Do you need a lightning rod for a house with an attic? Is lightning protection worth it? Design of passive external lightning protection

Lightning is a natural phenomenon that, at high power, can even kill a person. And since every person cares about his own safety, probably everyone would like to protect themselves from the possibility of being struck by lightning in their own home. But how to make a lightning rod in a private house - not many people know the answer to this question.

In order to make a lightning rod, you need to place a special device on the roof of the house, and best of all, at the highest point of your house. In this case, it will be necessary to conduct a conductor and make grounding, otherwise the entire system will be ineffective.

The lightning rod that needs to be installed on the roof is most often used in two types - either a cable that is pulled along the entire length of the roof or a metal pin exposed using wooden posts.

The advantage of a lightning rod made using a cable is that it is much larger and, accordingly, it is better to use it with a large area of the house.

At the same time, it is inferior to an air terminal using a bayonet due to such parameters as aesthetics and compactness, since an air terminal using a bayonet takes up much less space than a cable lightning rod.

If you decide to install a lightning rod using a pin, then you need to maintain a certain height, namely that the pin should be approximately 25 - 30 centimeters in height, and to achieve greater efficiency, you can use a larger pin.

Another interesting and important fact is that if, for example, a lightning rod is located at a height of 5 meters, then it will accordingly protect the house within a radius of 5 meters.

The wire through which you will need to make grounding is best used from metals such as copper or steel. It is these two metals that are most often used due to the fact that they have all the properties necessary for this.

Then, using welding, you need to connect this conductor to the receiver located on the roof. The cable itself will need to be attached to the wall of the house quite firmly using fastening materials (usually clamps are used).

Do you need a lightning rod in a private house?

Also, very often residents of private houses wonder whether a lightning rod is needed in a private house? This primarily depends on what area you live in and how often weather events involving lightning occur there.

But it is best to make a lightning rod, since unlike multi-storey buildings, which are protected from lightning, private houses, as a rule, do not have any protection and thus their residents expose themselves to danger.

And you can also look video Installation of lightning protection, lightning protection of a country house

Lightning protection of a private house.

This article expresses only the subjective opinion of the author and cannot serve as a basis for making a decision. The presented material is intended only for reasonable consideration before making a decision on installing lightning protection (lightning rod) for a private house on a limited budget. The article will not be about industrial facilities or large apartment buildings. The article is based not only on a professional value judgment, but also on practical experience in eliminating the consequences of various types of emergencies caused by increased voltage.

The material is not a textbook and is specifically written in accessible language.

Is this topic relevant for the Moscow region?

Definitely yes. Lightning - This is a powerful spark discharge, reaching a length of 321 km and having not only colossal voltage, but also enormous current. A lightning strike in a house can pose a huge danger not only of destruction and fire, but also of fatal electric shock to people in the house. And thunderstorms are not uncommon for the Moscow region. To carefully assess the risk and make a decision about installation or refuse - there should be a reasonable choice for everyone. The most pressing topic is protecting your home from lightning damage in regions where the intensity of thunderstorms exceeds more than 80 hours per year.

The topic is controversial and controversial

Installing a lightning rod (lightning protection) when your neighbors do not have one is turning your own home into an artificial lightning rod. But more voices are inclined to install such devices. You decide.

Do you need lightning protection for a country house?

It is not customary to discuss this topic on forums, since there is no single point of view on this matter in the professional community. A definite answer is given only by manufacturers of special lightning protection installation kits or sales agents of country houses selling lightning protection as an additional option.

The likelihood of lightning striking the house.

There is no exact formula that can be used to estimate the likelihood of your home being hit. Lightning is a phenomenon characterized by unpredictable behavior, and where it will strike is unknown. You need to know that according to some data, 30% of lightning reaches the ground.

The risk of a building being struck by lightning can be significantly affected by:

Geographical location (high or low)
Air humidity
The height of the building itself relative to its neighbors
Presence of tall trees in the immediate vicinity.

What can “attract” lightning?

Cell towers, tall antennas, tall trees, etc.

Important!

