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Will a Grounding Rod To Protect Your Electrical Equipment?

March 14, 2024

Grounding rods are critical in electrical grounding systems. They provide a safe pathway for excess electricity to dissipate into the earth, protecting people and electrical equipment from potential harm caused by lightning strikes or power surges.

A grounding rod is usually located very close to your main electrical service panel. It’s approximately one-half inch in diameter and 8 to 10 feet in length. To provide an approved ground connection, it must be electrically tied to your main service panel.

How can you extend the lifespan of the grounding rods?

It’s important to get the most out of your investment, and while these rods are known for their longevity, you still need to maintain them properly.

Be sure they are installed properly
Protect them from corrosion with methods like galvanization
Conduct routine maintenance
Monitor and test regularly

Electrical systems have become increasingly complex over the past decade. As a result, long-lasting, durable grounding rods that require less maintenance have become even more important.

Lightning Eliminators ensure electrical protection. Our grounding rods meet the highest standards. By delivering products with excellent conductivity and corrosion resistance, we help your electrical system stand the test of time.

Our chemical grounding rods (CHEM) are tube-shaped devices filled with electrolytic salts that help improve the soil's conductivity around the electrode. Ground augmentation fill (GAF) increases system efficiency. They are used in areas with high soil resistivity. Every Chem-Rod comes with a standard removable cap and access cover for easy maintenance of the ground salt charge.

Our Chemical grounding rods are efficient, consistent, economical, reliable, and low maintenance!

They create an optimal electrical connection to the earth with a large conductive surface and are known to solve problems found with conventional grounding rods by requiring less real estate and fewer electrodes to meet specified resistance.

In addition, it meets or exceeds relevant design codes and safety standards for protecting personnel, property, and sensitive equipment.

Don’t compromise on safety or performance. LEC has got you covered for all your grounding needs. Contact us to get started.

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Lightning Surge Protection Devices That Ensure Uninterrupted Manufacturing Processes

February 17, 2024

Indirect lightning effects refer to the secondary or indirect consequences of a lightning strike that does not make physical contact with a structure or object but still affects it. These effects can result from the electromagnetic field and electrical surges created by a nearby lightning strike. Indirect lightning effects can damage electronic equipment, communication systems, and electrical circuits.

Fortunately, there are measures you can put in place to provide different levels of lightning protection to your facility and surface electronics equipment that can provide protection in the event of a nearby hit – Lightning surge protection devices.

Some facts about surges:

Voltage surges are elevations in voltage that can occur in electrical distribution, data communications, and telephone lines, resulting in premature aging of components and/or damage to the equipment connected to the network.
Overvoltages are caused by direct lightning, indirect disconnection of inductive loads (coils, motors, etc ...), network switches, and/or defects in them.
Overvoltage surges are large spikes with a slope and are short-lived, yet the strong effects on sensitive electronic equipment are devastating.
The level of the voltage that can appear on the network is a function of the type of attack, aerial or underground, and the proximity of the MV / LV transformer.

Here at LEC, our lightning surge protection devices are built as per UL listing standards which provides the following important benefits:

Increased reliability against electrical fast transients/burst surge events such as lightning strikes
Tested to 4kV, Immunity testing, and electrostatic discharge protection to 15,000 Volts
RF Radiated Immunity
Magnetic field immunity
Protection against voltage dips & interruptions protection on the supply line
Conducted RF immunity, including lightning strikes
Protection against system failure due to incorrect field wiring, poor quality source power, and improper grounding

Lightning Surge protection devices are needed to alleviate all transient and surge concerns. LEC has UL-listed products like Facility Guard, Transient Limiters, DC surge protectors, etc. There are also low-voltage data lines and telecommunication protection products like TE500, DLP, and CLP.

Connect with our lightning eliminator specialist to find out more about our lightning surge protection devices for your facility that will safeguard your infrastructure, ensuring uninterrupted operations, protecting valuable equipment, and prioritizing the safety of the workforce, even in the face of nature’s most powerful and unpredictable electrical phenomenon.

