Improving Lightning Surge Suppression
Improving Lightning Surge Suppression Chore-Tronics® 3 Control
130
MT2398C
Lightning can be a very destructive and expensive phenomenon. It does not always take a direct “hit” for
lightning to cause extensive damage to electrical equipment. The Chore-Tronics
®
3 Controls do have
components that help suppress and/or isolate power surges such as lightning. These components many
times will protect the controls from the power surge or at least keep the damage isolated to one board on
the control. However, more direct strikes or strikes that hit network wires such as alarm wires to phone
dialers or the C-Central network can cause damage to numerous boards in numerous controls. If the farm
is located in a lightning prone area or if there is a network of wires connecting all Chore-Tronics
®
Controls
together (such as C-Central or an alarm system), then additional lightning protection should be
considered. These products are available from Chore-Time. The products available will be discussed later
in this section. It should also be noted that a back-up system consisting of mechanical back-up thermostats
be installed in the event of a control failure. Chore-Time has a back-up box available (Part Number
40727).
Before obtaining lightning suppression devices, first che
ck the system grounding of each house/room.
Every building needs to have its own ground rod and that ground rod must be driven deep enough into the
ground that it will have good contact year round. Please check with the local electrician and/or electrical
inspector for specific ground rod requirements in your area. In some areas one ground rod may not be
sufficient to provided a good ground to earth, in that case an electrician should be consulted to find
alternate ways of obtaining a good Earth ground. Again, be sure to check with a qualified electrician for
grounding requirements.
Once a good grounding system has been e
stablished, if lightning is still a concern, surge suppressors
should be considered. It is recommended that there be a suppressor installed at the main distribution panel
for the farm (Chore-Time Part Number 47663) and a suppressor installed on the service panel of each
house/room (Part Number 47662). If C-Central and/or an alarm system is used then there should be a low
voltage suppressor (Part Number 47660) installed at every control and a telephone line suppressor (Part
Number 47661) installed at the phone line on the farm. See Figures 50 through 52 on the following pages
for the wiring diagrams and more information on location and installation of these devices.
Installing these devices does not guarantee that the farm will not be struck by lightning or
that equipment will not be damaged from lightning strikes. However, they will greatly
increase the amount of protection already there, and thus will reduce the chances of having
lightning damage occur.
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