State of emergency

[EL34]

My shop was hit by lightning on tuesday evening 04/03/2012
The list of destroyed items is huge

2 computers including my main business computer
dsl modem
router
2 network switches
2 printers
2 UPS backup units

50" plasma tv
surround sound amplifier
dvd player
roku player
direc tv receiver

And the biggest pain, my water well pump is dead

Fortunately my note book computer is fine and dial up is working

I am scrambling to re-order all the computers and gear to be able to get the business back up and running
Doing this via dial up sucks beyond belief

I may have a new dsl modem this aternoon and have dsl back
I closed the shopping cart
You will not be able to check out until I am open again

I am hoping to be back in business by friday or saturday 04/07/2012
Please hold off emailing me until I am back in ation
I have a million things going on ad will not be able t answer any emails

Thanks
Doug Hoffman


Update #1
The phone company just left and installed a new DSL modem so I now have DSL on one computer that survived.
I don't have my new router yet and so I don't have a network yet, just one dsl line into one computer
A new Computer is on the way, but then I have to install quickbooks and a bunch of other software just to get back up and running

There were several orders placed last night and some paypal orders were paid via paypal
I emailed all those people to let them know that I am dead in the water
I won't be able to take care of those orders or ship anything until I am back up and running

The well drilling company was here
My pump is dead
It's down at the end of 725 feet of vaery large gauge wire
They are coming back today to replace the pump and wire


Update #2

The well guys got here late. Too late to pull up 725 feet of pipe today
Gonna start in the morning. Should have water tomorow

Got a router hooked up and so I have a small network of two computers
Waiting on my new business computer to arrive on Thursday
8 core AMD will replace the blown up and brand new 6 core AMD that I just got new in December 2011.
3 month old machine... blown up.

Then it's several hours of software installs

All my data is stored on two 500GB network hard drives
Just found out that the main hard drive is ok and so I have only lost part of one days data
It was a slow day on Turesday and so that's not a huge problem.



Update #3

Got the new business computer and router in today
spent 7 hours setting up the computer
got all the software installed and working

Should be able to ship out some order on Friday (fingers crossed)
Got my main invoice printer today.
Waiting on the shipping label printer to arrive

The well guys started at about 8:30 am
pulling up 725 feet of pipe and wire
At about 280 feet, we found a couple places where the wire jacket was fried right down to bare copper
It must have been a bit hit
It even broke the schedule 80 pvc water pipe
They had to cut off the damaged pipe area and rethread the pipe

After about 5 hours they were about done hauling up 725 feet of pipe and wire and lowering all the new stuff back down into the hole.
New wire, new pump, and a controller box that has starter capacitors, relays and two reset buttons to prevent this sort of thing again
Only $5982 to have water again, ....... such a deal

Good thing my homeowners policy has a $500 deductable
All the damages will be over $10,000 when it's all over



Update #4

I just turned on the shopping cart checkout button and am ready to do business.
If anyone has been waiting to checkout, go ahead and do it now.

I would like to try and catch up this afternoon instead of having a flood of orders come in overnight and be swamped on Saturday morning
I have a bunch or errands to do on Saturday
More stuff to go get that was destroyed

Thanks all

[Colas LeGrippa]

Oh my god what a bad luck,  but more important, no one injured it seems.

lots of extreme weather events in the USA recently, and more and more frequent.

Good courage.

Colas

[John]

Sorry to hear the bad news, but yeah- main thing is everyone is okay. Stay safe!

[Fresh_Start]

Doug - I'm so sorry to hear about the disaster!  Replacing a water pump on short notice is painfully expensive, to say nothing of the rest of your stuff.

Working out of a home office myself, your experience gives me the shivers despite my "disaster planning".

The only good news is that you didn't include any guitars or amps on your list of damaged goods.

I am really glad to hear that no one in your family was hurt.

Take care,

Chip

[EL34]

Thanks all,
I am adding updates to the top post as I have more info.

[DummyLoad]

damn doug, i truly hope you get things sorted with minimal physical and mental anguish. so sorry you're having to deal nature's mess and i wish you all the best.

