How to make a lightning rod when building a house. DIY lightning rod at the dacha

IN Lately We are increasingly faced with situations where lightning strikes houses and, due to the lack of appropriate protection, a fire occurs. To prevent this from happening and to protect yourself, you can make a lightning rod with your own hands.

Moreover, such a device will be quite functional and productive, if, of course, it is installed correctly. It is worth saying that although the lightning rod has enough simple design and given free time and the necessary materials, anyone can make it, however, many factors will need to be taken into account to determine correct parameters installation, since it is important not only to have protection for your home and electrical appliances, but also to be confident in its correct functioning.

How does a lightning rod work in a country house?

A lightning rod is a special installation that attracts the electric charge of lightning and redirects it from the house through a conductor to the ground. Thus, lightning will not cause any destruction or harm. The lightning rod consists of two blocks:

  • external;
  • internal.

The outdoor unit is a current collector (lightning rod), connected to a current conductor (down conductor), which together act as a receiver and distribution of lightning charge, as well as a ground electrode, which dissipates this charge in the ground.

The indoor unit will protect your home from power surges and, therefore, prevent failure of electronics. Probably everyone has heard that if the electric charge of lightning is strong, then all the electrical appliances in the house burn out.

So there is another reason to make a lightning rod.

Lightning rod design rules

For the right choice diagrams for the installation of a dacha lightning rod, it is first necessary to study the structure of the building and, in accordance with the “Instructions for the installation of lightning protection of buildings and structures” (Instruction RD 34.21.122-87), determine the required level of protection. Low and small in area private houses usually belong to lightning protection category III.

Effective lightning protection is one that reliably protects the building and everything inside it from direct lightning strikes and from its secondary discharges in electrical networks. A country lightning rod is usually a lightning rod, which is connected to grounding using a down conductor system.

Lightning rod

A device that directly receives a lightning strike is called an air terminal. This is the most noticeable and significant element of an industrial or country lightning rod design. There are rod, cable, and mesh receivers.

The most popular and famous thanks to Benjamin Franklin is the lightning rod, which is a metal rod made of stainless steel, aluminum or copper. It is usually installed 2 m above the highest point of the protected building. This type of lightning rods is the simplest to implement and quite cheap.

A cable lightning rod consists of two masts installed around the perimeter of the protected object, and tensioned steel cables between them. An lightning protection network is a mesh of metal rods laid on the roof of a building with a certain pitch.

For small private houses, an excellent lightning receiver can be metal roof. If the roof of the house is made of a different material, then it is better to choose a lightning protection mesh for the protection device, and for wooden country houses active protection is more often used.

Down conductors

Current flows to the grounding device through down conductors. In accordance with the above Instruction RD 34.21.122-87, down conductors in a residential building can be various designs buildings made of steel, aluminum or copper (frames, fire escapes, fittings reinforced concrete slabs). Special down conductors are usually laid outside along the perimeter of the building at intervals of 25 m. The effectiveness of down conductors depends on the continuity electrical network. They are usually connected to the lightning rod and grounding devices by welding.

Grounding

The lightning charge in the soil is dissipated using grounding devices. In accordance with Instruction RD 34.21.122-87, they are most often reinforced concrete foundations or vertical electrodes that go deep into the ground. The latter type of grounding is necessarily protected from corrosion (therefore, it is usually made of copper-plated or galvanized steel), and the electrodes are securely connected to the horizontal busbar and to each other using special connectors.

Making a lightning rod at the dacha with your own hands

So, if you have come to the conclusion that you want to make a lightning rod for country house with your own hands, then you need to know how this device is made. First you need to make a rod current collector, to which a current conductor will then be attached, which can be made from ordinary iron wire. Just choose a wire with as large a cross-section as possible, for example 6-8 mm. The conductor also connects the current collector to the ground loop.

The ground loop can be made from an iron strip measuring approximately 4x50 mm. The electrode should be made of steel rod, choosing a diameter of at least 18 mm. Please note that all connections should only be made using welding machine. If you do not have this option, you can use bolted steel clamps, but such connections will be less effective.

