.

They're available for sale.

Try this: it includes a preview.

http://infostore.saiglobal.com/store/Details.aspx?ProductID=361626

It's been a while since I read it too, and from memory you do need the ability to be able to interpret what it is telling you. Australia (from memory) has "zones" where the likely hood of lightning strikes are determined and the rules apply to which ever "zone" you are in. Believe me when I say this, lightning protection, in reality, is so complicated (there are so many variables) that I have seen VERY qualified electrical engineers give up once they have started delving into it. On oil rigs, because they are constantly moving, iti's all but impossible to come up with a "one fits all" scenario.

Mate you are so right. Lightning protection for a house is a waste of time and money as I think you posted previously.. Surge protection is a totally different matter.

A google search will show the aftermath of lighting protection as done in the good old days - large chunks of copper embedded into concrete either through the walls or outside the walls of large buildings. Completely trashed them due to the massive currents and there fore heat flowing through the conductors.

My place in North Queensland sits on metal stumps with a metal roof but is made of non conductive material - wood. No issues with lighting strike and we get plenty in the wet season.

The big issue is induction into the power lines - hence the need (if you want to be bothered) for surge protection. I simply use a protected power board for tv's computers etc. And stay away from the land line phone during storms.

My missus on the other hand is scared to use her mobile phone when we are back in the village when a storm is about. Go figure.

For those that are interested Fluke have a good video on line that demonstrates the various zones in an electrical installation and the classes of instruments to be used due to induced voltage spikes. Multimeters ain't multimeters when it come to impulse voltage. Bit off topic but those that understand will know what I mean.

Edited June 13, 2014 by Mudcrab

[RigPig]

AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND STANDARDS have a publication on the installation of lightning conductors.

It's years since I read through the booklet, and of course it will have been updated, but it made interesting reading.

They're available for sale.

Try this: it includes a preview.

http://infostore.saiglobal.com/store/Details.aspx?ProductID=361626

It's been a while since I read it too, and from memory you do need the ability to be able to interpret what it is telling you. Australia (from memory) has "zones" where the likely hood of lightning strikes are determined and the rules apply to which ever "zone" you are in. Believe me when I say this, lightning protection, in reality, is so complicated (there are so many variables) that I have seen VERY qualified electrical engineers give up once they have started delving into it. On oil rigs, because they are constantly moving, iti's all but impossible to come up with a "one fits all" scenario.

Mate you are so right. Lightning protection for a house is a waste of time and money as I think you posted previously.. Surge protection is a totally different matter.

A google search will show the aftermath of lighting protection as done in the good old days - large chunks of copper embedded into concrete either through the walls or outside the walls of large buildings. Completely trashed them due to the massive currents and there fore heat flowing through the conductors.

My place in North Queensland sits on metal stumps with a metal roof but is made of non conductive material - wood. No issues with lighting strike and we get plenty in the wet season.

The big issue is induction into the power lines - hence the need (if you want to be bothered) for surge protection. I simply use a protected power board for tv's computers etc. And stay away from the land line phone during storms.

My missus on the other hand is scared to use her mobile phone when we are back in the village when a storm is about. Go figure.

For those that are interested Fluke have a good video on line that demonstrates the various zones in an electrical installation and the classes of instruments to be used due to induced voltage spikes. Multimeters ain't multimeters when it come to impulse voltage. Bit off topic but those that understand will know what I mean.

Yes your quite right, I think in Aus you don't have to do it unless the building is 4 stories. I can't work out why you would put a lightning rod on your house to attract the lightning.....

But yeah surge protection is the only thing you can do and I do the same as you.....

[Mudcrab]

I had a lighting protection, the brass spikes on roof, installed when building the house. Two thick special order from BKK cables runs down from each lightning protection spike, each cable connected to 3 long ground rods.

Cement Thai have special roof tiles for lightning spikes, so easy to install on roof when using tiles from Cement Thai, their staff installed roof and spikes, and special electric crew experienced in lightning protection installed the cables and rods. Price (4 years ago) totalled around 35,000 baht.

