How does the TM react to lightening strikes?

I'm not sure if this is the right topic to post under, but since lightening is the subject and it is electrical in nature, I thought this is the best place to post. If not, I hope a moderator can move it to the right place.

I'm always finding myself thinking ahead....

So, here I am lying in the nice comfy bed of the TrailManor, snug as a bug, during a storm, wondering what the downfalls are to all this luxurious comfort. Suddenly I realize I am sleeping on a bed that is encased in aluminum... and wondering what would happen if, heaven-forbid, lightening should strike the Trailmanor. I start to rule out the possibility by the fact that there are larger trees around us then the Trailmanor, and lightening usually strikes the tallest object first, but here I am in an all metal container... still not comfortable with the thought that it could happen. So, I realize that the rubber tires (like on a car) are between me and the earth helping to prevent me from getting fried... however (this is what I'm not sure about), the metal stablizing jacks are now linking us directly with the ground.. yikes!! We do have plastic levelers under each of the metal jacks... does this help prevent lightening from frying us?

Hope one of you very wise people can enlighten me (pardon the pun)? Am I just too paranoid?

Thank you,
Brigitte

[RockyMtnRay]

Originally Posted by BrigCA61

I'm not sure if this is the right topic to post under, but since lightening is the subject and it is electrical in nature, I thought this is the best place to post. If not, I hope a moderator can move it to the right place.

I'm always finding myself thinking ahead....

So, here I am lying in the nice comfy bed of the TrailManor, snug as a bug, during a storm, wondering what the downfalls are to all this luxurious comfort. Suddenly I realize I am sleeping on a bed that is encased in aluminum... and what wondering would happen if, heaven-forbid, lightening should strike the Trailmanor. I start to rule out the possibility by the fact that there are larger trees around us then the Trailmanor, and lightening usually strikes the tallest object first, but here I am in an all metal container... still not comfortable with the thought that it could happen. So, I realize that the tires (like on a car) are between me and the earth helping to prevent me from getting fried... however (this is what I'm not sure about), the metal stablizing jacks are now linking us directly with the ground.. yikes!! We do have plastic levelers under each of the metal jacks... does this help prevent lightening from frying us?

Hope one of you very wise people can enlighten me (pardon the pun)? Am I just too paranoid?

Thank you,
Brigitte

It's long been known the very safest place to be during any electrical storm is inside a car, an airplane...or any other large metal object like a TrailManor trailer. The reason is that if a large metal object is hit by lightning, the current is readily conducted around the interior by the extensive metal skin. By comparison, if you were in a wooden structure which was hit by lightning, there's a very good chance that current would flow directly from the roof to the ground following the path of least resistance along the way (like pipes...or any people inside the structure). We have had deaths here in the mountains when people took shelter in the middle of a shallow cave during a violent thunderstorm...thinking that being underground had to be the safest approach. Unfortunately they didn't realize that when the bolt hits the ground above the cave it usually keeps on going and sometimes goes right through the air in the cave from its roof to the ground below (and especially through anyone who's sheltering inside and providing a more conductive path than the air inside the cave). So having your TM's conductive metal skin around you means the bolt is much less likely to go through the trailer (and through you). Folks who own fiberglass skinned (and wood framed) trailers are in much greater danger.

And as long as the car (or trailer) is not the tallest object around, the likelihood is low that it will be directly struck by a lightning bolt. Futhermore, because of the corona effect, the electrical discharges which precede all cloud->ground lightning are most common around pointed objects, especially tall pointed objects (e.g. lightening rods, tall trees, church steeples, etc.). So unless you have a TV antenna sticking up from the roof of your TM, the flat roof of the trailer is a relatively unlikely candidate for discharges/bolts.

And finally, the plastic levelers under the jacks are really a mixed blessing. Yes, they (and the tires) provide additional resistance to the flow of current that produces upward moving "leaders" just prior to a lightning bolt. In that way they slightly diminish the chances the trailer will be hit by a bolt. OTOH, if a bolt were to actually strike the trailer, the additional resistance between the leveling jacks and the ground makes it more likely the current would flow to ground directly from some point on the skin (probably melting a hole in the skin of the trailer) instead of through the relatively tough frame and jacks. But, in any case, neither the tires nor the levelers provide much more than negligable resistance given the millions of volts you're dealing with in a lightning bolt.