Lightning protection is a special installation (homemade) kit designed to protect (mitigate) the consequences of a lightning strike in your home, but you need to know that not every house burns when struck by lightning. An artificial lightning rod can be taller buildings nearby, electrified poles or lighting masts, and lightning rods from neighbors. The thicker all the elements of lightning protection, the more reliable it is. It is impossible to calculate the force of a lightning strike.

It is important to know that there are no legal conflicts regarding the prohibition of installing a lightning protection system in a private (country) house. There is no fine under the Code of Administrative Offenses for the absence/presence of lightning protection. This means that you can freely install such protection yourself or hire an installation team. There is no point in harboring the illusion that any team will do a good job. Often, such types of work are seasonal (summer, autumn) and teams are recruited by advertisement. Such workers receive a small percentage from the organizer, and the quality of installation is sometimes depressing. As a rule, the warranty for installation of lightning protection is 1 year.

What is the simplest lightning protection (lightning rod).

Any lightning protection kit consists of:

— grounding (where the lightning discharge “goes”, hence the corresponding name)

— lightning rod (thick steel pin receiving discharge)

— a special current conductor (a current conductor through which the discharge instantly moves from the lightning receiver to the ground)

A thick metal rod is installed on the highest part of the roof, a steel wire with a thickness of at least 6 mm is attached to it and connected to grounding.

Grounding is done from metal pins or corners according to the principle, the deeper, the better. The pins (corners) are scalded with a 40 mm metal strip. Coloring the grounding is prohibited, only the coloring of welding areas is allowed, since such places rot quickly. Once every few years, the grounding needs to be tested with a special device, a megaohmmeter, to check its performance. Remember that metal in the ground tends to rot and do not forget to monitor the condition, your own safety may depend on it.

Grounding for the lightning rod is done separately from the grounding loop of the house. There are standard ready-made grounding loops available for sale.

If the house is wooden, it cannot be installed close to the house. Use special clamps. There is a high risk of fire, so keep your distance.

Active lightning protection.

It differs from the simplest in its ability to ionize air and due to this, the highest protective effect is achieved. I won’t talk about it - the pleasure is not for an ordinary dacha due to its high cost.

Internal lightning protection.

It is necessary to understand that a lightning strike nearby can cause a significant voltage surge, which can damage all modern electrical appliances. This is a more widespread phenomenon than a direct lightning strike on a country house. The most effective way is to simply turn off the power to the house. Those who have the financial resources to install an SPD (surge protection system).

SPDs themselves come in different types, but any SPD consists of a varistor (nonlinear resistor). A necessary thing in everyday life, the resistance of a varistor is nonlinear and depends on voltage. During an abnormal voltage surge, the resistance of the varistor drops to zero and the surge current goes to ground. Installing an SPD without a ground loop is pointless. We will talk about the SPDs themselves in the next article; In any case, it is necessary for a summer resident to have an understanding of surge protectors and varistors.

In what cases should you first take care of protecting the roof?

Few people know that roofs made of newfangled metal tiles and corrugated sheets (or simply galvanized) can pose a danger to humans if they are not grounded. We are talking about wooden houses. Such roofs are capable of accumulating an electric charge as a container, and if a person touches them, they can be electrocuted. Any charge is a spark that can ignite roofing felt or wood. In such cases, it is necessary to ground the roof. All existing metal elements on the roof (vane) must be connected to the roof with a conductor.

Lightning rod and safe area.

Each lightning rod has its own safety zone. According to the generally accepted rule, it is calculated using the formula:

1.5*H, where H is the height of the lightning rod. This is a reasonable safety zone. It's not worth checking for yourself. In the event of a thunderstorm, seek shelter and stay out of open areas.

Besides, lightning rod can be done not on a house, but on a tree under the following conditions -

a) Grows no closer than 3 meters to the house,

Do you need lightning protection?

Lightning and atmospheric discharges are a constant and almost ubiquitous companion of people. Their terrifying power seemed to our ancestors as a manifestation of the will of the gods. Worldwide science and practice have developed effective methods of protection against the consequences of atmospheric discharges. Lightning protection is a set of measures to protect the life and health of a person and his property. At the moment, lightning protection, as a set of standards, techniques and means, is a dynamically developing part of world technology.