--pete

[thermion]

yikes! 725'!!
what kind of protection could even withstand this level of hit? lace your roof with lightening rods maybe?
acts of god what can you say...
hope normalcy returns soon, brother.

[EL34]

Every piece of gear was on APC battery backup UPS's with surge protection

It was so massive that nothing could stop it.
The circuit boards in some of the devices have black burnt areas and they smell really nasty

[tubenit]

I had the same thing happen maybe 20 yrs ago in Dallas.  Lightning hit the power lines in the alley and it ran into my home.  Lost a TV, stereo receiver/amplifier, audio cassette player and one computer.

I think the computer was on a surge protector but nothing else was & it was all toast after the hit.

REALLY sorry to hear this happened to you! Expensive stuff to replace with or without insurance coverage.

Jeff

[drgonzonm]

Several years ago, I was working in Florida, in Lightning Alley.  The instrument Foreman showed me a blown E-Clip industrial surge protector  The unit exploded three main pieces, and dust.    

One of his crew saw a direct lightning hit, and St. Elmos fire on the pole feeding the Control room.  The electronics in the room survived.  (The control room had radio control and computers)  The company I worked for, was extremely lucky, but that $250 surge protector saved about $15,000 of equipment (1980's cost) and allowed that portion of the operation to continue operating ($6000/hr).

Surge protection against lightning both a science and art.  Survival many times is a matter of luck.  

When I was in school in Socorro, (New Mexico Tech does Lightning Research), one of my class mates missed being fried by a lightning strike because the  bare cable that was struck and he was working on had a quarter bend over a grounded wire.  (research was being done at the schools lab facilities  on  Lagmier Peak)  

As side note, one of the researchers is a zero degree of separation from the 1947 UFO incident in Roswell NM)

I really hope you had offsite backup for those computers.  (I know I don't)

Again, expensive Act of God.  I am glad you were not physically harmed.  

[drgonzonm]

Could I suggest a new thread on installing and maintaining surge protection to protect computers, TV's and assorted equipment.   I am sure there are several that can contribute. 

[zambo]

Glad you are physically ok Doug. Sorry about the rest of your stuff but im sure it will all work out for the better.

[EL34]

The storm started as a massive hail storm.
I was filming the hail coming down just before the lightning strike
It was at leat 1+ inches deep on the deck outside my shop

I stopped filming and then it struck.

I'll post the video when I get back in action
You won't believe how fast it was hailing

[Willabe]

So sorry to hear your bad news.

Like the others said, it could have been worse, it could have hit you or burned down your shop/house.    

My neighbor across the street told me one night during a thunder storm, lightning hit a few blocks away and the power line surge turned on the lights in his house for a few seconds and killed his computer and it's surge protector.

On my side of the street were on a different feed.

                      Brad

[FYL]

Oh well. Sorry to hear that Doug.

[Greenmachine]

Bummer Doug,

Hang in there.

 

[bruno]

Sorry to hear that, good luck with getting everything up and running Doug.

[EL34]

Thanks guys

[Ritchie200]

Hey Doug,

I don't suppose it was just the well controller that got fried?  I've got a buddy who does wells and after mine fried after a lightning strike we were preparing for the worst with pump replacement, etc...  He said 90% of the time it is just the controller on a lightning strikes.  He said that is the biggest money maker for (questionable) well companies - to say the whole thing is shot when in reality it's only a $100 part.  They rely on the general public's ignorance about electrical items and the voodoo of well technology.  Do you trust your well guy?  Maybe ask some pointed questions about how they went about testing the pump, how did they arrive at their conclusion, etc....  Good luck brother!

Jim

[jerrydyer]

sorry to hear about all that. Keep your cameras ready though. Weather around the globe is changing big time. I wish I had the equipment laying around here to help you with but it looks like you are your own little city. 

[rzenc]

Oh man... Sorry to hear it...
Best Regards Doug!
R.

[EL34]

Thanks again all

He said 90% of the time it is just the controller on a lightning strikes

My pump guy is a nice guy
I don't have a controller on mine.
I have a tank unit with a set of 240V contacts, then a 100ft wire from the house out to the well head
Then a 725 foot set of wires down to the pump

My well guy mentioned something about adding a controller to my pump rig this afternoon and I will be taking him up on it for sure
I'm off to start downloading all the current software that I need to run the business so I am ready when the new 8 core machine arrives tomorrow.

