I laid a new copper gas line one summer day for my water heater. I had moistened the soil for easy digging and grass replant. Went to light the pilot and lightning hit right outside. The lighting came in the copper line and into my elbow. Took a few seconds for me to be able to say "yes I'm OK"....
Why is everyone so afraid of lighting?
- Thread starter The motor guy
- Start date
- Status
If you have to ask, then you may be a candidate for a darwin award.
The short answer is because it can kill you. And you don't have to be the tallest thing around to get hit.
Respect lighting. Don't be dumb...
The short answer is because it can kill you. And you don't have to be the tallest thing around to get hit.
Respect lighting. Don't be dumb...
I live in the country and west of me is all farm field, from my front road back is wooded. Me and one of my sons were out on the front porch watching the storm come in. Lightning hit a tree about 50' away and scared the wonderment out of both of use as we scurried into the house. I've seen that tree get hit three times that I know of. Had another 200 year old oak that got hit once and it blew bark 100' away and killed the tree.
Not afraid of lighting here....
Dear yonder varlet,
Bad lighting can ruin you and your bride's handsomely rugged looks in your wedding video. Lightning will most likely fry you both to a crisp.
Bad lighting can ruin you and your bride's handsomely rugged looks in your wedding video. Lightning will most likely fry you both to a crisp.
Lightning struck my parents' house in 2003. I still lived there, but wasn't at home when it happened.
When I got back home, it was dark and the doors were wide open. I thought my parents were away and we had been robbed. When I came close to the door, my father got out with a flashlight and told me what happened. They kept the doors open to evacuate the burning smell and were staying there looking for any smoke.
Lightning struck the TV antenna outside and got inside by the antenna's cable before sparking to other electric cables. Worst thing is : that antenna and its mast were of no use anymore since we got a satellite dish a few years before. The wall where the cable entered the house was badly damaged, in some rooms you could actually follow the electrical cabling due to the blackened lines of the burned cables THROUGH the wall. The water heater tank exploded. Our TV and computer monitor were cathodic ray tubes and therefore colors were completely washed off. Various electrical things that were plugged in, even if turned off, didn't work anymore. The computer survived because the UPS took the hit.
We never understood why the house didn't burn down. All was covered by the home insurance and my parents still live there. The TV antenna mast was removed however
When I got back home, it was dark and the doors were wide open. I thought my parents were away and we had been robbed. When I came close to the door, my father got out with a flashlight and told me what happened. They kept the doors open to evacuate the burning smell and were staying there looking for any smoke.
Lightning struck the TV antenna outside and got inside by the antenna's cable before sparking to other electric cables. Worst thing is : that antenna and its mast were of no use anymore since we got a satellite dish a few years before. The wall where the cable entered the house was badly damaged, in some rooms you could actually follow the electrical cabling due to the blackened lines of the burned cables THROUGH the wall. The water heater tank exploded. Our TV and computer monitor were cathodic ray tubes and therefore colors were completely washed off. Various electrical things that were plugged in, even if turned off, didn't work anymore. The computer survived because the UPS took the hit.
We never understood why the house didn't burn down. All was covered by the home insurance and my parents still live there. The TV antenna mast was removed however
Haven't been struck, but I've had close encounters. In my youth lightning struck nearby, got a voltage surge which killed a television and several light bulbs. Found out later it went by way of our next door neighbor's house, zapped her television, melted her electric dryer outlet, and we saw where it jumped from the ground to her siding, leaving a hole in ground with some glass around it and dirt flung all over the siding. We also found out that she was terrified of thunderstorms even before that happened because when she was a little girl, lightning came through a light fixture in her room, struck her, and set her clothes on fire.
When I was a teenager I had put up an amateur radio antenna on our chimney. Didn't give a whole lot of thought about lightning protection, but I made sure I disconnected my radio equipment when I wasn't using it. Except one night. Thunderstorm came along early in the AM, and I woke up enough to figure out there was a thunderstorm. When on back to sleep until a few minutes later when I started hearing a ZAP ZAP ZAP from the antenna tuner. Rolled over and saw blue flashes from inside the tuner. After a few seconds I put 2 and 2 together and realized the antenna was connected, there was a thunderstorm, and it might be a target. Yikes! Quickly undid the cable and tossed it out the window. Added a ground rod and lightning arrestor soon after, and made sure the cable was grounded when I wasn't using it.
Yeah, I have respect for lightning.
When I was a teenager I had put up an amateur radio antenna on our chimney. Didn't give a whole lot of thought about lightning protection, but I made sure I disconnected my radio equipment when I wasn't using it. Except one night. Thunderstorm came along early in the AM, and I woke up enough to figure out there was a thunderstorm. When on back to sleep until a few minutes later when I started hearing a ZAP ZAP ZAP from the antenna tuner. Rolled over and saw blue flashes from inside the tuner. After a few seconds I put 2 and 2 together and realized the antenna was connected, there was a thunderstorm, and it might be a target. Yikes! Quickly undid the cable and tossed it out the window. Added a ground rod and lightning arrestor soon after, and made sure the cable was grounded when I wasn't using it.
Yeah, I have respect for lightning.
I was at an airshow about 15 years ago and a storm popped up right above us. We were way out by the runway and had no time to get back to the buildings nearby, so we went into the refreshment tent. It was only very heavy rain at first, so I didnt think much of being under the tent. Then the lightning quickly started, and it was the flash and immediate boom type so we knew it was striking extremely close. Then the brightest flash and biggest, loudest crackling boom I had ever experienced happens and I felt like I jumped a mile. Apparently four people had taken refuge tucked up next to a Chinook chopper parked about 100 feet away from the tent and lightning had either struck them or the chopper. Three of them were fine but the fourth person was knocked unconscious and remembered nothing about it when he came to a few minutes later.
If you've never been out in the open and close to a lightning strike, consider yourself lucky, its scary.
If you've never been out in the open and close to a lightning strike, consider yourself lucky, its scary.
Because me, my wife, and my son were struck in our car while driving down main street here in Ames, IA.
- Status
Similar threads
