Basic inspection tips for lightning protection systems:

Examples & photos of damaged lightning protection system components & suggestions for how to inspect lightning protection systems are outlined here. This article series describes common lightning protection systems, certification, installation, and lightning protection system inspection.

We provide information about lightning strikes, lightning hazards, related equipment, sources of lightning protection system installers, and lightning strike risk assessment. Our page top photo is of the remains of a lightning protection system found on a Poughkeepsie NY home built ca 1935.

Example of a Damaged Lightning Protection System

We took these photographs of a damaged lightning protection system on an 1865 house in Orange County, New York. (Newburgh NY).

[Click to enlarge any image]

The air terminal and conductor were bent down away from the top of the home leaving the chimney and roof (a metal one in an area of frequent lightning strikes) unprotected.

This is an example of what can happen when someone who is not qualified works on the system.

The lightning protection system for this home was dangerously compromised when the maintenance crew simply bent components down out of their way.

[The photographs of details of an old lightning protection system shown here were NOT the work of any of the companies or sources described at this website.]

 

 

Example of an Improperly Abandoned Lightning Protection System

The two photographs just below show the remains of the grounding connections for a lightning arrestor system that was installed on a Poughkeepsie New York Home.

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But our third photograph (below) also shows trouble at each of the home's chimneys.

Leaving an incomplete lightning protection system on a building may actually be worse than having nothing at all, as especially combined with a masonry chimney (wet, conductive in a storm), a copper chimney cap, and a remaining lightning rod that is no longer connected to ground, this system may be saying to nature "go ahead, hit me!".

In the photo above, the arrow at upper left points to the lightning protection air terminal electrode, and the arrow at lower right in our photo points to the conductor cable that was cut off, perhaps by the roofers or by the house painters when they found that the lightning protection system wiring was "in the way".

We recommend removing rooftop electrodes and conductors that are no longer connected to ground, or if you believe that the original owner and installer felt that there was a reason for installing this system, it should be repaired by an expert.

Below: an example of secure bonding between the lightning rod and the current conductor between the lightning rod and earth. This lightning protection system detail is observed atop the Saxon Tower in Oxford in the U.K.

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Below we see the grounding conductor at its connection to the earthing rod at the Saxon Tower in Oxford.

You can see the lightning rod itself atop the Saxon Tower

at LIGHTNING PROTECTION, HOW IT WORKS.

Inspection tips for Lightning Protection Systems

• In the U.S. look for the UL certification label for the lightning protection system. Often this tag is screwed to the building wall outside near where a main cable approaches ground level for connection to the ground rod.
  
  At left is the inspection tag for U.K. lightning protection systems at the Saxon Tower in Oxford in the U.K. in compliance with UK regulations from 1989.
• Look for documentation describing who installed the system and when it was last inspected
• Look for evidence of burned, damaged components that may have taken a lightning strike and need to be replaced or repaired
• Look for missing or loose components such as sections of cabling, air terminals, or connectors which may have been removed. In the photographs above, a contractor working on the chimney simply removed and bent components of the lightning protection system to get it out of his way.
  
  In photos shown earlier in this article, the house had a metal roof, a chimney now employing a metal cap and metal liner, and the property had a history of recurrent lightning strikes on and near the building!
• If a "hidden" lightning protection system is installed you will not be able to find all of its components as some sections of cabling may run inside walls or even inside chimney masonry. But look in the attic for grounding conductors, connections, etc.
• Look for a UL tag affixed to the building confirming that the lightning protection system components are UL-listed for that purpose.
• The Lightning Protection Institute (LPI) tests and certifies Professional Design/Inspectors for lightning protection systems.
• Fisher, Charles E., LIGHTNING PROTECTION for HISTORIC STRUCTURES [PDF] COMPLETE VERSION (2017) Preservation Brief No. 50, US NPS, US DOE, retrieved 2022/10/09, original source: https://www.nps.gov/tps/how-to-preserve/preservedocs/preservation-briefs/50Preserve-Brief-Lightning-Protection.pdf
  
• This list is incomplete - contributions and critique are invited. CONTACT US

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Continue reading at LIGHTNING PROTECTION SYSTEM CERTIFICATION or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see these

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Suggested citation for this web page

LIGHTNING PROTECTION SYSTEM DAMAGED, UNSAFE at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.

Or see this

INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to LIGHTNING PROTECTION SYSTEMS

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Citations & References

In addition to any citations in the article above, a full list is available on request.

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