Holy %$@^!!!!!!!

Tonight I was in the barn before heading home, and Mom conned me into helping tie cows quick. I was just about out of the barn, when a bolt of lightning struck.

It hit maybe 50 Ft. from the barn. Blew out 1/2 the light bulbs out there, blew out the fencer (blew out the little flashing light and could still smell the smoke), Blew out 1/2 of the pulse for the bou-matic milkers, and it blew out something on the well so it doesn't pump right now.

That well supplies water to the barn, Brother's house, rental house, and Mom & Dad's house so it's gotta get fixed.

Not to mention I think I crapped my pants!! The hair stood up on my arms, scared the crap out of all the animals in the barn (they all backed up and 3 broke the strings on their necks), and also my parents.

Mighta hit the milker motor as well because now it doesn't wanna start. Once you get it going (by spinning it by hand) it'll run but it doesn't wanna go....

They still gotta try the barn cleaner, but the breaker is always off on that except when we use it.

Oh yeah.. It also tripped the breaker that the lights were on in the barn, and the well and main breaker in the shop...

Donovan from Wisconsin

DON ! I think you got off REAL lucky there ! I was that close to a strike when I was a kid on the Grandparents farm in Georgia . It knocked me about twenty feet across the lawn . It's not something I want to repeat . ...Randy

I'm glad no bodys were hurt. On the positive side now you can sell high energy milk.

Mom just called a little while ago- the well guys came out & they think the pump is fried. They're outta 1 HP pumps which is what we have, so they gotta sell us a 1 1/2 for the price of a 1HP.

They're gonna pull it up tonight, and the well is about 300' deep if I remember right, and no I don't mean thirty feet, I mean three HUNDRED feet deep.

Atleast this time the well will be covered by insurance. We had the pressure tank replaced just about a month ago, but the bill was about the same as the deductible so Dad never filed it with the insurance company. Woulda only jacked up the rates...

Donovan from Wisconsin

you oughta charge (no pun intended) people to follow you around in thunderstroms now!!

Glad its insured and you are OK

A few years ago we lost a submersible pump to lightning. Snapped the shaft between the motor and the pump, musta been quite a surge. Knocked out all the light bulbs that were on at the time, but no other damage

Lightning hit our house a couple of years ago. Blew a hole through 5 ply plwood on the roof. Knocked out the computer, printer, scanner, microwave, a couple of tv's and clocks and the controler for the lawn sprinklers. When it hit, the whole room was a pink color and bam-what a snap.

Last year, lightening happened to strike my brand new subpanel for my shop. The subpanel was ungrounded and not wired to be live, but it was getting there. The lightening apparently traveled up the neutral wire and blew out every single light that was plugged into the other sheds receptacles that I was using to see in the shop.

Everything made a loud hum and then it popped. I did see the flash as the bolt hit the subpanel. It was roughly about 2 feet wide and just basically a sharp camera flash.

Interesting.

Hey Don, whenever there is a strike on or close to your buildings, NEVER let the insurance Co. off the hook for the well. That's the place the bolt grounds to and sometimes it takes 3-6 months for the pump to go, and it will go.

Glad to hear Yours went right away so it's covered.

It may have fried your well pump. Hal
PS: I would check and make a list before calling your insurance company.

I was at a gas station once and lightning hit a transformer on a pole right next to me. I don't think it knocked me 20 feet, but it's hard to say really, all I know is I was quite a distance from the gas station in a full sprint before I realized I hadn't exploded. Too many action movies I guess.

"Mighta hit the milker motor as well because now it doesn't wanna start. Once you get it going (by spinning it by hand) it'll run but it doesn't wanna go...."

If that motor is humming before you start it spinning by hand, the capacitor that helps it start turning most likely was damaged.

You can most likely replace that pretty cheaply.

Yeah, the guy replaced 2 capacitors in the motor today but it's still not 100%. We're gonna just get a new motor and be done with it.

BTW- one more ting that we found. The agitator moto on the milk cooler was fried. wokred last night, but today it was junk. Got a used one and got it working again now.

Gonna try the barn cleaner tonight, hopefully that motor is ok....

Donovan from Wisconsin

Don, I think it may have hit your 72" plasma tv and your brand new surround sound system. Oh and your new puter TOO, wink wink.
Glad everyone is okay though, same thing happened at my dads place in Madison, well pump, air compressor, and everything else that was on at the time. Good Luck.

MSD,
Had a similar strike hit "near" our house about 10 yrs ago. Knocked me out of bed at night. Burglar alarm system, sprinkler controller, melted contacts on the alarm sensors. Figured it traveled through the neutral/ground. Had 2 computers on 2 different surge protector outlet strips that were SUPPOSED to protect them. Fried motherboards and video cards and printers. The outlet strips came with a guarantee that they would replace any equipment plugged into them. Filed a claim with the surge protector manufacturer. DENIED. They said that I had a modem card that was plugged directly into the phone outlet that allowed the bolt to fry the computer by traveling through the phone lines. No proof or facts on their part to back up the statement! Strange, but the phones were ok, modem card was ok. Only stuff fried was connected to the ELECTRICAL OUTLETS. What a ripoff. Don't trust those surge protectors OR believe their guarantee.