lightning power surge damage

sarah is a homeowner and a single taxpayer

As it shoots through the lines, it can cause tremendous damage to electronics, appliances, even your HVAC equipment. Does Homeowners Insurance Cover Lightning Strikes? Additionally, The Journal of Science predicts an increase in the number of lightning strikes as the earths temperature warms. Excellent work! How to Protect Your House and its Contents From Lightning, IEEE Guide for Surge Protection of Equipment Connected to AC Power and Communication Circuits, IEEE Press, 2005. Understanding the claims process for lightning damage before you have a claim can help you feel calm and in control if your home becomes damaged. The damage builds up over time, until the appliance components fail. We are thrilled with the quality work, and we'll definitely use Fusion Electric for any future needs! When thi s happens, the electrical system accepts the overwhelmingly excessive current with no other option. Lightning storms are one of the most well-known sources of power surges and can result in extensive damage. We wrote the book on static solutions and lightning protection. . 2022 Same Page Publishing. We value your privacy. . Power outages. Between hurricanes and other inclement weather that take place in the state, its important that commercial property owners protect themselves from numerous hazards and potential threats. What to Do After A Power Surge | ACS Home Services A single discharge of lightning near a power supply cable will generate significant overvoltage transient, sometimes causing irreparable damage. He was communicative about the couple snags encountered that day, he was professional, and he didn't mind my nosy pets. Most often, the damage is done by the resulting power surges that travel for miles on wires and metal in the ground. Lightning may be spectacular to watch from a distance, but when your home is struck by lightning its anything but pretty. If the protection system takes even 99.9% of the current, then your electrical wiring may take the remaining 0.1%. Not all surge protectors are created equal, however. Common variations of the combination surge protector omit one or more of the four port types, but the individual protection schemes used on each of the remaining port types will be similar to the circuits described here. Homeowners will only pay my Ike claim if it's lightening damage. In these situations, a lightning affidavit may be necessary to process your insurance claim. Protection components P1 and/or P2 turn on at nominally 400 volts, and the surge current attempts to flow through the AC outlets ground wire back to the electrical panel. Does Home Insurance Cover Power Surge Damage? | Allstate The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety study found that $26 billion dollars was lost due to non-lightning power surges. Fires can spread more quickly than many people realize. The resulting physical damage indicates that surge voltages exceeding 2 kV are occurring on Ethernet ports, and surge currents exceeding 100 amps (for an assumed 2/10 microsecond current waveform) are occurring on POTS ports. Most uses will simply purchase a surge protector and install it near the equipment they wish to protect. An important thing to keep in mind is that the energy from a lightning strike can travel through communication cables that are connected to a cable box, phone, or modem. Best experience I've had with any type of contractor. Mechanism 2 can indeed occur, but the required conditions are rare enough that it does not seem to explain the surge failures being observed in the field. All electrical equipment, including data line connections, should be plugged into surge protectors. Increase your fire preparedness with these basic fire safety and prevention tips. Highly recommended company! Miles was able to resolve one issue at hand,and provide a very reasonable quote for more work that is needed.I will be calling Miles for now on with electrical work. So, the presence of an explicit capacitor C1 in the power supply for small Ethernet routers is a recent change. One way this can be accomplished is by utilizing an objective expert to thoroughly investigate electronics claimed in lightning losses, to verify the cause of loss and recommend an appropriate action to return the insured to pre-loss condition. The power surge from a lightning strike is so powerful that it will jump right over the tiny gap between the contacts in a power switch and destroy the electronic innards of the device. It is based on the principles of physics and engineering and is intended to prevent a lightning strike from occurring within a protected zone. The extent of damage as the result of voltage sag is related to the magnitude and duration of the sag. Power surges can enter a home through several pathways. We would not hesitate to use them again.June 2022: It's four years later and we had Fusion out again to repair and replace some switches in the kitchen. There