Lightning and its damaging factors.

Atmospheric discharges have devastating power and their various consequences pose a serious threat to human life and property.

There are several lightning theories, but the main thing is that a potential difference of up to 1000 kV in the clouds relative to the surface of the earth causes a discharge of monstrous power up to 200 kA, which is accompanied by flashes and thunderclaps. The heating of the atmospheric discharge channel reaches 30,000 degrees. The average discharge duration of the most commonly occurring cloud-to-ground lightning strike is approximately 60-100 µs. It is more convenient to analyze the variety of damaging factors and consequences using the example of a table.

Manifestation of threat	Damaging factors	Possible consequences
Direct lightning strike to a building	Discharge up to 200 kA, up to 1000 kV, 30 thousand o C	Human injury, destruction of parts of buildings, fires
Remote discharge during a lightning strike in communications (up to 5 or more km.)	Introduced lightning potential along power supply wires and metal pipelines (possible overvoltage impulse - hundreds of kV)
Close (up to 0.5 km from the building) lightning discharge	Induced lightning potential in conductive parts of a building and electrical installation (possible overvoltage impulse - tens of kV)	Human injury, violation of electrical wiring insulation, fire, equipment failure, loss of databases, failures in automated systems
Switching and short circuits in low voltage networks	Overvoltage impulse (up to 4kV)	Equipment failure, loss of databases, failures in automated systems

From the above we can draw conclusions:

Lightning and thunderstorm potential pose a real and varied threat to human life and property.
The human environment, as it becomes saturated with sensitive modern electronic equipment, has become extremely vulnerable to the effects of atmospheric and switching overvoltages.

As an example, the following statistics can be cited: more than 25% of insurance payments in Germany cover damage from lightning and surges.

The need for lightning protection and surge protection is beyond doubt for anyone who has witnessed the consequences of atmospheric discharges.

A short list of problems related to the security of existing structures, the design and implementation of lightning protection of buildings on the territory of the Russian Federation.

At their core, the problems of Russian lightning protection are of a regulatory nature. The standards in force in the field of lightning protection in the Russian Federation do not fully reflect the achievements of modern science and technology. Effective methods and means of lightning protection are most fully presented in the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) standards and are confirmed by widespread practical application in industrialized countries.

For easy perception of the text of the article, it is necessary to provide the functional names of the basic sections of the lightning protection system adopted in international practice.

With a very general comparison of world and Russian standards, a number of fundamental conclusions can be drawn.

Regarding the section of external lightning protection:

In contrast to the norms of the Russian Federation, the IEC standards have developed in detail a method of protection by applying lightning protection circuits (grids) to complex roofs of buildings in combination with the protection of protruding parts.
The Russian guidance document "Instructions for the installation of lightning protection of buildings and structures" (RD 34.21.122-87) does not stipulate the global practice of using anti-corrosion materials and factory-ready elements, including grounding conductors and bolted connectors made of galvanized steel in grounding devices.
The same instructions stipulate the unambiguous practice of receiving a lightning strike with a metal roof covering. At the same time, in IEC regulatory documents, this method is used only in cases where there is no need to ensure the safety of this coating.

Regarding the section of internal lightning protection:

At the moment, the international concept of zonal surge protection for electrical installations of buildings, information and telecommunication systems, electronic equipment and terminal devices is practically outside the field of activity of Russian specialists.

The IEC standards carefully elaborate the rules and recommendations for the use of surge suppressors in accordance with the zonal concept of internal lightning protection, as well as the requirements for them. At the same time, the new edition of the PUE contains only fragmentary instructions about the need to install arresters on the incoming electrical cabinets for air input of the supply line.
Russian standards have not developed a set of methods and means to protect modern low-current networks, equipment and devices from lightning and switching overvoltages.

As a result, this is not an exhaustive list of the real-life problems faced by developers, contractors and property owners.

