An Electrical Storm Damaged Your Columbia County Home?

10/1/2021 (Permalink)

How Electrical Storms Are Formed

During an electrical storm, storm clouds are charged up like giant condensers in the sky. The top portion of the clouds are positive while the bottom portions are negative.

In the development of the water cycle, moisture and humidity can build up in the atmosphere. This increase in moisture is what we see and call a cloud. Clouds can contain trillions of water droplets and ice that’s just floating in the air. As the development of evaporation and condensation continues, these droplets combine with condensing moisture as its rising. The rising moisture also poses a possibility of combining with ice or sleet that is in the process of dropping to ground level. This information is important to understand, because the electrons that are knocked off or combining with rising moisture is what creates a charge separation. The intensity of the electric field is directly correlated to the amount of charge buildup in a cloud.

How Do I Protect My Home from Lightening?

There’s nothing more important than protecting your home and your family from storm produced electrical fires. The chances that you will ever have direct lightning strike your home are extremely low, however that doesn’t mean that lightening can’t damage your home in other ways. If a bolt hits anywhere in your immediate area (i.e. a power grid or electrical line), it can potentially destroy your electrical work and electronics. One strike can ruin your computer, television or worse - your Keurig.

Here’s a few things you can do to prevent lightening damage:

• Purchase surge protectors instead of plugging devices directly into wall outlets
• Have an electrician install a surge protector in your circuit box
• Have an electrician evaluate your homes grounding system to ensure that it is safe and up to date
• Install a lightning rod on the roof

Have Fire Damage from An Electrical Storm in Your Home? Give us a call at 706-868-5441 for a SERVPRO® professional to come out and help to make your home look "Like it never even happened." ®