[Shrapnel]

My shop was hit by lightning on tuesday evening 04/03/2012
...

Update #2

Got a router hooked up and so I have a small network of two computers
Waiting on my new business computer to arrive on Thursday
8 core AMD will replace the blown up and brand new 6 core AMD that I just got new in December 2011.
3 month old machine... blown up.

The repalcement Bulldozer or Opteron?

Then it's several hours of software installs

All my data is stored on two 500GB network hard drives
Just found out that the main hard drive is ok and so I have only lost part of one days data
It was a slow day on Turesday and so that's not a huge problem.

Glad to hear a great majority of important data has not been lost. It makes the restore and the bookkeeping easier.

[EL34]

The repalcement Bulldozer or Opteron

Not sure what that is. Here's the spec's

Processor - AMD FX-Series FX-8120 3.1 GHz
Processor Main Features - 64 bit Eight-Core Processor
Cache Per Processor - 8MB L2 Cache
Memory - 8GB

[drgonzonm]

If you can, have the motor checked out. I do not think you need a new pump. Keep all the well parts. pump, motor wires, 240v contacts.  I believe you have enough electrical experience to determine if motor failed. 

 Deep wells take special starters.  Who knows, maybe the motor and its windings survived.  What probably occurred, the motor windings got fried by the high voltage and current surge.  Just maybe, just maybe, the wire going down the tube burnt.  While well wiring is not cheap,

Regarding controllers, my well is a constant pressure pump,  I fried my controller when I bumped the well with my tractor.  $500 hit. 

[EL34]

The well guys have come and gone
It's not worth spending any of my time messing with the pump
Homeowners deductable is only $500 for all of the $12,000+ damages

see the latest update up top

[PRR]

> The well guys .... a couple places where the wire jacket was fried right down to bare copper ... It must have been a bit hit ... It even broke the schedule 80 pvc water pipe  They had to cut off the damaged pipe area and rethread the pipe

Do you have another _good_ ground on the house?

What you describe sounds like lightning came to the house, and the best way out was via the well wires.

There's supposed to be another ground electrode. Minimum of a dirt-rod. Rebar in concrete footing is better.

It is very possible that at lightning-size power, no ordinary house ground is going to take the jolt, at some point it goes down your well.

I once took a direct hit on the tree a few feet outside my kitchen. It blew out a strip 6 inches wide and 30 feet up. Wood is mostly water. That strip was many gallons. If I try to boil water on the big electric stove, that much would take hours. The lightning boiled that much water "instantly".

That stroke did not hit the house but the near-miss caused a lot of damage _because_ I had overhead phone, underground power, and no effective dirt-rod. The difference of induced voltage between overhead and underground ate the modem, the answering machine, and a very good though old carbon-protector on the phone line. Took days to get the phone back, and in the process I got underground phone line. Did-up every underground pipe with heavy jumpers. Never had any more lightning damage.

[EL34]

The well is 75 feet from the house
Both buildings have long ground rods right next to the breaker boxes

The 725 foot deep bundle of copper wire with a big metal pump at the end of the wires, sitting in water seems to win out as the favorite path to earth

[kagliostro]

Hi Doug

I'm really sad about that

the first thing is that no one hurt

I hope your equipment were insured, the damage was not slight

if I've understand well you will pay the first $500.00 the other money will be payed by the home insurance ?

Franco

[EL34]

Yes, I pay the deductable of $500 and everthing else is covered

I just turned on the shopping cart checkout button and am ready to do business.
If anyone has been waiting to checkout, go ahead and do it now.

I would like to try and catch up this afternoon instead of having a flood of orders come in overnight and be swamped on Saturday morning
I have a bunch or errands to do on Saturday
More stuff to go get that was destryed

Thanks all

[gmoon]

Good luck, Doug. That's nasty. Amazing that it killed something like a pump.

