Conventional wisdom (ala Polyphaser) is that two points must be separated
by 75' or more to be considered really separate for lightning prevention.
As a practical matter, that may be overkill. I am betting that there is a
standard set by the gas utility for separation between its lines and any
other utility lines and I would go with that distance or greater.
Anecdotally, I have a neighbor whose freestanding stone mailbox was struck
during one of our spring thunderstorms. The mailbox exploded into many
stones, and the strike jumped on to an underground sprinkler box which was
about 12 feet from the mailbox. The current went thorough the sprinkler
control lines to the garage, where it jumped across the sprinkler
controller to the AC and took out the stereo, intercom, VCR, etc. . The
sprinkler controller exploded and started a fire in the garage.
GL and 73, John N5CQ
-----Original Message-----
.....What I originally wanted to know was how close to the Tower's
base and grounding rods I could have the electrical and gas
mains to the house without a lightning strike jumping from the
rods through the ground to the wiring and piping.
In other words, how much ground is necessary around a ground
rod to safely dissapate a lightning strike? If someone knows the
answer, I'd appreciate hearing from you.
Thanks
Jonathan KO6XS
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