were a couple of curveballs that were thrown because of the oddities of the old house, but he absolutely nailed the installations of the new fixtures, and I'm so happy that I found Fusion. Last year, there were more than 70,000 lightning damage claims from homeowners in the U.S., with the average cost per claim at nearly $30,000. Consult an electrician for further advice on how to install a service entrance surge suppression device. Your email address will not be published. Lightning. If the surge is not stopped at the electrical panel, it can then travel over the surface of the wiring to the home, burning the insulation and fusing the wires together. Most insurance policies will cover the damage if a power surge can be proven. A third theory centers on unintended side effects of customer installed surge protectors. So, it would appear that catastrophic breakdown of all three barriers in series would require a surge voltage exceeding (9 kV + 2 kV + 2 kV) = 13 kV. HVAC compressor damage due to lightning is commonly misdiagnosed. Examination of damaged ONT ports [8, 9] has revealed two rather surprising findings: So, on inside cables, there is evidence of voltage surges that exceed 2 kV, and evidence of current surges that exceed 100 amps peak for a 2/10 microsecond waveform. Dreiym Engineering's power surge and lightning damage claims investigators take a very systematic approach to evaluate any damages that may have directly resulted from a lightning strike or utility surge. As noted above, it is unclear whether the apparent increase in surge failures is simply due to more inside lines being deployed, or perhaps due to some other factor. These surges are very short-lived, momentary bursts of energy that drive tremendous amounts of current into an electrical circuit for a few millionths or a few thousandths of a second. Proper sizing, installation, and coordination of power surge protection solutions will guarantee your industrial equipment arerunning smoothlyand secure. Being a police officer was his only childhood dream, and the Army Reserve was the path he chose to pursue it. If for any reason this ground becomes unreliable, surge currents will seek the next-best path to ground. Had a great experience with our Fusion electrician today. If a 6 kV voltage drop develops across the length of the ground wire (represented by L-GND in Fig. Lightning strikes are just one cause of power surges. Any surge protector that combines a protected AC mains port with any other port type will present this risk. Can a power surge damage a coaxial cable? - Quora I showed them another switch that needed to be fixed and they did that as well. Sincepower surge damagecan result in high repair and replacement costs, its important to understand just how common they can be. Thanks for all your help! Not valid with other offers. The answer is "maybe neither." The chances are the damage may be the result of voltage sag. He received his BSEE degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and his MSEE degree from Purdue University. Most appliances and electronics used in the United States are designed to be powered by this form of generated electricity. The power supplies for the router and the phone base station are wall mount supplies with a two-blade AC mains plug, so these two devices have no explicit connection to earth ground. The power quality definitions used by IEEE address overvoltage transients (impulses), voltage swells, voltage surges, voltage dips, voltage sags, flicker, harmonics, and interruptions. It is one of the most common causes of weather-related deaths in the U.S. Each yearlightningstrikes cause billions of dollars in property damage and complete devastation. A sufficiently large surge on the AC mains inputs of the router or phone could cause a catastrophic breakdown of the isolation barriers that lie between those AC mains inputs and the earth ground at the ONT. Brandon from Fusion Electric was wonderful! I changed a few things on our contract and they were able to make adjustments that I asked for. The motor winding resistance of the pump motor is also measured. 1https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/lightning/#:~:text=Cloud-to-ground%20lightning%20bolts,one%20billion%20volts%20of%20electricity. I will use Fusion for any electrical job I might have in the future. What Causes My Circuit Breakers to Trip Too Often? . A surge is a sudden increase in voltage within your electrical system. Not only did he show up on time, he called before arriving.He also remembered to remove his shoes when entering our home.He was polite, kind, and knowledgeable. The production line shutdowns will be a financial burden to the operation as additional time and services will be required to clear, check, and re-start the lines. Surge Protection in LED Lighting Is Critically Important Mechanism 3 (GPR) requires that lightning current enter the ground near the building that contains the inside cables. Why Install Structural Lightning