In the absence of practice of using factory-ready elements, it is possible to implement effective external lightning protection of cottages, estates and similar buildings only with the use of free-standing high rod lightning rods. As a rule, developers and owners are not satisfied with this decision, because the architectural individuality of the building is violated, and its implementation is associated with significant costs.

The use of a metal roofing covering (especially metal tiles) as an lightning rod can lead to deformation and destruction of the sheet material, as well as fire of the underlying combustible materials of the roof structures.

Difficulties arise when installing external lightning protection on reconstructed industrial, public and administrative buildings. At such facilities, it is cheaper to carry out external lightning protection and grounding, regardless of current-carrying building structures, than to determine their suitability and reconstruct. Given the practical unavailability of factory-ready elements on the market, it is difficult to effectively and economically implement lightning protection of these objects.

Lightning protection parts and grounding devices made from improvised materials under construction conditions, as a rule, have low durability, an insufficient degree of protection from direct strikes, and lack means of protection against carried and induced lightning potential.

Public and industrial urban buildings that are protected from direct lightning strikes using conductive building structures are usually equipped with electrical installations without internal lightning protection devices. Owners and operating organizations may incur significant costs to eliminate the consequences and cover damage from lightning and switching overvoltages in networks.

Every year, expensive and pulse-voltage sensitive information technology equipment, telecommunications and automation systems are increasingly used in everyday life, management, industry and communications. Their uninterrupted operation and safety require complex and high-quality equipment for limiting lightning and switching overvoltages with rules of application, installation and operation that are understandable to specialists.

In these conditions, the topic of possible reduction in the risks of insurance companies, and, accordingly, the size of tariffs for insurers of real estate and property, is of keen interest.

Experts offer you to create a new level of security for the houses in which you live, which you build, equip and design. Comprehensive equipment with system equipment from the leading German manufacturer OBO Bettermann is a time-tested, effective solution for protection against lightning and surge voltages.

A lightning rod in a private home is a necessary thing, but not everyone knows how it works and why it is needed. The very name lightning rod is fundamentally incorrect, since thunder is a sound.

Why take him away? This is impossible, and it makes no sense, but lightning and a lightning rod are another matter. A natural phenomenon can pose a real threat to residential buildings, but since everyone is accustomed to talking specifically about a lightning rod, we will use this “term” too.

Lightning rod system mounted on the roof ridge

A lightning rod is a metal spire installed at the highest point of a building in a vertical position or next to it on a separate mast, which will be higher than the roof of the house.

Its task is to protect the building from lightning strikes. The pin, through a system of metal conductors running along the roof and facade of the building, is connected to a metal circuit that is buried in the ground.

The wire lightning protection of a private house is connected to the ground loop

Many people are not familiar with how a lightning rod works. It is thought like this - when lightning strikes a building, it will be drawn to the spire. The charge will flow down the conductor into the ground, where it will safely dissipate.

If lightning hits a lightning rod, this is exactly what will happen, but this device operates completely differently - its task is not to deflect strikes, but not to let them happen at all. How it works? Get ready to plunge into the world of theoretical and experimental physics - go ahead!

The principle of operation of a lightning rod for a private house

The explanation is very simple:

When it rains, thunderclouds begin to form, in which the discharges are separated. That is, the smallest drops of water from which they are composed receive positive and negative charges, with the latter accumulating mainly in the lower part of the cumulus cloud.

This is what a cumulus cloud looks like

Under a charged cloud, positive charges begin to be induced and accumulate on the ground, buildings and other objects.

Location of charges and reasons for the formation of lightning discharges

As charges accumulate, the electric field strength between the cloud and the earth's surface increases. The maximum potential difference reaches several million volts. This difference is what causes lightning to form - the atmosphere acts as a conductor through which the voltage is discharged and weakened.
When lightning forms, a stepped leader appears first.

