WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES!

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When Lightning Strikes

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By Kevin Dickey

Founder & President CurrentSAFE?

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Lightning’s objective is to travel from a cloud to the ground as efficiently as possible. This means a building offers conductive infrastructure in the form of pipes, phone lines, gutters, and wiring for a bolt to reach its target. Lightning will find the path of least resistance—in the case of homes and buildings that path is through the electrical wiring, damaging that wiring as well as appliances and machinery.

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Consumer electronics utilizing integrated circuits such as computers and television are highly susceptible to damage from a voltage overload caused by a surge. Appliances with electronic controls are very sensitive to surges as well because it can damage the appliance’s control board. These are minor issues compared to the threat a lightning strike presents to the structure and its inhabitants. ?

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Daunting statistics

Here’s a staggering statistic—according to the National Lightning Safety Institute 1 out of every 200 homes in America is struck by lightning every year. That number is similar when it comes to commercial and institutional buildings. The insurance industry estimates that around 6.5% of all property and casualty claims are related to lightning strikes.

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Packing a temperature of up to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, a cloud-to-ground lightning bolt striking a home or building can cause different types of damage: caused by fire, power surge, or shock wave. Often, one strike can cause all three simultaneously leaving a structure virtually uninhabitable for an extended period of time. When a strike occurs, the first reaction is to call the fire department. This is the right move even if no flames are immediately visible. Since fires caused by lightning often start in the highest floor of the structure or deep within its walls, fires in these spaces may not be readily discovered, so a call to the fire department should be made immediately after a hit.

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Call an electrician

Once the fire department checks the structure for any sign of fire and gives you the all-clear, the next move is to call an electrical contractor. This is extremely important. Why? Because a surge inspection will determine the extent of the damage. But most importantly, the electrician, using state-of-the-art technology, can determine if the wiring hidden within the walls was compromised, creating a disaster waiting to happen—that hazard being an electrical fire that could have been prevented.

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The importance of an EHD test

The CurrentSAFE? Electrical Hazard Detection (EHD) contractor network has become the gold standard in determining the extent of concealed damage in a home after a lightning strike. An EHD test is an accurate, non-destructive procedure that can “look behind walls” to pinpoint problems that cannot be determined by the naked eye.

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The EHD assures proper operation of the entire electrical system including connections/ ???????????terminations and critical protection devices such as GFCIs and smoke detectors; it uncovers and pinpoints concealed damage more comprehensively than a standard Megger Test, which only has a limit of between 500 and 1,000 volts, so it may not always be able to detect some insulation punctures; EHD provides homeowners with same-day test results. Once the EHD test has been completed, the homeowner will receive an on-the-spot, computer-generated report that specifies the hazards discovered during the test.

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Peace of mind

The most important part of the EHD test is what we provide the family after a strike is peace of mind.

So, if your home has been hit or you believe it may have been struck in the past, CurrentSAFE? Electrical Hazard Detection can assess any hidden damage to your electrical system. For electrical contractors who provide this service in your area log on to CurrentSafe.com/EHD.

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