2) The handicraft fastener material, when passing lightning current, with a high degree of probability may not withstand high temperatures and will simply melt. Therefore, it is always necessary to know the parameters of the materials used and carry out necessary calculations. But it’s easier to buy ready-made components from lightning protection manufacturers, especially since the prices for fastening elements, especially domestic ones, are acceptable. Plus, you will receive the necessary advice from specialists on proper installation.

3) There is a rule: you either make isolated lightning protection and maintain the required breakdown distance, or connect everything metal elements together and connect to ground. Here the author uses insulators and, accordingly, the first method, which means the air gap between the receiver/down conductor must be no less minimum distance R, which is specifically in this option should be 300-400 mm, which is not noticeable. Without grounding the roof, a dangerous potential difference is guaranteed to arise here.

4) The option of a ground electrode in the form of a single pin stuck into the ground cannot be considered reliable no matter the soil resistance, especially since the down conductor through which the discharge from the lightning rod arrives is also the only one. Even in the days of the USSR, with a complete lack of knowledge and calculated parameters of soil resistance, focal grounding was always done in the shape of a triangle or a U-shaped circuit.

Basic typical diagrams of country lightning rods

Once again, in more detail, we will talk about three well-known types of protection devices installed on the roof of building structures.

The type of lightning rod chosen for a country lightning rod determines the type and scheme of its protection. TO standard schemes include the organization:

  • lightning protection mesh;
  • rod lightning rods;
  • cable lightning rods.

For flat and gable roofs For cottages, regardless of the roofing material, experts recommend using lightning protection mesh. To organize it, steel, copper or aluminum rods with a diameter of up to 8 mm are used. The mesh is installed directly on the roof or under the insulation if the roof base is not flammable (Instruction RD 34.21.122-87).

Depending on the level of protection, down conductors are mounted directly to the mesh along the entire perimeter in increments of 10 to 25 cm.

A lightning protection rod circuit is a metal pin attached to a chimney or other roof structure at least 2 m above its highest point.

The installation of the rod is carried out correctly if the base of the cone with the apex is in extreme point The lightning rod completely hits the protected object. Increasing the height of the rod expands the protected area. This type of lightning rod is suitable for both private and industrial facilities with complex roofs.

For gable roofs For low buildings, you can also use a cable circuit for a country lightning rod. To do this, a steel cable is stretched between the supports installed on the skates. Its ends are usually adjacent to one down conductor, which transmits current to grounding in the ground, which looks similar in appearance to " chicken foot"If the dacha lightning rod circuit is executed correctly, lightning discharges go into the soil outside the protected house. When installing lightning protection of this type It is important to take into account the sag of the cable.

The choice of a scheme for organizing a dacha lightning rod is influenced by many factors, parameters and conditions. Therefore, this is a rather complex and responsible event that requires certain professional knowledge and experience. Our company will help you design and install the most effective lightning protection for your home. In addition, we provide turnkey lightning rod installation services. The section "Our objects" contains photos of lightning rods and a description of our completed projects.

How and where to buy a lightning rod

A lightning rod that protects against a direct lightning strike will work like a clock if you choose it wisely and correctly necessary materials to create effective and reliable lightning protection for a building. The price of a country lightning rod is influenced by the following parameters:

  • level of protection;
  • lightning rod diagram;
  • technical difficulties of project implementation;
  • type of materials used and scope of work.

Today, numerous online stores offer big choice rods and cables made of steel, copper and stainless steel, as well as holders and clamps, and give excellent descriptions of their goods. However, it is difficult to make a lightning rod of impeccable quality on your own. In addition, no one will guarantee the operation of a system assembled from materials with different performance characteristics.

Our company offers to buy components for lightning rods from well-known and well-established manufacturers from Germany, Russia, France, Turkey and other countries from a warehouse in Moscow: OBO Bettermann, J. Propster, BS-Technic, DEHN+SOHNE, Voltstream, Elmashprom, Duval Messien, Citel, Forend and others.