Pattern of lightning appearance - it all starts with a stepped leader

The leader is a faintly luminous discharge moving towards the ground from the cloud. Its speed in the atmosphere reaches 50,000 km/sec. The conductor is air, which is heterogeneous in its structure. Lightning chooses the path of least resistance to the point to which it rushes. Heterogeneity refers to the presence of places with a large number of charged particles, with increased electrical conductivity.
As it approaches the surface of the earth, the leader “selects” those places to strike where the most positive induced charges have accumulated.
At the moment of contact, all the negative charges that are in the ionized channel begin to flow into the ground - the charges from the channel itself pass first, and then the charges from the cloud, that is, the discharge goes from bottom to top.

Lightning strikes a tree because more positive charges have accumulated on it

Everyone knows that lightning chooses the highest objects to strike, such as houses, trees, towers or masts. However, this is not a law - the influence of other factors can be traced here. Much depends on the electrical conductivity of the material. A simple example is that sap flows in trees. Being water with impurities, it conducts electricity well. The charges induced in the ground flow to its top, being attracted to the negative charges of the cloud. It turns out that the distance to the cloud is reduced, and it is easier for the stepped leader to hit this place.

This will happen if there is only one tree in the area, but when there are many objects, everything may turn out differently.

Advice! We remind you that hiding under tall trees in open areas during a thunderstorm is dangerous. There is a high probability of being hit by lightning.

A lightning charge passes through a tree into the ground and dissipates

The described flow of charges also occurs in buildings and other structures. When there are many objects, their height ceases to matter. Lightning will prefer an object with higher electrical conductivity, even if it is lower. This completely explains the behavior of this natural phenomenon.

Sometimes it happens that lightning does not touch a tall building, but strikes some booth located nearby. The reason lies in the fact that more charges have accumulated here. This can happen due to the aquifer located at this point, and water, as a good conductor, will accumulate many induced charges.

Lightning behavior can be predicted

Very often you can see trees struck by lightning in river beds, and, as you know, rivers flow through the lowest parts of the terrain. All this happens for the same reason. Therefore, it is also better to stay away from rivers and reservoirs during a thunderstorm.

How does a lightning rod work?

Now let's figure out how a lightning rod can protect houses from lightning strikes.

So, a lot of induced charges arise in the ground, which flow up into objects. This will be especially noticeable on pointed objects, such as the spire of a lightning rod.
It would seem that charges would accumulate on the mast and lightning would strike it, but this does not happen, due to the fact that a constantly burning coronal discharge appears at the top of the device, through which positive charges from the ground begin to flow towards the cloud. Due to this, the charges do not have time to accumulate in sufficient quantities, and since there are likely to be more charged objects nearby, lightning will prefer to strike them.
As a result, the probability of lightning hitting the lightning rod drops to almost zero - this happens, but is extremely rare. Even the Eiffel Tower can be hit by a shock.

Lightning struck the Eiffel Tower

As you can see, everything is extremely simple and clear. You don't need to be a physicist to understand the causes of natural phenomena. In general, we answered the question whether a lightning rod is needed in a private house. Now let's figure out how to mount it.

How to install a lightning rod in a private house with your own hands

A huge number of varieties of lightning rods have been invented - there are many home-made designs that are simple and not very structured and cost the owners almost free, there are also ready-made solutions purchased in the store. Of course, the latter provide better protection, since the design calculations are carried out by professionals. At the same time, the solution from the manufacturer is easier to install - the system is modular, it is securely fixed and looks very neat.

Lightning rod made of aluminum rod with a diameter of 8 mm

The best manufacturers

There are many manufacturers of lightning protection systems on the market. Since people rarely encounter such a question, the names of companies tell them little. We present to the reader a list of companies whose products are valued in Russia and the rest of the world.

Company, photo:	Description:
	One of the market leaders comes from Germany. The products of this company have been presented on the Russian market since 2003. There is a developed distribution network throughout the country. The products of this company are considered the standard of quality. Their cost is higher than that of other analogues.
	International electrical engineering concern. Founded in 1937 in France. Produces a full range of devices for assembling high-quality and durable lightning protection systems.
	Another famous German brand that produces lightning protection equipment. The motto of this company is safety for humans. Their systems are reliable, but also priced accordingly.
Terra Zinc	The products of foreign companies are quite expensive, so many people prefer to buy goods from Russian or neighboring countries manufacturers. The Belarusian company Terra Zinc has launched the production of lightning protection systems, the quality of which is not much inferior to other analogues. For installation, you can purchase a complete set of equipment from this manufacturer.

