Mother nature can be beautiful with the birds chirping and fluffy clouds on a blue sky. But here in the Lone Star State, just wait a minute and it’ll change. Storms baffle even the best weather forecaster, they come and go quickly, and sometimes they decide to stay a while. During the high winds, pounding rain, there is also lightning. Lighting can strike your business when you least expect, and what should you do if it does?
If you know you’ve had a lightning strike, and your power is out the first thing you should do is call your utility company. If the entire area is dark, your call can help them narrow down where on the grid the problem is so they can get to it and fix it fast. If you know your building is hit, and breakers are tripped, call your electrician.
It is never a good idea to re-set large breakers yourself, they tripped for a reason and typically a ground fault. Re-setting a breaker when it has a ground fault condition only sends power to the grounded fault again, causing another fault and the breaker to trip again. The fault is high energy going to ground, and this can be dangerous.
Lightning is extremely high electrical voltage and current, totally untamed and in it’s most natural and primal state. Lightning like any electricity is looking for a path to ground. It can damage your electrical equipment even when the grounding is done correctly. Lightning looks for conductive substances that can bridge that gap between air and ground, which is exactly what the wiring to your building is made of.
When you call a qualified electrician like R&D Electrical, a trained and licensed electrician will do a visual survey of your equipment, and has the proper personal protective gear to open any covers to look into your equipment and look for things like burns, melted wires, damaged components, and any other situations that look out of place. As long as power is restored to your area from your provider, we will be able to use test equipment to ensure there are no current carrying components going to ground, and step by step get your power back on. We will also be able to list any damaged components and help you with your insurance company to get things repaired or replaced if needed. R&D Electrical has the experience and equipment to help in an emergency.
