NFPA 780 – Installation of Lightning Protection Systems, Paragraph 4.2.1 states, “Combinations of materials that form electrolytic couples of such a nature that, in the presence of moisture, corrosion is accelerated shall not be used.” Such combinations are commonly called, “dissimilar metals”, and the photo shows what happens when, for example, copper components are in… Read more »
This international conference “brings together industry and academic leaders with a deep exploration of the building facade as the integrative factor in holistic building design.” East Coast Lightning Equipment has been invited to present a paper at the conference on “Lightning Protection as Building Envelope”. According to the paper’s abstract. “A building’s envelope mitigates the… Read more »
As if January 2018’s record cold, snow fall, storm surge, and winter winds are not dangerous enough, the “bomb cyclone” of Winter Storm Grayson generated intense levels of lightning along the East Coast. The density of winter lightning storms, also known as “thundersnow”. has probably been underestimated in the past because snow muffles the sound… Read more »
That’s the title of a session to be presented at the AEC-Next Conference in Anaheim, CA on June 5-7, 2018. The educational session, sponsored by East Coast Lightning Equipment, addresses the “Internet of Things’s” vulnerability to lightning. According to the announcement for the session.
The J.A. Belt Building in Gaithersburg, MD was built in 1903 and is listed on National Register of Historic Places. It offers two lessons about lightning protection systems. Lightning protection systems help buildings withstand the test of time: John A. Belt understood the destructive power of fire; the Masonic Lodge to which he belonged was… Read more »
The National Weather Service shares this cautionary report of lightning-related injuries that occurred in the middle of winter while ice fishing. “On Saturday, February 22, 1997, Robert, his father, three friends and two of their sons went ice fishing on Moosehead Lake in Maine. In the middle of winter, in Maine, no one would ever… Read more »
Protecting historic buildings from lightning damage may require special considerations. For example, the visible components of the lightning protection system have to maintain the look and historic features of the original building, yet meet modern standards for performance. To the extent practical, new lightning protection components have to be installed without damaging historic building materials… Read more »
Each of this trio of Washington, D.C. landmarks has a lightning protection system. Air terminals (lightning rods) are visible on top of decorative finials on the Smithsonian Institution Building — known affectionately as “The Castle” — on the right and Smithsonian Institution Arts and Industry Building on the left. Between them, in the distance, is… Read more »
2017 is breaking records for the number and intensity of Atlantic Hurricanes. This blog has already reported on lightning activity accompanying Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. To keep the record up-to-date, Hurricane Maria — the one that brought devastation to Puerto Rico — was also a ferocious Electrical Storm, as this video shows. To learn more… Read more »
Florida is enforcing new rules requiring nursing homes to have emergency generators. This action comes in the wake of Hurricane Irma which left 10 nursing home residents dead due to sweltering heat in buildings that had no power due to storm-related outages. We applaud this potentially life-saving move, and offer a friendly reminder: Permanently-installed generators… Read more »