What could be the difference in quality of such static systems, you ask? First of all, we are talking about the thickness of the metal, the reliability of the fastenings, and the thickness of the zinc coating layer if steel conductors are used. The latter is especially important, since when the coating becomes thinner, the metal quickly rusts. You can buy products from other manufacturers, but read reviews on the Internet first.

Factory lightning protection kit

There are different models of lightning rods, but the general purpose of their parts is similar. System design is carried out before purchase. It is assembled from the following parts.

Details, photos:	Description:
Down conductor	An iron rod that forms the main part of the lightning rod system. Its diameter is 8 mm, it is attached to different surfaces through special brackets. Let's look at the installation process further.
Skate holder	The down conductor must be passed through the entire roof along its highest part, which is the ridge. For installation, rounded and triangular ridge holders are used, which are selected to match the shape of the ridge.
Lightning rod	This is the same pin at the end of which the corona discharge burns. It is mounted at the highest point of the roof. The dimensions of this part vary. Sometimes they are made in the form of large masts.
Lightning rod base	In some systems, the lightning rod is mounted on a concrete base. In other models, it is attached using metal brackets directly to the walls of chimneys and ventilation shafts.
Rod clamp on pin	This connector is used to connect the pin to the down conductor.
Rod-to-rod clamp	This part is somewhat similar to the previous one, but it is used to connect the two ends of the rods.
Gutter holder	To fix the down conductor on the drains, these holders are used.
Ground control and measuring well	This polymer box is dug into the ground. The down conductor goes into it and is connected to the grounding pin. If an inspection is necessary, the well remains easily accessible.
Down conductor grounding pin and accessories for it	The grounding needs to be well deepened (you can find out from the article on our website). For this, a composite pin is used, which can be driven or screwed. When assembling the part, a pointed tip is used to facilitate entry into the ground, rods with threads at the ends, a threaded coupling and a striker through which you can strike with a sledgehammer without the risk of damaging the threads, or insert it into a hammer drill.
Electrical conductive lubricant	Used to protect connections and improve their conductive properties.

You can also add roof and wall brackets to the list, through which the down conductor is mounted on the corresponding surfaces.

Lightning protection of a private house with your own hands - how to install a lightning rod

Such systems are good because installation does not require specialized tools - they use what every good owner has in their home, namely:

Hammer for drilling mounting holes
Wrenches for tightening bolted joints.
A large hammer or sledgehammer for driving the ground rod into the ground.
Brush for applying lubricant to connections.
Shovel and crowbar for digging a trench for a down conductor and a control well.

Lightning rod diagram in a private house - assembly procedure

Now let's look at the step-by-step procedure for installing a lightning rod. As an example, let’s look at a set of equipment from the company “DEHN+SOHNE”.

The easiest way to create a gable roof without superstructures is to use a round down conductor. It can be made of aluminum or galvanized steel.
The first step is to install the ridge holders. These parts consist of two rounded brackets and a screw clamp. They can be extended and adjusted to the size of a specific skate.

Do-it-yourself lightning rod for a country house - installing a ridge holder

Brackets with latches are screwed onto the holders, into which the down conductor will subsequently be inserted. The parts need to be placed throughout the ridge in 100 cm increments. This will allow the rod not to sag under its own weight.
Then roof holders are installed, having a stamped part for bending. They are attached with self-tapping screws directly to the sheathing located under the roofing material. Before installation, the roof is partially disassembled. The easiest way to carry out such manipulations is with tiles; the same corrugated sheeting will have to be unscrewed as a whole sheet. The spacing of these holders is also 100 cm. They are placed along one of the edges of the building.

Wall Bracket Installation

A current conductor is mounted in the ridge holders. To do this, just fold back all the latches, install the round conductor, and snap the latches back. The edges of the rod must be made longer than the roof by about 15 cm on each side. After installation, they are bent at an angle of 45 degrees upwards. This will increase the protection coverage area.

