Originally Posted By: vkotlarz This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
I was asked if metal roofs are more prone to lightning hits. My first thought is no, but I’m guessing. The question that came up for me is: Are there any special bonding or lightning safety requirements for metal roofs?
Originally Posted By: bking This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
good question, my guess is that it is not required but might be a good idea in some areas like florida.
The roof would likely just vaporize in a direct hit before it carried the current to ground anyway. The benefit would be to discharge the static charges that build up when lightining just hits nearby. These static fields are enough to wipe out EPROMS and such in electronic equipment.
I saw a ham radio antenna cable that had been disconnected and inserted into a mason jar during a storm. The antenna got hit and the jar melted around the cable. The jar was laying on a basement slab. Direct hits are extremely powerful.
Originally Posted By: Jay Moge This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
i think it’s just as important to realize that if you ground a metal roof, your not protecting it, your turning it into a lightning ROD. i know it’s near imposible to totaly insulate (electricly speaking) a metal roof, but i think the only real way is with lightning supressors. not sure if metal roof co.s ever talk about it or recomend it, but it’s standard on comercial builds.
Originally Posted By: pbolliger This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
After watching a PBS NOVA science program on Lighting , I have a completely different view of it… Period… Now I am even more scared of it then ever before…
The commonly accepted “facts” about lighting aren’t always “correct”.
Can you believe that one person at the lowest point of an entirely filled huge football stadium was hit? They theorize it was the persons chemical make up at that point and the area of most "desirable discharge point" . The programs had that as an example..
Lighting can strike half way down a skyscraper that is concrete.. Move horizontally at any point.
Negative and positive types of lighting. It doesn't appear that grounding makes a "major" difference in some instances. The dielectric breakdowns and difference in potential makes for one heck of a current arch! More heat energy in a lighting strike then the surface of the sun... WOW!