Our services

Our company’s specialists will help you choose the most reliable and effective country lightning rod at an affordable price, taking into account all the features of your home. Our consultants will answer any questions in detail and draw up an estimate.

You can order execution from us necessary measurements transition resistances, resistance of grounding devices, checking the presence of a grounding circuit and grounded elements. The company's experienced professionals can also design and install a lightning rod on a turnkey basis. We provide maintenance services various systems protection against lightning before the start of the thunderstorm season and, by agreement with the client, we repair them.

We all know that lightning is beautiful only from a distance, but for a person its strike can be fatal. A lightning strike can also damage equipment or cause a fire. IN a private house Lightning does not strike very often, but if it does happen, it will be extremely difficult to cope with the consequences.

Today we will talk about lightning protection of a private house and how a lightning rod is designed.

Features of lightning protection of a private house

As technology has advanced and various wireless equipment has become available, the risk of lightning strikes has increased. At the same time, modern scientific developments are successfully combating it.

When thunderclouds are approaching in the sky and lightning is piercing it, a warning and clever man will not be afraid of them, because he will protected his home from their direct hit.

So, a good owner will definitely show interest in how to provide lightning protection for a private home. You don’t have to worry if your private home is located next to a tower equipped with a lightning rod or power lines. But at risk of being struck by lightning are buildings that:

  • have a single location;
  • built on a hill;
  • are located next to a pond.

A lightning rod should be planned at the stage of construction of a private house. Yes, it should make a lightning protection circuit during construction. Private houses belong to the third class fire safety, accordingly, they must be installed on them with a lightning rod without fail.

Choice the right type lightning protection for a private home depends on a number of factors:

  1. Original condition of the house.
  2. Location conditions.
  3. Climatic conditions of the area.
  4. Soil type.

Necessarily take into account the location conditions your house. So, if lightning strikes a tree, an antenna, or a pole near a house, they can create a screen effect and the building will also fall into the affected area.

remember, that different types soils differ in their conductivity and resistance, which should be taken into account when choosing the section of the strip and the size of the contour depth.

If the climate of the area is such that the number of thunderstorm periods per year exceeds 40 times the mark, and the house is located near water, then the risk of being struck by lightning increases several times.

How a lightning rod is designed for a private house

The principle of operation of a lightning rod is quite simple: the house is protected from lightning strikes due to the fact that the discharge is discharged to the ground.

However, the effectiveness of a lightning rod is possible only with the complex construction of a system that consists of two protective systems: external and internal.

Internal protection must protect equipment from power surges during a thunderstorm. And even if the discharge strikes within a radius of several kilometers, a surge suppressor is still needed.

If you do not have such protection, then when a thunderstorm front approaches within three kilometers, turn off all electrical appliances.

A external system protection is needed to ensure the safety of the house and its inhabitants during a thunderstorm. A simple lightning rod consists of the following elements:

  • Lightning rod.
  • Supports.
  • Down conductor.

The lightning rod is metal conductor up to one and a half meters in length, which takes on a lightning strike. Such lightning protection in a country house should be installed at its highest point:

  • roof;
  • chimney;
  • TV antenna

This lightning protection is suitable for installation on a metal roof, and if the roof is slate, then you need pull the metal cable on wooden supports up to 2 meters long and cover it with insulators.

On tile roofs, you need to stretch a special lightning protection mesh with down conductors along the ridge. Down conductors are needed to connect the lightning rod to the ground loop. They represent steel wire, which should be laid along the wall of the house and welded to the lightning rod and ground loop.

Lightning protection grounding includes two connected electrodes, which driven into the ground. According to the rules of grounding household appliances and lightning protection should be common. The radius of a lightning rod depends on its height.

If the lightning rod is made correctly and efficiently, it will represent least resistance, through which the lightning discharge will be redirected from the house to the ground.

How to make lightning protection for a private house with your own hands

So, we figured out how lightning protection for a home works, and how to choose it depending on the type of roof. Now we will talk about how to make high-quality lightning protection for your home with your own hands.

