OT: lightneing strikes on a well

have had two of them over the years get toasted by a lighting strike (submersable pump in a steel casing)any proven methods of preventing that? one friend said to put a decorative wooden windmill over the casing thinking then metal wouldn't be exposed. could that really work? or other ideas? thanks.

Here's a site that address's lightining strikes to wells, has some good info and possible solutions, hope it helps....I would 1st make every attempt to verify that lightning was the problem source before spending alot of $$ on Lightning Protection other than a Surge Protector for the well pump conductors...

http://forums.mikeholt.com/showthread.php?t=90366

It's getting hit because it may be the best grounded thing in the area. Get something higher than it is, put it nearby and ground it. A pipe in a tree or pole with a ground wire and a ground rod would do it. The wooden windmill structure is virtually invisible to the electrons. Or you could chalk it up to two rare events...

You will have to pull the pump, usually attached with ABS plastic pipe outta the well for visual inspection. Usually, the starting components on the pumps manufactured with the proper in-house grounding will prevent the pump motor from getting the "brunt" of the strike.



John,PA

You must have a lot of iron in your water

Lightning struck a tree 25 or 30 ft from our well it tore a trench from tree to well then on to the house. toasted the pump, pump control box, tv's microwave, computer $4000.00 in damage all paid by ins. luckily.

I have a similar but different problem. Once or twice a year the transmission lines nearby in the neighborhood get hit. When they do get hit it must go underground to my well. When hit it knocks out the well breaker in my shed, then the shed breaker in the house and even has toasted GFI outlets in the shed as well as in the house. Once it got the door openers. Have never had a well pump or equipment failure because of it.

1st time capacitor on starter in basement blew out.
Installed lighting arrestor in contolloer to pipe ground. Blew out submersible 165 below ground. Reason it jumped to copper wire to pump. which is better connector than galvanized Pipe well casing.
3rd time SUCCESS. Installed 20 foot tower on 30 foot house for tower transmission to tower. Grounded mast to Utilities Ground on Maypole. It blew out utilities transformer that time.
Think you need similar wiring.
BTDT Charles Krammin SW MI

(quoted from post at 15:55:06 06/18/14)
have had two of them over the years get toasted by a lighting strike

Click to expand...

Proven protection methods start by defining why damage has occurred. Most really do not know which was the incoming path and which was the outgoing path. For example, lightning far down a street could be obtaining a best earth ground incoming on AC mains, through controller, into pump, into earth, then four miles to distant charges.

Or lightning could strike a tree, go down to the pump, out via pump's AC wires, into a household appliance, out to earth via basement concrete floor, and to distant charges.

You only know this much. Lightning has one incoming and another outgoing current path that is passing destrutively through that pump.

Grounding a pump might only make damage easier. Don't ground a victim. Earth the surge. Impedance (ie wire length), not resistance (ie wire thickness), is even important.

If pump electric wire leaves the building somewhere distant from where all other utilities enter, then that could make damage easier. Rarely understood by well drillers is that the AC wire to pump should leave a building and share service entrance earthing also used by AC electric, phone, etc.

Appreciate this 'art'. Determining why a pump is in lightning's path is necessary before implementing a solution. Connecting all three AC electric wires low impedance (ie less than 10 feet) to single point earth ground may be necessary. Connected by a 'whole house' type protector.

A professional technical note demonstrates this 'art'. But may not be obvious without details. For example, it shows two structures (building and tower). Each has its own earth ground. Any connection from one must connect every wire in the cable to earth. Either by a hardwire. Or doing with a protector what a wire would do better.
http://www.erico.com/public/library/fep/technotes/tncr002.pdf

At this point, all you know is the pump is in a path from cloud to earthed charge particles maybe four miles away. Protection is about making a better path so that a current need not use that pump.

Thanks MP,
Great post. I must have lucked out on my 6 lighting strikes. None life threating. However have learned Lighting does not go "BOOM". It goes "HISS", then "BOOM" as phone box on outside house, flies off house and plaster comes off wall above headboard.
It appears I also lucked out in solving the problem, as depected in the PDF. All in house and out of house and electric lines power lines and mast above house, grounded to utility post ground and old abandoned galvanized pipe around part of basement wall and not connected to metal well pipe. Also surge protectors on computer and satalite direct TV. Also grounded copper wire from mast lays on steel roof.
I have an umbrella protecting me from above as watched at lighting meuseum in New Jersy, Where Ben Franklin demonstrated with his kite and key.

Charles Krammin SW MI

I knew there is a reason I live in Oregon!! I do not remember the last time we got a lighting storm let alone a ground strike!!!

For about 23 yrs., I owned an 18th cent. log house. Took awhile to restore the structure.

An ancestor who's family owned the house before me said " WHEn I was a kid, my dad always kept the small window in the kitchen, cracked open during a thunderstorm." "We got used to seeing the ball of FIRE come in one window and leave through the opened window."

In those days, the "pitcher PUMP was located just to the outside of the opened window."

No electricity in the early days. Just good clear water with lots of IRON.

John,PA Checcking oms completely from the service panel to the WELL casing of my house, right now. THNAKS!

Just North of Boston, MA is the Museum of Science and hayden Planetirum.

Back in 1973, me and DELL were doing our graduate course WORK. He, Dell was decoding those radio messages from Mars or somewheres.

I being a farm boy just got to wondering around the Museum and checked out the thingies that interested me.

WAVE ACTIONS, Big SCREW water lifts, augers things., now post hole diggers, and most important the Constellation TAURUS.

I was really impressed with the background music they played "TAURUS, "THE BULL", Tiuana BRASS. Herbie Albert.

John,PA PS: Lightning and electron demo.