Only One Solution To Get Your Facility Protected From Lightning Damage

January 13, 2024

Lightning is beautiful, unpredictable, and damaging!

Direct lightning strikes and their secondary effects are the most harmful natural occurrences because they can occur anywhere and hit any object. For many companies, the effects of even one direct strike are too much to bear and can result in the loss of tens of millions of dollars. The potential lightning damage and losses lead many businesses to assess and manage their risks with comprehensive lightning, surge, and grounding protection services and products.

Lightning damage

Accidents involving the release of hazardous materials (including oil spills)
Storage tanks containing flammable substances are at risk of a fire or explosion hazard.
Lightning can disrupt control systems and electrical circuitry
Direct lightning strikes can severely damage structures due to thermal heating.

In most cases, simple lightning protection measures, such as grounding or lightning rods, are implemented to reduce the risk of a lightning strike. However, several accidents suggest that these measures may not be sufficient to retain the structural integrity of equipment.

Let Lightning Eliminators help you.

The protection of industrial sites from lightning is a necessary endeavour. The equipment used for lightning rod protection at a typical industrial site is varied and available in different configurations depending upon the need at the site.

Advantages of installing lightning protection systems to minimize lightning damage

Protection of Personnel, data, and Assets
Minimization of Production Downtime
Fire Prevention
Compliance with Safety Standards
Insurance Premium Reduction

Protecting your facility from lightning damage requires two strategies: a certified lightning protection system and surge protection.

DAS is a Charge Transfer System (CTS) based on physics and state-of-the-art engineering principles specifically designed to stop a lightning strike from terminating where it is not wanted in a designated “area of protection.” It is the only type of system where the lightning impulse is not encouraged but discouraged.

We oversee the manufacturing, design, and implementation of customized lightning protection systems tailored to the specific needs of facilities. These systems include lightning rods, surge protectors, and grounding networks, providing comprehensive protection.

To date, LEC has installed over 3000 solutions in over 69 countries and throughout the United States, providing protection from lightning damage to companies in the petrochemical, oil and gas, biochemical, information technology, nuclear energy, utilities, and manufacturing industries.

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A Straightforward, Reliable And Effective Lightning Damage Prevention System

December 18, 2023

With hundreds and millions of dollars in assets on the line, companies should protect these massive investments from every risk possible, including lightning damage.

Major hazards caused by lightning:

Fire damage: The biggest threat lightning poses to a structure is fire. Wood and other flammable construction materials can easily explode when exposed to the high temperature of a lightning strike. Lightning current traveling through wires and pipelines instantly burns them up, causing complete damage to property.

Power surge damage: If lightning chooses electrical wiring as its primary or secondary path, the explosive surge can damage all the appliances it is connected to.

Shock wave damage: Lightning produces shock waves that can be destructive. These shock waves can fracture concrete, brick, and stone chimneys severely.

Businesses can now receive industrial lightning safety tips and measures in the form of lightning and surge protection products, solutions, and services from us. We make your workplace more productive and cost-effective.

We are proud to say that our expertise and services in preventing lightning damage are aligned with our client’s intentions – to create a safe working environment.

Our core competency includes:

Designing and implementing lightning safety tips and lightning protection solutions
Surge protection analysis and installation of the appropriate device
Annual maintenance program – from periodical testing to data collection to submitting timely reports and recommendations
LEC specializes in designing, manufacturing and installing integrated, engineered lightning damage prevention systems

Considering industrial level protection from lightning, one must combine protection systems that are designed to mitigate each type of strike. There is a system – Dissipated Array System designed to lower the voltage difference between the cloud and the earth.

Benefits of our lightning damage prevention products:

It’s a straightforward, reliable, and effective system
It can be used to protect any building, tower, power line or large plant
It completely eliminates lightning strikes
Even the lightning damage arising from the secondary effect of a strike is avoided
LEC has a ‘no strike’ policy with each system involved

Do you worry about how lightning damage can affect your facility or property? Is your facility located in an area where there are frequent, severe thunderstorms? Contact LEC for a design tailored to your facility requirements and effectively prevents lightning damage.

