Lightning strike on house

i live in Colorado USA. we get a lot of lightning here, even in the winter. i've had my house hit three times, the first time it hit a large ground plane antenna on my roof. the only damage from that one was a PL259 connector blown apart. another time it damaged some phone jack wiring and fried an answering machine. the 3rd time, it hit the transformer on the pole. in the house, only a DVD player was damaged, but it took 4 hours for them to come out and replace the transformer. i saw it happen, lightning hit the transformer, and a bunch of smoke came out of where one of the insulators for the primary had been. i've repaired TVs and audio equipment damaged by lightning that had wrecked a large portion of their sound and video systems. i've seen receivers and amplifiers where all that was left of the bridge rectifier in the power supply was 4 wires with blackened ends. i always get the "but i had it plugged into a surge protector????" my answer is simple, lightning has already traveled several miles through the sky, and a 1/8" thick silicon disc isn't going to have much effect on where it goes in your house wiring and audio/video gear. if lightning damages an AV receiver, chances are good that there are several things fried, and they are usually the things that are the most expensive to replace. 90 percent or more of stuff that gets damaged by lightning are not economically repairable.

Perhaps you get a lot of lightning, but maybe it's fairly 'gentle' lightning

You've certainly been lucky, as you've had VERY little damage - in my (considerable) experience there's usually a great deal more damage to electronics in the house, even with a strike that's only relatively close. Actual strikes on houses usually blow holes in roofs, knock chimneys off, and even damage walls.

Nigel Goodwin said:

I should seriously hope not

It's also probably a good idea to go back occasionally and soak salt water around the ground points.

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This can be damaging to your ground rod - causing a thick coat of rust (if iron) or aluminum oxide (if aluminum) or cupric chloride if copper. None of these corrosion end products are conductive and, depending on the local micro-environment around the rod, may leave an insulated skin around the rod to have near zero earthing performance.

Magnesium sulfate may be a much better choice as an electrolyte solution.

gophert said:

Magnesium sulfate may be a much better choice as an electrolyte solution.

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With the ever-increasing restrictions being placed upon the general public regarding the purchase of chemicals, where the heck would you get that from? The only thing we'll be able to buy in the future, is Sodium Chloride, but we will need a permit and a disclaimer that we won't be using it for nefarious purposes.
BTW, I do know what it is and where to get it from.

Mickster said:

With the ever-increasing restrictions being placed upon the general public regarding the purchase of chemicals, where the heck would you get that from? The only thing we'll be able to buy in the future, is Sodium Chloride, but we will need a permit and a disclaimer that we won't be using it for nefarious purposes.
BTW, I do know what it is and where to get it from.

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For those who didn't see your 4-point font comment...

Nigel Goodwin said:

Perhaps you get a lot of lightning, but maybe it's fairly 'gentle' lightning

You've certainly been lucky, as you've had VERY little damage - in my (considerable) experience there's usually a great deal more damage to electronics in the house, even with a strike that's only relatively close. Actual strikes on houses usually blow holes in roofs, knock chimneys off, and even damage walls.

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i've seen lightning do some nasty things, even hitting an electric pole and destroy the wiring of a barracks building (when i was at Ft Gordon for training).

unclejed613 said:

i live in Colorado USA. we get a lot of lightning here,. i've had my house hit three times,

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That is because your house it 5000 feet up in the sky your closer to lightning. I remember storms in CO some days you can see 6 or 7 storms far off in the distance and each storm has its own lightning. Wind blows 50 mph and a storm 25 miles away will be on you in 30 minutes. I remember 75 degree weather July storm hits hard and fast cold rain gets colder, turns to hail, then turns to snow. It storms like crazy 15 or 20 min then its gone 75 degree weather is gone too now its 40 degrees and you need your winter jacket. We took the kids camping at RMNP = rocky mountain national park weather forecast was severe storms middle of the night. After putting up the tent I had kids collect 18 basket ball size rocks to put inside the tent around the outer edges. I knew what to expect, wife & kids did not so I kept my mouth shut. LOL First storm hit at 2 pm 70 mph wind tent flapped in the wind like a flag I laid their and enjoyed the lightning flashes about every 5 seconds then BOOM. Wife and kids were scared to death. Storm lasted about 45 minutes it was totally awesome. Next store was about 4 pm almost as bad as first store only lasted 30 minutes. We all slept late, cooked breakfast, had a great time. then went home. Yep CO storms are amazing I wish I could get my own personal lightning storm to stay in my front yard all summer. LOL