Lightning Protection for Home?
I live in Tennessee, and have heard of several houses in the near vicinity that have been struck by lightning in the last couple of years. These strikes have resulted in significant and costly damage. I was just wondering about the possibility/advantages of installing one or more lightning rods on my house. I haven’t heard of a large number of people doing this, so I was just wondering about the practicality and cost of doing such a thing. Is it more trouble than it’s worth?
Lightning protection can be installed but it is not cheap & will need to be done by an electrician.
Usually, it is a device that is connected to your incoming mains. Good things to remember are 50kA (50 000 Amps) & 8 micro seconds. These 2 things are quite standard ratings for good lightning protection units (for domestic use).
Also, these devices degrade each time they operate. This means that they have a limited life.
Generally, they provide very good "line" protection (secondary lightning strike) but they will not protect against a direct strike (primary strike).
Lightning rods are NOT advised to be used.
Ensure that the earthing (grounding) is in perfect order. An electrician can check this with a thing called a Earth Fault Loop tester.
EDIT.
Brand names describe nothing. What you want is PROPER MOV (Metal Oxide Varistor) lightning protection installed at your breaker box. It must have the minimum ratings as I previously described. If it doesn’t, you could well be wasting your money.
Switchboard design engineer, licensed electrician.