What To Do When Lightning Strikes

Property / Residential Owners:

  1. Call your fire department. Even if this isn't an apparent emergency, they should have a record of this occurence for your insurance company.
  2. Contact Electricians On Duty. (260) 422-2000
  3. Describe the time and date of event(surge or strike). Document your observations.
  4. Don't throw any of your dead appliances away. Store them for your insurance agent/adjuster and those of us who can use them as evidence.
    Keep a running list of failures of circuits and appliances (manufacturer, model, S/N, and value).
  5. Check your freezer and refrigerator NOW — make sure they are running. If not, save your frozen food. Your insurance company requires you to take action and stop or minimize further loss.
  6. Turn off power if you smell smoke or something hot.
  7. Lightning strikes will kill smoke detectors (even battery powered). Replace them now if they won't self-test or alarm from the smoke of an extinguished match. This is the time you are most at risk.
Your Team Their Team
  • You
  • Your electrician
  • Your subcontractor
  • Your insurance agent

Your Team's job:

  • Provide / find evidence of damage
  • Document findings (reports) for you to prove your case for coverage to the adjuster
  • Insurance adjuster
  • Adjuster's electrician
  • Adjuster's engineers

Their Team's job:

  • Compare your evidence to their contract and decide coverage

 

 

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Appliances that are hit by lightning may be damaged and still operate. The most the property owner can hope for is noticeable failure, or strange intermittent operation.

The damage to operating appliances would be leakage from a carbon track left by an arc. This track will continue to grow and cause more leakage until a complete failure and or a fire occurs. The carbon track grows wider (larger parallel path) and thus lowers the resistance. This now increases the leakage [current] which creates more heat via the formula I squared R.

The quandary for the property owner with the insurance company distills to only damage is covered. To search for these failures is considered maintenance (maintenance is not covered by insurance).