Lightning and your smithy

[Dan OHare]

Just a thought... I plan to build a smithy once the wife and I find a house and get moved (currently renting a house). I have been smithing out in the open which is nice when the weather is nice but there have been times when even my thick skull can understand that it's time to get indoors due to approaching electrical storms. There have been many strikes here, mostly to the trees on the property. Some of them have been hit multiple times, as well as the house, barn and silo.
Once the new smithy goes up it WILL have lightning rods and be grounded. With all that metal around it just seems like a good idea.
IS YOUR SMITHY GROUNDED?

[RainsFire]

well xxxx, I smith bolts of lightning..

We dont have a whole lot of lightning storms in our little canyon.. and no, were not grounded..
good point though, I can imagine that an anvil might collect some serious energy..

[jayco]

I don't know about the effectiveness of lightning rods,but it's always a good idea to be grounded.

Around here you can do your own wiring....but it must be inspected by a licensed electrical inspector.

10 years ago, we built our garage/shop, and I did all the wiring.

When the 81 year old inspector came by to inspect,he recommended I install 2 ground rods.......a second one 6 or 8 ft. from the first.
As this was not an actual 'code' requirement, I asked why.

He explained that according to the trade journals he read as part of his job....that the next few years would be turbulent times for electrical transmission.....that solar flares and changes in the earth's magnetic field indeed effected how electricity came in to your home and shop.

I put in the extra ground rod and thought no more about it.....but later I did notice that there 'seemed' to be more lightning strikes in the area. Maybe he was on to something after all.

Grounding is always a good idea.Whether it's lightning strikes or a wire that shorts out the voltage will go somewhere......to 'ground' or through you!

Yeah......I ground everything!

[skunkriv]

My shop is well grounded....like me When I ran the new undergound service out to the shop I installed a new ground rod and hooked up it and the old ground rod both.

My house does have 4 lightning rods properly grounded. Do they work? Couldn't tell you but the house was built in 1915, they were on it when I got it and I'm not going to take them off. They look right for the house too.