Lightning Protection

chadverizon

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Apr 2, 2005
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I seem to live in a house which defies the proverb that lightning never strikes the same place twice. I live between Sosua and Cabarete, and in the past two weeks both the planta and inverter have been zapped, boards fried. I have just installed a "grounding system" with 5 copper bars, salt, carbon, etc... Yet tonight lightning just hit a light pole, where there are wires, (not transformer) in front of my house and again getting I'm getting the coolers ready for another night of no lights.
Does anyone have info on how/who to protect my house, Tv, inverter and the rest from power surges? I am a North American resident, speak Spainsh, and have lived here awhile, so any good info would be appreciated
 

canadian bob

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Jan 16, 2002
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The protection that you described, 5 long copper bars driven into the ground at least 4ft, with lots of salt to keep them damp should divert lightning to the ground. Power-surge protectors are available at the "Radio Shack" in Santiago for your electronic gear. Just be sure that all the house circuits are really grounded. I used 25 lbs of salt in the holes I dug & pounded in the copper bars as the coral can be very dry. Get a qualified electricita..... Suerte! Canadian Bob.
 

chadverizon

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Apr 2, 2005
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Lightning Rods

It sounds like I have most everything you described, do people use lightning rods here?
Thanks Bob!
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Chad: I have seen very little lightening rods inthis country. You had better find one soon....

I would also follow Bob's suggestionand check to see that ALL of the circuits are grounded....local electricians do not regularly ground household circuits.

If you remove a few of your base recepticles you will see that the third wire (the ground) is not there....

You might be looking at a rewiring job, because if the recepticle that your surge protector is plugged into is not grounded the surge will just fry the protector and go on to fry anything that is plugged into it. Here at the Hovel we have grounded the EDE-Norte 220v feed into the main meter. So, unless the house is directly hit, we are good to go.

Good luck...

HB
 

Uzin

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Oct 26, 2005
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I always wondered what happens to these surge protectors for laptops that only have 2 wires without a ground (kind of inline small devices, see below). Do they actually protect anything ? I read they will fry themselves (and of course blow the house fuse by shorting the 2 main wires) and hence save your laptop !?

If they work they will be useful for DR because most places/hotels/guest houses/condos don't even have sockets with ground/3rd wire at all - if they have it is not properly grounded anyway.

Welcome to Belkin - Notebook Travel Surge Protector - C8 Connector 2-Prong
 

chadverizon

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Apr 2, 2005
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HB,
I fear you might be right regarding the grounding. Do you happen to know a qualified electrician? I would like to find someone who does things correctly not to Dominican standards.
 

gmiller261

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Dec 29, 2002
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I had Freddy Multiservice in Sosua

Replace and rewire all my receptacles (25-40) for ground, including from my generator. It wasn?t cheap may be $1500.00 USD, it was part of many things he was doing.

I am no electrician, but all receptacles tested fine with the plug in tester and the GFP receptacles trigger when tested.

I find Freddy, very responsible and reliable. He also does a clean job without being told.
 

membruce

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Jul 14, 2002
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Yaa, Surge protectors without a ground are kind of useless. The majority of there effect is through dissipation through the ground. You can buy units that attach to the main coming into your house. These are work better with there own ground to begin with. I wouldn't scrimp on this.

Lightning rods are not hard to make. Just a metal pole with a sharpened point will work. A lot of people use copper but I don't think that it makes much difference at these voltages.

You might contact a local Ham Radio Operator. We are constantly dealing with lightning.

Bruce
KG4HLZ
 

juancarlos

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Sep 28, 2003
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When I was growing up in Cuba, lightning rods were everywhere. I don't understand why they are not standard practice in the DR. I feared those electrical storms. I think that if was not for the lightning rod next to my house, I would not be alive today! Anyway, we used to disconect all electrical appliances, or at least tun them off, whenever we saw lightning and thunder were coming.
 

webmacon

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Jul 4, 2006
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caribbeanostriches.com
Myself I use a good source protector which goes right before the braker box and protects the whoel apartment, the only thing what blows is a fuse if something happen .... adjustable for high and low voltage and cuts off for the seconds you decide, I have like 1 minute before it gives me power back.
 

chadverizon

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Apr 2, 2005
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Anyone have experience using Relectra (local Sosua co.) for rewiring and grounding? Can't say I really like the company but the are supposed to do this type of thing.
THanks
 

PlantaFULL

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Oct 21, 2004
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I am not an electrician but the easiest way to get a "ground" connection within a existing construction is to:

a) connect the ground wire to some of the building's water tubes (e.g sink), those are metal and lead into the ground at some point. Maybe useful even in hotels.

b) Prettier and more permanent: within multi-story apartments, there are usually steel beams within the concrete. Someone who knows where they are can rip a little hole in the wall and use those as "ground".
 

zoomzx11

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Jan 21, 2006
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total solution to your problem

Obviously the house is jinxed, you need to sell asap before the third strike. Seriously, first the helicopter crash nearly next door and now two lightning strikes!!!!!! Everyone knows lightning does not strike twice but you never hear that it does not strike three times, hmmmmmmmm!!
 

canadian bob

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Jan 16, 2002
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"Ground"

I am not an electrician but the easiest way to get a "ground" connection within a existing construction is to:

a) connect the ground wire to some of the building's water tubes (e.g sink), those are metal and lead into the ground at some point. Maybe useful even in hotels.

b) Prettier and more permanent: within multi-story apartments, there are usually steel beams within the concrete. Someone who knows where they are can rip a little hole in the wall and use those as "ground".

Hey PlantaFULL!
a) In the DR, the metal taps are connnected to PVC pipes, not metal, so no ground.
b) Unless the dry "steel beams" are attached to a copper wire connnected to a solid copper bar driven into damp ground outside the building, you have not grounded anything. Canadian Bob.
 

chadverizon

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Apr 2, 2005
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Obviously the house is jinxed, you need to sell asap before the third strike. Seriously, first the helicopter crash nearly next door and now two lightning strikes!!!!!! Everyone knows lightning does not strike twice but you never hear that it does not strike three times, hmmmmmmmm!!

Maybe my house is located in the "Dominican Triangle".
 

juancarlos

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Sep 28, 2003
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Well, real life may be stranger than fiction. Many years ago, in my hometown in Cuba, a man was struck by lightning and was inmediately killed. Years later, his tomb was struck by lightning again, not once, but twice. In all, he attracted those electrical discharges three times. The first one killed him and the other two times long after he had departed this treacherous world.
 

PlantaFULL

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Oct 21, 2004
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Hey PlantaFULL!
a) In the DR, the metal taps are connnected to PVC pipes, not metal, so no ground.
b) Unless the dry "steel beams" are attached to a copper wire connnected to a solid copper bar driven into damp ground outside the building, you have not grounded anything. Canadian Bob.

Interesting, thanks for the insight.

I knew these "cheap methods" from Brasil and assumed it would work in the DR as well.

In my case, I have a little light on my surge protector which is supposed to indicate whatever the ground wire is really grounded or just "for show". It appears to work since it gives different results depending on the outlets.
 

Uzin

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Oct 26, 2005
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What about the 2 pin surge protectors (for laptops), they also have a light to say it is working properly - no ground for these !?