I'm getting flashbacks here. We had a similar experience here about two years ago--not quite as bad, but close. We lost:

--two computers (desktops)
--all the networking hardware (two routers, one switch)
--six or seven indoor lighting fixtures (low-voltage track lighting and some CFLs)
--two outdoor motion-detection security lights
--a TV
--a couple switching wall warts on other devices

Like you, I depend on computers daily. Luckily we had two laptops that weren't damaged, but the bulk of my work depends on software on my desktops. Took a couple weeks to get back to SOP. One of the desktops was even turned off at the power strip--the spike apparently also came in through the cable and wired network.

To this day my wife gives that look when we have a thunderstorm-- maybe should you go downstairs and unhook the cable, hon?

[drgonzonm]

Could I suggest you examine ground wires on the power poles around your house.  With the price of copper, this is an easy source.   If you have overhead power, make sure you look at poles up and down stream of your transformer. The most critical is the poles at the transformer.  I would also look at the weatherhead if you have a power mast at the house.  Basically, what I am suggesting is forensic engineering.  Trying to answer was it an Act of God, or were other contributing factors that could have been foreseen.

It wasn't too long ago, I checked 8 power poles in a row and found 7 of them without the copper ground required by code.  I recently found a power pole in my yard without the grounding.   

Since the grounding and neutral to your house is tied to ground wire on the power pole, guess where the ground for the power system is, if those ground wires on the pole are missing. 

If you have the skills, also look within your power panel specifically at the green; green-yellow wires, and the white wires for burnt wires. 

[EL34]

Could I suggest you examine ground wires on the power poles around your house

There are no power poles anywhere around here. All the utilities are buried under ground.

I understand everyone wanting to find a ground rod smoking gun, but the truth is that when a massive amount of voltage hits the ground it spreads out and looks for a way to earth.

It was wet and there was a massive amount of hail on the ground and so the ground was all one big wet conductor.

This was not some small little spike looking for a tiny #8 copper ground rod or wire.

This jolt nearly melted 3 copper wires that probably totaled .75 inches in diameter
The water well was the best path to ground when the whole ground surface is charged up to some massive voltage level.

Imagine a pool of water 725 feet deep
Now attach a big metal probe to the end of of a .75 inch bundle of wire
Lower it down into the water 725 feet down.

Which is the better path to earth (least resistance)

A #8 copper wire on a telephone pole driven 24 inches down into the earth or the 3/4" diamter well wire?

The well was closer to the strike, in fact I think the ground was struck very near the well.

[CraigB]

Wow, glad you stopped filming and stepped inside.  Take care Doug!

[pullshocks]

Are the Yeti's are OK?

[PRR]

> was even turned off at the power strip

I figure: The lightning bolt just jumped 1,000 feet from cloud to earth. Why would it stop at the 0.1" gap in an "off" switch?

After some earlier hits, I'd got in the habit of pulling the plug OUT of the wall when I heard thunder. Yeah, it could jump that extra foot, but there's usually some easier path.

Oh, and a knife-switch on the modem. 1" gap. (This also gave access to either of two lines.)

But that direct hit on the tree came "out of nowhere". A little rain then KER.BOOM!!.

> everyone wanting to find a ground rod smoking gun

For next time.

THIS time you just got a direct hit and no residential property can handle that without significant damage. We don't put $200,000 lighting protection on houses because most houses never get a direct hit, and the few that do the damage tends to be less than the cost of utility-level protection.

But for every direct hit there's lots of near misses. When scumbags steal pole-grounds, a miss is not much better than a hit.

I do not know why ANY scrap dealer would buy 25' lengths of #2 stranded copper without a signed statement of origin. This is so obviously cut-from-poles. So unless it is the Power Company, or our Richard swears and signs that he dismantled a private power-line, such copper should be refused.

> All the utilities are buried under ground.

Excellent. May get water-rot and squirrel-chew, but you can't have huge stray voltage.

Can't do that here. In fact this week's excavation makes me real worried. AFAICT, all this land is underlain by a slab of rock. I thought some of the dirt went 20+ feet before rock, but I'm hitting the same rock 12"-30" down everywhere except the small fill around the house. Rock is better than glass but a lot worse than damp dirt.

