Lightning Fried Some Pool Components

[kcindc]

I suffered what I believe is lightning damage. An electrician that is familiar with pool electrical and inspected my system and made recommendations. He isn't a pool guy per say, so I want to make sure that I'm not overlooking any potential damage that has not yet been noticed. I haven't called a pool company since their fees are crazy high. I have started a home owner insurance claim with USAA.

I plan to pay the extra $200 to replace the pool sub-panel vs repairing my pool sub-panel which is circa 1980s with a lot of rust. I sent my insurance two quotes, one replacing the panel and one repairing the panel. I'll also pay the extra $375 out of pocket for a surge protector.

The pool sub-panel. Per Electrician: 2 GFCI breakers (which is the power source for the 2 regular type outlets listed below) and 2 regular breakers are fried. Rusty, not 100% weatherproof where wires are coming into the existing panel.

I have 2 intermatic timers: one for my Pentair 1.5 HP Whisperflo Pump; one for my SWG CircuPool RJ-60. Per Electrician, both timers are fried and the SWG is fried, power is getting through, but the timer clock doesn't rotate and it is stuck in the "on" position. Electrician will replace both timers.

Circulpool stated that I could mail them the main unit and they could potentially see if they could repair the SWG Main Unit. They do not sell the main unit by itself, so I ordered a new set (main unit and cell) and they gave me a good discount.

My pump appears to be running normally albeit the intermatic timer doesn't work so it is running 100% of the time for now. It is not making any load or weird noises. Could there potentially be damage is that is not readily apparent to the eyes and ears? If so, what would the electrician need to check? I could call a pool company, but they are crazy expensive here in the Washington DC metro area.

I have 2 regular type outlets that are in a weather proof box. I use these to run my robot Dolphin Triton Plus. The regular outlets are fried, but my robot appears to be working fine. I plug it into an extension cord when I need it and immediately unplug it when it is finished... I am making sure that the extension cord will never reach the pool.

I have a propane heater with an electric display, Raypak Dig 336K BTU. It appears to be working properly in both spa and pool modes. Could it have damage that is not readily noticeable to the eyes and ears?

I have a spa air blower, Silencer 1HP. It is fried.

I have an incandescent light in the pool; and another in the spa. Both are fried. Electrician will install at a fraction of the price of the pool company. Not sure if I want to pay the extra $ to convert from 120v to 12v. I was thinking of putting in brand new 120v LEDs. Right now I have to turn the lights on and off at the pool sub panel. I'm really wanting the J&J Electronics color lights that are wifi. What are the pros/cons of going 120v vs 12v?

Thankfully my pump is working, but I'm back to dumping bleach.... I will probably need to get more salt because of the copious amounts of rain over the last 1.5 weeks.

 

[newdude]

Sounds like a big hit. If any equiptment is still working it is probably ok, but only time will tell if its lifespan was greatly reduced. Check every last option and detail to make sure every function works. Put the claim in for everything else. I have made 3 big auto claims with USAA and one big homeowners claim when Hurricane Sandy took my roof off. Anytime i have ever called them it was a great experience. Always polite, caring and quick to remedy my problems. And the warm Texas accent is an added bonus.

 

[kcindc]

Thanks for reply... I have had a lot of great experience with my auto coverage. Last September my brand-new looking 2008 SUV (thanks to leather and my kids were grown when I bought it) was considered a total loss due to water damage. Newer cars with sunroofs are not designed to be 100% water proof. The waterproof fail safe are sunroof drip pan with drains that run along the door frames and empty out onto the ground. I had no idea that you had to clean out these drip lines which are thinner than a coffee stirrer. My drains were clogged and water seeped out onto the electronics that are behind the dash and fried them all. There was mold growing behind everything to boot. It was an unusual claim, but the dealership stated that another person was just finishing up their a similar claim with USAA and they paid. USAA did send someone to inspect the car, but once that person saw my car my claim was paid. I did have to fight them on the value of my car since they didn't include all of the optins and had a typo on the mileage. Eventually they relented.

 

[kcindc]

The good news is that USAA paid my claim. The electrical company installed a new subpanel, repaired the timers, installed my new SWG, spa blower, and the new LED pool light.

The bad news is that there is lightning damage to the underground wires causing inconsistent power to the breakers on the left side of the new subpanel. In addition, they suspect that the wires are damaged inside the conduit as they couldn't pull them out. It was two young, strong guys in their upper 20s. The conduit is new and oversized and the electrical line is new, both about 6 years old. There are no hard turns in the new lines. No reason for the wire not to move easily.