Reason for installing lightning protection was, that during construction period lightning from a thunderstorm hit a high palm on the neighbouring land – of course the palm burned and died, and our workers was scared “to death” as it was a sacred palm – so I could see my 3 story house might be exposed, now the tall palm had gone…

Don’t know if it gives any protection or is worth the investment – however, have a better feeling when “Thor drives around in the dark clouds up there”, which he often does…

Furthermore I use UPS’ and various surge protections on electrical equipment, not only to protect from lightning, but rather from the ongoing voltage deviation and spikes supplied “free of charge” by the mains power provider…

Lets think about this (with no disrespect intended). A palm tree was hit by lighting. The palm tree was probably the highest, well earthed, "structure around". So we then put a highly conductive brass spike at the highest point of the building and then give it a solid earth point.....get my drift?

[masuk]

AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND STANDARDS have a publication on the installation of lightning conductors.

It's years since I read through the booklet, and of course it will have been updated, but it made interesting reading.

They're available for sale.

Try this: it includes a preview.

http://infostore.saiglobal.com/store/Details.aspx?ProductID=361626

It's been a while since I read it too, and from memory you do need the ability to be able to interpret what it is telling you. Australia (from memory) has "zones" where the likely hood of lightning strikes are determined and the rules apply to which ever "zone" you are in. Believe me when I say this, lightning protection, in reality, is so complicated (there are so many variables) that I have seen VERY qualified electrical engineers give up once they have started delving into it. On oil rigs, because they are constantly moving, iti's all but impossible to come up with a "one fits all" scenario.

Mate you are so right. Lightning protection for a house is a waste of time and money as I think you posted previously.. Surge protection is a totally different matter.

A google search will show the aftermath of lighting protection as done in the good old days - large chunks of copper embedded into concrete either through the walls or outside the walls of large buildings. Completely trashed them due to the massive currents and there fore heat flowing through the conductors.

My place in North Queensland sits on metal stumps with a metal roof but is made of non conductive material - wood. No issues with lighting strike and we get plenty in the wet season.

The big issue is induction into the power lines - hence the need (if you want to be bothered) for surge protection. I simply use a protected power board for tv's computers etc. And stay away from the land line phone during storms.

My missus on the other hand is scared to use her mobile phone when we are back in the village when a storm is about. Go figure.

For those that are interested Fluke have a good video on line that demonstrates the various zones in an electrical installation and the classes of instruments to be used due to induced voltage spikes. Multimeters ain't multimeters when it come to impulse voltage. Bit off topic but those that understand will know what I mean.

Yes your quite right, I think in Aus you don't have to do it unless the building is 4 stories. I can't work out why you would put a lightning rod on your house to attract the lightning.....

But yeah surge protection is the only thing you can do and I do the same as you.....

Me too for the surge protector. I bought a good one in Oz, and a UPS here. Using raw power in some of these places is risky.

However, when I can hear thunder on the way, I unplug things. Cheaper than replacing.

The large power board has the advantage of having lots of those nice 3-pin places, and I've converted everything to Oz-plugs. I haven't had one fall out yet! I really dislike the array of stuff on sale here.

BTW I've got two new 10m extension cables I don't need. Both Oz style, one industrial, 1 domestic.

[connda]

About two years ago lightning struck my neighbor's house only meters away and blew a hole in their concrete shingle/tile roof....took out around 6 shingles. During that strike I lost my ADSL modem, separate router, and a couple of power adapters for two cordless phones.

A week ago a ripe mango blew a hole in my garage's tile roof. Mangos, being rather electrically neutral, inflicted no obvious damage to our electronics. Happily my car was parked out of the line-of-fire. The offending mango is now grounded.

Edited June 13, 2014 by connda

[Naam]

AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND STANDARDS have a publication on the installation of lightning conductors.

It's years since I read through the booklet, and of course it will have been updated, but it made interesting reading.

They're available for sale.

Try this: it includes a preview.

http://infostore.saiglobal.com/store/Details.aspx?ProductID=361626

It's been a while since I read it too, and from memory you do need the ability to be able to interpret what it is telling you. Australia (from memory) has "zones" where the likely hood of lightning strikes are determined and the rules apply to which ever "zone" you are in. Believe me when I say this, lightning protection, in reality, is so complicated (there are so many variables) that I have seen VERY qualified electrical engineers give up once they have started delving into it. On oil rigs, because they are constantly moving, iti's all but impossible to come up with a "one fits all" scenario.

Mate you are so right. Lightning protection for a house is a waste of time and money as I think you posted previously.. Surge protection is a totally different matter.