Will serve as a lightning protection mesh metal wire structure with a diameter of six meters, which is made by welding. It should be laid on the roof and connected to the ground loop with several down conductors.

This mesh is suitable for non-metallic roofs to protect one building, since other buildings are located at a lower level. The mesh can also be laid on the roof during the construction of the house.

The protective wire can be made as follows:

  1. Stretch the cable on insulators between two metal or wood supports.
  2. Installation is carried out at a height of 0.25 m on the ridge.
  3. The wire diameter must be at least 6 mm.

You need to make a loop around the wire pipe and attach it to the lightning rod using soldering or welding. The current conductor is also made from the same wire. As a result, we get a hut-like protective zone, which is suitable for roofs made of any material except metal.

Pin lightning rod- this is a pin with the following parameters:

  • the cross-sectional shape can be round, rectangular or square;
  • pin length is at least 0.25 m;
  • cross-sectional area 100 square mm.

It is the pin that takes the key lightning strike, so it must be able to withstand maximum loads dynamic and temperature nature.

The material for the pin is selected so that it is not afraid of oxidation, this can be galvanized steel or copper, therefore it is impossible to paint such a lightning rod. The cross-sectional diameter of the rod or pipe must be at least 12 mm. You need to weld the end of the hollow pipe. The structure should be installed on the roof ridge on a mast of the required length.

The current conductor directs the electrical discharge to the ground. It needs to be connected to general design by soldering, welding or bolting. The contact area must be at least twice the cross-sectional area of ​​the parts that are connected to each other.

Such protection is suitable for metal roofs, but remember that the roof itself must also be grounded.

Grounding for lightning rod

A grounding electrode is needed to drain lightning current into the ground; it has a small share electrical resistance. Grounding should be laid away from the porch of the house and the paths next to it, preferably at a distance of about five meters.

If the soil is wet and groundwater lie less than one and a half meters, then you need to use horizontal ground electrode. You can make it yourself as follows:

  1. Along the house, dig a ditch the width of a shovel, about six meters long and about a meter deep.
  2. Drive three galvanized water pipes with a diameter of 20 m and a length of 2 m into the bottom of the ditch every three meters. Leave about 5 cm on the surface.
  3. Take a wire with a diameter of at least 8 mm and weld it to the pipes. A down conductor still needs to be welded to the middle pipe. You can also weld bolts to the pipes to connect them with copper cable.
  4. Lubricate the bolts with grease and bury the pipes.

If the soil is dry and the groundwater is deep enough, then do vertical ground electrode:

  • take two rods 2–3 m long;
  • drive them into the ground to a depth of about half a meter and at a distance of three meters from each other;
  • connect them with a jumper with a cross-section of 100 square meters. m.

Such grounding can be used for the purpose protection of electrical devices and shields. Remember that during a thunderstorm it is extremely dangerous to be within a radius of four meters from the grounding, otherwise there is a risk of being exposed to step voltage.

Lightning protection can also be installed on a tree if it is more than twice as tall as the house together with the antenna and is located at a distance of 3–10 meters from the house. In this case, lightning protection is made of wire with a diameter of about 5 mm, with a one-way descent and one grounding in the form of a loop.

If you have installed lightning protection against linear lightning, it will be ineffective when struck by ball lightning. In such a case, so that ball lightning didn't get into the house close all windows tightly, doors, chimneys, and check that the ventilation units are equipped with copper or steel mesh wire with cells of about 3 cm and reliable grounding.

When installing and maintaining lightning protection, remember the following tips and recommendations:

Remember, in order for lightning protection of your private country house could serve you well long years and protect it in cloudy thundery weather, need to be installed correctly and take care of it regularly.

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, metal chimney, zinc roofing can cause lightning to strike them. And this can lead to trouble.

It is to protect the home from such dangerous consequences A lightning rod is being 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, important role The height of the lightning rod plays a 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 errors. 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.

What is lightning, we know from school desk. An electric discharge with a power of 100-200 thousand amperes destroys all objects where it hits. Most likely, lightning is attracted by tall buildings and trees.

