Not Having Lightning Protection A Gamble For Homeowners

I had an arborist take a look at a huge oak tree in my yard, which was struck by lightning the other day. As I'm sure you know, a nearby lightning strike can be quite sobering! I casually mentioned that I was glad the lightning had not struck another large tree that is right beside my house. Next thing I knew he sent me a proposal for a lightning protection system to go in this tree, to the tune of almost $900. Well, I'd hate to lose this tree but I've never heard of a lightning protection system for a tree and it seems like overkill to me, not to mention that it seems foolish to install something that probably acts like a lightning rod right next to the house! Have you ever heard of something like this?

As I remember the Wye Oak (Eastern Shore) and the Liberty Tree on St. John's College campus (both now gone) had lightning protection and $900. per installation sounds about right. I love trees but I look at them as wood on the hoof.

Lightning rods -- whose technical name is "air-terminals" -- were invented by Ben Franklin and millions have been sold and installed since he proved their worth. The blue glass balls that you see on the older models reached a peak of popularity during the 1920s but were decoration only -- they had no function. Fraudulent itinerants used to wander the countryside offering to "recharge" those balls for a fee. Many bought the service. Who said those guys who offered to Y2K-proof your home over a decade ago were originals?

We all know that if you are caught out in the open the most dangerous place you can go is under a tree. One's greatest chance of survival is achieved by getting inside of a structure like a house. I've heard of the dangers of using the phone or the plumbing during an electrical storm. I've met people who have lost livestock and pets to lightning strikes out in a pasture.

Lightning is a lethal phenomenon not to be taken lightly that you can count on to frequently act in strange and unpredictable ways. I've seen lightning protection on all sorts of buildings -- houses, barns, churches, schools -- even our courthouse downtown sports lightning rods along the roof edge but around here it's rare to see them on dwellings.

I regularly see abandoned TV antennas on roofs and chimneys of houses with no grounding wires whatsoever and those that do have grounding wires usually employ what looks to me like a very flimsy and thin strand of aluminum leading to a small metal stake in the ground. I highly doubt such a rig could ever stand up to a multimillion volt jolt from above. I point them out as being hazards to be removed. As for the home's electrical system's grounding providing any protection, I've seen entire wiring systems of a house completely fried by a bolt of lightning.

I asked an active duty firefighter who works in this area to guess how many emergency calls he responds to for lightning strikes on homes in the summer around here and all he could say was "a lot." I can think of about a half dozen close brushes I've had with lightning in my lifetime.

I spoke with my insurance broker about the lightning question and he just threw up his hands. He wished he could require all of his policy holders to install lightning protection but any suggestion of that he's made over the years only got rolled eyes and deaf ears at the extra cost. After all, he says, people reason that that's what they pay insurance for. During the season -- which around here can run from April to October -- they get three to five lightning damage claims a week. Compare that with automobile crashes for both property damage and injury and lightning comes in the back of the pack of statistics.

<p> He mentioned that there are those who will claim lightning strikes to upgrade their electronics, TVs, microwaves and computers. Insurance companies now subscribe to a weather service that pin- points all lightning strikes in a given area during an "event" that will verify legitimate damage claims.

If you're thinking about lightning protection consult a copy of UL96a, Installation Requirements for Lightning Protection Systems by Underwriters Laboratories, 333 Pfingsten Road, Northbrook IL 60062. Or Google lightning protection.

Not having lightning protection seems to be a gamble that most people make and from time to time we read about the losers and silently thank our lucky stars it wasn't us.

The questions and answers in this column are based on Jim Rooney's 25-plus years of experience. Some content has appeared in past columns. If you've got a question, tip or comment write to "On The Level," PO Box 3407, Annapolis, MD 21403 or email [email protected] or [email protected].