Take Immediate Action And Install Lightning Protection Products

November 17, 2023

Being a leader in the field of effective lightning protection systems, Lightning Eliminators & Consultant Inc. has spent many years developing and testing lightning protection products. Due to our advanced engineering, we have patented some groundbreaking products, such as our Dissipation Array System or lightning shield.

This Dissipation Array System is designed to prevent a lightning strike from occurring within a protected zone or area. The CTS collects the induced charge developed by thunderstorm clouds from a designated protected area of the earth and transfers this charge through the ionizer into the surrounding air. The process whereby a sharp point immersed in an electrostatic field transfers charge from the ionizer into the air is known as point discharge. The resulting ionized air molecules form a mixture of charged and uncharged molecules known as space charges, forming a shield between the storm cell and the site. The resulting difference in electrical potential between the protected site and the storm clouds is reduced, delaying the formation of an upward streamer from the protected site and preventing direct strikes.

Additionally, other patented lightning protection products combine (depending on the need for the area to be protected) to provide partial or full protection against lightning.

Grounding and bonding

A very important lightning protection product, our grounding systems are responsible for dissipating lightning strike energy safely to the ground.

Our patented Chem-Rod grounding rod has been proven to be the best grounding (earthing) solution for all the electrodes available. The Chem-rod is so efficient that even one rod can replace up to ten standard ground rods.

Take action

Lightning damage can cause irreparable damage. Take immediate action to get your free risk assessment done for your facility and then install the correct lightning protection products and system in accordance with our recommendations. Schools, hospitals, airports, factories, chemical plants, power generating plants, and office buildings are just some of the facilities choosing to play it safe against the destructive forces of lightning by installing lightning protection products and systems.

LEC is a pioneer in the design and manufacture of lightning and surge protection products. For over 50 years, we have been providing high-quality solutions and products using the latest, most innovative technology.

Do Grounding Rod Protect Against Lightning?

October 14, 2023

Grounding Rods provide an easy path for electricity to flow to earth should any problem occur like a lightning strike, power surge, short circuit, etc. If properly installed, grounding rods can prevent fire, shock, danger to human lives, and damage to electrical and electronic equipment.

In order to perform its protective function for buildings and other objects, grounding rod must have a robust path to a good ground. This means that multiple welded heavy copper ground conductors must be used. This lowers the electrical resistance and inductance along the path while providing the mechanical strength to withstand the huge magnetic forces created by the high lightning strike’s peak current.

In addition, the entire lightning protection system must be connected to an extensive network of copper grounding rods and a conductive steel building framework. The grounding system is distributed over a wide surface area in order to create a low-resistance electrical path to Earth's ground. In general, the lower the grounding system resistance, the better will be the performance of the lightning protection system.

Benefits of copper earthing rods by LEC:

Conductivity
Ductility and malleability
Flexibility
Reliability
Durability
Commercial use
Corrosion resistant
Consistent
Low maintenance

Our patented grounding rod is called Chem-Rod. It uses advanced engineering to achieve a consistent, low-impedance electrical connection with the earth, even in unfavourable and varying ground conditions (like permafrost).

Large surface area: The wider 25/8 inch diameter provides a larger surface area for a better connection to the earth.
Electrolytic salts: In the presence of moisture, these salts dissolve and seep out of leach holes along the electrode. The salts continually increase the soil’s conductivity, further reducing impedance and resistance.
Soil augmentation: Ground Augmentation Fill (GAF) is a combination of organic soil materials that optimize the conductivity of the soil around the Chem-Rod. Increasing the amount of GAF can decrease the overall system resistance, increasing the system efficiency.
Easy refills: Every Chem-Rod comes with a standard removable cap and access cover for easy maintenance of the ground salt charge.
Optimized pigtail: The 2-foot long, 4/0 AWG stranded pigtail is exothermically welded to the body of the Chem-Rod.

If you would like to find out more information about our grounding rod solution, get in touch with us.

