House hit by lightning

[Just1more]

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Check the feed wires to all of those obviously fried switches or outlets. More than likely the casing will be melted in the wall or underneath the house. I had a similar issue years ago. Wasn’t lightning but a squirrel chewed the neutral wire into outside before it came into the house. Power surged in but not out. Did the same thing to about 15 outlets, switches.

 

[rbstern]

Update: Electricians have been here all morning, assessing the damage. So far, wiring damage largely isolated to the branch circuits in the garage. But, they were getting 273 volts across both hot leads and at the power company meter. The linemen who replaced the fuses on the power pole Wednesday morning had checked at the meter. It was 243 volts then.

Electrician called the power company, they got here quick and popped the cover on the pad-mounted transformer in the yard, sure enough, lightning damage to the transfomer. Another crew is on the way with a replacement transformer. Glad it didn't blow. That would have been messy.

The saga continues...

 

[Jeddak]

Yep. Two. Ethernet ports on both now non-working, although they both still transmit/receive.

EDIT: These are regular routers set up as WAPs.

Here is your ethernet to AC path. Transmitter for the extenders is connected to the router AND AC outlet.

 

[wc123]

Had a similar experience when i was about 15. Sounded like a bomb went off! Hit a tree in the back yard, set a nearby out building on fire. Dug a trench through the yard on the way through the in ground pool (busting the concrete up) and frying most of the electronics in the house. Big mess, and when it was all said and done the insurance company canceled my parents insurance. They had to get high risk insurance after that for several years. Good luck, glad no one got hurt.

 

[7pt62THOR]

Dang brother, that sux. At least everyone is OK.

 

[ShawnZR-1]

Update: Electricians have been here all morning, accessing the damage. So far, wiring damage largely isolated to the branch circuits in the garage. But, they were getting 273 volts across both hot leads and at the power company meter. The linemen who replaced the fuses on the power pole Wednesday morning had checked at the meter. It was 243 volts then.

Electrician called the power company, they got here quick and popped the cover on the pad-mounted transformer in the yard, sure enough, lightning damage to the transfomer. Another crew is on the way with a replacement transformer. Glad it didn't blow. That would have been messy.

The saga continues...

You're going to be dealing with the aftermath for quite a while. Lightning hits leave long lasting scars.
I used to work for a company that provided SCADA equipment for power companies. We would get repairs from substations that were obvious lightning hits. I held up a circuit board and put my fist clean through the hole that was blown in it! We decided that one might not be repairable...

Oh, and a word about surge suppressors: A bolt of lightning can have one million volts of potential and just traveled a mile or more to reach the best path to ground. Do you really think a varistor (the main component in surge suppressors) that is the size of a nickel is going to do anything to shunt that hit?! I've seen electronics that weren't plugged into anything at all fry just because they were close to where lightning struck. That energy field around a bolt can extend for a hundred feet wreaking havoc on computers and electronics.

 

[greg vess]

That crap doesn't play. We were playing when we're kids out on the farm of the lady baby sat me and here 4 kids were. Lightning hit about 10 feet from us I guess the lightning rods on the top of the house attracted one that hit the rods and a second that hit just about 10 feet from us. We saw the flash and started to run and were blown off our feet and we got up and hauled ass inside. Ears rang for hours we almost felt like a balloon that had been rubbed when your hair stands up. We looked like something off The little Rascals. Big eyes from being scared to death and hair standing on end. To close for comfort. Funny now when thinking about it but a god darn terrifying experience right after the event. Glad to hear everyone is safe and sound. The house taking the brunt of it is as good thing. Took you guys out of harm. Hope everything gets worked out.

 

[jeep78]

Lightening never strikes the same place twice .

I have been hit 3 times, so I guess that is true.

 

[rbstern]

Here is your ethernet to AC path. Transmitter for the extenders is connected to the router AND AC outlet.

Lot more chances than that. I had a 16 port ethernet hub, a couple of 5 port ethernet hubs, and the telco router has five ports. Plus any of the PCs or TVs that were wired ethernet, home theater receiver, Dish Network, BluRay...all hardwired. Been crimping ethernet cables for 40+ years, all the way back to when it was 10BaseT. I prefer wired over wireless for better performance. The downside to that strategy is descdribed in the above thread.

 

[rbstern]

Big time shout out to Hart EMC. They were here with a transformer within an hour of a linemen making a test reading and declaring the transformer defective.