Protection on a Process Control Plant? Outstanding service, Outstanding knowledge, Outstanding personalThe Fusion team is always quick to respond and you know that the work they preform will be done right the first time. Voltage Surge or Lightning Strike? - edtengineers.com Perhaps more significant for insurance carriers is the fact that the average cost per residential lightning claim has risen over 40% since 2007 (III), which is indicative of the increase in the number of electronics susceptible to lightning- and surge-related damages per home. To damage a POTS port, it is necessary to force an excessive current through the port. Exceptions certainly do occur, but are probably not widespread. Reference [13] contains an excellent description of the risks created by improper use of surge protectors. This has the effect of lifting the surge protector end of every connected cable (AC mains, Ethernet, POTS, and coax) to an instantaneous value of 6 kV above earth ground. It also happens when large appliances like air conditioners, heat pumps and refrigerator motors turn on and off. Electrician was excellent and answered all my questions. In a nutshell, that means a lightning strike can (and often will) destroy a device even it's turned off at the time. A final protection zone can include local SPDs for each of the critical equipment to minimize voltage exposure. Brandon was on-time, courteous, and professional. Justin and his crew have been nothing but professional and are just genuinely great people! For a supply that complies with [10] and is rated for a 120 to 240 VRMS input, the isolation barriers creepage distance and clearance distance will be in the range of 4 mm, distance through solid insulation will exceed 0.4 mm, and the production hipot test will be 3000 VRMS (4242 volts peak). Surge protectors should be viewed as having a limited lifespan and in areas of the country with high surge activity, protectors may need to be replaced periodically. Request an engineer with specific expertise. In addition, there are about 25 million lightning strikes in the US each year that cause between $650M to $1B in losses. With that in mind, consider if you have a lightning protection system installed, and your house is hit directly by lightning. A direct lightning strike will cause significant damage to electrical and nonelectrical items in the home. Twitter. Very pleased with the service and professional help Fusion electric provided today! About Us | In most cases, the faults resulting from overvoltage transients are cleared by the circuit protective devices, such as circuit breakers, which are designed to handle such events. How to make a claim for lightning damage - SageSure It is useful to note that vendors who have increased the surge tolerance of their Ethernet and POTS ports have seen significant reductions in field failure rates. We wrote the book on static solutions and lightning protection. Power surges caused by routine electrical maintenance may be covered by your policy and therefore may be eligible forclaim submission. As will be seen, the value of C1 has an effect on the surge voltages that are coupled from the AC mains to the Ethernet ports of the router and the ONT. Using a service entrance surge protection device provides protection for your entire electrical system; they protect things such as motors, lights, outlets, light switches and all the other hardwired items in the house that do not plug into an electrical outlet and can't be connected to a point-of-use surge protection device. The reason this can occur has to do with the inductance of the ground wire. What Causes Power Surges in a House? | ABC Blog One nearby source of sufficient voltage and current is the AC mains supply. In recent years, many suppliers of telecom equipment have experienced higher than expected rates of lightning surge damage on Ethernet and POTS ports that connect only to inside wiring. Power surge damage is something that you should never take lightly. Voltage sags may be the result of storms imparting disturbances on the incoming electrical service. The most common components used for Ethernet protection are TVS diodes with thresholds of approximately 70 volts, typically in combination with a set of steering diodes that allow a single TVS diode to protect all four pairs in the Ethernet cable. . These home fire safety tips may help stop fires before they start. Safeguard yourself against Mother Natures light shows in three straightforward steps. Protective devices such as lightning surge protection devices are used to offset these external influences. The equipment is usually left on stand-by. For the present analysis, the important thing to understand is that C2 and C3 are not typically treated as safety-rated capacitors and are not reviewed by safety agencies. Internet Services Group of Florida, LLC, Speedy Electric services the Collier County, Lee County, Hendry County, and Charlotte County areas. 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