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Assess The Risk Of Lightning Damage With LEC

September 16, 2023

Lightning strikes are the most frequent cause of major accidents triggered by natural events.

Did you know?

Lightning damage is incurred by immediate ignition, electrical and electronic systems failure, or structural damage.
The impact of lightning strikes implies a risk for workers, storing flammable material or electronic equipment, which could also be damaged by surges caused by electric discharge.
Toxic releases and tank fires are the most common scenarios associated with lightning strikes.
Oil, diesel, and gasoline are the substances most frequently released during lightning-triggered accidents.
Direct lightning strikes can severely damage structures due to thermal heating.

Lightning can interact with an industrial structure either by direct strike, indirect lightning currents that induce secondary sparks, or by the disruption of control systems and electrical circuitry. If flammable vapors are present, immediate ignition can occur.

How does lightning damage commercial property?

The air through which lightning strikes can reach temperatures as high as 50,000 Fahrenheit, or five times higher than the sun's surface! A lightning bolt not only causes fires, but it can also damage exposed equipment on your rooftop or on your exterior work area and inside your facility. Lightning can send electricity through plumbing pipes, electrical wires (e.g., a landline telephone), and metal reinforcement in concrete flooring and walls.

For example, in petrochemical facilities, lightning can cause explosions and/or ignite fires that consume millions of dollars of product, create prolonged downtime, demand environmental clean-up, incur regulatory fines, and cause destruction of equipment-- requiring excessive repair or replacement, and impacts entire communities. The repercussions can be exorbitant financially for these companies.

We consider four factors while assessing the threat of lightning damage to a plant or facility:

Frequency and severity of lightning storms
Vulnerability of existing and proposed instrumentation
Exposure of systems wiring to possible lightning strikes
Potential harmful impact of instrument failure on the process

Lightning Eliminators and Consultants, Inc. has revolutionized lightning protection technology. We provide innovative and patented products and services working in line with charge transfer technology. Simply put, LEC’s technology deters the electrically charged clouds from striking, thus eliminating the risk of lightning damage.

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How To Protect Your Facility From The Dangers Of Lightning Damage

August 14, 2023

Most lightning begins as an electrical disturbance inside a storm and travels through the clouds. Lightning can remain within the clouds or fly through the air and strike the ground. There are about 5 to 10 times more flashes in the clouds than on the ground.

Thus outdoor activities, including work, should be suspended at the first sign of bad weather. Here are some safety tips to avoid lightning damage while working outdoors:

Monitor weather conditions, and If your hair is standing on its end, you are in lightning’s electric field.
Just in case someone is caught outdoors when the storm is in the area, they should immediately seek appropriate shelter like in a building, low ground, in clumps of bushes, fully enclosed motor vehicle, etc.
Alternately, if the lightning is extremely close and you are outside, put your feet together, duck your head on your knees, and crouch down low in a baseball catcher’s stance.
Follow the 30/30 rule: if it takes less than 30 seconds to hear thunder after seeing a flash, then lightning is near enough to pose a threat.
If a co-worker gets struck by lightning, administer first aid immediately and seek medical assistance. It is entirely safe to touch them.

Here are some safety tips to avoid lightning damage while working indoors:

Do you know that Lightning enters structures in three ways: a direct strike, through wires or pipes extending outside the structure, or through the ground? Once in a structure, lightning can travel through electrical appliances, phone lines, plumbing, and radio/television reception systems. Lightning can also travel through metal wires or bars in concrete walls or flooring.

Stay off corded phones, computers, and other electrical equipment that directly connects you to electricity.
Avoid plumbing, including sinks, baths, and faucets.
Stay away from windows and doors, and stay off porches.
Do not lie on concrete floors or lean against concrete walls.

A structural lightning protection system can neutralize direct lightning strikes. The main components of this system are air terminals (otherwise known as lightning rods), conductors linking the air terminals, and down conductors, which connect the air terminals to the earth. Seek customized solutions for lightning damage from Lightning Eliminators and Consultants Inc.

