Chore-Tronics® 2 Control Improving Lightning Surge Suppression
MT1843B
106
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
®
2 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 check 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 established, 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 116 through 118 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.
Improving Lightning Surge Suppression
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