How does a lightning strike affect water chemistry?

[thephatp]

Context
I never thought this would happen, but I'm pretty sure our pool was struck by lightning about a week ago. My daughter thought she saw the lightning strike just past our back yard, but we had several things go wrong in and outside the house, with no visible indicators of a strike (no burned grass, no marks on tree or concrete or house). Here's what happened:

• Outdoor outlet at back fence was blown to pieces (and attached string light was partially disintegrated). This was plugged into my ET8.
• 3 breakers on my ET8 were tripped
• Breaker feeding my ET8 at the main panel was tripped
• A GFCI outlet inside the house was fried
• Rachio fried
• A Netgear switch was no longer functioning and was overheating
• Microwave started tripping a breaker a few days later
• However, neither of my surge protectors (one on main breaker panel, and one on ET8) were blown and still show to be fully functiona.

After talking with an electrician, he thinks the pool water was struck. The pool was well grounded, so he thinks it transferred to the panel and out of the outlet at the back of the yard.

Question
Does lightning striking a pool affect water chemistry at all?

I'm asking this question, because my chemistry is suddenly out of sorts. I went out of town for 3 days. I have an automated liquid chlorinator, and all seems to be functioning fine (tested again today). However, my pH is really high, and I've been trying to increase my CYA with conditioner (added about 5 days ago), and just not getting any readings. And my chlorine is really hard to maintain.

I'm guessing the chlorine problem is because it's the middle of the summer, and even though it's not over 100° in Texas yet, the sun is just as intense. Thus, with my really low CYA, my chlorinator timing needs to be adjusted.

However, the pH level shooting up in such a short time is abnormal. We haven't had any rain since I got the levels back to around 7.5, and in 3 days, it's over 8.0. That's not normal.

I'll add full test numbers later today, but just curious if lightning can have any impact on chemicals.

 

[JimMarshall]

My best answer to that question is, "It's possible"? certainly an electrical charge can and will cause some chemical reactions, but I doubt that there is enough research or data on the subject to give a definitive answer on what to expect....

@JoyfulNoise ?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I sincerely doubt the lightening struck the pool. The bare ground is a much better conductor but, giving benefit of the doubt to your electrician friend, the answer is no, the chemistry would be unaffected and there would be no lingering, long-term effect. Your chemical balance issues are simply that, chemical balance issues.

 

[thephatp]

Thanks for the quick replies. Hopefully the chemical changes are just an anomaly and will go back to normal soon.