Lightning

[lawnspecialties]

Yesterday I stop at one of my lawn maintenance accounts and notice three flags in a triangle marking off a small section in the backyard. I noticed the turf looked a little odd there as well. When I finished with the lawn, I checked the irrigation controller and it had no power. I then realized there was no water supply and found it had been turned off at the meter. When I turned it on, the turf between the flags began rising like a balloon.

Long story short, there were two irrigation pipes (one on top of the other) with gaping holes in their side. I figured someone drove a stake in the ground and busted them. After emailing the landlord, she emails back stating the house was struck by lightning.

Two questions:

1. Could lightning have busted the pipes?

2. I imagine the controller is dead. Or maybe just the breaker is tripped. Anyway, what else could be damaged by a power surge such as lightning?

Thanks :)

[Lite Headed]

Most of the time you'll see wire that is broken and sometimes pipe gets broken too. The most extreme case I ever saw literally vaporized a bundle of about 150' of 16 awg single strand wire. The only thing that was left of the wire was shards of the plastic wire insulation where the copper had been blown out pf the sides of the insulation. It also splintered hundreds of feet of pipe and literally blew the controller to bits.

[gusbuster]

There was a thread from 2 to 3 years ago regarding lightning strikes and the repair. Good pictures to boot. Do a search on this site for lightning strike or similar repairs.


I never would of known about lightning strikes as I have never seen it happen here in CA.

In the pictures I'm talking about, pretty good size holes were created.

[Without A Drought]

I have seen every part of a system effected by lightning. a few blown solenoids, a timer knocked across the room, melted wire... once i came upon a main line with about 5' of it just missing, no splinters or debris, just gone.

things to look for are, a multitude of bad solenoids, scorch marks on various components, or Ohm readings that are off the wall.

just side note, one of our nurseries we maintain just took a hit. knocked out the timer and who knows what else (45 zone two wire system). and i was just there on wednesday.

pg

[DanaMac]

My techs just replaced a controller today due to lightning.

I have seen one blown off the wall in the garage and burned the hood of the car. Wires leading to the valves along the mainline basically welded together.

[Without A Drought]

lightning is fun to look at the damage it does, but can be a major pain to repair. just when you think you got everything, something else presents itself. and it can really test your electrical troubleshooting skills.

[bcg]

I've had a couple of lightning strikes already this year. One hit near a valve cluster and burned a hole in one of the valve bodies. On that one, I replaced 8 of 12 solenoids, 1 valve and the controller. Took about 8 hours. The other one took the hit right at a couple of pipes. The lateral line broke but the main line exploded for about 3 feet, nothing but splinters. Ended up replacing 4 valves on that one, the owner had already replaced the controller. Both left large scorch marks on the wall where the controller was. I've been fortunate that I haven't seen any melted wires yet but I've seen some pretty dramatically damaged solenoids and pipes.

[Lite Headed]

My techs just replaced a controller today due to lightning.

I have seen one blown off the wall in the garage and burned the hood of the car. Wires leading to the valves along the mainline basically welded together.

More than once I've seen the keys blown out of the door of the controller and shot out. Once the keys were shot across the garage and stuck round side first into the sheetrock on the opposing wall of a 4 car garage. The other time that was really impressive was when the keys were shot out of the controller, ricocheted off of the meeting of the roof and door of a Suburban parked in the garage, then lodged in the ceiling sheetrock!
I love nature!!!:):)

[DanaMac]

Just had a massive lightning and thunderstorm roll thru at midnight. hail about 3"-4" deep on the ground. Now I'm afraid to see my trucks and my roof when the sun comes up. :cry:

Well of the flip side, maybe some more repairs due to lightning the next couple days. And a have one manifold that I dug up and wanted it to dry out overnight so we could find the leak when it's dry. Very small leak, but I'm sure it's filled with water and hail now. Grrrrrr......

[AI Inc]

We had some last week, did an ICC and a coup[le modules on Friday ( was a total control in there ) and replaced a pro c yesterday. Im hoping for some more.

[Midlo Snow Maker]

lightning means money, we always have alot of damage up this way here are a few pics some i have posted before here

[gusbuster]

Now isn't there a way to ground a clock now a days to prevent damage like this?

I know the pro-c have a grounding diagram in there manuals, but what pro reads a manual?
John

[greenmonster304]

the irritrol tc has a earth ground terminal that I have used.

[AI Inc]

lightning means money, we always have alot of damage up this way here are a few pics some i have posted before here

Lightening did ya a favor destroying those 2 dinosaurs

[Waterit]

Lightning is our friend. From fried solenoids to cooked wire to blown controllers to holes punched in piping, it all smells like money.

We got called to a cemetary about 10 years ago that had taken a strike - about 30 ft. of 3" sch. 40 main blown apart, 46 out of 48 solenoids totally exploded (and the other 2 shorted out), controller completely blown off building and flung about 50 feet into a pond, 2 pump-start relays and 2 ice-cube isolators melted. We had to re-pull over 15,000 feet of 14 gauge. Booster pump (10HP Gould centrifugal) had to be rebuilt, and 5HP submersible replaced. It was a VERY good week!

They had us install some surge-suppression and lightning-arrestors, along with a huge grounding grid. Didn't help - the following spring another hit took out the controls again. Another very good week!

[Wet_Boots]

I'd think after a second lightning wipeout, they'd be interested in going to hydraulic controls.