A google search will show the aftermath of lighting protection as done in the good old days - large chunks of copper embedded into concrete either through the walls or outside the walls of large buildings. Completely trashed them due to the massive currents and there fore heat flowing through the conductors.

My place in North Queensland sits on metal stumps with a metal roof but is made of non conductive material - wood. No issues with lighting strike and we get plenty in the wet season.

The big issue is induction into the power lines - hence the need (if you want to be bothered) for surge protection. I simply use a protected power board for tv's computers etc. And stay away from the land line phone during storms.

My missus on the other hand is scared to use her mobile phone when we are back in the village when a storm is about. Go figure.

For those that are interested Fluke have a good video on line that demonstrates the various zones in an electrical installation and the classes of instruments to be used due to induced voltage spikes. Multimeters ain't multimeters when it come to impulse voltage. Bit off topic but those that understand will know what I mean.

Yes your quite right, I think in Aus you don't have to do it unless the building is 4 stories. I can't work out why you would put a lightning rod on your house to attract the lightning.....

But yeah surge protection is the only thing you can do and I do the same as you.....

in Germany lightning protection is mandatory for every house, no matter how many stories, built after jan 1970.

[RigPig]

I had a lighting protection, the brass spikes on roof, installed when building the house. Two thick special order from BKK cables runs down from each lightning protection spike, each cable connected to 3 long ground rods.

Cement Thai have special roof tiles for lightning spikes, so easy to install on roof when using tiles from Cement Thai, their staff installed roof and spikes, and special electric crew experienced in lightning protection installed the cables and rods. Price (4 years ago) totalled around 35,000 baht.

Reason for installing lightning protection was, that during construction period lightning from a thunderstorm hit a high palm on the neighbouring land – of course the palm burned and died, and our workers was scared “to death” as it was a sacred palm – so I could see my 3 story house might be exposed, now the tall palm had gone…

Don’t know if it gives any protection or is worth the investment – however, have a better feeling when “Thor drives around in the dark clouds up there”, which he often does…

Furthermore I use UPS’ and various surge protections on electrical equipment, not only to protect from lightning, but rather from the ongoing voltage deviation and spikes supplied “free of charge” by the mains power provider…

Lets think about this (with no disrespect intended). A palm tree was hit by lighting. The palm tree was probably the highest, well earthed, "structure around". So we then put a highly conductive brass spike at the highest point of the building and then give it a solid earth point.....get my drift?

Not really, I don't get your drift???

The palm tree did you a favour, if it hadn't been there it may have struck your house, then again it may not have.....

If you are going to use a lightning rod, why not put it AWAY from the house? Why would you want to attract it to your house by becoming the palm tree? I have seen 120mm2 cables turned to charcoal from a lightning strike, what size cables would you use to give it a solid earth point? I said previously the cables should be solidly fixed to a solid structure with no gaps or exceptions because it creates a carbon arc for the electricity ti travel down (like a wire) because the cable WILL disintegrate. Or you could construct a "grid" using VERY heavy cables that are grounded over the top of your house but not attached to it (effectively a Faraday's cage), even then I would not guarantee there will not be any "flash over".

Some lightning actually comes out of the ground and meets it's opposite number on the way up. Do you know that an atmosphere with dry fine dust is more likely to conduct lightning than a wet atmosphere? It is WHATEVER the conditions at the time dictate in order to turn the air into a plasma "track".

If we FULLY understood lightning we could control it and reproduce it, and have a never ending source of electricity. Millions have been spent trying to work it out, to no avail....

I am sorry but lightning is too unpredictable and is dictated by the conditions that occur in a split second, we can not control Giga volts of electricity.

[Crossy]

OK ladies and gentlemen, I've removed a couple of posts as flames (one also offering good advice, maybe the owner of that post would like to re-post without the flame).

I've also corrected the link in Sheryl's post to point to the correct device.

Let's keep it civil and remember this local forum rule (my bold):

Any posts which offer advice which is considered dangerous will be removed without notice, if you see one please use the 'Report' button.

Simply calling BS does nobody any good, period.

If something is potentially dangerous, hit "report".

It's also worth noting that Thailand is (at least theoretically) TNC-S with MEN (that's PME to us Brits), so N and E are essentially the same wire, L-N surge protection is effective.

