[Tech1] Lightning strike

[Keith Wicks]

"Ball lightning is often erroneously identified as St. Elmo's fire
<https://wiki2.org/en/St._Elmo%27s_fire>. They are separate and distinct
phenomena."


See:


https://wiki2.org/en/Ball_lightning


KW

On Sat, 3 Apr 2021 at 09:47, sara newman via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk>
wrote:

> On  May 6th  1993( The date is emblazoned on my memory  we were living and
> renovating  an old  house just outside Tunbridge Wells. The phone line came
> in from a pole across the road set in a rather boggy area. At about 9
> o’clock I decided to go to bed early as the baby I was feeding was 10
> months old and I was very very tired.  I was sitting on the side of the bed
> when there was a flash of lightening just outsider the window. It was
> brighter than any light I had ever seen. The phone next to the bed glowed
> and the ball of lightening entered the room at the end of the bed. (St Elmo
> Fire) and hung there for what seemed several seconds. I followed it onto
> the landing past my daughters room who also saw it and my sons it then
> dropped down into the kitchen below where we later found it ended
> incinerating the new washing machine. Every appliance in the house that was
> plugged in and “on” was gutted/incinerated.  I had purchased a new Zanussi
> washing machine which I had had an issue with and the engineer was to come
> first thing next day. Obviously having no experience of this and trying to
> calm the children we wen to bed and decided to sort it out in the
> morning!!!. I turned the washing machine on when I first got up and smoke
> came out of it. the man from Zanussi came round that afternoon, service in
> the old days was amazing then ! He took the top off and was so shocked by
> the molten circuit boards that he replaced the machine later that day!
> Apparently we should have called the fire brigade ( I did not tell the
> engineer  of the events of the night before, he must have thought it was a
> malfunction of this brand new model.) I took the computer to a repair shop
> and he was also shocked by the interior of the machine and it was then that
> I began to understand the true import of the lightening strike, It all felt
> quite surreal and impossible. (after training in trauma therapy for 10
> years it was clearly PTSD but at the time no one talked about it then but
> now its as banded about whern someone has had any kind of shock)  I then
> contacted he insurance company. We were  in the process and nearly
> completing  putting a ghost electrics system in, which we then hurriedly
> connected up putting surge fuses in. The pole had several other later
> strikes affecting the house next door who also had to put surge fuses in
> the system as the pole attracted lightening sending the surge through the
> telephone lines. 11 years later having therapy for another tragic issue I
> had a flash back and filled in the missing memories. It was only then that
> I remember the deafening noise of the ball of lightening. There was no
> storm just that since strike.
>
> sara
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 2 Apr 2021, at 20:16, David Newbitt via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk>
> wrote:
>
> Popular wisdom generally asserted that lightning would always strike at
> the highest point but I have often wondered just what is meant by this
> adage. How far away does a significantly taller strike point have to be to
> provide effective protection? Our village church tower is barely 100 yds.
> distant and has impressive looking conductors but I suspect provides no
> reason for complacency.
>
> Dave Newbitt.
>
> *From:* Hugh Sheppard via Tech1
> *Sent:* Friday, April 2, 2021 6:28 PM
> *To:* Tech1 at tech-ops
> *Subject:* [Tech1] Lightning strike
>
> A temporary resident family has been renting a few doors away and is about
> to return 'home' after 8 months repairs following a lightning strike. Only
> yesterday did I learn the story.
>
> Conventional modern detached house among others; several fires affecting
> carpets and appliances in the kitchen, living room and bedrooms after a
> strike via an external TV aerial with power amplified distribution outlets.
> Not content with stripping all mains insulation throughout the house, it
> dived underground via the mains circuit and burnt out cabling to 3 or 4
> neighbours, one of whom saw a fire-line run across the carpet in the living
> room, caused by a cable-run directly underneath. None as badly affected as
> our current😉 neighbour who counts himself fortunate having had unlimited
> buildings and alternative accommodation insurance.
>
> The only surviving PC of 3 was a lap-top with a surge protector, but
> nearly all other electrical appliances were burned out, while complete
> re-wiring, a new central heating boiler and related building work took
> months. For neighbours, most wiring survived but appliances either failed
> there and then or have done so since. Apparently it's the alternative
> accommodation clause of buildings policies that can be an Achilles heel, as
> most folk think only in terms of a couple of months at most. While the
> brick carcase of a fairly recent house is likely to survive a serious fire,
> older buildings can require a complete ground-up re-build, implying perhaps
> double the cost of a new-build on a similar site.
>
> Yet no one seems to fit lighting conductors nowadays do they?  Isn't there
> a business opportunity here for someone?
>
> Hugh
>
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