How to make a lightning conductor

For a long time, man attributed lightning to the category of natural phenomena that represent a certain threat to his peaceful existence. Nowadays, most private homeowners are well aware of the need for a lightning conductor to protect their home from lightning, which can lead to the following unpleasant consequences:

• the occurrence of a fire;
• electric shock of people in the house;
• mechanical destruction of buildings;
• the effects of electrostatic induction that can lead to short circuits and failure of household appliances.

Only after reading how to make a lightning conductor, you can protect your home and family from all the above troubles.

Design

In accordance with current regulations, the design of the lightning rod should contain the following elements:

• lightning rod used to trap lightning;
• current lead by which the discharge of natural electricity dangerous for people and structures is carried out;
• grounding, through which it is possible to establish a reliable contact of the current lead with the soil.

Lightning rod

In accordance with its design, all practiced lightning protection systems are divided into rod, mesh and linear devices.

Rod lightning rod is usually performed in the form of a metal rod having a length of from 0.5 to 2 meters. Linear receivers are a metal cable with a cross section of the core more than 5 mm. This cable is stretched along the ridge of the roof at a height of about half a meter from it and secured with special wooden clamps. In this case, both ends of the cable are connected to the grounding conductor by means of a current lead. Linear receivers are used to protect buildings, the roof of which is equipped with slate or wooden coating.

Mesh lightning rods are made in the form of a grid, which is made of wire with a thickness of up to 6 mm with a cell size from 3 to 10 meters. Such a grid is stretched over the roof at a height of half a meter and is connected to the down-conductor at several points at once.

Current lead and grounding

Standard current leads are usually made of copper wire with a thickness of at least 6 mm.

The function of the earthing can be performed by a set of metal rods, which are driven into the ground (to a depth of about 2 meters) in a place at a distance of at least 5 meters from the house. The rods driven into the ground are welded to each other and then connected to the down-conductor by any of the known methods (welding or bolting).

Choosing a place under the grounding and maintenance

Before you make a lightning conductor, you need to worry in advance about the choice of the place that is most suitable for arranging the earthing switch.

The fact is that it is possible to ensure reliable contact of metal rods with the ground only under the following conditions:

• soil moisture in the earthing zone arrangement should correspond to the value normalized for devices of this class;
• its chemical composition must meet the requirements for electrical safety.

The drier the soil at the site of the grounding arrangement, the worse its contact with the ground will be, and the more reliably the whole lightning removal system will work.

In order to increase contact with the soil (electrical conductivity), it is recommended to periodically moisten the soil using a special brine. In some cases, it is allowed to add ordinary table salt to the soil.

Maintenance of the lightning rod is reduced to monitoring its contacts and to visually inspecting the grounded part for the absence of the last rust and dirt on the surface.

Video

How to fix the lightning disposal system, see below: