Thunder storm

Tomoko Schum

Tomoko Schum

New member
Hi y'all,

I may not be able to post here for a day or so to respond to any quetion address to me here. I don't have my internet service right now.

Yesterday, lightening struck my house and started a small fire on the roof. Fire Department responded immediately and the damage is mainly limited to the roof. There is some water damage on ceiling and a wall at the staircase. The lightening took out a few electronics and the cable/phone/internet service as well. The cable company is slow to respond since there were supposedly a lot of lightening damages in Madison.

I did not have power for a few hours, but the fire fighters came to rescue my reef tank. They were going to loan me a generator from the fire house, but then they got the next door neighbor to let me run a long extension cord to their house. The fire fighters got their long extension cord and run it to my house and connected my 120 gallon tank to it. (They were really intregued by the livestock in my tank.) I got an electrian right away to fix the wiring damage and in a few hours the power was restored to my house :)

My roof will be repaired and the ceiling/walls will be painted. I suppose I should cover my tank with a paint cloth or something while painting is going on. Hope my reef will survive the ordeal.

Tomoko
 
If you cover the tank and don't actively try to move a lot of air into that room while the other work is going on (i.e. sanding dust, paint fumes, etc.), you should be just fine. Good luck - hate to hear about all the damage.
 
Wow that sucks.. Sorry to hear it.. Madison and lighting just dont mix.. Its crazy my office has been hit about 3 times in 2 years in madison.. I had to replace the mother boards in every computer every time... I figured out that Knology didn't drive there ground rod but about 3 foot in the ground!! Made them drive a new 9 foot one and it hasn't happend since.. Sounds like yours was alot worse!!

I agree with wpecool.. When they start repairing the wall and ceiling Id turn my tank light off and put a tarp over it till they are done working.. I would for sure got get a couple of 3M Filters for your Central unit to help with the dust in the house. If they have to do any sheetrock work you will be amazed how fine that dust is and how far it makes it in the house..

Will
 
Glad your ok :)

Sorry to hear about your house. I am a wimp when it comes to straight down lightning. It has hit so close to our house and I have heard stories like yours it makes me nervous:eek1:

But :thumbsup: to the Firefighters!

Hope all goes well with your repairs, and your tanks.
 
Wow glad it all turned out ok. Also good to see those firefighters going the extra mile to help you out. Hope the home insurance won't drag around on you also.

Take care
larry
 
That could have been alot worse, but im glad you and your family are safe and ok. We had bad storms here in hoover yesterday, but I dont think it was to that extent.

Props to the FD for helping you out. What department was it by the way?
 
Tomoko,WOW!Glad you and your's are ok.Anything I can do to help let me know.Is your hubby still in Canada?If so Could you get in touch with him?
Buzz
 
Hi y'all,

Thank you for all the kind words. I am sending this from the computer at work.

The damage was small. A part of the roof and the framing underneath need to be replaced and some walls must be painted. Some electrical appliances were taken out with the lighting including the garage door opener. I need to get lightening affidavit from various repair places to get things replaced by the insurance company. What a pain in the neck!

Yes, my hubby is still in Canada. Should I go ahead and fix the garage door opener or let him find out on his own? His boat is practically the only thing sitting in the garage :p.

Tomoko
 
lol if it were me I'd probably leave it all for him since he is out having fun, You have to work and had to deal with a house fire!!
 
Tomoko, your lucky the whole house didnt burn down! I had lightning strike the house about a year and a half ago. The wife, boys, and I were sitting in the guest bedroom watching TV when it happened. It struck a tree about 5 feet from that bedroom and trenched a ditch about 1 foot wide by 1 foot deep to the corner of the house (right were we were sitting). It exploded about every lightbulb in the house, the TV, fried every surge protector, killed the dryer, knocked most pictures of the wall, blew a hole in the tile/concrete floor in the kitchen, and exploded the phone box(sent peices flying 50 ft). I was running around like a mad man looking for fire (smelled smoke). We lost all power (was at night) and phones (to call the fire department). Because are area is very rural we dont have close neighbors and cell phone reception so I just knew the house was going to burn down and I would have no way to reach anyone. Luckly the fire smothered its self (was in a wall) and no one was hurt. My boys (ages 3&4) are deathly scared of storms now and even I still flinch at close strikes. :strooper:
 
Wow! I hope none of that ever happens to me.

I wonder ir a fish tank would blow up if you had enough electrical stuff in the tank?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7920091#post7920091 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TheGriffin
Tomoko, your lucky the whole house didnt burn down! I had lightning strike the house about a year and a half ago. The wife, boys, and I were sitting in the guest bedroom watching TV when it happened. It struck a tree about 5 feet from that bedroom and trenched a ditch about 1 foot wide by 1 foot deep to the corner of the house (right were we were sitting). It exploded about every lightbulb in the house, the TV, fried every surge protector, killed the dryer, knocked most pictures of the wall, blew a hole in the tile/concrete floor in the kitchen, and exploded the phone box(sent peices flying 50 ft). I was running around like a mad man looking for fire (smelled smoke). We lost all power (was at night) and phones (to call the fire department). Because are area is very rural we dont have close neighbors and cell phone reception so I just knew the house was going to burn down and I would have no way to reach anyone. Luckly the fire smothered its self (was in a wall) and no one was hurt. My boys (ages 3&4) are deathly scared of storms now and even I still flinch at close strikes. :strooper:
Click to expand...


WOW! It's stories like these that get to me.

Yesterday, a family out this way lost their home due to lightning.
 
Power outage

Power outage

Sorry to hear about your problem but it has lit a fire under me for an over do project.

I am building an UPS system for my tank. I took an old computer UPS with dead battery replaced the battery with a larger capacity sealed battery from Battery Plus in Huntsville. I will have to mount the battery outside of the UPS case but I should have longer lasting power.

I plan to power an aerator and a small circulation pump that would kick in when the power fails. I have not done the calculations but my goal is to provide atleast 24 hours of current and air.

At the present time, the aerator and pump will run 24/7 until I build an additional circuit that will only come on when the power fails (simple relay and some wireing).

I had been looking for a sealed battery for weeks with no luck but last week I discovered Batteries + new store. (They rebuild all kinds of battery packs like laptops and power tools).

Steve
 
I am thinking about a deep cycle marine battery and an inverter to which I can plug in my return pump. You can wire in a relay to the inverter to automatically switch to the battery when the power gets interrupted. There was a nice article on this in East Tennessee Club's site.

Tomoko
 
Hi Buzz,

It's coming, but the progress is very slow at the moment.

I got a number of things at the swap. I won three prizes, too :)


Tomoko
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8021661#post8021661 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tomoko Schum
I am thinking about a deep cycle marine battery and an inverter to which I can plug in my return pump. You can wire in a relay to the inverter to automatically switch to the battery when the power gets interrupted. There was a nice article on this in East Tennessee Club's site.

Tomoko
Click to expand...

This is what I plan on doing.. I've got a EU2000I Honda Generator for long black outs or when I'm home.. But I've also got a large inverter that I plan on hooking to a battery and setting it up so it will switch over automatically to run a couple of pumps incase I'm not home when it goes out. Probably wont last but a couple of hours but that should help.

Will
 
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