[Pib]

About two years ago lightning struck my neighbor's house only meters away and blew a hole in their concrete shingle/tile roof....took out around 6 shingles. During that strike I lost my ADSL modem, separate router, and a couple of power adapters for two cordless phones.

A week ago a ripe mango blew a hole in my garage's tile roof. Mangos, being rather electrically neutral, inflicted no obvious damage to our electronics. Happily my car was parked out of the line-of-fire. The offending mango is now grounded.

Yeap, falling mangos can take out hardware....about a month ago such a falling mango event almost took out one a 4-legged pieces of hardware (i.e., one of my Chihuahuas).

[khunPer]

I had a lighting protection, the brass spikes on roof, installed when building the house. Two thick special order from BKK cables runs down from each lightning protection spike, each cable connected to 3 long ground rods.

Cement Thai have special roof tiles for lightning spikes, so easy to install on roof when using tiles from Cement Thai, their staff installed roof and spikes, and special electric crew experienced in lightning protection installed the cables and rods. Price (4 years ago) totalled around 35,000 baht.

Reason for installing lightning protection was, that during construction period lightning from a thunderstorm hit a high palm on the neighbouring land – of course the palm burned and died, and our workers was scared “to death” as it was a sacred palm – so I could see my 3 story house might be exposed, now the tall palm had gone…

Don’t know if it gives any protection or is worth the investment – however, have a better feeling when “Thor drives around in the dark clouds up there”, which he often does…

Furthermore I use UPS’ and various surge protections on electrical equipment, not only to protect from lightning, but rather from the ongoing voltage deviation and spikes supplied “free of charge” by the mains power provider…

Lets think about this (with no disrespect intended). A palm tree was hit by lighting. The palm tree was probably the highest, well earthed, "structure around". So we then put a highly conductive brass spike at the highest point of the building and then give it a solid earth point.....get my drift?

Not really, I don't get your drift???

The palm tree did you a favour, if it hadn't been there it may have struck your house, then again it may not have.....

If you are going to use a lightning rod, why not put it AWAY from the house? Why would you want to attract it to your house by becoming the palm tree? I have seen 120mm2 cables turned to charcoal from a lightning strike, what size cables would you use to give it a solid earth point? I said previously the cables should be solidly fixed to a solid structure with no gaps or exceptions because it creates a carbon arc for the electricity ti travel down (like a wire) because the cable WILL disintegrate. Or you could construct a "grid" using VERY heavy cables that are grounded over the top of your house but not attached to it (effectively a Faraday's cage), even then I would not guarantee there will not be any "flash over".

Some lightning actually comes out of the ground and meets it's opposite number on the way up. Do you know that an atmosphere with dry fine dust is more likely to conduct lightning than a wet atmosphere? It is WHATEVER the conditions at the time dictate in order to turn the air into a plasma "track".

If we FULLY understood lightning we could control it and reproduce it, and have a never ending source of electricity. Millions have been spent trying to work it out, to no avail....

I am sorry but lightning is too unpredictable and is dictated by the conditions that occur in a split second, we can not control Giga volts of electricity.

Thanks for replies.

My house is close to beach, some hundred meter high hills (small mountains) in the vicinity, high palm tress in the neighbourhood and a couple of mobile masts – all supposed to attract lightning more than a lower house – so I’ve considered it naturally protected. But as said above, the palm tree incident made me think of some extra protection – posted my installation experience in reply to OP’s question:

»As hard as I look, can't see a Thai-House, even expensive ones, with "proper" lightning protection devices. (As it is mandatory in my home-country).

I am just starting to wonder: Do lightnings never select a house to strike in Thailand? And if they do, for some magical reasons, can Thai-Houses just not be set ablaze by lightning ?!?«

Perhaps lightning rods are waste of money, perhaps making the house more conductive, perhaps… perhaps... – as RigPig explains it, a lot of perhaps…

Found this at Wikipedia under Lightning Rod:

»Some of the most ancient lightning conductors can be found in Sri Lanka in places like the Anuradhapura Kingdom that dates back thousands of years. The Sinhalese kings, who mastered construction of stupas and advanced building structures, installed a metal tip made of silver or copper on the highest point of every building to conduct any lightning charge. In many parts of the world, ancient Buddhist monuments have been destroyed by lightning strikes, but not in Sri Lanka.«

Thanks to the posters telling about surge protection and for Sheryl’s (now correct) link, very informative…

[Naam]

I use for all my electronic devices a SPD's (Surge Protector Device). One of them cost me MYR 150 (THB 1500) and saved me thousands of US$.