Lightning protection of a private home is more relevant today than ever. Our homes are literally stuffed with electronics, household appliances, mobile phones, which increases the risk of lightning exposure. The danger of lightning for private homes, those not equipped with lightning rods are great - fire, destruction in the event of a direct hit by a discharge. The consequences of a discharge in the immediate vicinity of a building may be the failure of the electrical network or a separate device - a TV, computer, etc.

  • Internal, protecting against a discharge that does not fall directly into the house, but, for example, into the power line feeding the internal wiring. In this case, an overvoltage occurs in the electrical network, the consequences of which can be disastrous. The internal protection is not visible; it is a small device - a limiter, a surge arrester, an SPD installed in the distribution board.
  • External protection is the familiar lightning rod (as lightning protection is often incorrectly called) installed on the roof.

External protection of a private house from lightning

The system can be passive or active. The principle of operation of the first is simple, like everything ingenious. A metal lightning rod on the roof catches (attracts, intercepts) a lightning discharge and, through a current conductor, directs it to the ground, to the ground electrode.

Active lightning protection

Such lightning protection is more effective; it operates within a radius of 100 meters from a “cunning” lightning rod, which, by ionizing the surrounding air, intercepts a lightning discharge. Then it works like passive protection. The main advantage of the device is the lightning protection coverage of neighboring residential buildings and outbuildings over a fairly large area.

Types of external lightning protection for a home

Based on the type of design, there are modular-pin, cable and mesh lightning protection.

Pin

The pin system is called because of the lightning rod, which is installed in the highest part of the roof, and is a metal rod (pin). This design is suitable for lightning protection of a private house with a roof made of metal tiles or any other material.

Rosovaya

This type of installation protective device allowed if the roof is slate, tiled, but not metal.

The lightning rod is a cable (thick wire, rod) stretched at a height of 0.3-0.5 m along the ridge of the house.

Mesh

The system is considered the most complex in terms of installation. It is made from wire rod with a diameter of 6-8 mm, which in the form of a grid with cells of 6x6 meters is laid over the entire roof area. At the intersection of horizontal and vertical rods, it is welded. It is attached to the roof with brackets.

Mesh lightning protection for a house is installed, like cable lightning protection, on a slate or tiled roof.

Down conductor

For this element of the system, round steel (copper, aluminum) with a diameter of at least 6 mm is used. The down conductor is secured with brackets along the roof and walls. Usually during installation they try to lay the “route” away from window and door openings, as required regulations, and so as not to spoil the exterior of the building.

When laying a conductor, you need to follow some simple rules:

  • On wooden surfaces The conductor should be mounted at a distance of 15-20cm from the wall;
  • If the cable receiver is long, mesh large area or the pin consists of several elements, then there must be several down conductors (SO 153-34.21. 122-2003)

When constructing a new structure, lightning protection of a cottage or house is already “built into” project documentation. But if Vacation home or country house If you have just purchased it and there is no “lightning rod” on it, then the most reasonable solution would be to protect yourself and your loved ones from lightning strikes yourself, or with the help of hired specialists.

If you have the skills to carry out construction work, lightning protection of a private house with your own hands will not be a problematic issue, but will save money.

Ground loop

The principle of the ground electrode device is extremely simple. Three steel module pins 1.5-2 meters long, 16-20 mm in diameter with zinc coating, are driven into the ground and connected in series.

This design has a number of advantages:

  • Possibility of installation to any depth without the use of special equipment;
  • Low labor intensity. The work can be done by one person;
  • The greater depth of immersion of the electrode pin increases the efficiency of grounding;
  • The connection of elements does not require welding (using special clamps);
  • The entire system is hidden underground.

The circuit is driven into the ground no closer than 1 m to the foundation of the house, and no closer than 5 m to the front door.

The principle of operation of internal lightning protection of a house

It is difficult to imagine life today without electronic and household electrical devices and instruments. All this equipment is connected to the power grid, and cables also go from the computer and TV to local network and satellite dish.