The down conductor is installed in holders, its ends are bent upward

Then the wall and roof parts of the down conductor are mounted in a similar way. The rod follows the shape of the building and does not touch it anywhere. When passing through a drain, a special holder is placed for this place.

Attaching the down conductor to the drain

The down conductor is connected to the lightning rod using an MV type terminal. To ensure a reliable connection, the screws are tightened with a force of 25 Newton meters.
There are several ways you can go. The spreading of lightning current through a branched network leads to a decrease in the electromagnetic field inside the protected volume. This is how the shielding effect works.

Perpendicular connection of rods through a clamp

Particular attention should be paid to the connection between the down conductor and the ground loop. To be able to properly measure the resistance of conductors, this connection is made detachable - using a ring terminal with two bolts. Metal foundation reinforcement rods can be used as a grounding loop - such a solution can be implemented at stage. The individual reinforcement rods are connected by welding. At the output, metal flat strips are connected to them through special connectors.

Connection of down conductor to grounding

If there are superstructures on the roof, for example, a chimney or an antenna, then you need to worry about protecting them. For this purpose, rod lightning rods installed vertically are used. Using terminals and brackets, a tall structure is built, as shown in the following picture.

The lightning rod is connected to a metal pipe on which the antenna is fixed, which will effectively remove the discharge from it as well

You can also attach the lightning rod to the superstructure itself if you use special brackets and an insulated down conductor. To connect individual lightning protection branches, you can use a down conductor, since a metal bracket was previously connected to it.

A private house is always a sea of troubles and worries, especially in terms of its arrangement. For example, when we build our own housing, we try to make it the most reliable and durable, so that trouble does not happen to it, like with the houses of Nif-Nif and Nuf-Nuf. Therefore, everything is important: the choice of construction technology, the selection of materials, and the design features of the future building. A lightning rod also plays an important role in a private house.

Protection from natural disasters

Today's news is simply full of various events related to disasters. And one of the most dangerous things for humans is lightning. If it gets into the house, it can lead to a fire, and therefore there must be a lightning rod in a private house. According to the laws of physics, lightning is a spark of electrical origin. To reach the ground, it looks for a metal conductor. And elements such as antennas, a metal chimney, and zinc roofing can provoke lightning to strike them. And this can lead to trouble.

It is to protect the house from such dangerous consequences that a lightning rod is installed in a private house. Ideally, it should be built on a separate tower, so that in the event of a lightning strike, the strike would fall not on the house, but on the tower itself. But before you build a lightning rod, you need to do certain calculations. First, you need to find a place for this structure. As a rule, for this purpose they choose the piece of land that is most distant from the residential property. Secondly, the height of the lightning rod plays an important role: it should be at least two meters higher than the building, but not too high.

Tower installation

To install a lightning rod in a private house, you need to build the tower itself. Its design can be any, the main thing is that there is space in the middle of the tower - the grounding conductor will be laid here. Clamps are installed at the tops of the tower, a copper or aluminum rod is attached to them, which is connected to the ground. The finished tower must be dug into the ground to a depth of at least two meters. After strengthening the structure, lightning protection and grounding are connected. To arrange grounding around the tower, you need to draw a triangle with equal sides. Reinforcement is dug into its tops to a depth of about two meters - it serves as Then they should be connected to each other with metal rods. The last stage of work is connecting the lightning rod conductor to grounding.

In order to correctly and competently build a lightning rod in a private house, a diagram is simply mandatory: it will help to avoid possible mistakes. In addition, it is important to carry out all connections carefully and responsibly - only in this case will it be possible to protect your home. It is best to cover the conductor with corrugation - this will help prevent oxidation, which will reduce the conductive properties. The tower also needs to be painted to protect it from corrosion.

A lightning rod in a private house is an important component of the safety of living there. This structure is especially relevant for open areas or areas located on hills. It is worth thinking about a lightning rod for a country house - this will allow you to timely protect your home from one of the most dangerous elements.