Each year, thousands of homes and other properties are damaged or destroyed by lightning. Lightning is responsible for more deaths and property loss than tornadoes, hurricanes and flood combined, but of these violent forces of nature, lightning is the only one we can economically afford to protect ourselves against.  

   If struck, a building will generally sustain more damage when there is no lightning protection system present.

    This information highlights examples of safety precautions you can take to help protect yourself, your family, and your property. This list is not meant to be all encompassing. Moreover, a particular precaution may not be effective in all circumstances.

Lightning: The Basics

    Lightning is the visible discharge of static electricity within a cloud, between clouds, or between the earth and a cloud. Scientists still do not fully understand what causes lightning, but most experts believe that different kinds of ice interact in a cloud. Updrafts in the cloud separate charges so that positive charges end up at the top of the cloud while negative charges flow to the bottom. When the negative charge moves down, a "pilot leader" forms. This leader rushes toward the earth in 150-foot discrete steps, ionizing a path in the air. The final breakdown generally occurs to a high object and the major part of the lightning discharge current is then carried in the return stroke, which flows along the ionized path.

How Lightning Protection Systems Work

    A lightning protection system provides a means by which this discharge may enter or leave the earth without passing through and damaging non-conducting parts of a structure, such as those made of wood, brick, tile or concrete. A lightning protection system does not prevent lightning form striking; it provides a means for controlling it and preventing damage by providing a low resistance path for the discharge of lightning energy.

How You Can Protect Your Facility

    Install a lightning pro tection system that complies with current nationally recognized codes. Lightning protection systems consist of air terminals (lightning rods) and associated fittings connected by heavy cables to grounding equipment, providing a path for lightning current to travel safely to the ground.

    Install surge arresters at your service and telephone equipment to prevent surges from entering your home or other structures on power or telephone lines. Surges are diverted to the ground, and both wiring and appliance are protected.

    Install transient voltage surge suppressors in receptacles to which computers and other electronic equipment are connected in order to limit the voltage to 1.5 times the normal voltage (maximum for solid state devices).

Stedi-Power, Inc
5044 B U Bowman Drive #102
Buford, Georgia 30518
PHONE: (678) 546-6780

Last Updated: 07 Jun 2004
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