So, bottom line, about the best place you can be during an electrical storm is snugly inside your trailer. The one thing you might want to do, though, is if you are connected to a campground electrical hookup, is switch off the breakers inside the power center and unplug any electrical appliances. Even though your trailer will likely survive a hit, its electrical system might not do very well if the power lines in/around the campground take direct hit from a lightning bolt. However, do NOT step outside during an electrical storm to disconnect the power cable from the campground power pedestal.

In case you were wondering how I came to know this stuff, Colorado is the 3rd worst state in the nation for lightning and I live in the absolute worst county in the nation for deaths caused by lightning. IIRC, something like 20 people have died from being struck by lightning in my county alone in the past 10 years. Every time we have a lightning caused fatality (or near miss), the news media do saturation coverage of what to do and not to do when thunderstorms are in the vicinity. We can always tell the visitors, BTW, as they're the ones who use umbrellas during thunderstorms.

I've personally been chased off high mountains by electrical storms and have had multiple close calls with lightning bolts (i.e. being within 50 feet of the bolt). I've even had the hair on my head standing up straight and sizzling from electrical discharges a couple of times. So although I'm not an expert on lightning, I'd like to think I'm a pretty informed and experienced person on the topic.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by RockyMtnRay

The very safest place to be during any electrical storm is inside a car, an airplane...or any other large metal object like a TrailManor trailer. The reason is that if a large metal object is hit by lightning, the current is readily conducted around the interior by the extensive metal skin.

Ray is exacty right. For the electricians among us, the technical term for the metal frame around us is a "Faraday Cage", and there is a ton of info available on the web. But it does exacty what Ray says, conducting the current around and away from you.

So, bottom line, about the best place you can be during an electrical storm is snugly inside your trailer.

or inside your car. Do NOT go outside and hide under a tree.

The one thing you might want to do, though, is if you are connected to a campground electrical hookup, is switch off the breakers inside the power center and unplug any electrical appliances. Even though your trailer will likely survive a hit, its electrical system might not do very well if the power lines in/around the campground take direct hit from a lightning bolt.

True, and I would go one step further and go outside (if there is no lightning in the area yet) and pull the TM plug from the power pole. There are numerous stories - I can tell you a personal one - about a lightning strike in the back yard that fried all the electronics in the house, even though the house itself was not hit. So if lightning hits the campground 100 yards away, the jolt can hit your TM's electrical system if it is connected to the campground electrical distribution. Disconnect, and you are clean.

But to address your original question - your personal safety is not really at stake if you are in your TM, any more than if you were in your car. Another advantage of a TM over a canvas camper!

Bill

Thank you Ray and Bill for the great info. I may want to add one other thing and that is to not use water during a thunderstorm or phones if they aren't the portable kind, as the lightening can travel through the water pipes and phone lines, just as it does through electrical wire.

I actually work for an electrical utility. One of the interesting things our linemen have noticed about lightning out in the boondocks. It seems to travel down our electrical lines for quite a ways. Most if not all the houses along the way have little or no problems. If you happen to be the last person on the line where it ends, you tend to have re-occuring problems with lightning. This is also the first place the linemen look for a blown lightning arrestor we put on the line to try to protect our customers. These devices tend to short when hit by lightning and the fuses keep blowing when they replace them. The lineman think it is because lightning looks for the pathway of least resistance, but if it does not find one it has to go somewhere when it hits the end of the line. If they have aerial lines in a campground I will not use a camping spot at the end of the aerial line.

Wow! Thanks for all the information contained in this post! That was a great question...one I was wondering about myself!

[ShrimpBurrito]

A rather informative thread! Thanks!

Dave

So basically, lightning would rather travel through the bag of water (that is your body) than a canvas tent but would prefer the nice aluminum skin of the TM that leads to ground via the jacks.