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How Lightning Surge Protection Devices Protect Against Indirect Strikes

July 20, 2023

In some cases, customers can ask for lightning protection only, with the assumption that lightning protection alone will provide all the protection they need. If a site doesn’t have proper grounding and bonding in place, the earth's potential rise caused by a lightning strike may result in arcing and side flashing between metallic objects on the site and cause damage to the electrical equipment. Costs can range from degradation of electrical or electronic systems to data loss and equipment destruction. Some of these costs can appear relatively minor, but the loss of an essential service or revenue associated with a facility or plant shutdown can be enormous. The lightning protection and grounding systems dissipate most of the energy to the earth. However, residual energy can still harm sensitive electronic systems, which is why the implementation of lightning surge protection devices is equally important.

Secondly, anytime you have a wire coming into a building from the outside world, that wire is perfectly capable of delivering all types of mischief into the facility. This is why lightning surge protection devices should be installed.

An SPD is a device that becomes conductive at some voltage. As the potential rises and the SPD becomes conductive, it shunts the surge back to where it came. This is required by NFPA 780 and UL both on all services where they enter the structure (AC power, telephone, RF, data, etc.)

Here are 3 quick surge protection tips that you as a facility owner, need to know:

Use point-of-use surge protection devices (SPDs), which protect electronics and appliances when combined with a good grounding system.
Have a professional check to ensure that the grounding system is up to code before installing any new lightning surge protection device.
Explore the option of panel SPDs, which mount in or on the main electrical panel to provide protection for the entire electrical system.

LEC’s lightning surge protection devices offering integrates innovative designs, modern features, and proprietary technology, protecting against sudden and momentary transients, as well as long-term exposure to Temporary over Voltages (TOVs). All these benefits are part of our superior performance when it comes to the SPD offering, plus max surge ratings and compliance with key industry standards, including IEC, UL, and more.

Connect with us to learn more.

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The Most Effective Lightning Rod Protection System

June 13, 2023

A lightning rod is installed on the roof of every building – schools, hospitals, health care facilities, airports, shopping centers, office buildings, manufacturing units, etc.

At Lightning Eliminators & Consultant Inc., we continue to innovate and develop a new generation of lighting devices, such as our patented Dissipation Array System (DAS) lightning rod protection.

Charge Transfer Systems (CTS), such as LEC’s Dissipation Array System (DAS), work to stop the strike from forming within a predetermined zone. Donald Zipse, a top scientist and researcher from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Life Fellow states,

“Proof of lightning rods’ effectiveness lies mainly in empirical and anecdotal evidence. CTS technology, however, is based on existing electrical and physical formulas and mathematical basics. LEC’s patented charge transfer technology is a distinct split from Franklin rods.”

Over the years, we have emerged as the world’s leading manufacturers of the Dissipation Array System (DAS). This new system with advanced performance represents further progress in terms of protection, operating autonomy, and ease of maintenance.

DAS vs. conventional lightning rod protection

Conventional lightning rod attracts lightning, captures it and grounds it to earth, whereas DAS prevents the lightning from striking the protected area.
While conventional lightning rod protection increases the chances of indirect electromagnetic contamination, DAS protects against it.
LEC’s DAS comes with a ‘no strike’ warranty.
DAS is continuously setting new benchmarks for the efficiency and lightning rod protection it provides.
DAS is a key component of the advanced lightning rod protection system. Additional components include grounding and surge suppression to achieve complete protection.

A typical system includes:

The Dissipation Array System (DAS): available in a range of configurations for almost any structure.
Chem-Rod: a low-impedance grounding system using chemically-charged electrodes
Surge Protection Devices (SPD): to protect against transients traveling through data lines and other conductive paths.
Spline Ball Ionizer (SBI): a modular strike prevention device, as needed to supplement the DAS area of protection.

LEC enjoys a worldwide reputation as a foremost specialist in lightning rod protection and is devoted to offering a truly effective system and design, providing the highest level of safety and effectiveness in lightning protection.

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