Parafoudre.....Yes or No

[CeeJay]

Beginning of the year we spent two months in New Zealand and on our return found that all 3 of the freezers had suffered a power failure and obviously had lost all of the contents. From what I remember it was a mains failure possibly through a lightning strike rather than an internal problem.

I have read the most recent thoughts about this on the Forum and other sites but I cannot glean from anywhere if my problem would be solved by fitting a parafoudre.

Some say, because it is now mandatory in parts of France and mine being one of those, that it must be a good idea, but others disagree very strongly. I have even asked the local electrician for his views and he thought it was a waste of time and money!

As we are trotting off again next Jan and Feb I would like to get it sorted out now. What is the consensus of opinion?

[alittlebitfrench]

Yes I would, but I don't know why technically.

A couple of years ago my OH'alfs family house got struck by lightening and it zapped every piece of electrical equipment that was plugged in at the time. Even a laptop that was not plugged in but was close to a socket was completely destroyed.

There is a huge (very huge) barn just down the road from the house made out of wood and it has one. I am guessing it is their for a reason.

[vette]

A Parafoudre is put in place to protect electrical items from surges.

I have a couple just in case. TV/Satellite box, big fridge/router box, etc.

Unfortunately, if the power trips due to a lightning strike, it will stay tripped and not come back on until you return home and reset it yourself.

I would love something that could switch the power back on but it doesn't exist if I'm not mistaken.

[Quillan]

[quote user="CeeJay"]Beginning of the year we spent two months in New Zealand and on our return found that all 3 of the freezers had suffered a power failure and obviously had lost all of the contents. From what I remember it was a mains failure possibly through a lightning strike rather than an internal problem.
[/quote]

 

Well really it isn't that simple given the information and of course if you had one it would not save the freezers because there would be nobody around to reset it.

 

When you got back to your house was all the power off, just the breakers to the frezzers had tripped or are you saying your freezers 'blew up'?

 

We don't have one and have been struck by lightening. The whole house tripped on the main breaker and much to my disapointment nothing was damaged. I say that because we pay a nominal extra on our house and contents insurance just in case. I was rather looking forward to a new TV, computer and a few other gadgets.

 

 

[Lehaut]

As an aside question has anyone seen an earthing line fitted to an external steel chimney that extends above the level of the roof of a house and terminates in a large cast iron fire?

[CeeJay]

Quillan

I thought that question might come up!!!  The answer is I can't remember, but I think it was just the trip to the freezers, I don't recall having to switch the mains back on. From the replies so far I guess it really is a matter of taking a chance or getting someone in to check every day!

[Quillan]

[quote user="CeeJay"]Quillan
I thought that question might come up!!!  The answer is I can't remember, but I think it was just the trip to the freezers, I don't recall having to switch the mains back on. From the replies so far I guess it really is a matter of taking a chance or getting someone in to check every day!

[/quote]

 

Or have a mega BBQ before you go.

 

I don't think you need somebody to check every day but if there is a key holder ask them to check if there is a storm.

 

Actually I just thought, how did you know it was lightening, I mean was there external damage or signs to the house? We have a metal chimney and the corner of the cover over the top is melted where it struck or was it that a neighbour told you there was a storm sometime during your abscence and you might have been struck by lightening?

 

Are all three freezers on the same breaker? I ask this because once or twice under very particular circumstances ours used to trip out because they were all on the same breaker. It was when the compressor pump started up and if by some million to one chance they all start at the same time then just for a split second it is more than 16A and the breaker tripped. The fix for this was to run another cable round (they are in the garage so no problem) and one from a seperate breaker.

 

Just a couple of thoughts.

[CeeJay]

Quillan

Thanks for that, it has given me food for thought in that you are right all three freezers are on the same breaker so maybe I should split them up. Unfortunately I don't know if it was lightening, I was merely surmising as that seemed the likely culprit.

[ventodue]

Hi CeeJay,

 

I'm with Quillan on this. 

 

1.  'Pound to a penny' that it wasn't a lightning strike.  Those are a) pretty unusual; b) will typically blow pretty much everything in, on or around the circuitry!

