[Roo]

We're just finishing a night of reading the boards, and taking care of stuff on the computer...

...there's lightning and thunder (far off) in the distance...or so we thought.

All of the sudden...

...ZAP!! A flash of light in our living room, and now the TV is dead. Thankfully, it wasn't on when the lightning hit. Here's what's worse:

It dumps hail all over the ground at a tremendous rate. A highly charged cell just dumped the stuff right on Subed as he sat outside in his normal spot. I backed SViXen partially out of the carport to make room, and Subed was pulled in to safety. By the time he was backed in, the hail had stopped.

 

[Subyroo]

No real hail damage to either Subed or SViXen I hope Roo, hard to see from the pics.

 

[ferret]

Glad to hear you had no damage. Back in Oct. we had large hail (golf ball size) here in northern NJ. I have 3 dents in my hood from it. None in the roof or anywhere else. Was going to try a dent puller on it, but 'chickened out'. Don't want any additional problems from maybe pulling a small dent from a sheet of aluminum. Anyone tried pulling a dent from their 03 Aluminum or newer hood?

 

[pleiad7]

Thankfully the stuff was aleady pretty slushy when it hit the ground, so there was no damage to the cars. The TV on the other hand... let's just say this is one of those times when I'm glad that we don't own any really nice stuff. The innards of our $50 hand-me-down telly we bought off someone on Craigslist exploded in a blue flash... big deal. Now if it had been a $2500 plasma TV I'd be :tempertantrum .

 

[oldgit]

Had a taste of that kind of hail in Italy last summer. Driving it sounded like ice cubes being thrown on to the car. The locals all dived for the hard shoulder under the bridges on the autostrada - so did I eventually!
Really scary driving conditions.
PS It's only snowing here at present.

 

[Peaty]

Hail is common here in KS, I got caught in a storm while driving, scared the crap out of me. The hail was about the size of golf balls. I expected the windows to get smashed but none did. Did a ton of damage to my car though It came and went in less than 2 min. Glad it looks like you came out OK.

 

[Roo]

This hail was more BB sized, which lessened the impact...thankfully.

 

[Peaty]

The biggest I've seen was baseball sized but those were more or less lots of little ones stuck together. So they were not super hard and broke up as they hit the ground. I still put my helmet on as I ran from the garage to the house. My dog was running around the yard chasing them though, she thought they were toys from God I think. I was waiting for her to get brained by one silly dog :wiggle:

 

[SubaJew]

The fact you lost your TV is a sign that something's not grounded properly.
Check:
Electric utility ground rod connections.
Antenna/CATV ground rod connections.
AND make sure the Antenna/CATV ground is also bonded back to the electric utility ground.

You'll be safe from everything except a direct hit (nothing short of living in a metal box can protect you from that 100% of the time).
It's all covered in the NEC.
Have it checked out before you fry more equipment.

 

[TAGXT04]

The fact you lost your TV is a sign that something's not grounded properly.
Check:
Electric utility ground rod connections.
Antenna/CATV ground rod connections.
AND make sure the Antenna/CATV ground is also bonded back to the electric utility ground.

You'll be safe from everything except a direct hit (nothing short of living in a metal box can protect you from that 100% of the time).
It's all covered in the NEC.
Have it checked out before you fry more equipment.

The transient voltage from a nearby lightning strike might actually use the outside ground as it's path to the TV. More likely it hit near an incoming phase or the cable coax. I think a surge protector might be in order on the new plasma set.

This might explain it better:

http://www.eatonelectrical.com/unsecure/cms1/ResidentialSurgesmall.mpeg

 

[pleiad7]

Ya know, what's really strange was that nothing else suffered damage... the cable box was OK, and so was the DVD player and computers. The power/room lights didn't even flicker.

 

[Kevin]

I agree with TAGXT04 that it more than likely hit an incoming phase. This happened to us once in a 3 phase house and it blew everything on that phase, including the TV. It was seeking earth or the antenna as a means of escape!

Glad the Subies are OK :grin:

 

[Quicksilver]

Roo-
Comments about golf ball sized hail reminded me why golf balls are dimpled...they travel through air easier...you missed an opportunity for the rarest of performance mods, dimpling!
-Quick

 

[sbake]

Hail Happens,
Living in Texas you just get used to it and sometimes you can profit from it. My 2005 XT MT had hail damage when I bought it, the dealer had the dents popped out and replaced the hood and scoop, mirrors. None of the windows were broken; in addition he knocked off $10,000.00 from the MSRP. If I had been smart I would have bought the STI sitting next to it, too. Light dents will pop out under hot sun and heat, as is the case here in Texas every summer.

 

[sbake]

As far a Lightning,
It can do amazing things, even with everything grounded to code. I experienced a really bad strike, it nailed the television, stereo and a food processor (which was plugged in). In the same storm, my neighbor's house caught fire. She watched as a ball of fire shot from an outlet on one side of her kitchen, sent a blender into high (not plugged in, no *&^#) then tracked into a wall socket on the opposite side of the room. Then the wall started smoking and it was time to call 911. Damage was limited to the first floor of their house, but most of the wiring had to be rerun as a lot of it was fried.

 

[N10S]

Aluminum hood = high probability of hail damage.

Coming from Missouri I am in the same kind of situation (not quite as bad maybe) as Peaty in Kansas. Lots of spring/summer/fall storms carrying the potential for dropping everything from little slushy pellets to full-on baseball sized hunks of ice that sound like someone is hitting your car with a bat!!

An evolution cloth car-cover can help absorb some of the impact if you don't have access to a garage. Even a blanket thrown over the aluminum suby hood is a last ditch option!

Jeff

 

[Peaty]

That'a not hail, this is hail from this weekend :-|

 

[SkiPhast]

I got caught in a bad hail storm about this time last year while on the highway. I REALLY was freaking out, I was waiting for the windows to go, and the noise was deafening. I could see the windshield flexing in slightly everytime a golf ball sized one hit. :shock:

.....long story short, my hood has looked like a golf ball ever since.
I have roughly 25 dents all over it, and no where else on the car. Windows held up though, and I continued onward to Atlanta for a bachelor party. Needless to say, I drank away my hood damage anger that night. :spinnasmiley


Will insurance pay for a new hood?

 

[blitzoid]

Jeez!

 

[dicknose]

We can get bad hail storms here.

Had a big one in 99 which caused almost 2 billion dollars in damage.
Here is a shot of some tennis ball sized hail from that storm

We also had a bad one about a month after I got my car. Heard it coming - the roar was almost deafening. We had time to move some cars just as it hit. Luckily mine was already under cover.

Here is the main freeway that heads to the Sydney Harbour Bridge - we were about 2km from there

The attached photos show the hail behind my car. This was as it started, I had to go for cover as I was getting hit.
About 2 hours later I left and driving along some quite back streets they were green and white. The green was leaves shredded off trees and the white was the hail that still hadnt melted.