Data transmission lines through receivers, servers, distribution devices, power lines are susceptible to lightning strikes and the influence of electromagnetic fields. Under certain circumstances, high voltage and high current move through the cables to a low potential, i.e. TV, refrigerator, computer. The result may be failure of electrical appliances, fire, or threat to human life.

To protect yourself and your home, you need internal organization lightning protection of a private home or surge protection.

Such protection operates simply - it instantly equalizes the potentials between the electrical conductors. This task is performed by an SPD - special device surge protection.

Installation of this device is only possible after installing a reliable external protection. To implement a lightning protection system for a private home, a project is being developed that takes into account all the ways to enter a high-voltage building.

After installing the SPD, non-current-carrying elements are connected to the grounding bus, and lines that cannot be grounded are connected to the bus through the SPD.

To select an SPD device, there are rules that can be divided into groups depending on:

  • Indicators of the protected network - current, voltage, frequency, wire cross-section;
  • Network type - power supply, cable TV, telephone line, alarm system, etc.;
  • The significance of the protected object - PC, TV or bank server.

Do you need lightning protection for a private home?

The answer can be unequivocal - it is necessary! There are still many unknowns in the world, especially the mysteries of nature. If there is a television tower in the city or high building“protects” many surrounding houses from lightning, then in the private development area, as a rule, there are no such structures. But not far from the house there is a tall pine tree, which serves as a natural “lightning rod”. But this is a theory; it’s still better and calmer to feel safe in “your fortress.”

Lightning is one of the most terrible enemies for a private home. Its destructive power is so great that you can lose your home in a matter of seconds. Of course, the case of lightning striking a house is not the most common reason property losses. Many people are simply lucky enough to live near lightning rods, power lines or high towers. However, as long as there is a danger of sudden and complete destruction of all property, it is hardly possible to live in peace.

The probability of lightning striking a house increases many times over if it is located on a hill or near bodies of water. In such cases, the implementation of a lightning protection circuit at construction work Necessarily. SNiP classifies all private buildings as buildings with a third fire safety class, which means they are subject to mandatory lightning protection. As a rule, lightning protection is designed together with the house and installed during its construction.

How necessary is lightning protection for a private home?

To properly build lightning protection, you need to know the nature of lightning. Due to the accumulation of a large electrical charge in rain clouds, an impulse of enormous force occurs, in other words - a discharge electric current at the highest point on the terrain.

The current strength of an electric discharge during a lightning strike reaches 100 thousand amperes, and in some cases up to 200 thousand amperes. Every second, about two hundred lightning strikes occur on the planet. Even if we take into account that the probability of it hitting a particular house is not so great, it is still better to secure your home in advance and install a structure that protects the house from a lightning strike.

During the passage of an electrical discharge Colossal thermal energy is released through the materials of the house, which causes fires and destruction. As is known, most of suburban buildings are built from wooden materials, namely they are most at risk of rapid combustion.

Based on this, lightning protection of a house becomes an important and mandatory task during its construction. Moreover, regardless of the location of the residential building in the city or outside it and the types building materials used for its construction, there must be lightning protection.

Operating principles and types of lightning protection

Lightning protection for a private home can be of two types:

  1. Active.
  2. Passive.

Traditionally, the first type of protection is used - passive, which consists of an lightning rod, a current outlet and grounding. The principle of operation of such protection is very simple. Lightning striking the receiver passes through a lightning rod, which directs the discharge into the ground. When designing any lightning protection system, it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of the material from which the roof is made, the roof structure and its features.

Active lightning protection works on a slightly different principle. The electric current discharge is intercepted by a lightning rod, which creates an ionized field around itself, attracting lightning. Further, the operating principle is identical to passive protection. At the same time, its active type operates within a radius of up to one hundred meters, while its passive type protects only the house itself.

Active lightning protection is the most preferable and is installed in many countries to protect the house and the entire surrounding area. However, it has a high cost, so its installation may not always be advisable.

Do-it-yourself lightning protection of a private house

You can ensure the safety of a residential building with the help of lightning protection made by yourself. The lightning rod circuit is quite simple, it’s easy to do it yourself. Any similar security system for a private home is based on the manufacture of a lightning rod from available building materials.