 

2.  Seeing as your problem was associated with only one part of the installation, logically the fault is somewhere in that part.  To try and pin down its origin, first have a look at the type of breaker that's tripping.  Essentially, there are 2 different types, each with its own purpose. 

 

A MCB = miniture circuit breaker = disjoncteur divisionnaire is the modern equivalent of the old-fashioned  fuse.  These detect overloads (including short-circuits) in parts of the installation and are designed to protect the installation and its components.  From the sound of it, this was the problem Quillan had - an overload.  This may be your case, too.  Solution is simple: reduce the laod on that part of the installation (Do not simply up the maximum load of the MCB; that risks putting the remainder of the circuitry, including the cabling, in danger).

 

A RCD = residual current device = interrupteur différentiel detects leaks to earth and imbalances between the poles.  They are designed to protect people and are much more sensitive than MCBs.  If this is what is popping out, you may have a breakdown in the insulation somewhere in one of the freezers or its wiring.

 

HTH

 

Craig

 

 

[andyh4]

As others have said it is extremely unlikely to have been a lightning strike on your property. This would have caused a lot more damage than one circuit tripping.

It could have been a lightning strike on the overhead power supplies causing a surge which then caused your circuit to trip. Because such an event will impact on many homes the impact is much less than a strike to a single property. However you say "early in the year" and thunder storms are relatively rare at that time of year.

More likely is high winds causing HT cables to sway and eventually arc between one another. This can cause a power surge and/or can cause the ERDF safety systems to trip and then reset. This on/off - especially if it happens several times over a short period of time - can cause your own circuits to trip.

Sitting in an exposed location we frequently suffer such momentary power outages in bad winter weather* and from time to time have circuits or groups of circuits trip - and rarely is it the same circuit/group. The problem is that as the power comes back on, all of the items that are on will try and restart at the same instant and the momentary power draw can be too great for the circuit breaker even though the in use power draw is well below that for the rating of the circuit.

* Statistically this is most likely to happen when you are recording something or during the last half hour of the last program of a series that you have been following on the TV!!

[CeeJay]

Thanks for all the replies, very helpful, I will try to separate the feed into the three freezers as that seems the much more likely cause.

[Quillan]

[quote user="CeeJay"]Thanks for all the replies, very helpful, I will try to separate the feed into the three freezers as that seems the much more likely cause.
[/quote]

 

A couple of things. If it is as I suggested it may well have happened in the past? You could just run an extension lead from a socket that is on a different circuit that you can ensure anything else attached to that circit is switched off. If you have a washing machine down there it should be on its own circuit so you could unplug that and use an extension to plug one of the freezers in. You could also check the amperage of the existing circuit, it should be 16A but I have seen circuits with a 10A breaker.

 

Edit - Actually thinking about it if it is easy to run a cable round and you have space in your fuse box why not run two (if only the freezers are on a single circuit) or three new circuits round, each with it's own breaker. The chances of all three tripping at any one time would be rather small I would think. Thinking out loud as I type this are only the freezers on this circuit or is there something else which could have tripped it?

[minnie]

We had a lightning strike a couple of years ago which took out our central heating boiler (gas, plugged into mains) and also our TV. We were at home at the time, though we, too, spend time each year in New Zealand. We have since installed protectors for expensive equipment, just for peace of mind!. While it'll not "start" your freezers again, it might protect them from death!

[CeeJay]

Quillan

Sorry havn't replied before, been on retail therapy in UK for a week.

Just checked the circuit and found that there are 6 sockets in all off the fuse, a double, a single and a triple. The triple is where the freezers are plugged in, the others are use on occasions when I am working in the cave.I do have a spare fuse so will split the triple up.

[mogs]

Last week we had a freak thunder storm. We had to call out an electrician and he discovered the parafoudre had been struck by lightening, when he removed it it was burnt out. We're hoping our insurance will cover it.

Had we not have had the parafoudre he told us that all the other fuses would have blown, replacing the entire junction box would cost much more.