> bundle of copper wire with a big metal pump at the end of the wires, sitting in water seems to win out as the favorite path to earth

My 90-foot well may be the best thing around. Mine has a steel casing but these typically only go 10'-20' down.

[EL34]

Yeah, the Yeti's are ok, they were in the garage sleeping

Excellent. May get water-rot and squirrel-chew, but you can't have huge stray voltage

All the houses in the whole area around here have buried utilities
I am not even sure where the nearest power pole is
Maybe .5 to 1 mile away????

[drgonzonm]

Lightning strikes,  As crazy as it sounds, ground strikes when it comes to lightning originate from the ground to the clouds.  (lookup Lightning research by Max Brooks, Charles Moore, Sterling Colgate,  these guys were some of the physics profs at New Mexico Tech, By the way one of them is associated with the 1947 Roswell UFO incident ) 

When I worked in Lightning Alley, (Central Florida), the company I worked for had difficultly grounding their 3 phase equipment.  On occasion, they would have to salt the ground (yes coarse sodium chloride), to get the necessary values to assure an NEC ground. 

The fact that you found the wires providing power to your well fried, suggests, the motor had a slight chance of surviving.  It is also possible that pump itself survived.  The insulation on the wires is only rated to 600V, not the mega volts they had to carry.

At the risk of seeming a know-it-all, The path of least resistance is that #8 wire.  (The rods are driven 10' into the ground, not twenty four).  If necessary a grounding grid is buried to provide a ground.  Your house should also be grounded.

If you look at the design of the power going to the well, you have insulated wires that go to a motor which has insulated windings. 

Most of your houses have the neutral (white wires in most of the US), tied to the ground. and even to that ground wire in the overhead power lines. 

[EL34]

Both buildings on my property are relatively new and all modern wiring
House 2001
Garage/shop 2006

Both have ground rods where the service enters the buildings and are tied to the breaker boxes

[EL34]

Here's a couple shots of the melted water well wire and my invisible dog fence surge protector.

The main dog fence unit survived.
This is not an AC power surge protector
The surge protector is connected to a 1000 foot loop of in the ground fence wire and then the wire goes to the main dog fence unit
The 1000ft of in ground dog fence wire is melted in a bunch of spots and a big section needs to be replaced

The surge protector took the massive hit

[swipesy]

That sure sucks! I had a lightning strike take out our well last summer, and it also took out our bladder tank. $500 deductible - but we got both replaced and it only took a couple days.  Of course, our well is only about 80 feet deep, but still.  We have a new problem now though.  Our septic leech field is dead and we have to have that replaced along with a new septic tank. Unfortunately, insurance doesn't cover that.  My 8-channel preamp is obviously on hold for awhile, though I'm still working on all the switching circuit designs. Like I said, that sure sucks!

[drgonzonm]

Did you have a septic tank tank failure?  (Structural).  Or did you fail to pump the tank and the tank the filled with decomposed S***? 

Basically, I am asking if you have a plugged leach field.  (Bad perc testing etc.) It could even be tree roots growing into the leach piping. 

I just want to make sure you are not getting fleeced, where the septic tank company is saying you need a new tank, and a new leach field, when there may be other options. 

In some parts of the country, local authorities will allow you to do your own plumbing. Basically the authorities ask that you pass a test.  then rent a backhoe, dig, lay pipe, cover pipe with geofabric, cover with rocks, cover remaining trench. 

I.E. 

[swipesy]

Thanks I.E., but we happen to personally know the people who checked it out and gave us the bad news. The current leech field was put in when the house was built in 1970, and they happened to put it in about ten feet away from a willow tree. (Dumb!) We were told that the roots could be cut out of the piping, but with the willow tree so close the piping holes would still be pretty well plugged and it wouldn't last very long anyway. Re the tank itself, it would normally be fine, but the original owners built an addition to the house and now the tank is too close to the house. (Also dumb!) We think they may have gotten a variance for that, but we can't get proof of that from the county so a new tank has to be put in. We've already filed for the septic installation permit and are waiting for the perk test so we know exactly how much it will cost. What fun!