They are specified as: Surge rating = 10 kV using industry standard 1.2/50 micro seconds wave. I connected each power extender I use for electronic devices to a SPD. This year I had no problems. Last year 2 times my electronics has been blown off. Last week only my neighbours electronics (5 houses).

just ordered my "SPDs"

specification: 20 kA, response time 8/20ms, cost each ~1,200 Baht plus shipping. installation a breeze.

thanks for all the good advice, especially from "stgrhe"

[T_Dog]

Another thing that can help protect your electronics is the use of a 1:1 isolation transformer before your surge limiter. Amorn carries them at reasonable prices. Grounding the frame of the transformer is also advised. The reason that they provide protection is that most damaging power line transients are fairly fast rise time, and the transformer's response doesn't let them get through. The transformer will also eliminate common mode transients where both of your AC input lines have a spike which is why you want to ground the transformer case. If you can find a transformer that specifies an electrostatic shield, that is the best one to buy, but any of the isolation transformers will give you improved protection.

[khunPer]

Another thing that can help protect your electronics is the use of a 1:1 isolation transformer before your surge limiter. Amorn carries them at reasonable prices. Grounding the frame of the transformer is also advised. The reason that they provide protection is that most damaging power line transients are fairly fast rise time, and the transformer's response doesn't let them get through. The transformer will also eliminate common mode transients where both of your AC input lines have a spike which is why you want to ground the transformer case. If you can find a transformer that specifies an electrostatic shield, that is the best one to buy, but any of the isolation transformers will give you improved protection.

1:1 transformers we used to install in recording studios, not so much to protect equipment, but for elliminating spikes – which can be produced my many sources, like compressors starting – making clicks in audio signal...

Edited June 14, 2014 by khunPer

[T_Dog]

Another thing that can help protect your electronics is the use of a 1:1 isolation transformer before your surge limiter. Amorn carries them at reasonable prices. Grounding the frame of the transformer is also advised. The reason that they provide protection is that most damaging power line transients are fairly fast rise time, and the transformer's response doesn't let them get through. The transformer will also eliminate common mode transients where both of your AC input lines have a spike which is why you want to ground the transformer case. If you can find a transformer that specifies an electrostatic shield, that is the best one to buy, but any of the isolation transformers will give you improved protection.

1:1 transformers we used to install in recording studios, not so much to protect equipment, but for elliminating spikes – which can be produced my many sources, like compressors starting – making clicks in audio signal...

Never thought of that but I can see how it would work. My experience comes from communications equipment that the Australian military was using. Switching supplies would fry often and we found 4000 volt transients on the mains coming in from nearby industrial equipment. Installed the transformers and all the problems went away.

[swissie]

Some 700 years ago, a guy named Benjamin Franklin started do do research about this lightning business. In the meantime we apparently have researched the subject into oblivion. = We are clueless, when it comes to the essence of things.

So, I will do what the Thais do: I will do nothing, except increase my visits to the temple, or I will go with post # 26. I will enhance the concept by having him point a 25 meter long metal pole skyward.

Cheers.

[CharlesHH]

I have one 110 foot tower and another at about 80ft behind my Thai suburb home. The tall one has some minor spiky metal points sticking out on top to try to obtain the benefits of discharging a lightning charge before it builds up to full strength. Science says that technique lowers risk of a heavy strike and also says that lightning will hit the taller tower and that height tower will provide 100% protection for other shorter objects, like a house, that are within over 200 ft of it. Science has been wrong.

In various places I have lived in USA, I have had my towers or antennas hit full force three times and partial hit twice more. I can tell you about those strikes but unfortunately my experiences may not apply to other situations nor occurrences. That is my point.... that definitive knowledge about lightning is not yet possible. Some say tall metal towers "draw" lightning to them and others say that the tower will bleed off a big charge by providing smaller dissimilar charge amounts all the time to dissipate and thus reduce the number of big hits.

