Lightning bolts from the sky to the ground have the main objective to travel through a conductor. Conductors allow power to trespass without any resistance. This is why lightning bolts can be harmful to a home. This is because most of the households are crammed with items that are conductive in nature. This includes electric lines, gas, and water pipelines, cable wires, TV/ Internet lines, gutters, phone lines, metal window frames, down spots and any other item that allows easy passage for power surges.
However, don’t be confused. Lightning doesn’t require conductors to reach ground levels. The risk lies in the conductors being a convenient source of passage that could result in severe damages.
Lightning often uses more than one way to reach the ground. In case lightning strikes your home, it will pass through several conductors. Even in the air, lightning moves from one conductor to another. This is known as side flash. For instance, lightning could initially strike up the roof of your house and then move to the gas lines in the groundwork of your home. It could strike up the metal frames of the windows in your home and move to gutters.
This is why it is important to secure your home with a protection system. Protection systems are imperative measures and protect your home from being gravely damaged by the strike of a lightning bolt.
In case you are wondering about the impacts lightning can have in your home, take a look below:
Power Surge Damage
We have already discussed how lightning jumps from one conductor to another. In case the lightning bolt first strikes the electrical wiring in your home, its direct impact can lead to a volatile surge. This can result in severe damage to your home’s electrical appliances and gadgets. Even non-electrical appliances are at a risk of being damaged. In some cases, even when the lightning bolt doesn’t strike the home wiring directly, it can still have hazardous impacts on your appliances, especially the electronics.
Fire Threat
This is perhaps the most significant damages when lightning bolt directly strikes your home. Inflammables such as wood can easily catch fire when they are exposed to a direct contact with a lightning bolt. In the past, lightning has been known to set attics, roods, and even trees in homes on fire. Even when a lightning current pass from wires, they can easily set them on fire. This is not only dangerous for the damage to the appliances but can also prove to be severely lethal.
Households are vulnerable if they aren’t protected by a professional system. Since it is impossible to remove conductors from your home, the best shot to prevent the hazards of lightning strikes is through comprehensive insulation and protection system.
In case lightning strikes your home, immediately call a fire department. Lightning poses a serious threat of fire spread, this is why as a measure of prevention, it is best to call a fire alarm department beforehand.