# Question about lightning damage



## subelect (Nov 25, 2007)

Our village got pounded last night in a lightning storm. This morning I went out for a jog and the (only) cafe owner tracked me down. He went in the rear door and had no power; he called the POCO and they were on their way (30 miles away).
I went home, got the work truck and drove up to see the burn marks on the outside of the Met-can. The businesses on either side of the cafe still had power.
2 1/2" EMT service drop to the 3 phase, 200 amp meter socket had black marks outside the can. Service loop looked just fine; fuses still intact up on the Power pole.
The main fused disconnect inside the cafe was full of black soot, but the 3 200 amp fuses were still intact and no apparent damage. The 3 phase QO snap-on breaker box was un-harmed. 
POCO came, unhooked the lines feeding the loop, and opened up the Meter-can. The meter was charred and fell apart when the Lineman touched it. I watched the guy remove the lugs for the 6 service conductors; none were loose and all the copper was still undamaged. 
POCO spliced the wires together while they try to find a replacement meter base.
IF the insurance company asks me, could this be lightning damage?
1. No other service drops were affected off the same xfmr on the pole.
2. No loose connections or melted wires; just a ruined 3 phase meter.
3. I have seen lightning hit terminal boxes or disconnects before; usually they melt the steel so that it looks like an ice-cream cone on a hot day. This did not have an exit point that I could see.

The owner took lots of pics; I did not. 
What do you look for to definitely call it lightning damage versus a faulty meter?
Thanks,
Rick


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## jhall.sparky (Jun 14, 2011)

subelect said:


> Our village got pounded last night in a lightning storm. This morning I went out for a jog and the (only) cafe owner tracked me down. He went in the rear door and had no power; he called the POCO and they were on their way (30 miles away).
> I went home, got the work truck and drove up to see the burn marks on the outside of the Met-can. The businesses on either side of the cafe still had power.
> 2 1/2" EMT service drop to the 3 phase, 200 amp meter socket had black marks outside the can. Service loop looked just fine; fuses still intact up on the Power pole.
> The main fused disconnect inside the cafe was full of black soot, but the 3 200 amp fuses were still intact and no apparent damage. The 3 phase QO snap-on breaker box was un-harmed.
> ...


 
ANY unexplained damages !!!!!!!!!!!


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## HARRY304E (Sep 15, 2010)

subelect said:


> Our village got pounded last night in a lightning storm. This morning I went out for a jog and the (only) cafe owner tracked me down. He went in the rear door and had no power; he called the POCO and they were on their way (30 miles away).
> I went home, got the work truck and drove up to see the burn marks on the outside of the Met-can. The businesses on either side of the cafe still had power.
> 2 1/2" EMT service drop to the 3 phase, 200 amp meter socket had black marks outside the can. Service loop looked just fine; fuses still intact up on the Power pole.
> The main fused disconnect inside the cafe was full of black soot, but the 3 200 amp fuses were still intact and no apparent damage. The 3 phase QO snap-on breaker box was un-harmed.
> ...


I would say it is if everything was fine yesterday and a big lighting storm came through looks like it took a good serge.

Are there ground rods right there?


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## nitro71 (Sep 17, 2009)

Is the power company going to charge to replace the meter? Our local POCO wouldn't. If there isn't any other damage I'm kinda confused on why the insurance company would be involved?


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## BestMan (Jun 19, 2011)

Sounds like this lightning has it out for this cafe owner's meter.


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## sparky.jp (May 1, 2009)

Anything that gets into the lightning's randomly-chosen path to ground can be toast, and in this case, it sounds like the meter hit Black 6!

On a related note, we had some trees get into the 69kV overhead about a mile north of my house last week, and the HV fuses blowing sounded like explosions (I got in the car and drove around to see what happened).


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