We do know that a heavy real direct hit carries very high voltages and enough current to overload the largest practical wire. It melts welded joints and lots of other metal sometimes too. The discharges are often pulsing with several discharges within less than a second. The greatest danger is the superheating and thus fire of burnable objects it heats rapidly. If the strike passes through your body, the flesh is burned, like fire, and your bodily electrical system is disrupted, sometimes causing fainting in the brain or stopping of the heart. People report flying thru the air, but that could be the thunder air expansion around them or even powerful muscle contractions that make the people jump unusual distances. Violent muscle contractions are typical.

The electric power is said to come from air molecules rubbing against each other and the atoms off-loading electrons so that air and water droplets gain more electrons than the earth has, creating a difference of charge between the sky and the earth. When that charge builds up greater than the insulating air can insulate, lightning strikes. The discharge temporarily quiets down the difference in electron loads, but due to air turbulence, like the stuff that tosses you around in an airplane and the speaker says "turbulence," more electrons are massaged around and a new charge builds up.* The more turbulence, the more lightning. Some say that very dusty air can rub electrons and cause lightning, too. Rain drops carry a charge and as they hit the earth, that charge is dissipated, so maybe a lot of rain will calm down lots of lightning. Or maybe not.

*A vigorous rubbing massage can also cause a dissimilar charge to build up between the masseuse and her victim and that is part of the reason massage books say to keep at least one hand on the victim body all the time so the charge will not build up. You can vigorously rub a wool cloth with a plastic rod and then get sparks between the two items. This is another reason why there are so many cautions about lightning.

The noise comes from the highly heated air expanding around the bolt and then coming back to strike against other air, making thunder. If you hear the thunder at the same time as the flash, you should check for your toasted body parts; guesses say that if you time the time between the flash and the thunder, you can estimate the distance of that lightning bolt from your position, a second for every one thousand feet or so. Check the math.

My worst hit sent a four foot diameter bright orange ball from the window across the room toward a wall of wooden doors. That is quite a thing to see because the huge thunder noise came at the same time. The heat boiled the copper coating on some steel wire and left little cooled bubble marks and vaporized other #12AWG wire. The charge went to my ground rod but also all through my wood house, burning out every light bulb (most turned off) and shooting the old fashioned round ceramic fuses out of the box and across the room like bullets. The arcs from one metal object in the room to another one were a maximum of 8 inches; there were three.

People report that on a boat or in a large open field, the hair on their arms and head will stand out with a charge on their bodies; often they are soon struck. Some say to lay flat on the earth if you can not get inside a house or even the caddy shelter shack, and it is surely bad to get under a tree. I saw an automobile struck with a bright flash around it and the usual line of bright light above it coming from the sky. The car was unhurt maybe due to its insulating rubber tires. Some say lightning bolts come from the earth upward; others from top down; and others say the two meet in the middle.

There is a lightning discharge somewhere in the world so often as to say that the activity is continuous**. Some locations have many more strikes often due to weather conditions there causing more thunderstorms. There are almost no dependable stats about how many massages are happening around the world at the same time, but the exchange of electrons is the same, almost.

I hope this very brief introduction to lightning has helped you....... especially to learn "weasel words" like almost, typically, sometimes, and probably. There could be a prize for the first person to count all the weasel words in this essay, but maybe not.

**Check out the difference between "continuous" and "continual;" certainly the activity is continual, but more like it is continuous.

I can wait to read all the refutations of fact from people with even more time on their hands than me.

[klikster]

From the master.

[Naam]

Some 700 years ago, a guy named Benjamin Franklin started do do research about this lightning business. In the meantime we apparently have researched the subject into oblivion. = We are clueless, when it comes to the essence of things.

So, I will do what the Thais do: I will do nothing, except increase my visits to the temple, or I will go with post # 26. I will enhance the concept by having him point a 25 meter long metal pole skyward.

Cheers.

Benjamin Franklin did indeed lightning research, but timewise you are off by ~500 years

[VocalNeal]

My simplistic approach?

If you live in an urban environment there is other higher stuff around that will be struck first.

If your house is in the middle of nowhere with no trees in sight build a tower higher than your house at the extremity of your property and put a 3/4" metal pipe all the way up and have it connected to a small grounding grid at the bottom. BUT the power lines coming in to the house are probably higher than your house.

Other thoughts? If your house is struck by lightning immediately rush out and buy some lottery tickets.

Boswell is the dogs <deleted> I'm told but not cheap. http://www.boswell.co.th/EN/product_list.php