Any lightning rod has three main components, as shown in the diagram:

  1. Lightning rod.
  2. Down conductor.
  3. Ground loop.

Lightning rods

A metal conductor whose task is to absorb the electrical discharge of lightning is called an lightning rod. It is installed at the highest point of the roof, while on a roof that has complex design, install several such lightning rods.

According to their own design features lightning rods can be of several types:

  • metal pin;
  • metal cable;
  • metal grid.

Metal pin

With this method of lightning protection at home, a metal pin is made, from 20 centimeters to one and a half meters long. It should be mounted on the highest point of the roof of a private house.

The material used is copper or galvanized steel due to its high resistance to oxidation. Such a pin can have any shape. The cross-sectional area should not be less than 100 m2. If the pin has round shape, then its diameter must be at least 12 millimeters. It is possible to use a hollow pipe, but in this case its diameter must be slightly larger, and the end facing upward must be welded. This is a way to protect your home from lightning suitable for any type metal roofing, including for metal tiles.

Metal cable

A device with a metal cable is also quite easy to make with your own hands. The entire structure consists of a cable and a pair of supports, which can be made of metal. However, in this case they will have to be isolated.

A steel cable with a diameter of at least 12 mm is pulled along the roof ridge and secured at the edges. The cable should be at a height of 1–2 meters from the roof ridge.

Metal grid

Lightning rod with receiver from metal mesh is the most the best option protection for tile roofs.

When installing the mesh, it is attached along the roof ridge with branches from down conductors that have reliable grounding throughout the entire roof area.

All lightning rods on the roof must be connected to stairs, gutters and any other metal objects.

When large and tall trees, then you can use one of them as a lightning rod. To do this, the metal pin should be installed so that it is one and a half meters higher than the tree crown, and then connected to the down conductor. An important condition is the height of the tree- it should be 10–20 cm higher than the house.

Creating a down conductor

A down conductor is one of the components of a lightning rod, which is responsible for conducting an electrical discharge from the lightning rod to the ground loop. It is made of steel wire with a diameter of at least 6 mm. One end of it is welded to the base of the lightning rod, and the other to the ground loop. Welding quality needs to be paid attention to Special attention, to avoid damage at the mounting location. The current that passes through the down conductor can reach 200,000 amperes.

The down conductor must be secured along the contour of the roof and house using insulators at a distance of 2–3 cm from the roof and walls . If there are several down conductors, then the distance between them should be at least 25 meters.

Do not fasten the wire near doors or doorways. When installing, avoid sharp bends and places where it could be damaged by snow or debris. The down conductor should be as short as possible, and it should be located in places with the greatest risk of lightning strikes: on sharp protrusions, edges of gables, etc.

Lightning rod grounding

A ground loop completes any lightning protection device design. Its task is to ensure reliable contact of the entire device with the ground. Externally the structure looks like three large electrodes that are interconnected and recessed into the ground.

To assemble the device responsible for grounding, you will need steel with a cross-section of 80 m2 or copper with a cross-section of 50 m2. In a pre-dug trench, about one meter deep and 3 meters wide, you need to drive two metal rods made of copper or steel along the edges. Then they are connected to each other by welding and a down conductor from the house is welded to them. The entire structure is driven to the ground into the ground.

When assembling the grounding device, you need to remember that it must be located no closer than five meters from doors or windows, passages, porches and paths. Distance from the walls of the house must be at least one meter.

Lightning protection care

Before the start of the thunderstorm season each year, you should pay attention to special attention preventive inspection of lightning protection at home. All components of the lightning rod and mounting points must be inspected and, if necessary, painted or repaired.

Every three years it is necessary to conduct a major inspection of the entire system. Check the connections between the down conductor and the ground loop, clean and tighten the contacts there. Defective clamps - replace.

Every five years, the ground loop electrodes are inspected. To do this, they need to be removed from the ground and carefully checked for corrosion. If due to this reason the cross-section of the electrodes has decreased by more than a third, then they should be replaced.