In addition, the spa cord is stuck too. The old spa light was circa 1980s, so no surprise that it is being difficult, but the line is only 10 feet long. They put wire lube in a few times over the day in the hopes it would help. I'm hoping they can replace it easily next time.

Fingers crossed that USAA will cover the cost to replace under ground lines.

At least my pump and SWG are working, so I no longer have to lug bleach.

The electrician said that he worked on a house last week that caught fire after a lightning strike to the pool equipment, it damage the gas pool heater, the electrical surge/fire traveled through the gas lines to house. It happened in the early morning hours, teen and young adult child were home alone while the parents were out of town.

 

[markayash]

I speak from experience. If you had PCs plugged in but still working save important files. We had it hit a tree 500’ away and it did weird stuff in my house but my wifes laptop died 2 days later and killed the hard drive

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

Can they snake wires through the conduit? It could very well be that the wire is welded to the conduit... but if there is enough room to leave it in and still not be violating code, they could abandon that wire in the conduit and run new, since it is oversized possibly. As for stuff dying later. Yeah, that happens quite often. Keep an eye on the equipment and if it fails in the next couple of months, you can file that too.

 

[newdude]

Im with Rattus. If they can push a new wire through the conduit it will be fine. The lightning may have arced in the conduit and blown right through to ground. Bascially having a cave in. Or water that got into the conduit froze one of the last few winters and the conduit was already collapsed. They will know once they try to snake it. Either way its part of the damage and should be easy to add to the claim.

Electronics are much harder to tell like markayash said. A lightning bolt is and/or sets off an elctromagnetic pulse (EMP) the shockwave going through the surrounding air can fry any electronics if the pulse is strong enough. Sometimes hundreds of feet away. Even unplugged devices. I have seen many houses where the damage was less pronounced in the physical sense, like burned electric wires, but every TV and half the appliances in the house were toast. If any devices/appliances of yours were in the path of the EMP they may have had their lifespan greatly reduced and you might not know for 6 months. That will be much harder to prove down the road.

 

[markayash]

I am a network engineer, i have a cat6 cable between a small switch upstairs and one in the basement. Somehow it damaged that cable. Switches were ok but strange stuff.
Also fried a stereo receiver i had in the pool room.
I was touching up paint a scratch on our fridge and laying on the floor when it hit. I think i jumped up 2’ laying flat it scared me so bad

 

[newdude]

My boss years ago had a hit to his house. It looked like the movie 'the money pit' where every electric wire in the house blackened the sheetrock from room to room. In their bedroom, it left the outlet on his side of the bed, went across their brass headboard (with them sleeping 8 inches away) and went back into the outlet on the wifes side of the bed. He had a blackened headboard to prove it. Lightning can go wherever it wants and may or may not make any sense to us. Its freaky stuff but also really bad for any circuit boards between entry and exit.

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

Well, lightning always looks for the lowest impedance (yes including the reactive component) path to ground. So it's not random by any means. Howeve, it really sucks when it goes through your headboard. This is why planning out grounding is important and unfortunately is often overlooked.

 

[MyAZPool]

The good news is that USAA paid my claim. The electrical company installed a new subpanel, repaired the timers, installed my new SWG, spa blower, and the new LED pool light.

The bad news is that there is lightning damage to the underground wires causing inconsistent power to the breakers on the left side of the new subpanel. In addition, they suspect that the wires are damaged inside the conduit as they couldn't pull them out. It was two young, strong guys in their upper 20s. The conduit is new and oversized and the electrical line is new, both about 6 years old. There are no hard turns in the new lines. No reason for the wire not to move easily.

In addition, the spa cord is stuck too. The old spa light was circa 1980s, so no surprise that it is being difficult, but the line is only 10 feet long. They put wire lube in a few times over the day in the hopes it would help. I'm hoping they can replace it easily next time.

Fingers crossed that USAA will cover the cost to replace under ground lines.

At least my pump and SWG are working, so I no longer have to lug bleach.

The electrician said that he worked on a house last week that caught fire after a lightning strike to the pool equipment, it damage the gas pool heater, the electrical surge/fire traveled through the gas lines to house. It happened in the early morning hours, teen and young adult child were home alone while the parents were out of town.

kcindc
Wow, that is really something. Considering I guess, what could have happened, at least no "major" damage or any injuries.
I've been a USAA member since 1982. Are they FANTASTIC or what?
Wishing you well and that everything gets taken care of and back to normal.
r.